The battle for the living room between the big three console companies may have some new competition in the form of Valve’s new “Steam Box” Valve is the very successful video game retailer, publisher, developer and creator of the digital distribution platform, Steam.  With the introduction of their new console, Valve hopes to revolutionize the console industry with a variety of features that sets this console apart from the competition.

Being the top company in digital distribution, Valve hopes to revolutionize the console industry by introducing their digital distribution platform to the everyday gamer vie their new console. Not only will their console distribute games, but the technology behind the console is what also separates it from the big three: Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. The “Steam Box” will be made by various producers at various price points in order to appeal to customers with varying budgets.

As Valve moves forward with their ambitious project to claim the mainstream console market, Sony and Microsoft are set to release their next-gen consoles. Having established themselves as the number one distribution company in PC gaming, Valve’s console may fail or be the revolutionary idea the company hopes for.

article: http://www.canadianbusiness.com/companies-and-industries/valve-enters-living-room-with-big-boys-microsoft-and-son/

Valve console: http://store.steampowered.com/livingroom/SteamMachines/

After the chemical attack on its own people, the Syrian regime faced a very real threat: a military strike from the United States. With chemical attacks being illegal, Obama’s idea of a military attack as punishment is in fact no better. “The fundamental rule of international law is that states cannot attack other states, even for humanitarian reasons”. The only exceptions to this ruling are that: “a state can attack another state if it is authorized to do so by a Security Council resolution, or if the attacking state is acting in genuine self-defense”. http://ideas.time.com/2013/09/05/obamas-plan-for-intervention-in-syria-is-illegal/#ixzz2eV4EzTtX In this instance, neither of these apply. Obama had two unappetizing choices: attack without the “backing of congress…and the United Nations; or execute an embarrassing about-face. At this point Obama has gotten himself into a very sticky situation. Luckily for him, the President of Russia; Vladimir Putin, may have solved Obama’s by giving the U.S. president a way out. Simply put, Putin’s proposal is to put Assad’s chemical weapons under international control. http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/09/11/vladimir_putins_chemical_weapons_gambit_saves_obamas_bacon_walkom.html