Is Valve developing a Console? – The Steambox

Renown tech reporter Joshua Topolsky over at The Verge is reporting on some interesting rumors that have been flying around concerning Valve's possible foray into the console market. Apparently, there's quite a bit of basis in fact on this one folks. We should be hearing about this new console at the upcoming Game Developers Conference or perhaps this year's E3.

Interestingly, this is being designed as a set-top PC that could run Steam or even competing services such as Origin. Multiple companies will be allowed to manufacture this platform, meaning developers won't have to pay licensing fees – completely negating long standing regulations from Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft which charge developers.

The box supports configurable controllers and a bracelet of some sort to import biometric data into gameplay, similar to the never released Vitality Sensor from Nintendo.

Here's a small snippet from the article about the specs which are shaping are great so far:

Apparently meetings were held during CES to demo a hand-built version of the device to potential partners. We're told that the basic specs of the Steam Box include a Core i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA GPU. ..

Part of the goal of establishing a baseline for hardware, we're told, is that it will give developers a clear lifecycle for their products, with changes possibly coming every three to four years. Additionally, there won't be a required devkit, and there will be no licensing fees to create software for the platform.

Head over to TheVerge to check out the whole article, and leave your comments on this possible "SteamBox:" below.