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According to a new report from The Verge, Valve is preparing to launch a set top box to compete with consoles, allegedly dubbed the Steam Box, and the announcement could come as soon as next week.Citing "uncovered information" from unnamed sources, the tech blog says that Valve is developing a platform for low-cost, micro-sized PCs that would offer access to Steam's vast library of games, but in a streamlined console-style experience. It's possible that Valve be producing a Steam Box of its own, but other manufacturers will also be able to develop hardware for the platform.The report claims that baseline models will have an Intel Core i7 CPU, NVIDIA GPU and 8GBs of RAM, such as the Alienware X51, which may have been designed to be a Steam Box-capable device.Valve is also allegedly developing an array of USB accessories, including a controller with modular control schemes like Mad Catz's MLG Pro Circuit Controller, and biometric sensors that change in-game elements to match your behavior.The Steam Box platform could make its debut at Game Developers Conference (GDC), though the report states that Valve could hold the announcement until E3.
The Valve console—which seems like more of a hardware standard than say, a Steam 64 or ValveStation—would be a set-top box that can run PC games and use Steam or even competing services such as Origin, according to the report. Unlike the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, multiple manufacturers could be allowed to make it. Game developers wouldn't have to pay for a licensing fee to Valve for the privilege of making games for this console, bucking the standards of Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft, which charge game creators to make games on theirs.
