Back in February, Gabe Newell got people talking when he said in an interview that his company could end up selling hardware. Newell said that while Valve had no reason to believe it was any good at selling hardware, they had to continue to innovate, and if that meant developing and selling hardware, then so be it. The following months brought more rumors of Valve hardware, specifically a 'Steam Box.' This past weekend, Gaben mentioned his company's gaming hardware once again.
According to Kotaku, Newell said Valve's goal was to figure out how to make PCs work better in the living room. Newell went on to say that Valve will next year release PC packages for the living room. These computers will be designed to be hooked up to gamers' TVs, run Steam out of the box, and compete with next generation offerings from Sony and Microsoft. Newell said that with that the reaction to Steam's 'Big Picture' stronger than expected, the next step is to put Big Picture on Steam Linux in preparation for the development of the company's own hardware.
Newell told Kotaku that we're going to be looking at a very controlled environment and that those looking for a more open experience would do better with a more general PC.
"If you want more flexibility, you can always buy a more general purpose PC. For people who want a more turnkey solution, that's what some people are really gonna want for their living room."
Newell reckons Valve won't be the only company producing these PCs packaged specifically for the living room.
