So no surprise to find AMD coveting a cut of that turf too, with this, their new living room PC reference design -- a prototype AMD hopes will be copied by manufacturers to bring AMD's Live!
ENGADGET: AMD unveils living room PC reference design: world squints in wonder
You can also control the PC from across the room with a handheld remote control--and that comes in handy for things like playing music and movies.
Valve could also enable a smooth consumer experience by automatically updating drivers and generally making their take on the living room gaming PC as user-friendly as consoles.
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And then Valve's internal hardware prototypes popped up, confirming what we've heard murmurs of for months: the company's head down on creating a PC for your living room.
We wrap up with a couple of bits on the PC front -- the ZvBox and some new 720p Hulu content sure could make bringing the PC into the living room easier and more enjoyable.
Unfortunately, there was no word on a timeline, nor a mention of what type(s) of media would eventually be available, but considering just how far we have to walk from the PC to the living room, this stuff can't get finalized soon enough.
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You'll be forgiven if you install this PC into the same living room cabinet where you keep the TV and stereo system.
As the name suggests, it's a 20-inch PC you can move from room to room -- if 11.86 pounds can really be considered portable.
There's simply that much room there for PC makers to improve.
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Big Picture won't turn your media center into a game console, but it definitely makes outputting high end PC games to your living room a smoother experience.
The company appears to be trying to bridge the gap between PC gaming and the living room in smaller ways before it tries to totally break down that barrier.
FORBES: Valve Could Be Moving Hardware into Beta Sooner Than You Thought
Users can even choose where they want to watch a program, whether on a TV connected to a Media Center PC or one in another room connected to a Media Center extender.
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Moreover, beyond just the controllers we suspected to be part of the beta program, Newell tells the BBC that said prototypes will be of the Steambox, Valve's living room-friendly PC gaming initiative.
Amazon Cloud Player enables customers to securely store music in the cloud and play it on any Kindle Fire, Android device, iPhone, iPod Touch, Mac and PC, and now in any room via Sonos.
Neil Young, the chief executive of Ngmoco, thinks that the iPad will encroach on both laptop and desktop PC gaming as well as living room gaming with consoles like the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
FORBES: Video Game Industry Veterans See The IPad As A Serious Challenger
In South Korea's omnipresent "PC bangs" ( bang means room in Korean), millions lose themselves in virtual worlds day after day.
Among the introductions: sleeker netbooks, a small nettop geared toward multimedia and gaming and an all-in-one touch PC that could fit in a family room or kitchen.
That leaves room not only for other PC sellers, which will all face the question of how heavily tablets will cut into personal computer and notebook sales in the future, but also for mobile makers that are developing competitive models of smart phones.
The challenge is making games that require a mouse and keyboard palatable to people who are used to a controller, or to people who just don't want to migrate PC controls to the comfort of their living room.
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While the goal of the initiative is to move PC gaming from the desk to the living room, that doesn't necessarily involve a single hardware standard or minimum spec, Valve hardware engineer Jeff Keyzer told Engadget in an interview this morning at CES 2013.
And if the deal closes, Michael Dell would remain in charge of the custom PC-maker he founded in his Austin dorm room in 1984.
Twonky Beam enables users to easily "beam" online and personal video content from a PC, Android or iOS device to the living room with the simple press of a button.
ENGADGET: Twonky Beam update for Android, iOS streams to Roku, Xbox 360
Japan's consumer electronics giant Sony (nyse: SNE - news - people ) thinks there's plenty of room for both with its latest desktop PC, the Vaio MX.
Its long-rumored Steam Box is genuinely in production right now, and fans of the company are hoping that it can strike a blow for PC gamers everywhere by bringing the platform to living room televisions.
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Early users of the close-range wireless technology already know it's useful for things like performing a HotSync operation from across a room--provided you have that PC outfitted for Bluetooth already--or printing documents from the handheld to a Bluetooth-ready printer.
Whether it's music you've purchased on your smartphone, a music app on your tablet, listening to songs through the living room TV or turning to Internet radio on your PC at work, the music you love is scattered across different services.
However, Sony has released the first mainstream non-PC product that delivers a media center experience local to the living room.
So, I would assume at a certain point in the future that the living room is going to be the more important platform than the PC.
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