Latest Beta Release of Steam Features TV Interface: Game Console Next?
By Karla Robinson
November 20, 2012
November 20, 2012
- Valve Software’s digital distribution platform Steam, which has gained 50 million PC users, could threaten console ecosystems as it expands into the living room and potentially creates its own operating system.
- “With Big Picture Mode, a new feature in the latest Steam beta release, Valve’s adding an interface designed specifically for your TV,” reports The Verge. “The company is also actually building game controllers in its labs, and has already produced three different prototypes.”
- Moreover, Valve is developing virtual reality headsets — another way the company can draw in developers.
- “Earlier this month, Valve opened up a beta of Steam for Linux to 1,000 lucky users. Valve didn’t do it quite alone: the company enlisted the support of Nvidia to write Linux drivers, and is working with Intel and AMD as well,” the article explains.
- The move suggests the company could be looking to build its own OS. “Valve could take the same approach that Google took with Android by licensing the operating system to hardware manufacturers, and create a new platform in the process.”
- “Meanwhile, the company’s also experimenting with a program called Steam Greenlight that has the community vote to publish indie games on Steam, possibly attracting innovative, desirable diamonds in the rough that would otherwise appear first on PlayStation Network or Xbox Live Arcade,” the article states.
- “If Valve can own the software and hardware stack with Steam OS and the Steam Box, it will be able to offer a single platform with better specs, a dedicated fanbase, intriguing new hardware, games that just work, and proven delivery mechanisms that get gamers to buy and buy often. If Valve pulls it off, it could be enough to win the living room from Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft.”
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