Seems the running rumors that I heard a while ago a valve making its own computer/gaming system has become true.

Called the Piston, its a micro computer which allows you to bring your steam library up and onto your TV.

Size wise it seems to literally a micro computer as stated "Polygon reports the computer, which appears to be about the size of two moderate-to-beefy fists held together, is optimized for Steam's Big Picture Mode."

Xi3 Specifications
-quad-core 3.2ghz CPU
-1 TB
-Modular componemts ugrades for its CPU and Ram
7 series information
-4 3.0 USB ports
-HDMI Port
-eSata ports

Though the actually specifications haven't been released something that has been said is that the components will be easyly replaceable making upgrading or swapting out parts simple.

The company behind this micro computer is Xi3, it will be interesting to see where they will be taking this technology and mater of fact they have 6 patons just for compoments of this computer.

Sources:
http://www.digitaltrends.com/computi...alves-console/
http://www.gamesradar.com/piston-rev...rst-steam-box/
http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/xi3-pis...eo-08-01-2013/

2 attached images

From what I heard, Gabe Newell has refused to give out any details regarding the Steam Box, along with any details regarding Half-Life 3.
Valve just keeps rolling not only the gaming market, but the electronics market as well. It's about time they started taking major steps towards showing their competitors up in the markets.

Well gee ain't that quaint...

I would get one out of being a Valve fanboy in a sense, but probably only to play on the couch on a larger screen. But quite honestly, all this recent news on PC gaming trying to compete with the console/mobile market is kinda making the inner PC dweller in me cringe a bit. Just because I didn't want to see every game watered down so it could play on both console and PC. And it still wouldn't matter for me, I prefer PC gaming since I don't need a new TV to see games without a slight blur on them like my current one has. I also prefer playing games on my own since my friends and brother aren't exactly... supportive of actions I take playing games. Usually complaining or groaning.

Yeah I realized that when I went looking for actual spefication on the Pistion, that there wasn't a whole lot to be found, now on the other hand the company they are working with to produce it has a lot of information and the computers they are producing is a pretty neat idea, tough $999 is a bit much for me to aford for the technology. I do look forward to what Valve and Xi3 produce for the steam box, pistion.

They definitely have to bring the price down to make it more affordable to consumers. Nearly anyone uses Steam enough to warrant a dedicated console has no purpose purchasing one to begin with. It'd be cheaper to build a gaming HTPC.

Considering I'm no good with computers (yet) and I really want to experience Steam more, I have to say this really does hook me in. And being able to play it on the TV is just a plus with my pretty big-sized screen. I just hope it's at a reasonable price... and games are actually updated...

Seems that Valve has been a little more lose lipped as on Engaget they released some pictures of the prototypes, the controller pictured looks like a Logitech one that I have.

There are a total of 63 phots for you browse and to poruse.

LInk:http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/09/e...ox-prototypes/

As long as all my PC games are compatible with this, I'm all for it. Hopefully I can get a new TV before it even gets a release date.

Seems the specifcations have finally been released on how good the system will be out of the box.

In a comparison out of the box to the Xbox 360 its a bit better but won't be a major power untill its tweaked and upgraded.

Source:http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Val...sed-51231.html

Only slightly better than the Xbox but five times the price? Yeah, no thanks.

That... Well I hope they know it may go outdated soon then.

How can Valve expect anyone to spend $999 on this? Thats absolutley insane...

I just hope that the price was more just a placeholder for something reasonable.

Remember that even though it's labeled as a console, it's a lot like a PC in just about every way. If you were to try and get a PC with the same specifications as the Steam Box, you'd probably have to spend around $1,500 at the least for a pre-built computer. However, you'd probably have to spend around $1,200 for a build-your-own computer for the same specifications listed, so $999 isn't too bad for what you're getting.

Also, I went digging around a bit on cnet and found a bit more detailed specifications:
-First off, the final product of the Steam Box may or may not have a different look, along with different hardware
-The CPU is based on AMD's R-Series APUs
-The GPU is AMD's Radeon HD 7660G, which has 384 shader cores
-The CPU can support 8 GB of RAM
-The system can support video output up to 4096x2160 pixels
-Only requires about 40-watts of power from a 4.25x3.66x3.66 inch system.

However, these specifications are based on the fact that the Steam Box is similar to Xi3's higher-end 7 Series systems. Source.

Something interesting to note: Gabe Newell has said the Piston is not the Steam Box

By the way, Cat, where did you get that "five times the price of the 360" thing from? I didn't see it anywhere.

Gabe has opened his lips and let us know that the steam box will run Linux, something I'm pretty sure that all of us had a pretty good idea of to begin with.

Problem is that a lot of the games aren't supported, as quoted from the article only 41 out of the hundreds that exist within the steam library. It's also likely that it will do digital distrabution, which is the cornerstone for steam to begin with so a safe bet.

With Nvidia comes out with its Grid proccessor it will allow you to stream games to external deviced, Project Sheild is a good hint.

http://www.gamespot.com/features/doe...m-box-6402511/

It's also worth noting that while the Steam Box is still in development, Valve is currently working on Steam Linux (which I believe is in Beta at the moment) and is in the process of making all of their games compatible with Steam. Team Fortress 2 is already compatible with Linux, so it shouldn't be too long before the rest of Valve's games are Linux ready (due to a majority of their games running on Source and TF2 already being compatible with Linux).

So my guess is that by the time Steam Box is ready and hits shelves, the Linux library will be much larger than it is right now.

Well, it's officially priced now.

$999.

http://www.neoseeker.com/news/22415-...ial-steam-box/

I'm still convinced just buying a set of PC to TV cables is still just as good. Unless they can produce some First Party games unavailable to PC (Which probably won't happen) to compete the other three, they won't really go anywhere...


Besides, for that price. I can get a whole new computer. Much rather do that.
I'd only consider if the price did drop. Even then, I probably wouldn't touch it considering how much I play console games now.