Valve, the people behind the phenomenal Half Life series and the Steam digital distribution service, finally look set to make the jump from software to hardware this week with a trio of announcements that promise to "expand the Steam Universe in 2014".
"This year we’ve been working on even more ways to connect the dots for customers who want Steam in the living-room. Soon, we’ll be adding you to our design process, so that you can help us shape the future of Steam."
We're expecting news about the long-awaited Steambox console, a machine capable of playing PC games without relying on a copy of Windows, but we're mostly in the dark until Valve reveals all.
We'll be updating this article with all the news as it happens, with the next reveal scheduled for Wednesday at 6pm UK time, but in the meantime you can find out what we know so far.
SteamOS
The first of the three reveals was SteamOS, a completely free Linux-based operating system that Valve says will bring Steam into the living room.
Having already tested the waters with Big Picture mode earlier in the year, SteamOS is not only optimised for bigger screens than the regular Steam desktop client, but also a major step towards cutting the ties between PC gaming and the Windows operating system.
Valve has revealed few details regarding how SteamOS will work, other than that it is based on Linux, and will use a version of Big Picture Mode to let gamers browse their Steam game collection on a big-screen TV.
Although "hundreds of great games are already running natively on SteamOS", and announcements from major publishers are apparently due in the coming weeks about "all the AAA titles coming natively to SteamOS in 2014", Valve is aware that many games simply won't work on Linux because they rely on Windows libraries or authentication tools. That's why SteamOS will let you stream games from any Mac or PC on your local network, with SteamOS recognising your desktop system automatically and streaming games to your TV.
Multimedia services are also on the list of features. Although Valve is still in the process of signing content deals, we're expecting to see catch-up TV, on-demand video and subscription music screaming as well as Steam's integrated web browser.
The new Family Sharing service, which is currently in a limited beta on the Steam desktop client, will also be heavily integrated into the operating system. It will let family members and close friends access the games in your library when you aren't playing, without you having to give out your passwords.
Steambox – what we know so far
Valve co-founder Gabe Newell dropped several Steambox hints during his Linuxcon talk just a few weeks ago, praising the open-source operating system and promising to reveal the company's plans regarding hardware soon.
Describing Linux as "the future of gaming", Newell pointed out that the Linux version of Steam, which is still technically in beta, already supports almost 200 games. We now know that this was a major hint towards SteamOS, but Newell didn't stop there. "None of the proprietary closed platforms are going to be able to provide that grand unification between mobile, the living room and the desktop.
"Next week we're going to be rolling out more information about how we get there and what are the hardware opportunities we see for bringing Linux into the living room".
Valve has been working on the Steambox project for some time, having shown off prototype hardware to select members of the press at this year's CES show in Las Vegas. However, when the company made around 30 employees redundant earlier in the year it was unclear whether the project had been shelved. These new revelations suggest development has indeed continued, and we shouldn't have long to wait to learn what Valve has in store for us.
Hardware
If Valve wants gamers to be able to play modern, triple-A titles on hardware designed to sit under a TV, getting component choices right is crucial. The company has done an excellent job of keeping its news secret right up until the reveal, so we have little to work on now other than the Xi3 Piston Mini PC revealed earlier in the year as a prototype Steambox product.
The tiny mini-PC is powered by a 3.2GHz quad-core AMD accelerated processing unit (APU), albeit a previous-generation design of processor similar to the much more powerful APU powering the Xbox One and PS4, along with 8GB of RAM and a Radeon HD 7660G integrated graphics processor which has 384 stream processors. However, a pre-order price of $999.99 with a 128GB solid-state storage disk (around £670 excluding taxes) makes it significantly more expensive than a next generation console. We definitely expect Valve to come up with something cheaper.
Name
We've settled on referring to Valve's fabled hardware as the Steambox, purely because Valve has yet to reveal an official name. However, we know that it's a name that's unlikely to stick, as company representatives told us at CES that no a formal name had yet to be decided and Steambox would not be used. There's every possibility the company will have changed its mind by the time it reveals its second and third announcements later this week, but we're expecting a name change to be on the cards.
Release date
Based on Valve's drip-feed announcement schedule, it looks like SteamOS is very much a work in progress and the final version could be months, if not years away from release – especially knowing Valve's tendency to leave things in beta for obscene lengths of time. The official SteamOS web page currently says "We have achieved significant performance increases in graphics processing, and we’re now targeting audio performance and reductions in input latency at the operating system level".
We're expecting a limited beta programme to kick off once Valve has finished its week of announcements, although until performance is at a level the company deems acceptable a public beta looks unlikely.
Andoid Games
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