The rumors have been flying recently that Valve is going into the home video game console business with a gaming box that has been dubbed the "Steambox" by gamers and the media.
In a recent Game Informer article, more rumors have been added to the proverbial fire. The reports suggest that the new system will be Linux based rather than Windows.
According to a NeoGAF user's translation of links from German website Golem.de, Valve employee Ben Krasnow spoke at a conference in December about Valve's potential console and said that the console will be coming this year with a possible reveal coming at this year's Game Developers Conference.
Recently, the company has been touting the success of Steam's Big Picture Mode and listing the wants and needs of gamers.
"We're confident in some things that customers want," Valve's Greg Coomer told Kotaku earlier this year. "They want a full-screen experience. They want to be in the living room. They want to use a game controller. They want to have a social gaming experience. And we have this platform that lets us ship a significant portion of that experience."
In a later article by Kotaku, Valve president Gabe Newell hinted that the company would be developing hardware in an attempt to unify gaming environments.
"I think in general that most customers and most developers are going to find that [the PC is] a better environment for them," Newell told Kotaku. "Cause they won't have to split the world into thinking about 'why are my friends in the living room, why are my video sources in the living room different from everyone else?' So in a sense we hopefully are going to unify those environments."
The rumors of the "Steambox" being Linux base shouldn't come as a surprise since Valve's Gabe Newell said that Windows 8 is a 'catastrophe' for PC developers.
"I think Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space. I think we'll lose some of the top-tier PC/OEMs, who will exit the market. I think margins will be destroyed for a bunch of people. If that's true, then it will be good to have alternatives to hedge against that eventuality," Newell said at Seattle's Casual Connect, according to AllThingsD.
So what do you think about the rumored Linux based Steambox? Tell us what you think in the comment section below...
