Not a console killer, but will def re-establish PC gaming as a possibility for the more casual consumer.

So now that we have;

Ouya

PS Vita TV

WHEN will Microsoft show us their TV/gaming streamer?

Too be honest if the price was right and they decided to make HL3, L4D3 and there other games a Steam Box Exclusive it would be a big deal. Though they would never do that. At the end of the day Valve is still 3rd party, Steam itself is built around that.

What Steambox will do is lower the technical and cost barriers of PC games. Lets face it PC gaming can be complex for many, I for one know my brother could never figure out how to play games on a PC without my help. My Step dad sure could not either they both play PS3/Xbox for that reason.

Question is, will all games on steam work with this? That is the biggest question at the moment.

If they can get a steambox out around the $500 mark that can play new releases then maybe. But I don't see it happening for years which will allow plenty of time for these consoles to get a foothold for this generation.

I do however think that this will factor into the next generation of consoles. Sony is going to have to get creative with the PS5, maybe even doing something similar and releasing a PS5 OS for bring your own hardware type situations. Not sure what Microsoft will do since they have already tried to do it with games for windows which failed miserably. Of course that's if Xbox isn't owned by Samsung by then.

what a coincidence, the site that MS pumped money into named their podcast "Live".

It's an OS. So no.
As for the Steam Machines, they're basically PCs that you can't upgrade. Seeing as they'll have multiple models with different specs and prices (most likely), I do think they'll be noticeably higher in price than the next gen consoles.
I don't really know who it's aimed at.

I can't wait to see my options in 2014. It will be a strict gaming PC as it seems, thanks to the OS. Let's leave the tech to valve. Im sure they've got something nice planned. It seems like the bridge between console and PC. Now that steam machines will run steam OS and not windows, there will be more resources available to games

To me the advantage of a console isn't the fact that its got a quick to use OS but rather it's standardized hardware. For the most part I know hardware wise anyone I am playing with is on the same level.

To me the advantage of the PC is the customization of hardware and the adaptability of the software due to the OS so why would I want a console/media center style OS on my PC? That just eliminates one of the advantages of using a PC. I do hope this pushes some devs to work with linux in mind.

Too early to ask. Give em a chance to show the thing in action first. Sheesh.