Newell teases announcement about 'bringing Linux into the living room'

At LinuxCon today, Valve head Gabe Newell hinted at an impending announcement that may reference his comments from CES 2013 about creating a Steam Box console that runs Linux, Ars Technica reports.

"Next week we're going to be rolling out more information about how we get there and what are the hardware opportunities we see for bringing Linux into the living room," Newell said.

Newell made his statement at LinuxCon in New Orleans, an annual event for analysts, developers, operators who work with the open source ecosystem.

"It feels a little bit funny coming here and telling you guys that Linux and open source are the future of gaming," Newell said. "It's sort of like going to Rome and teaching Catholicism to the pope."

Over the last year, Valve deepened its connection to Linux. Last February, Valve launched its digital distribution platform, Steam, on Linux. Several of the company's games, including Left 4 Dead 2, have been ported to the OS.