Valve is really serious in their take on a gaming platform for the living room, so serious in fact that they’ve not only developed their own Linux based SteamOS, they’re now manufacturing SteamOS based PCs.

Valve is taking steps to ensure that their “Steam Machines” are as flexible as Windows or Linux powered PCs are, meaning there will be many options to choose from, and many ways to tinker with the devices. Valve has even gone as far to confirm that you’ll not only be able to hack the Steam Machine, you’ll be able to run other OS’es, swap out hardware, install your own software, and so on.

The last bit of juicy news is that Valve is shipping out the first prototypes of the Steam Machine this year in a pilot program of 300 people that they will pick out. 30 or fewer of these people will be hand picked, the other 200 something will be picked at random to receive a Steam Machine.

If you want to try your chances at getting a Steam Machine, you can enroll by doing the following steps:

THE HARDWARE BETA ELIGIBILITY QUEST:
Before October 25, log in to Steam and then visit your quest page to track your current status towards beta test eligibility
1. Join the Steam Universe community group
2. Agree to the Steam Hardware Beta Terms and Conditions
3. Make 10 Steam friends (if you haven’t already)
4. Create a public Steam Community profile (if you haven’t already)
5. Play a game using a gamepad in Big Picture mode

That’s it really! Valve will be updating us with the progress of their Steam Machine hardware, and the lucky 300 participants are encouraged to post their thoughts, opinions, pictures, and so on when they receive the device.