Hasn't console gaming, indeed, video gaming as a whole, not been expanding and growing with every passing gen, this most recent one included? What's the 7th gen at, like 260 million consoles now? Sure sounds doomed, yes.

God damnit if phone companies can sell phones that are so bloody similar you have to delve into them to find one real difference and they can do that EVERY year then console makers can show how leaps in power every SEVEN years are worth your dollars.  Sorry but I don't see how games consoles are soooo different from tablets and PCs and phones.  Those things are nearly IDENTICAL to last year's model yet each sells gangbusters.  Why?  Marketing is a big part of it and people try to convince themselves that the upgrade is needed I guess.

This and Big picture seem like points in favor of consoles, IMO. Sounds more like bringing a console like environment to the largely fragmented and customization based PC world.

No it wont, it plays the same games.

you've already been proven wrong(by the vita)

As soon as it gets to a non-phone/tablett device it seems people aren't even ready to spent 1/4 of a phone every 7 years.(because they were educated to do so) and this situation won't change.

I know I just wonder why this is so.  Seriously you could use an iphone 4 and your experience would basically be the same as a 5S.  I think marketing is part of it and just the perception of games consoles.  Also I would say Vita being a mobile platform doesn't really prove too much.  I mean no one uses 3D on the 3DS and yet it's selling gangbusters and it's still a handheld system (effected more by tablets and phones than home consoles are).

I'm with you.  I don't see Steam doing anything revolutionary, yet (the have a few more annoucmentments) to threaten consoles.  Sure, they could be a great PC Market, but as Google found out with Android, it's never as easy as it seems.  It may just end up as a niche market. 

Even if they get Linux use to increase by 500%, which is a very large increase, it will have less users than OS X (Apple).

Yeah I agree

SteamOS will be huge! Just like Greenlight and Big Picture, oh wait.

Also nothing against Steam. Although, I can't help but think these efforts might be better spent towards making new games.  With the other things Gabe has said, it seems like it might be a little petty and vindictive.  But I will wait and see what they do.

Also, in the same way the DirectX push Sony to come out with a console, and PS2 pushed Microsoft to work harder, I think this will push other developers to work harder.  (Assuming that it will actually works.)