Valve's 'Steam Box' revealed as Xi3 Piston

For yonks, rumours have buzzed about Valve selling its own pre-built PC, fondly nicknamed the 'Steam Box' by fans. Yesterday Valve and Xi3 announced that the Half-Life creator and Steam mastermind had invested in the fledgling hardware company, and that the pair are working on a mini-PC aimed at living rooms with the codename 'Piston.'

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For yonks, rumours have buzzed about Valve selling its own pre-built PC, fondly nicknamed the 'Steam Box' by fans. Yesterday Valve and Xi3 announced that the Half-Life creator and Steam mastermind had invested in the fledgling hardware company, and that the pair are working on a mini-PC aimed at living rooms with the codename 'Piston.'

The Piston is a diddy little PC intended to plug into your living room screen and run games in Steam's Big Picture mode. Xi3's thing is modular computers which you can upgrade by switching modules out, looking far less intimidating than upgrading a big desktop box. The company hasn't revealed Piston's specs yet, but told Polygon it's based on its X7A model.

Starting at around $1,000, the X7A packs a Quad-Core processor with 384-core integrated graphics, which I'd haphazardly guess is AMD's A10 series. It boasts 4GB or 8GB of RAM, oodles of USB ports, and four eSATAp ports for extra external storage. Now, Piston's specs and price won't necessarily line up, but this gives a fair idea of what to expect.

Xi3 attempted to Kickstart its boxes in 2012, but fell far short of the $250,000 crowd-funding goal. Exactly how much Valve invested in Xi3 and what it gets in return is unknown.

Valve head honcho Gabe Newell commented in December that bringing Steam to Linux would be a boon for its then-still-not-officially-announced living room PCs, so Linux should be an option. "Certainly our hardware will be a very controlled environment," he said at the time. "If you want more flexibility, you can always buy a more general purpose PC." Yep, that's the X7A all right.

So, Valve has the best PC digital distribution platform, which looks grand on televisions, and now a shiny little PC to sit in your living room. Interesting times ahead for PC gaming.

Here's a video from October, looking at Xi3's modular hardware:

[Story image snapped by Polygon, which has more photos too.]

From The Chatty
  • reply
    January 8, 2013 6:15 AM

    Alice O'Connor posted a new article, Valve's 'Steam Box' revealed as Xi3 Piston.

    For yonks, rumours have buzzed about Valve selling its own pre-built PC, fondly nicknamed the 'Steam Box' by fans. Yesterday Valve and Xi3 announced that the Half-Life creator and Steam mastermind had invested in the fledgling hardware company, and that the pair are working on a mini-PC aimed at living rooms with the codename 'Piston.'

    • reply
      January 8, 2013 6:27 AM

      Valve, piston, oooh I see what they did there.

      • reply
        January 8, 2013 6:42 AM

        I still think they should have called it the Steam Engine.

        • reply
          January 8, 2013 7:15 AM

          Maybe they are slowly building the parts for a Steam Engine.

        • reply
          January 8, 2013 7:33 AM

          They will release several different models that can be combined to make a super computer called the Steam Engine.

      • reply
        January 8, 2013 11:39 AM

        I thought it was more steam + piston, but obviously valve does fit in well too.

    • reply
      January 8, 2013 6:31 AM

      I'm going to make it a point to force the word 'Yonks' into my daily conversations now. Thanks Alice.

    • reply
      January 8, 2013 6:34 AM

      Looks like a streaming/cloud gaming type of device.

      • reply
        January 8, 2013 6:59 AM

        I'd wager it will use USB 3.0 HDDs as a primary recommended storage.

        • reply
          January 8, 2013 7:11 AM

          USB3 is certainly fast enough for a good gaming experience.

    • reply
      January 8, 2013 6:39 AM

      Those boxes always looked cool, but I recall them being pricey.

      • reply
        January 8, 2013 6:58 AM

        Valve might take a hit off every unit. Ensured steam sales to keep people from straying over to Origin or others might be worth it.

        • reply
          January 8, 2013 7:11 AM

          I mean pricey for what you got. I recall thinking they should have been cheaper than they were, but that may be because they had a bunch of custom tooling for a low production run - which might not be a problem with Valve's backing.

        • reply
          January 8, 2013 7:15 AM

          The X7A (which this is based off of) is a cool $1k, they'll have to subsidize a lot or something because I don't see this working out well for more than $500.

