Valve Steam Machines to be available from 14 vendors (and some are dual-boot)

Posted on Tuesday, January 07 2014 @ 15:47 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
Valve logo
Valve announces that the first generation of Steam Machines will be marketed by 14 vendors. The list of vendors primarily consists of premium gaming PC makers, as well as some regional etailers and hardware makers like Gigabyte and Zotac.

All systems come with the Valve Steam Controller and the design of the PCs vary widely. Pricing starts at $499 but easily ranges into the thousands if you max out the upgrades. The goal of the Valve Machine is to offer an alternative to consoles by providing a relatively low-cost gaming PC that is good enough for serious gaming.

Interestingly, some vendors play it safe by offering an optional dual-boot with Windows 7 or Windows 8.1.
Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Counter-Strike, Dota 2, Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, Portal, and Team Fortress) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced over one dozen Steam Machine designs now in production from leading manufacturers and targeted for release in 2014.

The lineup of Steam Machines announced today offers a wide variety of price and performance options made possible by the Steam Machine’s open design, with systems starting as low as $499 and top end systems rivaling today’s bleeding edge gaming PCs.

Every Steam Machine includes an innovative Steam Controller designed for use with a wide variety of game genres, and is powered by the SteamOS, a custom OS built atop Linux.

"The first generation Steam Machines offers something for every gamer, which is a critical part of extending Steam into the living room," said Gabe Newell of Valve. "With over 3,000 games and more than 65 million gamers on Steam, it’s important to offer gamers a variety of Steam Machines that allow them to select what makes the most sense for them."

Announced earlier this year, Steam Machines are new entertainment systems targeted for use in the living room and leveraging Steam, the popular online platform for gaming and software with over 65 million accounts worldwide.

The makers of first generation Steam Machines are:
  • Alienware
  • Alternate
  • CyberPowerPC
  • Digital Storm
  • Falcon NW
  • GigaByte
  • iBuyPower
  • Maingear
  • Material.net
  • Next Spa
  • Origin PC
  • Scan
  • Webhallen
  • Zotac
  • Valve Steam Machines


    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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