NINE HUNDRED AND NINETY NINE US DOLLARS

[DMKA]

...is how much the first Steambox coming out this Christmas will cost. (http://www.vg247.com/2013/03/09/xi3s-piston-steam-box-available-for-pre-order-at-sxsw/)

Is anyone seriously interested in this? If so I'd love to hear someone legitimize it, seeing as you could build a damn fine PC and hook it up to your television and play Steam games on it for less than that.

[Laddy]

Oh, Valve. I love you, but...why!?

[Pike]

...Gaben. Gaben no. Gaben why.

Edit: The comments seem to be saying that this isn't that SteamBox, so...

[Laddy]

Uh..yay? I'd pay $500 for a console at most at this point.

[Bolivar]

The form factor is very sexy, the thing is about the size of the Ouya, but obviously with much better specs. Unfortunately, it does seem like this will be around as powerful as the PS4/720, but for presumably double the price. I'm not entirely sure if the upgradeability is worth it, depending on how expensive the components small enough to fit in there would be. I'm also not expecting the interfaces and multifunctionality of these things to compete with the iteration and polish of consoles either. It seems like they're going to leave it up to you to find homebrew (or make it yourself) applicaions compatible with whatever Linux distro they ship these things on. I know Gabe said the official Steambox would handle multifunctionality through the browser, sending you to Netflix.com to do Netflix.

It's just kinda funny that all the big players who have championed open platforms for so long are now scrambling to make closed, or semi-closed platforms.

[Shoeberto]

You guys... just... ugh.

- This is not The Steambox. Valve hasn't released a Steambox. At this point the Steambox is just a target spec.
- It's a customized PC meant to use Steam's Big Picture mode made by a third-party manufacturer with a form factor designed to fit into living rooms.
- It's a PC.
- It's not a console.
- You could build your own PC for that. That's the idea of Steambox as a spec. For people who can't, there's this thing.

I know there's going to be a bunch of hubbub over this but seriously this is not a console. They aren't trying to make a console in the traditional sense. They want to move PC gaming into the living room and this is just one of the options.

[NorthernChaosGod]

Why would anyone charge that much for a thing to play games on?

[Bolivar]

Because it's not just for video games. It's intended for most people to hook on the back of a monitor as an incredibly small, yet very powerful (and supposedly very upgradeable) desktop PC. The price isn't really that bad for those specs.

It just so happens Valve is supporting it as the first of the Steamboxes, although not the official Steambox that will be designed and brought to market by Valve.

[Skyblade]

It just so happens Valve is supporting it as the first of the Steamboxes, although not the official Steambox that will be designed and brought to market by Valve.

This is the marketing gaffe. Though not a huge one. But the first of your supported Steamboxes (which are thought of as gaming consoles, regardless of capabilities) shouldn't be running twice the price of the average console.

[NorthernChaosGod]

Because it's not just for video games. It's intended for most people to hook on the back of a monitor as an incredibly small, yet very powerful (and supposedly very upgradeable) desktop PC. The price isn't really that bad for those specs.

It just so happens Valve is supporting it as the first of the Steamboxes, although not the official Steambox that will be designed and brought to market by Valve.

I'm pretty sure people that want to have powerful computers can just build them themselves.

[Madame Adequate]

Yeah Gaben needs to make sure the message is getting out properly, because otherwise people are going to say "NINE HUNDRED AND NINETY NINE DOLLARY-DOOS?" and then go buy something else because nobody thinks a console is worth that much.

[Bolivar]

I'm pretty sure people that want to have powerful computers can just build them themselves.

Probably not one this small, though:

http://wac.7725.edgecastcdn.net/807725/website/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Xi3-story-2-610x339.png

[NorthernChaosGod]

I'm pretty sure people that want to have powerful computers can just build them themselves.

Probably not one this small, though:

http://wac.7725.edgecastcdn.net/807725/website/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Xi3-story-2-610x339.png

So?

