Steam OS Announced! A Free Operating System Built Around Gaming

With next gen home consoles being released just around the corner, a lot of gamers have been wondering what’s next for PC gaming? Well look no further, for the collective geniuses at Valve have done it again. Check out Steam OS!

Steam OS is a 100% free Linux based operating system that is designed around the Steam digital distribution system. It’s goal is to bring the Steam PC gaming experience into the living room on your big screen TV. Valve says that they have achieved a new level of graphical processing performance, and they are well on their way to better audio and input performance as well. They state game developers and hardware manufacturers are making new products with Steam OS in mind.

Four new features (well three new ones and one old one) that Valve is bringing to the table are: In-home game streaming, Streaming media services (Think Netflix, Hulu, ETC.), Family Sharing and Parental Controls. These are all bullet points you can find on any home console right now, having them on the Steam OS is a huge step in the right direction.

I expect to see hardware partnerships in the near future, specialized console sized PC’s from hardware manufacturers like Asus, Lenovo, HP and Dell. I’ve always said that the moment Gaming on a Linux based machine was on the level as a Windows machine (No need to run virtualization, emulation or shoddy drivers) I would make the switch. My big concern with the Steam OS is the In-home streaming. This makes me believe that not all games will work on the Steam OS and you will still need a second PC, and if at the end of the day that is the case I don’t see the need to switch right away.

There are still TWO more announcements coming this week, so be sure to check back Wednesday and Friday to see what Valve has planned next!