I'm absolutely glowing right now. This announcement confirms that Steam Machines are the only next-gen system worth getting...and I might even be able to run it for the cost of the controller!

Ok. Hyperbolic, sugar-fueled excitement aside. Here are my absolute plusses:
😹 Symmetric design so southpaws (like myself) can switch orientation with no detrimental effects
😹 Touch-screen overlay will also go to television so you don't look away
😹 No physical sticks, reducing damage from wear and tear
😹 Haptic feedback from various parts of the controller instead of just "rumble"
😹 Any game can be played with the controller even if the game didn't know controllers were a thing
😹 Even Valve admits they're not sure what can be done with the built-in touchscreen
😹 Sharing configs can be done via Big Picture for any game
😹 The Steam community (us - as in we, not as in USA) will be involved in the design and functionality of the controller

Remember, too, that this is just the announcement. So, the look of the controller is likely to change by next year when my sweaty hands can touch one. As will some of the functionality, as well. Much like Big Picture and Steam for Linux over the past year, it can only get better.

There's an enthusiasm behind this that doesn't just feel like media hype. It feels like Valve is committed to making the Steam Machines and SteamOS the premiere gaming platforms. And hell...you can even DIY if that's your gig.

I don't get the impression from these announcements that Valve is trying to attract investors or repair shareholders' broken confidence. That's because Valve doesn't have either of those things to worry about. Valve appears to be seeking partners, corporate or otherwise. The Steam community itself is a partner that Valve is already reaching out to.

Sony, Microsoft and even Nintendo seem to be apologizing to gamers for the decisions they've made in the recent past and hoping that their newest trinkets will sate your desire for shiny new things and make you forget their thinly-veiled lock-in attempts. Valve instead seems to be looking forward to the future by allowing customization and personal builds, even to the point of 3D printing your own controller.

This is what competition in the marketplace was supposed to be before the big guys started tipping everything in their own favor, creating an unbalanced playing field. Until the rise of indie games, this may not have been possible. Until there was money flowing outside the grasp of the large players, could Valve attempt something like this.

Valve has and will continue to have a healthy revenue stream for years to come and this guarantees it. One reason is that the cost of the OS is...well...zero. Another is that you're not forced into buying one. If you're already playing on Steam, just keep calm & keep on paying. Or playing.

Since the OS costs nothing and anyone can run it, tweak it to build their own and run it on their own hardware means that interested parties will hack away at it. Even if they buy very little, they'll bring exposure to those that will. Additionally, those that do use Steam a lot can run it on the hardware they already have. Sure, there may be some bells and whistles that may only be available on a Valve-branded box but we're not there yet.

The low-key, by comparison to spending hundreds of millions of dollars (http://adage.com/article/digital/xbox-playstation-prep-bruising-ad-spending-battle/242141/), marketing campaign by Valve also disarms knee-jerk skeptics like myself. It does so by suggesting that you don't even have to buy one to be included. Valve's aim is to sell, but it doesn't matter if it's games via Steam or Steam Machines themselves, so long as you're spending through Valve.

Valve's been good to me so far and since coming to Linux, they've only made things better. They've worked with players from all distributions to try and provide as comfortable a ride for whomever cares to ride along. That experience working with so many distributions may prove to be vital as they build their own.

I think that may be part of the reason that a) Valve has asked for the community's involvement and b) the prototypes aren't shipping with screens. Flexible touchscreen with a physical button underneath?

Could do a complete write-up on that or Tommy Refenes' (Super Meat Boy's hacky genius) reaction and comparision to the 360 controller: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/TommyRefenes/20130928/201219/My_time_with_the_Steam_Controller.php

His comment feeds right to the heart of the most annoying FUD regarding Linux gaming: There is no money to be made there. More nonsense.

Is there less money to be made? Yes. Is there no money to be made? No. The money is there, just not in the volumes it is for Windows.

Got the badge, too. Seven minutes after the announcement. Hoping that I, too, am one of the 300 selected.

A lot of Steam games are designed for mouse and keyboard, so it's going to be interesting to see how Friday's announcement addresses that group of players.

Why is it ugh?

OMGOMGOMG! We finally have a release date (Sorta!) and details (Mostly)! SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY, VALVE!

Dang, I need to go pick up a gamepad so I can get the badge. I meet all the other requirements.

Oh and @Hardeyez, you (or anyone from CG who is reading this) can friend me on Steam. I go by whiteboyslim on there as well. Plus you can find me in the CheerfulGhost Steam group. :)

I'm interested in both. If I can get a decent rig provided by Steam, awesome. OTOH, if I can just build my own mini-computer and since, it'll be dual-bootable, boot to the media center when I won't be gaming. This is all subject to change since we're still talking next year before they're available for purchase.

@whiteboyslim - +1 for the Logitech F-series if you don't have an XBOX 360 controller to use. Good solid controllers and Steam recognizes and configures them automatically.

Troll or not, there are some pretty accurate facts about why Linux is a good choice for Valve. Full customization of the OS to their liking...right down to the kernel level.

Every year since 1989 has been the year of the Linux desktop. >_<

AMD really has no choice but to start working on their drivers. I follow the Linux Steam client bugtracker on github and there are a number of issues regarding ATI drivers from AMD. If it took the announcement of Steam Machines to get AMD to sit up and take notice, then so be it.

Valve developers announced early on via their blog (http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/faster-zombies/) that they were able to work directly with the hardware manufacturers. Even then, the improvements that came about through that joint venture were already being shared with Linux users. So, I think Valve has already shown that they really do want to make Linux just as viable a gaming platform as Windows. At times, I think even more so.

The impact from this is going to be immense. It's awesome to see Valve's grand plan coming together in stages. Things are really starting to coalesce now.