          • reply
            January 8, 2013 7:54 AM

            Where are you getting that price? The promotional video released today (or yesterday) says that the entry level unit (X5?) will be "under $500" and the more powerful model will be "competitively priced". They never mentioned a price and I can't seem to find anything.

            • reply
              January 8, 2013 8:01 AM

              If you actually read the article above it says the X7A, which this will be based off of, is $1k.

              The Piston is a diddy little PC intended to plug into your living room screen and run games in Steam's Big Picture mode. Xi3's thing is modular computers which you can upgrade by switching modules out, looking far less intimidating than upgrading a big desktop box. The company hasn't revealed Piston's specs yet, but told Polygon it's based on its X7A model.

              Starting at around $1,000, the X7A packs a Quad-Core processor with 384-core integrated graphics, which I'd haphazardly guess is AMD's A10 series. It boasts 4GB or 8GB of RAM, oodles of USB ports, and four eSATAp ports for extra external storage. Now, Piston's specs and price won't necessarily line up, but this gives a fair idea of what to expect.

              • reply
                January 8, 2013 8:09 AM

                integrated graphics destroys this product from being good. And I could easily spec out a PC for under $600 with better performance than this. None of this makes any sense as being the "steambox."

                • reply
                  January 8, 2013 8:59 AM

                  Agreed, it needs to be 1/2 that price at most.

                • reply
                  January 8, 2013 11:31 AM

                  Yeah, if that's where they're really going it makes no sense. Nobody wants a $500-1000 box to play old games and 2D indie titles and stuff. It needs to be able to run Far Cry 3 and Witcher 2 and Crysis and stuff.

    • reply
      January 8, 2013 6:41 AM

      The Wii is going to get Piston. Clever dicks.

    • reply
      January 8, 2013 7:12 AM

      I wonder how much storage it has. The video showed 4 eSATA ports on the back. That seems like a lot. I would think 2 would be sufficient, one for a 1-2TB external, one for an optical if you really wanted it.

    • reply
      January 8, 2013 7:17 AM

      Also, is there any chance this thing is really going to be a workhorse gaming PC if it's only using 20watts? I think the RAM in my computer uses more that.

    • reply
      January 8, 2013 7:22 AM

      And NOW the HL3 / Episode 3 rumor train can actually start rolling without being complete vapor.

      Console menz: let's say Valve pulls a Microsoft and chooses to release HL3 on PC / Piston only, would you buy one?

      • reply
        January 8, 2013 7:33 AM

        I'll probably buy one whether it has Ep3 on it or not.

      • reply
        January 8, 2013 8:04 AM

        Considering it will be running on either Ubuntu or Windows anyways probably not.

      • reply
        January 8, 2013 7:28 AM

        Oh interesting. I wonder how close it'll be to the ps4? They were talking about going to about that hardware at one point, I think;

    • reply
      January 8, 2013 7:25 AM

      Isn't this going to lead to more developers hamstringing their games to come in under a hardware roof, kind of like how Skyrim had RAM limitations at launch?

      • reply
        January 8, 2013 7:47 AM

        [deleted]

          • reply
            January 8, 2013 8:06 AM

            [deleted]

            • reply
              January 8, 2013 8:42 AM

              With an average donation of $750 per person, that's probably where the rather lofty price point comes from too.

          • reply
            January 8, 2013 8:18 AM

            I see the real money maker for them: selling you "modular" upgrades that only they make. Very slick.

            • reply
              January 8, 2013 8:33 AM

              I think that's better than a platform that doesn't change for 7 years. Though I wonder how they'll indicate minimum requirement.

              Game Requirements:
              A3+ MainBoard
              K12 RamBoard
              S2 VidBoard or better

            • reply
              January 8, 2013 8:36 AM

              [deleted]

              • reply
                January 8, 2013 8:46 AM

                sarcasm johnny. sarcasm.

              • reply
                January 8, 2013 8:49 AM

                I meant slick as in it's a nice trick to get people buying their parts forever. I think it is a dumb idea for a PC gamer of any seriousness to invest in this product.

          • reply
            January 8, 2013 8:43 AM

            Hahaha. A PC.... where you can upgrade things? ABSURD.

          • reply
            January 8, 2013 9:05 AM

            Half of those only wanted it enough to invest $3 though, to get the newsletter.

