Valve teases possible Steam Box announcement

Valve has launched a teaser page for a "Steam in the living room" announcement. Is the Steam Box finally on the way?

The Linux-based Steam Box gaming console is possibly one of the biggest gaming teases of the past 18 months. We keep hearing that it's going to happen sometime, with Gabe Newell dropping copious hints — but no firm information.

The wait may be over. In just 17 hours at the time of writing — 3am AEST on 24 September — Valve will be announcing something to expand Steam's living room presence, a teaser site has revealed.

Details are scant at this point, however. "Last year, we shipped a software feature called Big Picture, a user interface tailored for televisions and gamepads," the site says. "This year, we've been working on even more ways to connect the dots for customers who want Steam in the living room."

There will be three separate features announced, according to Polygon, and last week at LinuxCon, Newell made yet another hint about hardware. "Next week, we're going to be rolling out more information about how we get there and what are the hardware opportunities we see for bringing Linux into the living room," he said in his keynote.

Newell had previously hinted that the Steam Box controller will use biometric data as an input method, and gaze tracking will somehow be employed in the unit.

It's also worth noting that Valve seems to be interested in having consumer input. "Soon, we'll be adding you to our design process so that you can help us shape the future of Steam," the site says.