So as the next gen consoles loom large, Valve unveil their first announcement of the week : SteamOS
Valves offering will expand on the steps they have already taken into living room gaming with the Big Picture functionality, The Linux based system looks to employ features from Steam such as Steam cloud, plus the rather intuitive Daisywheel text entry system for controllers.
This could be the groundwork for the PC to take on the Consoles on their own turf, moving the Platform from the uncomfortable desk/study environment to the comfort of the sofa.
From the description I’d imagine that Valve are looking to bring on-board all the usual services that users currently use via PC,Xbox,PS3 such as Netflix, Last.fm, Hulu, Rhapsody, Twitch, YouTube, this will see the OS evolving from a gaming platform into an entertainment center, setting targets on Microsoft’s “all-in-one entertainment system” tagline of the Xbone .
The one element that I found very to be key to the Valve offering is the “in-home streaming” which looks to take the idea that OnLive was hoping to provide, only without the lag of internet connectivity to contend with, as it will be internal to your Network.
If this works as expected, you can stream your Windows games from your PC to the SteamOS in your living room without waiting for a Linux port to happen.
Looking forward to the next announcements and I hope they build on this first block.
That said time for wild speculation, HalfLife 3, Portal 3, Maybe a HalfLife & Portal 3 combo. 🙂