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Steam Machines Announced (Multiple manufacturers, 2014, reference design, SteamOS)

M

MRORANGE

Member
Link: http://store.steampowered.com/livingroom/SteamMachines/

Finally, a multiple choice answer
Entertainment is not a one-size-fits-all world. We want you to be able to choose the hardware that makes sense for you, so we are working with multiple partners to bring a variety of Steam gaming machines to market during 2014, all of them running SteamOS.

While these products are still in development, we need your help. As always, we believe the best way to ensure that the right products are getting made is to let people try them out and then make changes as we go. We have designed a high-performance prototype that’s optimized for gaming, for the living room, and for Steam. Of course, it’s also completely upgradable and open.

This year we’re shipping just 300 of these boxes to Steam users, free of charge, for testing. You can make yourself eligible to get one. How? Read on!
Click to expand...

Here’s how to participate:

THE HARDWARE BETA ELIGIBILITY QUEST:
Before October 25, log in to Steam and then visit your quest page to track your current status towards beta test eligibility
1. Join the Steam Universe community group
2. Agree to the Steam Hardware Beta Terms and Conditions
3. Make 10 Steam friends (if you haven't already)
4. Create a public Steam Community profile (if you haven't already)
5. Play a game using a gamepad in Big Picture mode

You can complete the steps in any order. Once you’ve completed all of the steps, you’ll be awarded a special badge, and you’ll officially be among the pool of people from whom we’ll choose beta participants / hardware recipients.

On October 25th, the list will be locked. So complete the quest before then!

Your help is critical to our design process. Your feedback will shape both the new OS version of Steam and the new category of gaming machines that will run it.
Click to expand...


FAQ

Questions!
When can I buy one?!
Beginning in 2014, there will be multiple SteamOS machines to choose from, made by different manufacturers.
I’m pretty happy with my PC Gaming setup, do I have to buy a new piece of hardware now?
No. Everything that we’ve been doing on Steam for the last 10 years will continue to move forward.
If you guys are delivering an OS to hardware manufacturers, why is Valve also making its own box?
We're conducting a beta of the overall Steam living-room experience, so we needed to build prototype hardware on which to run tests. At Valve we always rely on real-world testing as part of our design process. The specific machine we're testing is designed for users who want the most control possible over their hardware. Other boxes will optimize for size, price, quietness, or other factors.
How will you choose the 300 beta participants?
A small number of users (30 or less) will be chosen based on their past community contributions and beta participation. The remainder will be chosen at random from the eligible pool.
Should I create lots of Steam accounts to increase my chances of getting selected?
No, that won’t work.
What are the specs of the Valve prototype?
We'll tell you more about it soon. Remember, there will ultimately be several boxes to choose from, with an array of specifications, price, and performance.
Where’s a picture of it? How big is it?
We promise we'll tell you more about it soon.
When will the prototypes ship?
This year.
Will beta testers be allowed to share info about their experience and post pictures and opinions online?
Yes, that really is the whole point. The input from testers should come in many forms: bug reports, forum posts, concept art, 3D prints, haikus, and also very publicly stated opinions.
Will I be able to build my own box to run SteamOS?
Yes.
Can I hack this box? Run another OS? Change the hardware? Install my own software? Use it to build a robot?
Sure.
Can I download the OS to try it out?
You will be able to download it (including the source code, if you're into that) but not yet.
If I’m not in the beta, how can I help and contribute feedback?
The Steam Universe Group is where feedback is being collected. Most areas of the group will remain open for participation by all Steam users. Some may be limited to beta participants only, but there will be plenty of ways to contribute feedback for everyone.
What games will be available during the beta?
The nearly 3,000 games on Steam. Hundreds already running natively on the SteamOS, with more to come. The rest will work seamlessly via in-home streaming.
What is SteamOS? What’s included?
Here's a link to what we said earlier about SteamOS. We'll have more details to tell you, soon.
Am I going to be using a mouse and a keyboard in the living-room?
If you want. But Steam and SteamOS work well with gamepads, too. Stay tuned, though - we have some more to say very soon on the topic of input.
Click to expand...



You can also now join the Steam Hardware group.

3451885840e9590af1320dde141fb13244ed2bb5.jpg
 
G

GulAtiCa

Member
Neat. I'll gladly get one next year for the right prices. And since they said multiple versions, I hope that one version will be around $300 to $400 at most.
 
D

Deadly Cyclone

Pride of Iowa State
So Valve is making their own box too.

But first, Valve’s prototype
While these products are still in development, we need your help. As always, we believe the best way to ensure that the right products are getting made is to let people try them out and then make changes as we go. We have designed a high-performance prototype that’s optimized for gaming, for the living room, and for Steam. Of course, it’s also completely upgradable and open.
Click to expand...
 
G

gofreak

GAF's Bob Woodward
Not much to go on here.

But basically it sounds like SteamOS is the big side of all this.

There isn't really 'the Steam box'. Just PCs with SteamOS preloaded to counter the zillions of PCs going out there with Windows on board.
 
A

alr1ght

bish gets all the credit :)
Am I going to be using a mouse and a keyboard in the living-room?
If you want. But Steam and SteamOS work well with gamepads, too. Stay tuned, though - we have some more to say very soon on the topic of input.
Click to expand...
lemme see that controller!
 
C

Cutebrute

Member
That was as vague and non-descript as Valve could have possibly been. I guess Friday will be the controller announcement, but at this rate I doubt we will even see the damn thing.
 
D

Deadly Cyclone

Pride of Iowa State
Seems the controller will be Friday:

Am I going to be using a mouse and a keyboard in the living-room?
If you want. But Steam and SteamOS work well with gamepads, too. Stay tuned, though - we have some more to say very soon on the topic of input.
Click to expand...
 
A

Anteater

Member
hmm so this doesn't really tell us much compared to the previous info we know about, other than that there's a prototype that will be available to testers.

And confirmation on we can use it however we want, installing other OSes on it, etc.
 
C

Concept17

Member
What games will be available during the beta?
The nearly 3,000 games on Steam. Hundreds already running natively on the SteamOS, with more to come. The rest will work seamlessly via in-home streaming.
Click to expand...

This is interesting.
 
A

A-V-B

Member
Huh. Well, that was sort of underwhelming... I was expecting some really important feature that would get people on-board with the new big concept of living rooms with SteamOS.

Instead it's just... "We're making this stuff, and uh, you can sign up if you want. And there'll be a controller announcement on Friday. Bye."


Ok? Am I missing something here?
 
G

Guevara

Member
Not a very exciting announcement.

Also "hundreds" of games are ready, but thousands via streaming. Meaning you still probably want to own a traditional gaming machine. This isn't convincing me, as a console gamer, to change.
 
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