        • reply
          January 8, 2013 8:59 AM

          Why do you want an Xbox or a PS3? At some point, the hardware limitation has benefits.

          • reply
            January 8, 2013 9:01 AM

            This doesn't seem to be targeted at console people, though.

        • reply
          January 8, 2013 9:11 AM

          I think the idea of:

          1. Buy game on Steam, download on PC
          2. Tell Steam to download it to my Piston downstairs on the TV as well
          3. Play game on my Piston downstairs
          4. Wife wants to watch Keeping Up with the Real Housewives of Honey Boo Boo
          5. Save game, turn off piston
          6. Go upstairs, continue game where I left off

          Games like Crysis would stink on it but wouldn't it be cool to have a less-intensive game be playable on both your TV and PC without much hassle?

          "But you can do that today with a PC you build for your home theater"

          Yes, you can do that, and I can do that, and valcan_s sure as shit can do that. But Joe Sixpack can't and he won't bother. He'll just buy an Xbox and the game on Xbox and not the PC and then publishers say "well hell, let's just cut off that PC port, it's only 10% of the market"

          Wouldn't it be better if all this does is encourage normal people to buy more games on Steam?

      • reply
        January 8, 2013 8:18 AM

        I hope they enter this with more of a PC mentality. Imagine 20 years from now, when you browse the steam store, you see that every game lists which Piston it is compatible with. Maybe the latest and greatest at that time would require you to buy a Piston 10, but would still be playable on a Piston 8 or 9. A casual gamer could still find the occasional new game that works on a Piston 1. You could upgrade on your own schedule, knowing that your steam account will always have value and all your games.

        Still need a lot more information. Since it seems that it will be running on Linux, I wonder how much, if any of my current PC steam library would be playable on the device. I'm not particularly interested in a pure Valve console just yet.

        • reply
          January 8, 2013 11:38 AM

          I think they'd do good to use a single spec, but to update it yearly and have a number in the name like you described. If they want to expand the market they need the simplicity of saying "requires piston 5 or higher."

          It's basically the App Store method of system requirements.

          • reply
            January 8, 2013 12:48 PM

            Make the number the year and you can just say "Requires Piston 2014 or newer"

    • reply
      January 8, 2013 7:38 AM

      Xi3's website is getting absolutely hammered.

    • reply
      January 8, 2013 7:50 AM

      Also, I'm actually pretty excited for this to come to form. Not because I want to purchase one really but more interested in the impact it could have on the PC market as a whole if it turns out to be successful.

    • reply
      January 8, 2013 8:00 AM

      If this is the actual steambox, hurray for a cool looking design but complete fail on hardware and price. Not having a discrete graphics card means games will be running on low end settings at 1080p resolutions, or medium-ish settings at 720p. It's taking PC gaming backwards.

    • reply
      January 8, 2013 8:06 AM

      This whole situation just doesn't make any sense. Why would valve collaborate with Nvidia to get linux performance up to snuff, then come out wiith an AMD-based steam PC? Nvidia would not have collaborated with Valve just to get sold out to a competitor for an upcoming Valve prdouct. I don't think this is the big steambox reveal. It's also way too underpowered for anyone to care, and at $1000 before subsidized, it's way too expensive.

    • reply
      January 8, 2013 8:19 AM

      Repeat from other thread: I still don't know how they can pull this off without a lot more work on the software side. I play a lot of Steam games on my TV and the experience is far from optimal, so many games pop a launcher that requires mouse input, or launch with a default resolution my TV doesn't support. Forces me to use an app on my phone to control my PC temporarily, which ruins the point of having a big picture/controller mode in the first place.

    • reply
      January 8, 2013 8:20 AM

      WTF is a yonk?

    • reply
      January 8, 2013 8:25 AM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      January 8, 2013 8:53 AM

      For a $1000 bucks.... probably not. Its a cool idea looks cool but not at that price it is all about the guts and software in my opinion.

      You can build a ace comp quad core 3.2ghz, 16gig mem, 660 2gig, 128gig SSD etc for a $100 less and it will slaughter the Xi3 and be 100% up gradable, so what is the point?

