Could Valve Join Ouya in the FOSS Game Platform Fray?

A few weeks ago, we reported that after several years of slim pickings for Linux gamers, things really began to heat up on the Linux and open source gaming front. Valve, which has delivered very attractive game bundles through its Steam service on non-Linux platforms, has been driving lots of progress, and has delivered the beta version of Steam for Linux.

Valve has also taken its Big Picture mode--a couch-friendly user interface for games and content consumption--out of beta testing. And now, there are reports that Big Picture mode and the Steam for Linux beta may be teamed up for a new type of gaming platform for living rooms everywhere.

Valve's Gabe Newell spoke in an interview with Kotaku:

"He said the reaction to Steam's TV-friendly Big Picture interface has been 'stronger than expected,' and that their next step is to get Steam Linux out of beta and to get Big Picture on that operating system, which would give Valve more flexibility when developing their own hardware."

With a Linux-based platform that already delivers nearly 30 games and a well-received, couch-friendly interface, Valve already has the basic components to deliver a new kind of console-based gaming experience, and do it inexpensively. Steam is already hugely popular for PC and Mac games with over 50 million accounts around the world and over 2,000 titles offered. In all likelihood, a Linux-based offering would compete directly with the Ouya console (shown above)--also based on open source software.

Like Valve, Ouya will be a good story to watch in coming months. Could either or both of these platforms finally make people take Linux game platforms seriously?