Deep throats inside Valve have indicated that the outfit is developing PC hardware to run with its Steam software in a "Steam Box" bundle.

According to The Verge Valve co-founder Gabe Newell dropped a similar hint at Penny Arcade http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/valves-gabe-newell-talks-wearable-computers-rewarding-players-and-whether-w/1  and it has been clarified by its own research.

Recently industry analysts started to wonder what Valve was doing after it took out a a patent for controller hardware last year. If a "Steam Box" happens then it means that the software would be at the centre of an open gaming universe which is similar to how Google handles Android.

Gear could be made by a variety of partners with Alienware X51 rumored to be working on an early version.  The underlying Steam Box software would be readily available to any company willing to partner.

More here.