We are at a crossroad in the history of gaming. Valve recently made announcements about new 3 exiting technologies/products.
One is an amazing controller. I have no idea if it will work but its good to see a company taking risks and try to innovate.
The second is an open source operating system for gaming (Steam OS) and the third is that multiple companies will be able to compete and sell "Steam Machines", pre-built PCs for the living room which run Steam OS.
If Steam OS fails, it might scar open source gaming for ever. But if it can only survive long enough, it might become a very solid alternative to consoles. Here I will weight the pros and cons try to hightlight their implications.
The Are Few Games For Steam OS
This is true for any new console which do not have backward compatibility with its previous iteration (like Xbox One, which is actually the third generation Xbox ...). If there isn't any big title for the platform it might seriously hurt the platform's market. It needs some big titles, some exclusive titles if possible.
Kids And Ordinary People Might Be More Attracted To Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft
These are big company with established brands and marketing. Chances most people will not know what steam machines are and will be scared away by their diversity and complexity.
No More Generations
Generally, backward compatibility works great on PC. I can still play Diablo 1 if I want. That's why I feel better building my collection of games on steam rather than on some consoles.
