Valve officially launched the Big Picture mode for its Steam PC game download service earlier this week. It"s designed to be used with a big screen television and with gamepads, but at the moment very few PCs are designed specifically to be hooked up to a TV like game consoles.
Valve"s Gabe Newell thinks that will change in 2013. In an interview with Kotaku, Newell states that reaction to Steam"s Big Picture mode has been "stronger than expected". Valve is also working on a Linux port for Steam and Newell says he wants the Big Picture mode for the Linux port.
In turn, that could lead Valve and other companies to release living room PCs that are designed to be similar to game consoles in 2013. Newell states:
I think in general that most customers and most developers are gonna find that [the PC is] a better environment for them. Cause they won"t have to split the world into thinking about "why are my friends in the living room, why are my video sources in the living room different from everyone else?" So in a sense we hopefully are gonna unify those environments.
Newell hints that any Steam Big Picture PCÂ from their own company will feature "a very controlled environment". In other words, it will be more of a closed hardware system similar to a game console. He adds, "If you want more flexibility, you can always buy a more general purpose PC. For people who want a more turnkey solution, that"s what some people are really gonna want for their living room."
Source: Kotaku | Image via Valve