      Qty. Product Description Savings Total Price


      Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
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      Return Policy: Limited Replacement Only Return Policy
      -$5.00 Instant
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      Seagate Barracuda ST500DM002 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
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      XFX Black DD FX-785A-CDBC Radeon HD 7850 2GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 3.0 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
      Item #: N82E16814150660
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      -$20.00 Instant
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      1

      AMD Gift - NEXUiZ Free Coupon
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      CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power ...
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      CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CML16GX3M2A1600C10R
      Item #: N82E16820233386
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      -$10.00 Instant
      $76.99
      $66.99


      MSI Z77A-G41 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
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      Intel Core i5-3470 Ivy Bridge 3.2GHz (3.6GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2500 ...
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      OCZ Vertex 4 VTX4-25SAT3-128G 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
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      -$30.00 Instant
      $149.99
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      Subtotal: $906.92

      Pass, Valve mad Big Box already and there is Steam so really I am not sure of the point maybe I should make my own game rigs and sell it as a competition.

      Unless they make a gaming OS or some special software that your games benefit from I can not see the point fro this hardware other than looking cool/small does nothing for the gamer.

      Ehhh I am not feeling it.

      • reply
        January 8, 2013 8:56 AM

        Wrong video card there should of been a 660:

        ZOTAC ZT-60901-10M GeForce GTX 660 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
        Item #: N82E16814500270
        Return Policy: VGA Standard Return Policy
        Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
        -$10.00 Instant
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        $224.99
        $214.99

        Total $911.92

      • reply
        January 8, 2013 8:59 AM

        Now try to beat it without breaking 40w.

        • reply
          January 8, 2013 9:03 AM

          :) well the 40 watt is super impressive no doubt but as a gamer what do I care about that?

          40 watt vs I can play any game now and in a few years at MAX in 1920x1080 and keep my computer and swap in a 800 or 9000 GPU in 2014 and still be ripping it.

          What would you pick for that money? Don't get me wrong it is a engineering marvel no one is taking that away from them. But if you want a rig or console for games at that price long term and you want the juice for your games what are you going to pick?

          • reply
            January 8, 2013 9:20 AM

            You'd care if you had a 500W computer sitting below your TV. But I agree they should have been more cost effective on this.

            • reply
              January 8, 2013 9:28 AM

              That comp case probably is worth $400 alone that is some impressive design work etc, it can have a freaking car on it and not break that has to be worth a lot of $. I wonder how much it be if you tossed that?

              • reply
                January 8, 2013 9:33 AM

                [deleted]

                • reply
                  January 8, 2013 9:39 AM

                  Same I could care less, if it was $400 that be like almost 2X 660 in SLI that you could have, I would rather have that any day over a indestructible case that I will never use.

            • reply
              January 8, 2013 9:34 AM

              [deleted]

              • reply
                January 8, 2013 10:46 AM

                Remember that this thing would need to be always on. Waiting for Windows and Steam to load would be a deal breaker.

        • reply
          January 8, 2013 9:05 AM

          Does anyone really care about the power usage of a console that is plugged in to a wall outlet?

        • reply
          January 8, 2013 9:09 AM

          I don't think the benefits of being 40w outweighs the performance cost per dollar that you scarifice

          • reply
            January 8, 2013 9:11 AM

            Well, if I said do it in mITX form factor it'd still be really easy to crush it (though not as easy to physically crush it.)

          • reply
            January 8, 2013 5:27 PM

            [deleted]

            • reply
              January 9, 2013 6:01 AM

              Yep. If I have $1000 to spend and I want to buy a machine to play games on, I don't see how those choice wins my money

      • reply
        January 8, 2013 9:59 AM

        Valcan, I'm going to hazard a guess, and say you are not the target demographic for this.

    • reply
      January 8, 2013 8:56 AM

      year of the linux piston?

    • reply
      January 8, 2013 8:58 AM

      $1000? Paging valcan_s

      • reply
        January 8, 2013 9:06 AM

        :)

        ----------------- Newegg.com ------------------------

        Qty. Product Description Savings Total Price


        Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
        Item #: N82E16811129066
        Return Policy: Limited Replacement Only Return Policy
        -$5.00 Instant
        $69.99
        $64.99


        Seagate Barracuda ST500DM002 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
        Item #: N82E16822148767
        Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
        Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
        Recover Your Data(expand for options)
        -$20.00 Instant
        $79.99
        $59.99


        AMD Gift - NEXUiZ Free Coupon
        Item #: N82E16800995131
        Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
        -$29.99 Saving
        $29.99
        $0.00


        CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power ...
        Item #: N82E16817139020
        Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
        -$30.00 Instant
        $10.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
        $119.99
        $89.99


        CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CML16GX3M2A1600C10R
        Item #: N82E16820233386
        Return Policy: Memory Standard Return Policy
        -$10.00 Instant
        $76.99
        $66.99


        MSI Z77A-G41 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
        Item #: N82E16813130653
        Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
        Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
        -$5.00 Instant
        $10.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
        $99.99
        $94.99


        Intel Core i5-3470 Ivy Bridge 3.2GHz (3.6GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2500 ...
        Item #: N82E16819115234
        Return Policy: CPU Replacement Only Return Policy
        Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
        $199.99


        OCZ Vertex 4 VTX4-25SAT3-128G 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
        Item #: N82E16820227791
        Return Policy: Limited Replacement Only Return Policy
        -$30.00 Instant
        $149.99
        $119.99

        ZOTAC ZT-60901-10M GeForce GTX 660 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
        Item #: N82E16814500270
        Return Policy: VGA Standard Return Policy
        Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
        -$10.00 Instant
        $20.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
        $224.99
        $214.99

        Total $911.92

        I could shave off a lot more money but I am already under and way way better so I did not bother.

        • reply
          January 8, 2013 9:42 AM

          I fucking love you, man -- you fight for the users! Can't wait for the write-up.

          • reply
            January 8, 2013 9:53 AM

            "you fight for the users" fuck yeah man \m/

        • reply
          January 8, 2013 9:55 AM

          BUT BUT ITS BUILT IN OBSOLESCENCE.. WAIT NO IT ISN'T

          Seriously I didn't know wtf they were talking about with built in obsolescence. Nobody that upgrades their computer hardware would ever be dumb enough to buy that Xi3 piece of crap. When that company goes out of business good luck finding updated parts for it lol

          There are amazingly attractive and grown up looking micro-atx cases that I would rather have than a goofy thing

        • reply
          January 8, 2013 6:47 PM

          Cost of labor to assemble? Cost of time to gain expertise required for proper assembly?

    • reply
      January 8, 2013 9:12 AM

      It looks like this isn't Valve's first party hardware. There is no Valve press involved in this.

      Valve may have invested in these guys, but this is likely just one of the 3rd party boxes that will do something similar to what Valve is working on.

      More discussion here:
      http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1738470&page=2

      • reply
        January 8, 2013 9:23 AM

        Yeah, this isn't valve's official offering.

        This sort of feels like when apple started putting itunes on sony erricson phones as a testing ground years before the iphone came out.

      • reply
        January 8, 2013 9:35 AM

        Maybe Valve is going to like 3DO or Panasonic's CD-i where they don't make the hardware, they make the spec and they license it out. Added bonus is that if the spec is "small PC" there could be a nice cottage industry of these things from various unaffiliated manufacturers.

      • reply
        January 8, 2013 9:37 AM

        I don't think Valve is going to do first party hardware. It so far outside their usual area of expertise. I think it's a lot more likely that they partner with an established manufacturer or create a spec standard that anyone can build. "Steambox certified" or something.

        I don't think a company that has only ever dealt in software would build something as complex and logistics heavy as a de facto console for their first entry into the hardware market.

        • reply
          January 8, 2013 9:40 AM

          they hired an industrial designer not too long ago...

        • reply
          January 8, 2013 9:47 AM

          Yeah but the examples you're probably thinking of (Microsoft made the Microsoft Mouse before they put out the Xbox) were probably from companies that had lots of product lines. Valve just makes and distributes games, so it makes a little more sense that their first hardware entry would be something that helps facilitate their distribution.

          But yeah I expect that if there ever is a first party Valve console it will be after they've partnered with several companies like this. Sort of like how Microsoft partnered with computer companies for years and then put out the Surface to compete with them.

        • reply
          January 8, 2013 9:52 AM

          They've already explicitly said they would be releasing their own hardware, as well as working with other manufacturers.

        • reply
          January 8, 2013 10:18 AM

          Valve already hired a bunch of hardware people to work on hardware things.

