What do the Steam Machines mean for this generation?

[Scisca]

Anfebious said:

Well if you could play your steam games on it, you might have something but I don't see it appealing a massive audience!

As I've said, the casuals and Applebots would stick to their iOS stuff and this wouldn't matter. SteamOS is going after gamers, not the mass market. If I was to choose an iPad or a tablet with Steam games I wouldn't hesitate a second (granted it had a good browser and office tools). It would also be a huge incentive for console gamers to finally drop consoles and get a PC, since such a combo would finally give us something we could call truely next gen. I think it would be quite easy to get Samsung on board with this, as it would help kill one of the best departments of Sony and help kill whatever MS is trying to do with Nokia and would hurt Apple.

It would also allow Valve to draw people into their web from two different fronts - the PC/home console and the tablet crowds. No matter which way you came from, the stuff you bought is already yours on the other platform, so why not go for it? Don't know about you, but I think this is a no-brainer and the only move that can allow SteamOS appear on the radar. Still, we need tablets to make the technological jump at least to PS3 level.

The more I think about it, the more this whole SteamOS appeals to me. It can really be huge.