The Family Sharing option makes sense given the context of a living room setup. As stated before, the functionality was always present but the presentation was different. Viewed in this light, this is no different than the setup on the PlayStation 3.

The ability to run the OS on your own hardware OR purchase from OEMs is also huge. That means that Valve doesn't even really have to make their own Steambox. They can simply approve certain specs and offer a licensing mechanism for getting the Valve logo.

Streaming from Steam to SteamOS devices on the network is a great feature. Being able to use one machine as a KVM switch for another and viewing a remote desktop are both existing technologies that once again Valve has packaged in a way that Grandma Gamer can do it without having to become a programmer.

The streaming feature is clever and a clever workaround for the lack of AAA titles that are playable via Linux at this time. Mentioning that AAA titles are in the works for 2014 is a way of indirectly acknowledging the severe lack of such titles right now. So, in the meantime, you can play them using your SteamOS device as a proxy via the streaming option. That's thinking with Portals!

Since Valve has shown they are looking forward, here's what I'm hoping we'll see when the magical day of transformation of my living room commences, a trio of "...3" titles and a new SDK:

- Left4Dead3
- Half-Life 3
- Team Fortress 3
- Source 3

I'm a cranky, old bastard and tend to be the first to criticize something. It's my way of remaining skeptical and reserving judgment for later. However, I have so little to criticize about Valve's approach to bringing their console to market.

Valve is throwing pieces out there, little scraps for the wanting to feed on, and waiting for reactions from community and media. Since they don't have an existing console to support nor a legacy to uphold, Valve is doing what they can to ensure the released product has strong support at launch.

Just had a similar conversation about Linux-first exclusives on the SteamLUG community discussions. Sadly, the requirements from Greenlight, which is the method for game submission to Steam, still have a minimum requirement of Windows operability. Also, do not forget the 1% revenue factor. To ignore the large base of Windows users would be to do your own game a disservice.

Open should be about inclusivity not exclusivity. Ideally, games could be released for a multitude of platforms with cross-play being a side effect of having used standard libraries or having developed with cross-compatibility as a firsthand goal.

The issue with a lot of traditional marketing is how blind it is to the idea that there is a lot of room in the ocean of available customers. It's not necessary to corner or own a market any more and I get the impression that Valve knows this. The Steambox just has to sell enough units to justify its continued production, not overwhelm and overtake the PS4 and XBOX One.

@shockwave There is a slim-to-none chance that your entire Steam library (unless you run Linux exclusively) is going to be available at launch...or ever. It is clear that Windows' only interest to Valve is revenue. That market is just too large to ignore. However, Gabe has said several times publicly that Linux holds the future of gaming.

That being said, maybe Travis is onto something: HL3 - Cross-platform at launch, but console exclusive to the Steambox.

@shockwave My understanding of the streaming is that your gaming PC will stream to the Steam Machine then to the TV. I misread your statement as an expectation of your entire library running natively. That is unlikely to happen.

I remember the first Wizardry. That game was so hard I came to regard it as a party-building simulator; I never made it past the first level.

I already bought Fez after watching IGTM. So thankful that I don't have to reboot into Windows to play it. And the framerate is better in Linux.

Pleased to get Mark of the Ninja. Klei has some really good titles under their belt. Looking forward to playing more of that one.

Was pleased to see that all of the Steam keys validated and all of the titles were available for Linux within hours of the HiB being posted. I would have to dig a little deeper, but I believe this also the first time that ALL of the titles were available in Steam for Linux so close to release.

@Adym - Do yourself a favor and go snag a Logitech F310. With the exception of Bit.Trip Runner 2, games recognize it as an XBOX controller and I didn't have to configure a thing. Works way better than trying to use any number of methods to convince your computer the PS3 controller belongs there.

Unless you're doing wireless, then you'll want the F710. Sorry. I sit at my computer so I don't mind a wired controller.

It's the cords. As great as the XBOX breakaway design was, it was still annoying when someone would get up and accidentally sever the cord.

This new feature is not really new. It's just a repackaging of what @hardeyez and many others are already doing. The key difference here is that your credentials don't have to be entered in another user account or even on a remote machine.

Sadly, this doesn't parallel the ability of being able to loan games to a friend or family member. Understandably so. Somewhere in the decision-making for adding/revamping this feature is revenue generation. If players can share a title at a time, there's less incentive for the recipient to purchase a copy for themselves. Perhaps implementing something similar to the PlayStation Store's 60-minute trials would be a viable option.

The timing is right to make this announcement, though. With the XBox One and the PS4 launches right around the corner, Valve is wise to address some of the concerns that gamers have brought up to the current console manufacturers about digital distribution and DRM before the arrival of the Steam console.

I am curious to see how this feature develops, if at all, over the course of the next few months in the beta. If anyone gets in, please be sure to keep the rest of us posted.

You don't necessarily have to share your password. You could log in via TeamViewer or something similar and log in remotely, never providing your credentials to the other party. Saving them would then prevent them from knowing your credentials.

One area where this is better, though, is that the player sharing the library can't make purchases on your behalf. That is a marked improvement over the current system.

I guess the real question I mean to be asking is this:
Would you really step aside from your library of games long enough to let someone else play?

Would you let them play all three Mass Effects in one run-through? Would you let them take your library for three days?

I'll be perfectly honest: Nope! Not going to happen.

Timed trials ala the PS3 would still provide that benefit, too. Using Steam's already existent DRM structure would probably make that easily enforceable.

I don't deny that this is a feature that many will find use for. I just think the hype is overpowering the reality at the moment.

Also, from what I gather, Jon could just do a remote session via Hangouts or something similar and share said game, too. :)