Valve head honcho Gabe Newell confirms a long running rumour at the Spike Video Game Awards (VGAs)-- the Half Life developer will sell home theatre PCs (HTPCs) sometime during 2013.
Newell tells Kotaku the decision follows the "stronger than expected" rection to "Big Picture," a TV-friendly interface for Valve's online software storefront, Steam. This only means PC gamers want to enjoy games through the creature comforts of their sofas and big screen TVs, just like their console brethren do.
Yes, Newell says, this also means Valve will compete with Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo in the war for the world's living rooms.
Big Picture is tailored for joypad input, with a new web browser and typing through a "Daisywheel" system.
A Steam PC will not run on Windows-- it will be a Linux machine, allowing Valve "more flexibility" for development. This was only expected. One might remember how back in September 2012 Newell expressed his distaste for Windows 8, describing it as a "kind of a disaster" causing "catastrophe" for PC OEMs.
Newell expects a number of OEMs will start selling the mini-gaming-PCs similar to what he describes-- even if the Valve offering will possibly not be as open-source or customisable as the average PCs. It might even use proprietary input hardware, since the company also dabbles (behind closed doors) in "post-touch" input devices.
Go Gabe Newell: Living Room PCs Will Compete with Next-Gen Consoles (Kotaku)
