Valve Steam Box Prototypes Pegged For Spring 2013

It would appear that the Steam-powered gaming console will be available rather soon for developers and hardware partners alike. News has come down from Valve's Game Newell himself as he spoke with the BBC about the future of the company immediately before the start of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Games Awards. There he was also being awarded a lovely Academy Fellowship as well.

The details surrounding the Valve-made Steam Box are still on the light side here in the first part of 2013, but the platform – that which ties the whole Valve universe together – is ready and willing to take on the gaming console masses. According to Newell, the point the company is at is inside talks with partners in the hardware market. His assurance that first iterations of a real physical product existing in the next few months were less than solid.

"We're working with partners trying to nail down how fast we can make it. We'll be giving out some prototypes to customers to gauge their reactions, I guess, in the next three to four months. There are noise issues and heat issues and being able to [deal with] that while still offering a powerful enough gaming experience is the challenge in building it." – Newell

Newell was unsure of the price they'd be able to offer the end-product system at, citing possibilities in subsidies from software companies (or the lack therein) as well as the early stage they're still in with production. Noting that the partners they're working with now "will put forth an impressive machine" without a doubt, Newell made it clear that he expects the greater app ecosystem to be "unlikely to match other consoles" with their connections to video conferencing titles, Netflix, and "non-gaming aspects" galore.

Have a peek a the timeline below to gain greater insight on the Steam Box and what it'll mean for the gaming universe in the near future – we'll be on top of it here on SlashGear for the foreseeable future too!