It's Happening.

[Varrok]

The second announcement is hardware for SteamOS. We've seen that coming

[Crashpunk]

I'm looking so hard at the sun trying to see any hidden imagery in it.

Oh god.

I'm blind.

[Havoc]

Get your badge on Steam and you might win a beta version of the Steam box :O

[Manco]

OK, I think everyone knew there were hardware boxes coming. But that O + O is killing me and there doesn’t seem to be a clear answer to what it will be.

I still think they’re going to set up a system for streaming Steam games from cloud servers – it’s a good solution to their problem of the Steam library being dominated by Windows-only games. But I’m not so sure it’s going to be the next announcement, because of that last line:

Am I going to be using a mouse and a keyboard in the living-room?
If you want. But Steam and SteamOS work well with gamepads, too. Stay tuned, though - we have some more to say very soon on the topic of input.

Do you think the last announcement will be SteamOS-compatible peripherals? That seems a bit of an anticlimax, but that last line seems to strongly suggest it.

But then we already know gamepads will be supported, because that’s what their drive to add Big Picture support to games was all about. Plus, why announce the hardware box and the peripherals separately? Are the peripherals going to be that big of a deal?

[Varrok]

I think it's steam sharing.

[Nepsotic]

I want a Steam Machine beta. I know there's no way in hell I'd get one out of 300, but still. Sucks that I don't have a gamepad.

[Havoc]

I think it's steam sharing.

Wasn't that already officially announced though?

[Manco]

Announced and put in beta, right?

Remember: everything they’re announcing for this thing is based around 2014, not near-future stuff.

[Mr. Bungle]

So if this steam box is released, does it mean that every game currently on the Steam market will be playable on my TV?

Cause that would be pretty damn rad.

[Havoc]

So if this steam box is released, does it mean that every game currently on the Steam market will be playable on my TV?

Cause that would be pretty damn rad.

Yes and no. You'll be able to stream games (think that has been confirmed, not sure) to SteamOS from any PC in your home network, essentially playing them on your TV. But there's no telling how good that's going to work. It's been tried in the past and failed miserably.

[Varrok]

Oh right, I forgot.

[Manco]

So if this steam box is released, does it mean that every game currently on the Steam market will be playable on my TV?

Cause that would be pretty damn rad.

Yes and no. You'll be able to stream games (think that has been confirmed, not sure) to SteamOS from any PC in your home network, essentially playing them on your TV. But there's no telling how good that's going to work. It's been tried in the past and failed miserably.

Pretty much, yes. To give it some more detail:

• A machine running SteamOS will be able to install and natively run some of the games in the Steam library (Linux games most likely)
• If you have a PC running the Steam client you can stream games to a SteamOS machine and play them through that.
• Games with controller and Big Picture support will probably play best, but they have said you’ll be able to use keyboard and mouse for SteamOS if you want.
• There’s currently no way to run non-native games on SteamOS without streaming them from another PC, though.

EDIT: Confirmation that Steam Machines will have controllers. If that info’s already out there, I wonder if that makes it less likely their third announcement is about input.

[Havoc]

I hope there will be drivers for Xbox and Playstation controller support for Steam OS. New controllers are fun and all, but I don't like changing something that isn't broken. The Xbox 360 controllers is probably the nicest controller I've ever played with so I prefer to keep it.

The third announcement might be about the new way they want to run the Steam store. Turning it into sort of an API instead of a controlled environment or something.

[Phylum]

The easier option for Vale would just be to allow people to install/create custom drivers, and the community will have 360 controller support within a week.

[Varrok]

SteamOS will be opensource. They can just do nothing and there will be console controller support anyway

[Manco]

Bear in mind the Xbox 360 controller drivers are made by Microsoft and built into Windows – while it’s feasible that Valve can make their own (and they probably will since a lot of Steam games now have built-in controller support), there may be some difficulties in making it happen.

That said, the PS3 controller has third-party drivers and I know of at least one Mac OS X port of the 360 pad’s drivers, so I’d imagine it can’t be that hard.

SteamOS will be opensource. They can just do nothing and there will be console controller support anyway

A big part of PC gaming has always been modding, too – I would bank on Valve encouraging people to get involved. I have to imagine Valve will be trying to bring in Steam Workshop and other stuff, too, to try and sweeten the deal.

[MeechMunchie]

As GabeN said in the video I posted: "We don't want to compete with our content creators. We'll lose, very quickly."

Valve's greatest trick always was letting the community make their products more appealing for no pay.

Also,

O - SteamOS
[O] - SteamOS in a box
O+O - SteamOS cloud communication (maybe)

[Havoc]

O+O represents the face of the internet when they announce Half-Life 3.

[Crashpunk]

Looks like the backend of an Y-Wing from Star Wars to me.

[Havoc]

Star Wars. Wars. Half-life 2 was about war. Half-life 3 confirmed!

[Nepsotic]

Yay for original jokes.

[Havoc]

Jokes? Alyx told (bad) jokes. Half-life 3 confirmed!

[Manco]

It’s a controller.

e: Holy shit this thing’s actually kinda crazy. Two high-res trackpads in place of thumbsticks, a touch-screen in the center, full haptic feedback instead of rumble, and it’s designed with legacy support of keyboard and mouse games in mind.

[Havoc]

Interesting design. Makes me wonder how much it's going to cost since it doesn't look like a very cheap controller.

[Manco]

Knowing Valve there’ll be a flash sale.

[MeechMunchie]

A new generation of super-precise haptic feedback, employing dual linear resonant actuators.

Well, that clears that up.

This thing'll be perfect for Aquaria. That game always felt like you needed two mice to play it properly.

I'm still in no rush to buy one, though. M&KB suits me fine. I can't imagine cursor control being more responsive than it is on a mouse; "Push distance x in direction -> Go distance x in direction" beats "Push in direction -> Move at set speed in direction"

[Havoc]

The layout of the buttons is completely retarded btw. What happens if I need to run and press Y at the same time?

[OANST]

Why are you running, and playing video games at the same time? Sit down and play them, stupid.

[Crashpunk]

I really don't like that design. It looks awkward to hold.

[Bullet Magnet]

The layout of the buttons is completely retarded btw. What happens if I need to run and press Y at the same time?

You change the controls configuration.