The Glade 4.0

But that's my point. What will this box do that my PC won't? I can't see them selling many of these to people that are their target audience. They already have PCs that are equal or better to the box.

Last week, Valve founder Gabe Newell spoke at LinuxCon and teased a living room hardware announcement that would be coming soon. On Friday, a new page appeared on the Steam website with a countdown expiring today that states "the Steam universe is expanding in 2014." Today, we know one of the three surprises.

SteamOS is the first piece of the puzzle. Valve has developed its own Linux-based operating environment that the developer claims improves graphical performance. The studio is now targeting improved audio and reduced gamepad latency, all for an operating system that is designed to function in a living room setting.

In addition to being a native environment that Valve says developers are already targeting devices running SteamOS can stream from PC and Mac. Without naming partners, Valve has also disclosed that common media streaming apps will be on-hand, also. The operating system will build upon the recently announced Steam Family Sharing program and allow a number of user profiles with segmented libraries to appear, aiding in parental control.

Valve is making SteamOS free for users and freely licensable for hardware manufacturers. Two more announcements are coming this week, with the next on Wednesday at 1 PM Eastern.

In comic strips the person on the left always speaks first. - George Carlin

Hopwin, that doesn't happen in one year.

Though the gaming world is currently focused on the new Xbox One and PS4, Valve's Steam Machine is still in the works, and third-party hardware developer iBuyPower has unveiled a $499 Steam Box prototype.

For the same price as the Xbox One, iBuyPower's system - expected next year - will come with a multicore AMD CPU and a discrete AMD Radeon R9 270 graphics card, along with Valve's Steam Controller, according to Engadget.

iBuyPower did not immediately respond to PCMag's request for comment, but the company told Engadget that it will launch two models, codenamed Gordon and Freeman, that are identical except for the light bar cutting through the center — one is clear, while the other remains black when not lit up.

Without revealing much in the way of details, iBuyPower did tell the tech blog that the hardware will run Steam titles in 1080p resolution at 60 frames per second. The Verge also tipped Wi-Fi and Bluetooth compatibility, as well as a 500GB hard drive.

Don't get too excited, though. The initial console model will run only Valve's Linux-based Steam OS, not Windows, limiting gamers' library of titles, though Valve has promised more triple-A titles.

When Valve unveiled its Steam Machines and controllers in September, it also announced a high-performance prototype optimized for living-room gaming, with a completely upgradeable and open system. Only 300 of those boxes have been shipped to Steam users for beta testing. Everyone else will have to wait until 2014.

In October, Valve designer Greg Coomer offered a reminder that, because the Steam consoles will be developed by different companies (including iBuyPower), users can expect different hardware and sustainability specs from the original Steam prototype.

Steam Machines are expected make an appearance at CES 2014 in January.