Valve announces Steam Machines to challenge games console market

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Valve Steam
The Steam Machines have been described by the company as 'a powerful new category of living-room hardware'



It's the news gamers have been waiting for, and few will be surprised that their suspicions have been confirmed. Computer game Valve has announced that a range of consoles, based around its Steam digital gaming platform, will be launched in 2014.


Described by the company as 'a powerful new category of living-room hardware', the Steam Machines will essentially be high-performance PCs with capabilities designed around gaming and other entertainment applications. Valve will not build the consoles itself, instead it is working with 'multiple partners', and there will be various models to choose from, all with different tech specs and price points. All the machines will run the SteamOS, a streamlined operating system announced by Valve on Monday.


Although the finished products will not be released until 2014, Valve has revealed that it is building 300 prototypes this year, and will distribute these free of charge to lucky members of its Steam Universe community group. The company explains who is eligible on its official site.


Although Valve no doubt has the base specifications of the Steam Machines in mind, the company is emphasizing the open nature of the platform. Manufacturers will be able to add their own features and users will be free to hack the box, changing the OS, adapting the hardware and using it for their own projects.


This adaptable model contrasts highly with traditional games consoles which have closed, highly controlled systems. It is closer in philosophy to the burgeoning range of cheap, modifiable game boxes based on the Android operating system – the likes of the Ouya and GameStick. Veteran gamers may also recall the 3DO console, released in 1993, which provided the hardware architecture blueprints to third-party manufacturers who then produced their own versions.


That machine was doomed to failure, blown out of the market by the original Sony Playstation. Valve, though, is a much bigger player. Its Steam digital distribution platform features almost 3000 downloadable PC games and boasts around 50 million users. Such a high profile new entry into the living room entertainment space could have serious consequences for the forthcoming PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles.


And Valve is not finished yet – the company says it has one more announcement to make this week. It could be a long-awaited update to its respected Source games engine

, or it may be a new game. Fans have been waiting several years for Half-Life 3, a fabled third title in the legendary sci-fi shooter series. If SteamOS and Steam Machine were the appetizers, Half-Life 3 would be the Michelin-starred main course to die for.







Source: Tablet Android

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