Rumors are coming out that Valve - the company behind the steam Steam store and many popular games such as Team Fortress 2 and Half-Life - are considering getting into the hardware business with their own home console. Gabe Newell recently said on Penny Arcade:
Well, if we have to sell hardware we will...We think it’s important enough that if that’s what we end up having to do then that’s what we end up having to do.
Newell also continued saying that they would rather work with people who know about making and distributing hardware rather than making it themselves. The rumor is that Valve has been making a hardware spec and the associated software that would make up this "Steam Box". It is said that the specs are to be a Core i7 processor, 8GB of RAM, and a Nvidia graphics card. The system will allow for multiple game services to be installed including EA's Origin, and will likely be controlled by a proprietary controller.
