Steam Box Console Release Date: 'In the Next Three to Four Months' Says Valve Founder Gabe Newell

Valve's founder Gabe Newell has released some interesting information about the company's release plan for the so-called "Steam Box." Customers wishing to get their hands on the device will not have long to wait before being able to purchase the system, but finding the right controller for the system is the main cause of delay.

While being interviewed by the BBC before receiving the Academy Fellowship award at this year's BAFTA ceremony, Newell gave a hint of when we could see the console.

"We're working with partners trying to nail down exactly how fast we can make it...We'll be giving out some prototypes to customers to get their reactions, I guess, in the next three to four months."

Newell also claimed the main problem the system was facing picking the right configuration for a controller.

"The main thing that's holding us up is that we have a couple of different controller prototypes that we're using, and that's one of the things we'll be giving to customers. We'll just give them a couple different ones and then look to see what the difference is in their play patterns when they have those different controllers."

This is great news for Valve fans waiting to get the company's home console, as it sounds like the system will come out fairly soon. While Valve will make its own hardware, other manufacturers will be able to develop games for the system. Valve also plans to have a multi-tiered system designed to appeal to a wide variety of customers, from die-hard Steam fans to casual gamers. No word on a price yet for the system or a official release date from Valve.

Valve was also recently in the news for comments made by a Microsoft president who did not view Valve and its console as in the same league as the major console makers, as well as Google and Apple.