SteamOS
store.steampowered.com
store.steampowered.com
Is anyone else skeptical that they can motivate publishers to spend time/money porting their games to the Linux platform?
Valve certainly has a better chance than most at pulling this off (and likely enough user/market data to make this seem like a valid investment) I am still super skeptical that these publishers are going to spend the time porting their AAA releases to this platform.
A good chunk of the console games barely make it to PC/Windows as it is, let alone a PC/Linux platform... seems like a tough sell.
If the goal is an entertainment OS with streaming and DVR capabilities in addition to the few Linux compatible games on Steam, that's a bit different of a story but not a huge commercial win I don't think (unless they having some amazing partnerships planned with Netflix/Amazon/Vudu/Hulu for streaming that I am not thinking of).
If the goal is to make Steam into an entertainment platform (not just games) it is interesting to watch all these platforms converge on this "entertainment delivery pipeline" solution.
> Watch for announcements in the coming weeks about all the AAA titles coming natively to SteamOS in 2014.
But more importantly, control of Steam gives Valve a lot of leverage in this. It's easy to see the reasons for Linux support in indie games. But harder to see why mid-tier developers like Paradox or Eugen started to port their latest games to Linux. It's a good bet that some kind of a Steam-related carrot was involved there.
My (possibly very incorrect) assumption was that the profit from the Linux sales were so low as to not matter, but maybe they can provide a catalog-wide carrot... something more significant (as you suggested) to motivate the publisher en-masse.
The PS4 and Xbox1 both are literally built on top of DirectX11, meaning that games for next-gen consoles (read: AAA) will be DirectX by DEFAULT but will certainly not be OpenGL by default.
And OpenGL is a requirement for Linux support of these games.
How Valve is strong arming manufacturers into writing the graphics code for their games in BOTH frameworks is beyond me. I'm not sure the major engines out there support both either.
But Microsoft won a massive coup this generation with all consoles being Win7 developer kits + Visual Studio 2012 + DirectX 11.
With Microsoft providing the major tools for AAA-games, it's going to be harder going forward, not easier, for the Linux proponents to make their case and win.
20 years ago, if someone asked to raise a quarter of a billion into a video game, they'd be laughed out of the building. Now it happens often. Over the years, increasingly big-budget games got funded and created.
So, all they need to do is to replicate a similar process. First you move all the indie games and source engine games to linux to "bootstrap" your market. Maybe make them free or a few bucks. Once you have a paying userbase from that, you show financials to bigger fish in an attempt to draw them in. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Even better is the fact that publishers love "free money" that doesn't require them to gamble. A port of an already successful game is much less risky than a new game. And (conditions permitting, like engine support) it costs a very small amount compared to the actual budget. So they can work on smaller margins to still turn a healthy profit.
Games are not fire and forget anymore. Now it's all about downloadable content and In-Game-Currency (which is basically a way to allow gambling legally)
Just being profitable initially doesn't mean jack. I think everyone learned that from the emails from Jobs and the Printing industry (and what i'd give to read the ones with the music industry...)
One of the announcements is widely believe to be the long-rumored Steam Box hardware...
They might not get as much money on the games themselves initially, but they'd make so much more on the hardware (they don't need to all Blu-ray and all the extra crap, so they could be profitable on it), and it would also be a great way to seed their console into the market, so developers target it.
2. Steambox
3a. some VR peripheral (looks like a VR goggle/headset to me)
3b. some special cross-play between Steambox and Windows/Mac/Linux
3c. cross play between steambox and PS4
In addition to that the Hardware should also be opensourced, like how to build the most optimal gaming console to work on Steam OS...
But It will all come down to the gaming pad, how the gaming pad will be designed and how it will integrate with build your own systems
I think SteamOS is just going to be a highly tuned distro, since Valve really doesn't have the man power (or the internal motivation) to build an entirely new platform. However, they are trying to make it seem like a new and different platform so that the distributors and studios will take notice and say "Maybe we should develop for this." In doing so they'll be developing for Linux at large, they just might not know it.
* Develop a XrossMediaBar like UI
* Devote resources to Wayland or Mir to reach production quality
* Create a new audio subsystem, or bring OSS v4 up to date for Linux
If I heard something like Valve dedicating 5 programmers on Wayland and 2 on OSS, SteamBox could be a serious contender for my next console purchase.
A hunch I have is that developers are unwilling to target linux because of its diversity. By providing SteamOS they are providing a stable target for developers to release games against instead of trying to support all Linux distros.
