At the time of this writing there is no independent confirmation that the SteamBox controller will actually be there. The rumor is based on a listing for the show on the Gamescon website. It seems to indicate that Valve will have a booth and they will be showing off controllers. If this means a new version of the long awaited device or just a rehash of what was shown off at GDC we are not sure.

It is important to remember that Gamescon has a history of making a few mistakes, such as when they listed that Half-Life 3 would be shown off. So I would take this one with a rather large grain of salt. We have a feeling that the controller, while present might still be just another update to what we have seen in the past. In looking at Steam the list of Linux ready games has not grown significantly so there is no reason to push this out the door just yet. The success of the SteamOS project is going to be in the games that are available to gamers at launch and also in the first few months.

If all Valve can muster are older games they developed or produced it is not going to build much of a following. It is a novel idea and one that we are testing even now, but without AAA titles flowing into the eco system it will be a project that is doomed to fall behind. As always we will keep any eye on what is happening with this topic and let you know if we find out more information.

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