Xi3 Piston gaming PC now available for pre-order

Posted on Monday, March 11 2013 @ 16:48 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
Xi3 announced it's taking pre-orders for the Piston Console, a new compact living-room PC designed to run Valve's Steam and Steam's Big Picture mode. Pricing starts at $899 for a system with an AMD A10-4600M 3.2GHz embedded quad-core APU, Radeon HD 7660G integrated graphics, 8GB DDR3 memory, and a 128GB SSD. Upgrades are available to 256GB and 512GB SSDs for an additional $340 and $750, respectively. Shipments will start by the end of the year.
Xi3 Corporation today announced it will begin accepting pre-orders for its PISTON™ Console (PC) at the Gaming Expo held today, tomorrow and Sunday during the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas.

The list price of Xi3’s PISTON Console starts at $999.99. Any PISTON Console pre-order placed between now and the end of SXSW 2013 (11:59 p.m. CST, Sunday, March 17, 2013), will receive a $100 discount off the list price, with pre-ordered PISTON Consoles shipped in time for the 2013 Holiday Season. (The special PISTON Console pre-order page is found at http://xi3.com/buy_now-piston.php.)

“Given the amount of awards, media attention and gamer interest the PISTON Console has generated since it was unveiled at CES 2013 in January, we’ve become seriously concerned that we will not be able to meet the demand for PISTON Consoles this year,” said Jason A. Sullivan, founder, president and CEO of Xi3 Corporation. “That’s why we have decided to begin accepting pre-orders on our PISTON Console, beginning today with the start of the SXSW Gaming Expo. Gaming Expo attendees will also get the benefit of being the first to see the PISTON Console in action.”

Additional PISTON Console Details Forthcoming
Xi3 will showcase “live” gameplay on alpha versions of its PISTON Console at the 2013 SXSW Gaming Expo in Xi3’s booth (#400). Additionally, Xi3 is slated to deliver a “live” on-stage presentation at the Gaming Expo on Saturday, March 9 beginning at 7 p.m.

“Clearly, the computer/video gaming market is huge, both in the personal computer and traditional console markets,” Sullivan stated. “That being said, we believe there is a crying need for a machine that captures the best of both worlds, with the upgradeability of computer gaming rigs and the design and form factor of consoles. We believe our PISTON Consoles do exactly that—deliver the beauty and small size of consoles with the upgradeability of computers.”

The grapefruit-sized Xi3 PISTON Console was announced at the 2013 International CES trade show in January as a “development stage system optimized for computer gameplay on large high-definition television monitors.” This January announcement generated massive interest in the worldwide computer/video game industry, and Xi3 garnered several notable awards and honors for its PISTON efforts, even as a development stage product.

The PISTON Console is derived from the forthcoming X7A Modular™ Computer, Xi3’s first power user computer. Xi3 will reveal additional product details about the PISTON Console and its plans for formally entering the game marketplace at the 2013 SXSW Gaming Expo.
Xi3 Piston console


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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