Absolutely agree with you on the unifying effect of SteamOS being a single target for devs; that by itself, as you are pointing out, will drive more development for the platform. Gives everyone a target to aim at.
I'd say there is hope. Especially as most (and I'm guessing here) PC revenue comes from Steam anyway.
Moving toward an upstreaming, open-source, GNU/Linux platform means that not only do they have more fine-tuned control of everything, but also that there are _many_ more sets of eyes and hands to find/fix problems and to help contribute to the gaming and Linux ecosystem as a whole.
After seeing nVidia's CEO making his keynote for a new line of video cards on a Ubuntu powered laptop[1], I have no doubt that there are many companies other than Valve that see the great potential in this.
From the demand angle, lots of games are console only because they fear piracy on PC versions. But if all these console users are offered a cheap new platform they can use just as easily as their consoles, it's safe to say that many of the users who buy a steambox would start buying games on it too. Console gamers aren't going to suddenly turn into torrent junkies because they wouldn't need to. This would make the PC platform profitable again. And if they start pricing games cheaper, like Steam games are liable to be, piracy would go down even further. Lots of indie PC titles are making money after-all.
Overall, I think once it hits a critical mass it would be a fantastic idea for all parties involved.
That said, OpenGL is an increasingly relevant player due to WebGL, mobile devices, Apple's growing market share, etc. It is also possible to simultaneously target OpenGL and DirectX with things like ANGLE. If your game is written in OpenGL, it is relatively easy to port to different operating systems, assuming you don't rely heavily on platform-specific libraries (and if you already support Mac, it is typically even easier to port to other *nix-based platforms). If the XBox One is OGL capable (via its Windows layer), porting could get even easier.
To top it off, I'm pretty sure it will get support from at least of the few big engines: ID Tech, Unreal, Unity, and CryEngine all seem to be potential candidates. 90+ percent of games use one of these engines.
Silicon is silicon; it's the UI that makes a difference. People have been paying money to have gaming systems in their homes since the 80s, and entertainment-center computers have been popular since TiVo in the 00s.
Moreover, these manufacturers are all working on "smart TVs," which is what has been keeping GoogleTV alive in spite of the entertainment industry's hostility towards it. With the right UI and licensing, I could see an LG or a Samung (or a Vizio for that matter) releasing a SteamOS-powered TV.
This one is going to be the killer I think - it means two things to me.
1. Not everything has to be ported to Linux straight out of the gate.
2. Its going straight on my living room machine! I've been waiting for the ability to use my beafy gaming PC (which is at a desk, with a keyboard and mouse) to drive games on the TV for a long time.
This has nothing to do with Linux and everything to do with who wants to target Steam's pet platform (vs Xbox pet platform, etc.) Comparing this to Windows is nonsensical.
This means they don't start with empty plate like Android for example.
To keep cheap rig in living room for stream playing and media center, does not seem to be so bad idea. Most gaming will happen still whereever main rig is, but when you have friends over, you can just move to living room. And knowing steam(compared to others), I think it will be decently out of the box working thing.
Anyway, I support linux gaming, I would love to ditch windows at last.
But other then gaming I never boot into Windows these days anyway.
that means, among others, Python (Analogue: a Hate Story) and Mono (Bastion)
As long as they let developers have freedom over their tools of choice, I don't think we risk any embrace/extend/extinguish outcome
That is, they may share a kernel and some tools, but the user spaces are mostly alien.
Steam OS will ensure Valve has something to rely on, it will also force Windows to keep tabs on their software ecosystem.
Using the word easy liberally, Unity makes it easy to develop multi-platform games. Unreal is going the same direction.
In the past each platform had its unique limitations. Now all devices down to a tiny smart phone are very powerful. The mobile market is gigantic. Users go from device to device.
Take a look at Occulus Rift + the wireless devices used to control it. The days of sitting down with a keyboard and mouse are passing, even for the desktop users.
Google, Apple, Amazon, and others are gearing up for what are in effect micro-consoles. Other than Apple they are all Android. Its as good of time as ever for Steam to move forward.
True today but both the PS4 and XBone are now 8 core x86 platforms with desktop style GPUs. I would imagine most developers already abstract away the OS/graphics APIs as much as possible to facilitate porting to both consoles, adding a third platform for a 'PC port' should be much easier this console generation, particularly given that the relative pain of coding for the PS3 cell processor is now gone.
