Hello fellow gamers! After a long, relaxing break and some phone reviews, I’m back and bringing you some awesome gaming news, this time from CES, which I covered in the last few weeks. Announced was VALVE’s “Piston” console, a device that is sure to contribute towards the predicted merger of PC and console/TV gaming. Let’s have a look at what this thing could do to the industry.

At around the same size of a coffee cup and fully able to hold in one hand, this little-yet-mighty console is not to be confused with the “Steambox” that VALVE has teased before. That console, of which we know nothing about, will probably be announced later this year. In the meantime, the Piston is VALVE’s answer to console gaming’s biggest flaw: why should we have to deal with the same dated hardware for more than a decade, without even the possibility of upgrading the console?

The Piston is meant to bring PC gaming where a PC usually cannot go, either due to financial or proximity issues. It brings PC games to your TV, thanks largely to VALVE’s Big Picture mode that is already released and currently enjoyed by many.

This thing can literally attach to the back of a monitor or TV, completely out of sight but boasting lots of power that only big, bulky PCs have been able to do in the past, along with non-upgradeable consoles that get slow over time. The biggest draw of the Piston is that nearly every major part inside can be removed and replaced. The boards (processor, memory and I/O) can all be upgraded as new tech comes out, making this a PC for your living room. As the info video says, it is “Designed with the future in mind.”

Xi3, the makers of this hardware, are very proud of how eco-friendly the Piston is. The device, part of a technology called “modular computing”, runs at only 20 watts. The back of these consoles can have USB 3.0 ports, Ethernet, HDMI, eSATA, USB 2.0, audio in/out and mic, mini display ports and possibly more in the future.

More info will be revealed in the coming months, but so far tons of great stuff has been seen thanks to shows like CES 2013. Hopefully it won’t be long at all before we can go from console gaming to our PCs (and PC to console) and not even tell the difference (at least, that’s what I’d like).