Valve yesterday announced SteamOS, an operating system designed for living room gaming, as a possible precursor to the announcement of the much talked about Steam Box console and another explanation for Half Life 3's interminable delay.

The move seemingly represents Valve's entry into the stiffly competitive gaming-console war. It will be throwing its hat into the an overcrowded ring that includes Sony and Microsoft, who will unleash their latest offerings later this year, as well as Nintendo, whose Wii U has been foundering since its release last year.

The Linux-based operating system will combine the game developer's prominent Steam video game digital distribution platform with a user interface designed specifically for televisions and the living room.

"It will be available soon as a free stand-alone operating system for living room machines," wrote the company on their announcement page.

The free operating system represents Valve's first steps toward its vision of an open video game console and will likely threaten similar, smaller offerings like the open-source Ouya console.

The team behind the Android-powered Kickstarter darling Ouya had similar dreams of bringing openness and universality to the home console market. The console's tepid response upon its release to the general public in June, however, indicate the Ouya is unlikely to set the world on fire.

Valve's seemingly well-intentioned bid to spread the gospel of "openness," however, appears to be have a better chance if you're to be believe the company, which says major game developers are currently on track to release AAA game titles that will run natively on SteamOS next year.

The operating system sports a number of notable features, the most touted of which is the ability to stream existing Steam games right to your living room.

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