All they have to do is heavily subsidize (or give away) the console they are undoubtedly working on. Right from the get-go you can stream your existing PC Steam games to your TV which everyone will jump on. When the installed base is large enough, publishers will follow.
One GTA 5, for example, is equivalent to the sales produced by every indie game, combined, multiple times over. Even Minecraft with some $30-40mil is a miniscule fraction of what GTA 5 did opening _day_ and will eventually do in its lifetime.
Definitely chose extremes here, but I imagine the equation looks the same with any other AAA title compared to the entirety of indie titles combined.
http://mortdeus.blogspot.com/2013/09/linux-core-component-po...
Play Station 4 is running a modified a Free BSD 9.0 on x86 architecture. So the work to go from a BSD base to Linux I imagine is MUCH easier than what it has been in the past in my opinion.
I think that's what Steam is doing here. Creating a platform that doesn't exist yet, to bridge PC and console gaming.
* Steam - ~60 million [1]
* Xbox 360 - ~80 million [2]
* PS3 - ~80 million [3]
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_(software)
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_game_consoles#Microsoft
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_game_consoles#SonyValve has been planning this for a while, and has had pretty good success motivating a lot of smaller publishers to target Linux, even though the base isn't there yet, and of course have moved their own incredibly valuable games to Linux. Major game engines (Unreal 3D, Unity, among others) already support Linux as an equal target.
I suppose this is the curse of the first-mover, it always seems to be risky/nonsensical until it isn't... then we all see it as an obvious move in hindsight ;)
no.
porting and refactoring tools are so good now you can even port a direct3d app to opengl in 2 days or less, you could use a d3d>opengl wrapper in a day of work.
libraries are also so good at dual platform it requires minimal changes (usually just a new build system).. afaik the biggest change is handling input (theres no directInput on linux - most games use directInput for mouse/kb).
theres also numerous benefits to a closed system economy like an app store - for example even if nobody uses it you are practically exclusive and will get more buys than other places you can sell your app.
Even though multi-plat development is infinitely easier today than it was even 5 years ago, I still think getting titles onto multiple platforms is much harder and time consuming than you are giving it credit.
I'm really interested to see the trickle down effect that this will have on other Linux flavors. Having a push for standardization from a big name company like Valve should provide a better Linux experience for everyone.
I'm with you thought, I do hope all of their work will be landed in mainline kernel so everyone could enjoy the benefits, and we could play games (through Steam or other methods) on most Linux distros, without much hassle.
http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=17823
That one is about how valve themselves got value out of debugging on open source GPU drivers.
However as with Android, that isn't enough to get it to take off. Android had huge traction problems to start with until they managed to get the big device makers to train users and market the devices. SteamOS is going to have the same rough and long launch period, but the ultimate payoff is very big as the tech is all there and it's just a matter of getting the big game publishers to join up.
As with mobiles and Google, if anybody can succeed in the gaming industry, it's Steam. So I definitely wouldn't write this one off, I think it will take off in a few years time if they can get the big players - both software and hardware - to join up.
I can understand: I'd say good riddance to some parts of the userspace myself coughX windows systemcough, but having a few different userspaces is like having the UNIX wars all over again.
PS "The UNIX wars" has a modern space opera ring to it, like something out of an Orson Scott Card book (or JMS script. Or maybe your-favourite author. I don't read enough Sci-Fi to know). And now I have an urge to write a comics^W graphic novel adaptation of the UNIX wars. It'll be glorious!
It's not really fair to compare this to Android. Android succeeded, not because of Google's user base but because of Google's financial clout. Companies thought that throwing in their lot with Google was a safe bet - there's too much money behind the project for it to fail. People are going to throw in with Valve because it's a smart bet - it's bringing what gamers want to the table.
I think that will help get people onboard as well. Everything is already right there for you, your friend list, your games, your awards, your wallet.
Getting a box running SteamOS is just another piece of the puzzle for Steam users invested in the ecosystem.
Think about the XBox 360 and the XBox One. They are both basically a windows kernel with a totally custom UI designed for the living room. It's about creating the best possible experience for the end user.
You can already get steam client with big picture mode on Linux, what this does is creates something analogous to ChromeOS, but purpose built for gaming instead of web browsing.
If linux gaming is going to have a mass market chance, SteamOS or OUYA a similar approach is going to be how it gets there.
