Research

Step one: research. This is not a new idea, but its a good one. Why doesn't an open source gaming console exist yet?

Research Topics:

• Controllers
• Computer Components:
  
• Graphics cards
• Processor
• Network
• Hard Drive
• Operating System
• DVD Drive
  
• Open Source Gaming Engines
• Communications Systems (XMPP / Jabber)

As is plainly obvious, this is a wide ranging topic, with a lot of research to do.