Items tagged with Steam Machine
In a blog post, Valve vowed to continue developing and supporting its Linux-based SteamOS even though "Steam Machines aren't exactly flying off the shelves." Valve delivered the message in the wake of news spreading that it removed the Steam Machines link from the Hardware pull-down menu in Steam, and is no longer selling systems through its storefront, instead now linking to external websites. Valve chalked the removal of Steam Machines as part of a "routine cleanup." While there remains a section of a Steam Store that still shows Steam Machines, Valve made the decision to de-list the heading from its Hardware pull-down menu based on user traffic, or lack thereof. "We're still working hard on...
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Do you remember when Valve had grand aspirations of taking over the gaming PC scene with Steam Machines? Not only did that never happen for various reasons, but it looks like Valve is finally ready to put the initiative in its right view mirror. Without any sort of fan fare, Valve has gone and removed the Steam Machines section from Steam, as well as from the Hardware pull-down menu at the top of the Steam store. Now when you click or hover on Hardware, it only shows links for the Steam Controller, Steam Link, and HTC Vive. You can actually still find Steam Machines by doing a search in Steam or by loading up the old landing spot manually. However, the actual hardware is gone, now replaced by...
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Given the super-long wait, it's almost hard to believe that the official launch of Valve's Steam OS, Steam Machines, Steam Controller, and Steam Link is right around the corner. While there's just one choice on the gamepad and streamer front, there are a ton of different Steam Machines to choose from, from top makers like MAINGEAR, ORIGIN, Alienware, Digital Storm, and even ZOTAC. Some Steam Machine vendors have decided to go big, but ZOTAC wants to keep things simple, and make sure its NEN PC doesn't take up that much room around the TV. It measures 8.26" wide, 7.99" deep, and 2.45" thick - it's definitely a modest form-factor. But under the hood? It has the brawn needed to push today's hottest...
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It feels as though we’ve been talking about Valve’s Steam Machine consoles for ages, there’s finally a light at the end of the tunnel. After announcing in May 2014 that official Steam Machines would be delayed until 2015, Valve today announced that customers can begin pre-ordering Steam Machines today, and that the first deliveries will occur on October 16. The official launch, however, will take place nearly one month later on November 10. The first two hardware partners to offer Steam Machines — Alienware and Cyberpower — should come as no surprise to anyone that keeps even a half-open eye on the gaming scene. As we’ve previously discussed, all Steam Machines run SteamOS, which is Valve’s home-brewed...
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When Valve announced that it was holding a news conference on March 3 at 3PM, it was quite apparent what was rolling around in the our brains: Half-Life 3. The mythical Half-Life 3 has reached almost legendary status among gamers, and leave it to Valve to tease us once again as we grab for a cold beer from the fridge to rest against our forehead. But while there was no Half-Life 3 announcement made today, Valve did have plenty to share with us including the successor to the Source engine. The Source engine has been the driving force behind Half-Life 2 and Counterstrike: Source, but Source 2 will soon upstage it. And just to make things even more interesting, Source 2 will be free to adopt for...
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Computer hardware companies have a vested interested in PC gaming, so it's no wonder that so many firms are excited about Valve's Steam Machine platform. No less than 14 OEM and boutique system builders announced Steam Machine configurations of their own at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last week, and if that weren't enough, Intel gave each of the 1,200 Valve Developer Day attendees a Gigabyte Brix Pro Steam Machine. Intel's generosity stems in part from its desire to showcase its Iris Pro graphics. Each Brix Pro system sports an Intel Core i7 4770R quad-core processor (3.2GHz to 3.9GHz, 6MB cache) with integrated Iris Pro graphics 5200 (200MHz base frequency, 1.3GHz max dynamic...
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We saw a lot of Steam Machine announcements by both OEM and boutique system builders at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last week (14 in all). It's safe to say that damn near everyone is excited about what Valve is doing, and with so much early support, it's already a little bit daunting sifting through the various configurations that aren't even available yet (most Steam Machine configurations are slated to launch later this year). To help make sense of it all, Futuremark went through and analyzed its database to estimate 3DMark Fire Strike scores for each configuration with confirmed hardware specs. The results in the chart below are based on PCs with similar hardware running...
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At CES 2014, Dell assumed a much lower profile than they had in previous years for the show. We've seen Dell occupy entire top levels of swank, high-end hotels and invite artists and entertainers to show off their wares. No longer beholden to stockholders and analysts, since Michael Dell took the company back private last year, Dell was setup efficiently in a conference block area of the Venetian at CES this year. However, Dell still managed to make a splash with a couple of products that the HotHardware team unanimously felt were some of the "best of show" in our humble, expert opinions. The first product caught us by surprise actually, was Dell's Steam Machine. Plenty of OEMs have lifted...
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After reading the title, you might be thinking, "OMG why does HotHardware hate tablets?!?!" Don't get us wrong, we think tablets are great for what they're designed to do, but when it comes to servicing and/or upgrading parts on your own, they don't hold a candle next to a traditional PC. Teardown after teardown reveals liberal use of adhesive and other challenging factors, as tablets just aren't built to be cracked open like a desktop. Underscoring this point is iFixIt's teardown analysis of Valve's prototype Steam Machine, a full-fledged PC in a console-like shell. If the Steam Machine design represents the future of PC gaming, rest assured, you'll still be able to upgrade and replace components...
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Valve will take its first step towards living room domination later this week when it begins shipping out Steam Machines and Steam Controllers to 300 selected beta participants. The hardware is scheduled to leave the factory on Friday, December 13, which means the lucky participants selected to trial run the gaming initiative based on SteamOS will start receiving their goods next week. You'll be to identify the beta participants by a special badge on their Steam Community profile. In addition to the badge (and hardware), those selected will also have a bunch of games added to their library that run natively on SteamOS. Not without hiccups, regulatory red tape prompted Valve to limit the beta...
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Valve earlier this week announced there will be several so-called "Steam Machines" in 2014, the official name for what the media was calling Steam Box. These Steam Machines are intended to run Valve's Linux-based SteamOS, and it's Valve's hope that users will interact with these machines using an official Steam Controller, the last of Valve's three big announcements. Where does all this leave third party players like Xi3 Corporation? While Valve has built a prototype Steam Machine, the real intent here is for third party manufacturers to take its blueprint and run with their own customized designs. Xi3 Corporation has shown considerable interest all along, and for a period of time, it was even...
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