Now TF2 runs on Linux, and the perspectives for Linux gaming are very good in general, but I no longer want to switch because I am happy with Windows 7, I hate Unity and Gnome 3 and their dumbed-down UIs that make me want to bang my head against the wall, XFCE is OK but feels like going ten years back in time, and KDE 4... well, that one is not too bad, but I still prefer Windows 7.
It's a pity that all this Linux gaming surge didn't happen back in 2008 or so, when Windows was in its lowest moments with Vista and most Linux distros hadn't yet been ruined by overbearing UI visionaries. I'm sure that desktop Linux market share would have soared in that case.
What about pretty much all larger businesses in the world? Windows sure dominate the corporate space.
Nothing in the release said steam only or no desktop, and they call out the ability to create content on the platform specifically Users can alter or replace any part of the software or hardware they want. Gamers are empowered to join in the creation of the games they love. Rather sounds like what they are doing is going to be open source and allow non games to run. Even if they don't ship with KDE or Gnome by default it should be possible to get something up and running.
I love this solution. Those of us comfortable with building our own Steam Box can do so easily, and manufacturers can also build their own models. In every case, the Steam store will certainly be sewn into the very fabric of the box, and Valve emerges a big winner.
This is what I've been waiting for to build an HTPC/PC gaming battlestation... I've (personally) always preferred gaming with a controller while sitting on a couch.
Now they don't just support linux, they're using it to stage a mini coup against microsoft.
Things like the ability to tag my games with multiple categories; To see trailers and descriptions of the games I "bought and forgot"; Pause the game and read the user manual; and the ability to actually PLAY a game right now instead of being forced to wait for hours while it downloads and applies updates to itself and the game I already have downloaded, installed, and partly played.
The default is to keep the game updated, I believe. Do you have it set to not do that? But then, I also have steam set to start on boot up. If you rarely start the steam client then it's going to need to apply updates. Do you have it set to start steam on boot up?
The old steam was snappy and fast, new steam is a bloated pile of garbage by comparison.
If HL3 comes out as a SteamOS exclusive; well that would be quite the coup.
And I think steam box will be set of requirements.
Basically, I think it's a sly way to get studios and publishers to start developing for Linux.
SteamOS obviously differs since it's (by the sound of it) a whole distribution.
But I don't see why I wouldn't be able to continue using the Steam client just as I do now to play Steam games, the SteamOS is from what I understand the equivalent of a streamlined distro for Steam gaming, likely with optimizations for Steambox hardware configurations.
As an end user the choice is mine, use this streamlined distro for Steam gaming, or continue to use the Steam client from my distro of choice. I don't see the problem?
Having an undefined "general Linux" is impossible for them to support, especially since there's no real definition of a platform, just a kernel.
I'm looking forward to seeing what VALVE's done to fight this, especially as I expect SteamOS to eventually be repackaged to run on any distribution...
This all works on Windows, too. It's what things like FRAPS use, or the half dozen game overlays that apps like Mumble offer (including Steam's for that matter)
Anti-cheat systems are just a constantly escalating game of cat & mouse like anti-virus systems where signatures and code patterns are recognized, game DLLs are hashed to see if they were modified, etc... There's zero, zilch, nada OS level support for these.
Main reason seems to be that while SteamOS can only handle games that have Linux support the streaming allows you to have "HTPC" SteamOS connected to TV and play anything that Windows machine would be able to play.
Of course there's the input lag etc which might be an issue in some FPS games etc (which they mention that they're trying to "reduce in operating system level")
"Watch for announcements in the coming weeks about all the AAA titles coming natively to SteamOS in 2014. Access the full Steam catalog of over nearly 3000 games and desktop software titles via in-home streaming."
To me this suggests that they are actively trying to get developers to port and they have had some success. Also I believe that a lot of developers will not port and to handle those cases they've introduced the home streaming functionality so that you could stream your windows game to the steam box via a windows steam client running somewhere.
Fingers crossed !
;-)
Valve makes money if you buy games on Steam on other distros too.
Unless they get a MS-like world domination, the chances of that happening are near enough 0 that you'd better care about other problems.
The more critical people are of Canonical, the more fervent Ubuntu supporters become. "How will they make money" will be parroted just as loudly, if not more-so.
Apple took FreeBSD and makes it into OSX. > Valve takes Linux and makes it into SteamOS.
Apple makes iTunes for music, unifying digital music download > Valve makes Steam for games, unifying digital game download
Apple make IPOD for digital music playing > Valve make (SteamBox?) for game playing
Damn I wish I could own some Valve stock...
