SteamOS: 5 Steam Announcements Valve Could Make This Week

On Monday, Valve announced SteamOS, a free downloadable software package that will allow you to stream your Steam games from your PC to your TV, among other features. However, that's clearly not all that Valve has up its sleeve.

On Wednesday, Valve will make another announcement. It's anyone's guess what it could be, but here are some possibilities for Wednesday as well as the next annoucement which could be made on Friday.

1. Steam Box

Though Valve makes it seem like SteamOS will be able to run on a multitude of devices by referring to "living room machines" in its announcement, a Steam Box hardware release annoucement seems likely. After all, a Steam Box prototype was first revealed at CES 2013 in Las Vegas this past February. Considering that Microsoft and Sony are set to release their next-gen consoles in November (Nov. 15 for the PS4, Nov. 22 for the Xbox One), releasing a third gaming option just in time for the holiday shopping season could help Valve take a significant bite out of the competition's marketshare, especially if Steam Box is cheaper than the other two options. The base model PS4 is $399, while a vanilla Xbox One is $499.

2. Steam Camera/Biometrics-Measuring Controllers

Valve has long felt that measuring a gamer's biometrics can help them have a more enjoyable video game playing experience. The question is, how would Valve go about measuring your biometrics? How about with a camera or a specially made controller with built-in biometrics sensors? After all, Gabe Newell himself has said that biometrics are "very fundamental" to the gaming experience. Newell referenced heart rate, measuring pupil dilation, skin gallenic response and much more in a SteamCast podcast in 2011. Newell also said that implanting measuring devices into people's skulls is a "reasonable option" in the future.

3. "Half-Life 3," "Left For Dead 3," "Portal 3" Exclusively On Steam/SteamOS

The above three games have yet to be officially announced, but there's plenty of evidence to suggest that "Half-Life 3" and "Left For Dead 3" are in development. What's more, Valve indicated in Tuesday's SteamOS announcement that we should "Watch for announcements in the coming weeks about all the AAA titles coming natively to SteamOS in 2014." Despite the prevalence of the running joke that Valve can't count to three, its "Counterstrike" series has seen more than three releases. The number three doesn't appear in front of the third "Counterstrike" game, but the sixth Rocky movie didn't have the number six in the title either. That doesn't mean it wasn't the sixth Rocky film. The same holds true for "Counterstrike," which was one of Valve's early hits.

What do you think of these possible Valve announcements? Sound off in the comments below.