Steam through Smoke

For those of you who don't know what Steam is, Steam is an online PC service that allows players to purchase and download games to their hard drive, allowing them to play the game at the comfort of their own home. If you're like me, you also have a Steam account and a boatload of games.

However, there was rumors that Valve planned on creating a Steam Box Console

Valve may be developing a PC hardware spec to potentially package with Steam software in a "Steam Box" bundle, according to The Verge. Citing anonymous sources, the report aligns with comments Valve co-founder Gabe Newell made in an interview with former Ars staffer Ben Kuchera over at the Penny Arcade Report. The report is also supported by some recent Valve actions, including this patent for controller hardware last year.

If "Steam Box" rumors pan out, the software would be at the center of an open gaming universe that The Verge believes would be analogous to how Google handles Android. Actual devices may be made by a variety of partners (Alienware X51 is rumored to be working on an early version) and the underlying Steam Box software would be readily available to any company willing to partner.

That's right. Something that could give Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft and even Apple a run for their money. The one system to be the end-all be-all system. No more need for new consoles or new PCs. You have everything in one box.

There were even word that the Steam Box was gonna be as powerful as today's PCs

Less than 24 hours since the website The Verge reported that Valve is working on a video game console, we've got what could be a photo of a prototype unit.

The image comes from the Twitter feed of Valve employee Greg Coomer. It was Tweeted on November 2, with the caption: "Built this tiny PC. i7 quad core, 8GB ram, Zotac Z-68 mobo w/ onnboard Nvidia mobile gfx. Runs Portal 2 FAST. "

Yesterday, The Verge reported that Valve was making a console—or at least a hardware standard—for Valve-supported gaming and that: "We're told that the basic specs of the Steam Box include a Core i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA GPU."

The specs line up.

But take this with a grain of salt.

Wow. That will make the iPad3 blush in terms of price. That would rip apart the gaming industry and leave it with one system to rule all. Problem is, how do you upgrade the hardware on this beast?

But sadly, it seems Valve is not gonna go ahead with these plans.

Delay those dreams of a Steam Box competing with a PlayStation, Xbox or Wii. Valve Software is not making a gaming console in the near future and that the various rumors swirling around don't add up to them making their own set-top box.

"We're prepping the Steam Big Picture Mode UI and getting ready to ship that, so we're building boxes to test that on," Valve marketing director Doug Lombardi said, referring to a new Steam interface that will make the online gaming service easily useable for people who want to play Steam games on a PC that's connected to their TV. "We're also doing a bunch of different experiments with biometric feedback and stuff like that, which we've talked about a fair amount.

"All of that is stuff that we're working on, but it's a long way from Valve shipping any sort of hardware."

Lombardi refused to flat-out say that Valve isn't working on a console. When I posted it to him this way—"What you're saying is, there's definitely nothing coming any time soon, nothing at GDC or E3, but what you're not ruling out is the possibility that, hey, maybe some day Valve would make hardware," he said, "I think that's accurate."

Valve. What are you doing? You were suppose to kill 3 birds with one stone and now you're backing down? This has been the biggest disappointment since the number of times you delayed Half-Life 2. If I were Rush Limbaugh, I would have pointed out how disappointed I am, except I would have gotten under fire like what happened a few weeks ago.

Works Cited
Ars Technica
Kotaku Link 1
Kotaku link 2