[Bolivar]

You were wondering why it's $1,000 IIRC. FYI, a lot of people buy premade rigs instead of making their own. If you were really serious about gaming, though, you wouldn't buy this. There's still no confirmation on what kind of GPU wil be in there, but you need more space than that for the really good ones. This is all about size and placement convenience, something any gaming console should focus on, but as others have pointed, Valve probably shouldn't have jumped at this one to be the first.

[Slothy]

Not going to lie, that form factor alone makes me want it for the living room. If I actually had that kind of disposable income kicking around right now, I'd probably buy one.

[Bolivar]

It is kinda seductive

[Slothy]

Drop dead sexy even.

[NorthernChaosGod]

Am I the only one that has adequate room for a normal sized rig then? o_O

[Slothy]

I've got plenty of room for a full gaming tower. It's what I already have. But that doesn't mean I'd want it in my living room for a more media centered box. That thing is pretty much the perfect form factor for an HTPC.

[XxSephirothxX]

I'm really curious to see how well the Steam Box does. And by Steam Box I mean all the hardware that gets put out under that banner, however many computers that may be.

It just doesn't make much sense for the normal PC gaming crowd to buy them. A few will, if they want something small in the living room, but the vast majority of PC gamers have desktops already and wouldn't be satisfied with the limitations of a small system like that, anyway, or would want more bang for their buck.

So the primary audience, is seems, is people who normally would buy a console but wouldn't build a PC. Some of these boxes are going to run Linux, and I can't see many people buying those. How many people will really pay $500 or more for a Windows box in the living room instead of getting an Xbox or PS4?

I guess they don't really need to sell huge numbers, since Valve is doing fine with existing PC owners. But it's gonna be a really interesting market for game stuff over the next couple years.

[Bolivar]

Yeah, they want that console gamer $$$, I'm sure Valve does fine, but as someone who spends time on both sides of the fence, game communities on Steam aren't anywhere near as large as they are on PS3/360.

Gabe said the official Steambox will run Linux and use the web browser for multimedia apps. I don't know how that will work out, but I think the real identity of the system and its innovation will be determined by its input. They've hinted that the real Steambox will most likely use biometric data and gaze tracking for controls. If they can pull off a working living room input for PC games, strategy titles and First Person Shooters w/o auto-aim, then this thing will be a bonafide gamechanger. If not, then I'm not sure if this was all worth it, since I don't see their interface/multimedia being on par with Microsoft & Sony, and I don't see them iterating their community features up to what Sony just showed last month. It would have just been enough to fine tune Big Picture and let people move their tower/laptop out to the living room themselves.

Even though the piston is the first Steambox we're getting a real look at, I do think Valve's will be the first to actually release. They've confirmed they want to sync its release with those of the big manufacturers, and I wouldn't be surprised if they released it before Sony and Microsoft.

[Shoeberto]

I guess they don't really need to sell huge numbers, since Valve is doing fine with existing PC owners. But it's gonna be a really interesting market for game stuff over the next couple years.
I think what will be key in getting more market penetration will be involvement from bigger-name manufacturers. If Dell put out a HTPC form-factored gaming rig sold as a Steambox, I think it'd be a hit. Xi3 doesn't really have the visibility to make this a hit, but I think there are companies out there that would have the kind of marketing power and economies of scale to have this be a big deal - think Samsung when they started really pushing Android phones.

[Bolivar]

I think if Asus made a Steambox it'd be some serious ish.

[Pike]

Has this been posted yet?

This thing confirmed to have nothing to do with Valve. (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/03/12/piston-steambox-gets-p-ssed-on-by-valve/)

[Bolivar]

Looks like they've been reading EoFF!

[Bolivar]

Update: So this thing seems to be turning into a bit of a corporate catfight:

Xi3 CEO says Valve asked him to build the Piston console - Destructoid (http://www.destructoid.com/xi3-ceo-says-valve-asked-him-to-build-the-piston-console-248540.phtml)