        • reply
          January 8, 2013 10:19 AM

          I'm pretty sure Microsoft did exactly that with the Xbox. :P

          • reply
            January 8, 2013 11:08 AM

            NOOOO microsoft made a mouse and keyboard so they had all this extensive hardware knowledge going into the original xbox. ;-)

            • reply
              January 8, 2013 12:06 PM

              Well also, game controllers.

              Sidewinder FTW

              • reply
                January 8, 2013 6:23 PM

                I still miss my Sidewinder Force Feedback 2. I like my Logitech G940...but its a lot more grainy than the Sidewinder was...the FF in that thing was great.

      • reply
        January 8, 2013 9:47 AM

        I made a post about this not too long ago (also because I applied for that job), but I was never under the impression that Valve would do hardcore first-party PC development. The job postings and press releases/interviews all pointed at peripheral hardware and cutting-edge R&D.

        All Valve would need to do is publish a reference spec to a 3rd party and have them produce the Piston. Anything Valve makes (haptic interface, biometric feedback peripheral) would then work with that device.

        My guess is they are going the route of first-party peripherals to work with something like the Piston without having to create the SteamBox itself.

        • reply
          January 8, 2013 10:07 AM

          That's what the article back in March said, but Gabe said last month:

          "Newell said he's expecting a lot of different companies to release these types of packages—"We'll do it but we also think other people will as well," he told me—and that Valve's hardware might not be as open-source or as malleable as your average computer."

          http://kotaku.com/5966860/gabe-newell-living-room-pcs-will-compete-with-next+gen-consoles

          I dunno, to me that sounds pretty certain that they're working on their own first party hardware.

      • reply
        January 8, 2013 9:56 AM

        I think it is a lot of info in year Interview new --> http://www.gamespot.com/team-fortress-2/videos/is-it-the-steam-box-or-not-qanda-with-xi3-6402107/

        "Optimized for gameplay within steam in big picture mode" what ever that means?

        Or I like what MercFox1 said that sounds about right, not what I thought they would do but I guess it makes sense.

    • reply
      January 8, 2013 9:38 AM

      Here is a way, way better HTPC gaming machine for $700

      http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=21336405
      Very small enclosure, quad core Intel CPU, 8 gigs of ram, 500 gig HD, and a nvidia GTX 660 graphics card. The only thing you can complain about on this is no SSD.

      This Xi3 Piston is not the PC Valve is bringing to market. No way in hell. Valve would not collaborate with Nvidia on optimizing drivers and engine performance on Linux then end up using entirely different hardware. Makes ZERO sense.

      • reply
        January 8, 2013 10:12 AM

        To be fair, they worked with AMD on the same issues with Linux, but I agree, I don't think this is the Steam box anyone is looking for.

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        January 8, 2013 11:19 AM

        You got a big enough power supply for that thing?

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          January 8, 2013 5:14 PM

          Yes the cpu is rated at 65 watts and the video card is rated at 110 watts.

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        January 8, 2013 11:57 AM

        That's what I'm thinking. I wonder if Piston is an in-home OnLive box. Your big rig will run the games, but Pistons will stream it to that set, even though $500 seems really steep for that. :/

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          January 8, 2013 12:07 PM

          If all it's doing is slinging video, Ouya could probably do that. There's got to be more to this.

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        January 8, 2013 12:47 PM

        a 5400rpm harddrive? do you hate yourself?

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          January 8, 2013 5:13 PM

          I was just trying to show that $700 can get a gaming rig in a small form factor with several orders of magnitude more powerful than this piston PC.

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      January 8, 2013 9:41 AM

      Finally a PC that I can park my truck on!

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      January 8, 2013 9:43 AM

      Well, if this really is the Steam Box, I can't imagine how it could have been any more anticlimactic than this.

      It's a nettop for under your TV. Whoop de freakin doo.

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      January 8, 2013 10:18 AM

      AMD?! daVinci1980, how could you guys let that happen?

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      January 8, 2013 12:21 PM

      Still not sure about this thing... It's interesting and I do like what I see here. Linux however is limited in its game library and that would be my only concern right now. But besides that putting this on my big screen would be awesome and this COULD compete with the 360/ps3.

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      January 8, 2013 1:15 PM

      I see this as good in the sense as it will help fight the console's stranglehold on video games. The consoles have been holding back the graphics and physics in PC gaming for years now. We could have games looking close to that "Agni's Philosophy" tech demo if developers weren't developing first for 360 and PS3, then porting to PC.

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