Valve are getting ready to roll out Steam-enabled PCs that you can hook up to your TV next year, company founder, Gabe Newell, shared with Kotaku during a recent interview.
These PCs, according to Newell, won’t be as open-source or malleable as regular computers, but will be targeted at consumers that want a “turnkey solution” for unifying their PC and their living room entertainment.
“Well certainly our hardware will be a very controlled environment,” Newell said. “If you want more flexibility, you can always buy a more general purpose PC.” Newell goes on to add that the advantage of PCs is in different kinds of packages available, which lets buyers decide what would suit them best.
Additionally, Valve may not be the only company releasing these types of PCS. Newell expects other companies will roll out similar packages, too, and that they will compete directly with the next generation of consoles.
While standardized PC hardware sounds like a fantastic proposition, the question is just how much these PCs will be restricted in terms of what you can do with them. What OS would they run on, for instance, and what software would they support? We’ll find out next year.