Please tell us what Apple did with FreeBSD.
No, they took NeXTSTEP and made it into OS X. However much they may now have in common, the history of the codebase goes back years prior to the existence of FreeBSD.
http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-advocacy/2008-Aug...
Build it and they will come.
And the IT guys have long been the core of the PC gaming scene.
So ... it was not a chicken and egg problem but a demand that needed answering.
Regardless, I'm very interested, but just curious how easy and flexible it will be.
There might be a few interesting ways to utilize that. :)
It's quite possible that one could stream into any other machine including tablets, laptops and even phones. This would enable playing your full Steam library from anywhere with decent enough connection (on both sides), especially games where input lag is not that big issue.
Yeah, I really care about my software being open source. The most important a piece of softawre is, the more I care about it. Games just aren't that important. They are nice to have, and losing them is a disconfort, but won't have any practical effect on my life. So I don't care that much about them.
That said, because they are not open source there are security problems that must be dealt with. But, even if they were open source, if I really cared about securing my LAN, I wouldn't trust them. Not much of a change.
The key question here is whether Valve's future extensions to the graphics subsystems (which seem to be advertised, to some extent) will be released as open-source and be admitted to the (free software) kernel and libraries that exist today.
Sounds open source to me, or did you mean the games?
This press release isn't targeted at technical people so the jargon isn't there to definitively say one way or the other.
A new apple but instead of "think different", the idea will be "play different"
From what I can find out, PS3 is based on FreeBSD and WiiU is a heavily modified version of Linux, possibly Android. XBOX obviously Windows. Would it be that much harder to also have a SteamOS version in the mix too.
IIRC, id Software pretty much had a "you're on your own" type of deal, with people using Linux. They provided the Quake binary, gave a README and some FAQs, and then you're on your own.
Likewise, Blizzard does not allow people to run World of Warcraft on platforms other than Windows and OS X. They know people run under WINE and could prevent them. But they don't. They just don't support it. It's win-win for them. More users without doing anything.
Porting is pretty easy if you target OpenGL and keep everything (sound, input) generic. SDL also works on many platforms.
But that is like saying that according to Superman going to the moon is a few minutes of flight.
It is very unlikely, had Microsoft not decided to go nuts and release a dead-end train wreck of an OS that thew it's passengers/users into the ravine in the name of chasing MacOS and touchscreens that everyone wanted with the same enthusiasm as to 3DTV, that Valve would be so scared of the future on Windows that they would need their own Linux-based platform. Not to mention Mac support.
I am a huge Linux advocate, but this is much more about Valve being scared and running away from Microsoft Windows than it was the greatness of GNU/Linux.
I wonder how Steve Ballmer being fired will change the direction of Microsoft and it's products. What will be the future of Windows?
If they keep trying to actively throw their users off the train with wildly backwards-incompatible user experiences, you can expect even Microsoft Office to start supporting GNU/Linux for fear of the future of Windows.
We see constant problems just trying to download the same map. Sometimes the game just shoves us over to a screen with no options and the game has to be force-quit to exit it. Other times it crashes during loading. It won't download to both of our computers at the same time, so it downloads to one first, then, only after the first one has finished, to the other. On those rare occasions that we actually get into the game, there are lots of glitches. I mean, when it works it's really fun, but the number of problems that occur along the way is just phenomenal. It's like using software from the 80s again. It's terrible.
Make HL3 Linux-only.
Don't do a Windows/Mac port for 2 years. Watch all of us gamers scramble to dual boot at minimum, if not see the writing on the wall and do a wholesale swapout on our Windows gaming boxes.
Announcement 1, SteamOS: is just a fancy way to say you can create custom Steam consoles by just installing some software. Make the box as good or a cheap as you want and everything will just workPretty awesome, but definitely this will be dwarfed by...
Announcement 2, people are guessing is a Valve distributed "SteamBox": a console that is presumably very cheap and linux based. This would give Xbox One and PS4 a run for their money and with the social aspects of Steam built-in, this could be a break out hit with a price of 50% all the other consoles.
Announcement 3, is the large unknown here. We don't know what it is, but if it is bigger (or equal to) SteamBox this could be a huge deal. Nothing really makes sense here. We know:
* SteamBox will support streaming from your windows/mac machine so it will be able to run every game at launch.
* SteamBox will likely have lots of publishers signed on. Probably as many or more then on xbox one / ps4. If they are already using an engine that targets multiple platforms (Unreal or Unity) they are definitely going to try to support it.
