All about Valve's Steam Box?

I feel the need to talk a bit about Valve's rumored Steam Box. Or, by now, we could say it's not a rumor anymore. With all the information that Valve provided, we know for sure that it's only a matter of time until they release this PC-based gaming console.

What do we know?

Well, so far we know for sure that a prototype existed at least since around Q4 2011. This spring (starting March or so) people talked about a box with an Intel Core i7 processor, 8 GB of RAM and an NVIDIA GPU.

But that was just a prototype and as we know some time will pass until a product will be ready for mass production, we can expect some upgrades on those components.

It's also a sure thing that Valve is interested in some custom hardware. I read about the company having filled a patent for a pretty interesting controller - one that could allow certain parts to be removed or added, in order for the gamer to customize it for a certain game/game genre etc.

There are also people talking about custom software - probably a custom Steam interface to work with the controller.

And last but not least, we pretty much know what Valve is trying to achieve. They want to give PC gamers a midway between PCs and consoles, so they won't be limited on playing on monitors anymore. They want to make the Steam Box something that won't limit those who are used to PC, but also something that will give them all the advantages of a gaming console.

What can we expect?

Let's jump to some conclusions based on the information we have above. First of all, the base of the Steam Box is supposed to be a PC, while the platform will support all PC games. So it's not to hard to think that, although Valve is porting Steam and Source (along with their Source games) to Linux, Windows is far more likely to be used. After all, they want and need to support non-Source games as well if they want to have any chance with this product.

There's not much to say about the hardware - they'll obviously keep the Steam Box relatively small, for it to compete with consoles, they'll most likely have a pretty neat case, but not something out of the ordinary (they're not Apple). The tech on the controller is something that I can't really predict. I'm sure that it might be, if not the main feature, at least of the the strong points of the Steam Box.

Considering Valve wants to make it work without a mouse and keyboard (although it's very likely for them to to allow for such devices to be used), they might consider replacing Window's shell (interface) with one of their own, if they won't have any legal issues doing so. Basically, what this would mean is that instead of the regular desktop booting up, a custom interface will be shown that will allow users to interact in a more streamlined manner using the controller.

So I can imagine it as being a pretty cool product that might not only survive to the competitors, but also overtake them. But we'll have to wait and see...

When is it coming?

There's lots of factors that come into play here, so it's extremely hard to even give a very loose estimate. But I'm gonna make a prediction here - maybe I'll nail it, maybe I won't. I have a feeling that the Steam Box will be officially announced at E3 2014.

There's too much work to do on both the software and the hardware for it to be released in 2013. And with the production time and marketing and all that other stuff that has to be done carefully, even 2014 might make me sound like an optimist.

Even so, I wouldn't be too surprised to see the Steam Box on the market (and sold out) on the Christmas Eve of 2014.

We're counting on you, Valve. Help us have a merry Christmas two years from now.