![]() ![]() ![]() The simplicity that an Xbox or Apple TV offers just isn't there with a desktop extension product that Valve wants. As Apple moves away from the PC-as-a-hub model, Valve seems interested in picking up the slack there. Interestingly, Valve seems focused on providing a direct path from your desktop to the living room. As the Steam Box enters the living room, the competition is only going to get more locked down and streamlined. The Windows 8 store and Apple's own App Store aren't necessarily bad for consumers, but they sure make things more difficult for Valve. Apple and Microsoft are offering walled garden experiences, but so is Steam. ![]() Newell is on record as disliking the direction modern operating systems are going, but it seems a bit self-serving. As Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony shift their machines to fill a more general set-top box role as well, the space is going to get crowded fast. If Apple can provide a simple and useful living room experience with a huge variety of applications (including countless games) like it does in the mobile sphere, Valve will have a much more difficult time gaining traction. In a lecture given by Newell at the University of Texas's LBJ School of Public Affairs, he highlights his fear of Apple steamrolling into the living room (Opens in a new window). Apple CEO Tim Cook has spoken of his interest in taking on the living room on a larger scale, but we've yet to see any convincing evidence of the rumored iTV. The dark horse here is Apple, and Valve's managing director Gabe Newell is well aware that it's the company to worry about the most.Īpple has made the Apple TV for years now, but only as a so-called "hobby." Rumors abound about the Cupertino company's next step, and its usual veil of secrecy, has kept its plans relatively unclear. Sure, those companies have traditionally had a hold on the gaming sphere, but that's a known quantity. Valve is gunning for the television with its Steam Box concept, and it isn't afraid of Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo. The war for the living room is getting interesting. ![]()
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