Before I continue, there is a lot more to the upcoming announcements, and for some people today's Steam OS announcement could be pretty cool, but for me... meh.

In large part this is because I don't own any kind of "smart TV". Let's be honest, I still use a "dumb phone", so don't expect me to go all out on a TV that can connect to the internet. Do you think I want my kids to turn on the TV and find my browsing history that one day I forget to erase it.

Anyway, for some people this is great news as it will be a way to bring your gaming completely into that awesome home theater set up you might have. And to those people I ask, "How's the kid free life?" There are still announcements to be made, and I for one am saving my hopes for a Steam Box that could act like a Roku box, but with games. And I still want mouse/keyboard support damn it.

Also, this is just announcements about things to come in a vague timeline of 2014. Things might get a little more specific over the next couple days, but for now we will have to settle for "next year".

But there are suddenly 3 buttons on the game controller on the main page.

Half-Life 3 confirmed.

Orangebox 2, L4D3+HL:3

I'm pretty sure it'll be SteamOS + Steambox + Steam Controller (the Spigot?).

That said, I see the market for sub-$400 Steambox-type PC builds skyrocketing, assuming people don't just buy Valve's version... unless it's just a standard they're establishing...  AMD APU's and microATX for everyone!  *which is ironic because that's basically all the "next gen" consoles are.

If SteamOS comes to the PC as a downloadable stand alone operating system, I will ditch Windows forever. Steam is the ONLY thing holding me back from saying goodbye to Microsoft forever and has been for the last several years.

I still need Windows for other software, and I'm not keen learning Linux at this moment.

All told the only thing I really need a Steam Box for is streaming like a Roku, and a compact gaming option for my kids when they get older. Combine it with the Family share plan I posted about earlier and the Steam box could be a nice family option.

I don't see the Steam box being a niche thing, but I do see it as a way to gain a new customer base Valve may otherwise may not have had; the console players. The normal PC gamers are fine the way they are right now, and don't look to go anywhere.

Also, SteamOS could be in response to comments GabeN made a while back about the crap storm that is Windows 8.

I'm not keen learning Linux at this moment.

And I don't believe GabeN wants you to learn it.

I see the expansion in to the living room a way for him to appeal to a wider audience and forcing them to learn new stuff really isn't the way to accomplish that.  Whatever modifications they've made to Linux (from what I've been hearing, this'll be a flavor of Ubuntu) it's going to be very n00bie friendly. Honestly, Ubuntu, IMO, is already very new-user friendly.