Valve unveils Steam Machines; gaming PCs running on Steam OS

Valve has made its second big announcement this week: Steam Machines . The company made the announcement last night as part of its new Living Room initiative. Steam Machines are essentially going to be PCs sold by manufacturers that have partnered with Valve. These computers will come in a variety of form factors and will all run on Steam OS, which is based on Linux.

Before the launch of the major Steam Machines, however, Valve will be releasing its own prototype machine. The company plans to carry out a hardware beta test for these computers. Users can sign up for the closed beta, but they have to go through a number of steps before they are eligible for even being picked. Currently, there are more than 30,000 applicants to the beta, out of which 300 will get their hands on the Valve prototype. The deadline for beta sign-ups is October 25.

Guess those rumours about the Steambox weren’t completely unfounded

“While these products are still in development, we need your help,” says the Steam Machine website. “As always, we believe the best way to ensure that the right products are getting made is to let people try them out and then make changes as we go. We have designed a high-performance prototype that’s optimized for gaming, for the living room, and for Steam. Of course, it’s also completely upgradable and open.”

Valve hopes that Steam Machines will be out by the start of 2014 from a number of manufacturers. Along with this, users will also be able to download and try out Steam OS on their own computers without buying anything extra.

With Steam OS and Steam Machines out of the way, Valve is gearing up for one final announcement on Friday. A self-proclaimed Valve employee had earlier “ leaked ” some information about these leaks, and if that person’s words are anything to go by, Valve will be unveiling an OpenGL-based Source 2 game engine.