The mythical “Steam Box” has been an off and on Valve topic for ages, and the introduction of Big Picture back in December only increased the speculation. The company made an announcement back in March that prototypes for the upcoming Steam Box would be ready in about 3 to 4 months.
As is the usual with Valve’s “deadlines”, this has not proved to be true. In between that time and now, there has been a general blanket silence from Valve with regards to their latest pet project.
However, earlier this week at LinuxCon while promoting Steam on Linux, Gabe Newell, the head of Valve announced that the company planned to reveal details about the Steam Box next week. That such emphasis would be made while at a Linux convention leads many gamers to believe that the Box will be Linux-based. What other conclusions to draw from a statement such as “Linux is the future”?
Now, Valve has said that it will make three separate Steam-related announcements next week regarding “gaming in the living room” along with a launch of a teaser site.
Entitled “The Steam Universe is Expanding in 2014”, the page is a countdown that will end at 1PM EST on Monday, September 23 as well as these planetary images and symbols.
I feel the need for Heroes music.
On the site, Valve states that “this year, we’ve been working on even more ways to connect the dots for customers who want Steam in the living room.”
Further clarification comes in the form of a follow-up email to Polygon, where a representative adds, “We will be talking next week about the steps we’re taking to make Steam more accessible on televisions and in the living room.”
Sorry guys, for those of you holding out hope for a Half-Life 3 announcement… you’re going to be holding on for at least a little while longer.
