Valve has taken this week to present a series of three announcements related to their endeavor to move PC gaming from the desk to the living room. The announcements included a new operating system called SteamOS, a set of living room focused gaming PCs called Steam Machines, which are of varying specs made by an unnamed set of hardware manufacturers. There is also a new controller known as the Steam Controller. All of these newly announced products are to be open source, and are intended to be tinkered with by the users and shared, akin to the Steam Workshop. Each of these new products represents a bold new step for Valve, as they have never previously entered into the given markets for these products. One notion people have taken to in describing Valve's intent with these products is that they are "bridging the gap" between PC and console gaming. This description however implies that Valve sees the videogame market as a binary (you'd love it if I said domain wouldn't you?) environment in which there are two classes of hardware, the PC, and the not PC, also known as the console. This initiative by Valve however is more likely an attempt to create and diversify a middle ground between the products, creating a spectrum of gaming hardware and capabilities for the consumer.
Each of the products are interesting, because while they can be used individually, they also provide a cohesive level of functionality when used in unison. The result is something similar to a console, with an operating system designed for gaming, a system with all parts included, and a controller which provides the comfort typically associated with console gaming (as long as the controller works as intended, something which is currently being debated in various forums and comment threads). The parts, taken individually and used by themselves or in pairs, are where the notion of a spectrum comes in, since each of these products can be used to more "consolize" the experience of PC gaming.
The operating system can used to optimize gaming functionality while most likely stripping away some of the less necessary functions for gaming away. This could lead to a situation in which a gamer has a desktop PC devoted to gaming, and other less powerful systems (such as a laptop, or a phone, or a tablet) for web browsing, word processing, and other functions requiring a minimally powerful computer. One of the interesting facets of the SteamOS is that it is Linux based. Linux is not typically used for gaming, but Valve has taken a liking to this kernel, and has said that games they have used with the SteamOS have increased graphical functions (due to the more limited nature of the operating system), and that this will allow for user made modifications and customization. The SteamOS seems like an attempt to have PC gaming call back to the old days of console gaming, where the systems were only designed for playing games, and as a result were able to have greater graphical capabilities with more limited hardware.
This of course ties into the next aspect, the Steam Machine. This aspect of the recent announcements represents the greatest mystery, as little detail was provided about this device. It will run SteamOS, it will have varying hardware, it will be made by more than one company, and the user will be able to tinker with it. Without further detail, it is difficult to comment on the nature and usability of the device, but it is likely safe to assume that it will be designed with a casual user in mind. The idea behind having many companies make the device, and have different capabilities, lends the user more say in what they want in their gaming system, and allows for a healthy level of competition, which would likely keep prices down. Having these devices use SteamOS means that they will not need to use as expensive hardware as usual, since there won't be superfluous functionality in the operating system.
Enigmatic in a different way is the Steam Controller, which has been subject to many "Wut" type comments. Most notably, two trackpads are present where one might expect two joysticks, a sort of double middle fingers up to the rest of the world of controller design. The trackpads are designed to emulate the function of a mouse and keyboard in a more conventionally designed gamepad form. There's also a touchscreen in the middle of the controller, and numerous buttons one can press without lifting their fingers, and many more if one is willing put in the extra effort. Valve also described a new type of feedback, called Haptic feedback. This will create very specified areas of rumble, meant for providing feedback about the location of one's thumb on the trackpad. The keyboard and mouse will still be usable in this environment, as will controllers made by competitors.
All of these functions and features combine to provide a spectrum of gaming functions, and appears to meet the upcoming generation of consoles in something of a middle ground, with their recent extension of non-gaming functions provided with the consoles. A gamer will now be able to dictate to what level their gaming experience will tend to be PC like or Console like, or how open or closed they want the architecture behind the games to be, or how they want to control their game, from keyboard and mouse, to Steam Controller, to a more conventionally designed console controller like the Xbox 360's controller. A gamer could also perhaps have all control options available, depending on the game, or the where the game is being played (such as the desk or living room), or just the mood of the gamer at the time.
All of this could represent an exciting new direction for gaming. Conversely, this could end up being confusing to the type of gamers who would benefit from this most, with a non-standardized box, a strange controller compared to what is en vogue, and an unfamiliar operating system, notably one which is based in a kernel which hasn't been embraced by game makers, and certainly isn't familiar to casual users. This is a major experiment for Valve, and one in which they are endeavoring into areas of gaming in which they are unfamiliar. The benefits of this for gaming however could be important, since it could create a market in which people are able to tailor their own gaming experience, and create a gaming system which is suited to their environment and preferences, and one in which people would be less reliant on a single piece of hardware, since their devices could work in unison. A gamer could theoretically have one set up in their den, and another in their living room and theoretically be able to jump between the two.
One must keep in mind however that this is the simply the start of what Valve is doing. If this idea becomes popular of tailoring one's gaming environment, and upgrading the individual parts of one's gaming setup, then this could put the console manufacturers in a tough place in five or ten years, and may require them to adapt, since console hardware is typically set in place at the beginning of a generation, and changes are rare beyond upgrades to hard drive space. If Valve creates a market in which a spectrum of hardware and software options are available, and the console manufacturers are designing for a binary market, it could certainly put the console manufacturers in check. Of course, this entails a success of all aspects of Valve's new plan, and all of that, if it ever happens, will certainly take awhile. Valve however seems ready to commit to this initiative, and who knows, maybe they'll have some sort of third installment of a popular game franchise ready for this big push next year. Crazier things have happened, and Valve are nothing if not risk takers.
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