* SteamBox will likely support all the features of steam with friend lists, chat, voice, purchasing over the cloud, etc. So the + might mean sharing, but a new kind?
* SteamBox supports game sharing at a friends or family level. I see this as a kind of Netflix-like persona idea: an account gains separate personas that each have different friends lists and achievements. Very powerful and necessary once Steam hits the living room and multiple people are using the same box / account.
What it could be:
* LAN play for SteamBoxs on the same network (announced in Dota, this could explain the circle + circle graphic). Maybe you share the game between friends, and stream to the other boxes? That would be pretty awesome.
* Game streaming from other people's SteamBoxs? This would be an awesome way to share a game. It is like onlive but for distributed for everyone (seems unlikely. That kind of streaming would stop your friends from being able to play).
* A launch title like Half-life 3 (seems unlikely with the circle + circle logo implying you need multiple SteamOS instances).
* A new kind of social experience, maybe a built in way to be a part of the game creation process or improved social network experiences on Steam (seems unlikely to be big enough to be the final announcement)
* A new kind of hardware like a VR headset(seems unlikely, as cheap will be a big feature of this box)
This is marketing at its best. They hooked us good.
I think Left 4 Dead 3 (long rumored) is more likely.
OS + Oculus?
There's also a third circle there...
The steam box will obviously require some OS to run, and it seems perfectly reasonable to ship the OS, get feedback for it and it's features (i.e. streaming), and have it production-tested once the inevitable steam box is ready. Why take the risk of shipping all-new-everything when you can do it in smaller steps?
This gives developers even more incentive to use cross platform tools, to develop on OpenGL, and to make things work with Linux.
Valve just got every major publisher to take a serious look at what they are doing.
At least that's true for me and various of my 'internet friends'
I assume they mean in comparison to other Linux OSs. Beating windows drivers seems a bit far fetched?
[1] http://www.zdnet.com/valve-linux-runs-our-games-faster-than-...
And in general, OpenGL is quicker than DirectX...
I wonder what packaging format will they use for their games ?
That's easy because like with consoles you have only one hardware configuration so getting a game to run properly on wine or even better than on windows would be a walk in the park compared to porting it.
Of course this trick won't work with the millions of hardware combinations in today's PCs.
The Linux or tech community alone will not make this happen. They need to do a Windows/iOS/Android and push this out on marketable hardware for the masses or else it will just be another niche tech product.
No cool commercials, no chance.
Lastly, DirectX is so widely used in game engines. I haven't seen any hard evidence (not coming from Valve) that OpenGL can meet or exceed DirectX capabilities. I'd love to see real data on this.
Desura runs on Linux.
http://cdn3.store.steampowered.com/public/images/promo/livin...
Or, for anyone with an Nvidia card and the Nvidia drivers, just download a Unigine demo...
If that works on normal machines (like, my laptop), I will kick Windows for good finally!
Then, while the MS boat is leaking and sailing haphazardly across the computing landscape, along comes Valve to put a stake in the heart of the MS gaming division...
Could this truly be the beginning of the end of this giant leech on the computer industry?
The combination of this "story" and this one from slate (http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/09/23/microsoft...) makes me wonder...
[1] http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/6/3958162/valve-steam-box-cak...
If the issue is "how do you get control devices that work for that use case", wireless keyboards and mice with suitable range for living room use exist (I've seen them mostly used in large conference rooms, but the requirements aren't very different.)
If the issue is "how do you use control devices in that environment since they call for surfaces", lapdesks, coffee tables, etc., are frequently found in living rooms. If people want to play their existing keyboard-and-mouse focussed Steam games in their living rooms, its not hard to see how they can.
But I think that -- as with other consoles -- the games that are playable with more traditional "gaming controllers" will be more popular for the livingroom role than keyboard-and-mouse driven games. But plenty of PC games have, for years, been very similar to console games and support game controllers (even though they usually had KB/mouse support since that's what you could count on users having on the PC platform), so I don't think this is going to be much of an issue.
Id love to have a macmini as a 'steambox'
EDIT: Of course, it would help if Valve had someone in charge with a record of success in desktop app platforms. Well http://www.computerandvideogames.com/172835/interviews/creat... fancy that.
Furthermore, for most people an "OS" is not a collection of general purpose kernel and userspsace as components, it's a vertically integrated and holistic product + experience.