On Monday, Valve made the first of three scheduled announcements this week concerning their plans to expand their reach from the PC to the living room. The first was SteamOS, a Linux-based operating system that can not only run games and applications made for the OS but can also stream PC games from Valve"s Steam library.
Today, Valve announced the second phase of its plan, called Steam Machines. These will basically be PCs that will run SteamOS and will be made by several different, but still unnamed, companies sometime in 2014. Valve has a prototype Steam Machine of its own that it will be sending to 300 outside beta testers.
People who wish to be considered for the Steam Machines beta can sign up at its website. The process includes going on a kind of quest to complete different achievements within the Steam community. Once all of the quests have been accomplished, users will get a special Steam badge and will be eligible for being picked for the Steam Machines beta. The deadline for entering the beta is October 25th.
Valve does say that anyone can build their own Steam Machine box using SteamOS, just like they can build their own Windows or Linux PCs. Shipments of the prototype Steam Machines will go out to beta testers later this year. Valve has yet to reveal the hardware specs of its own prototype.
Source: Valve | Image via Valve