Gaben: Valve Planning Console-like PC for Living Room
Valve's Gabe Newell talks about the company's plans for releasing hardware.
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.
Contact Us for News Tips, Corrections and Feedback
Stay On the Cutting Edge: Get the Tom's Hardware Newsletter
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
-
rantoc Clever idea, hope they will have a "pro" version with a modular gpu solution so people can "Upgrade" their pc in console form.Reply -
g00fysmiley if they can keep the price down and power requirment down then it might be a goldmine. though people playing wiht controllers in a pc fps world are probably not going to have as much fun when the keyboard/mouse players are just mopping up the frag bait.. still would be happy to see it happen it would be good for the pc gaming type and most of us who are tech savy who have friends coming to us for advice can steer them toward this over a traditional consoleReply -
bllue So targetted at the casual market? I don't really see a benefit of this over a gaming PC...especially since most games (like older ones) won't run since this console is running Linux. It is funny though that Newell called Windows 8 "a catastrophe for PC" and called up on MS on trying to create a closed environment, which is pretty much what he's trying to do with this new console.Reply -
hardcore_gamer A controlled - living room PC is called a console. I'm not planning to buy a console even if it is made by Valve.Reply
-
atminside if it comes with a thunderbolt port and allows for adding an external graphics module......then yes, i would like this......But what about Half Life 3? Why no love for the freeman?Reply -
hardcore_gamer atminside.But what about Half Life 3? Why no love for the freeman?Reply
If valve make HL3 a steambox exclusive, there will be unforeseen consequences.
-
alterecho hardcore_gamerIf valve make HL3 a steambox exclusive, there will be unforeseen consequences.+1Reply