Support NeoGAF

[alexandros]

When asked about xi3's "Piston" console, Valve's Doug Lombardi clarified that the company does not have any involvement in xi3 or its products anymore:

Valve's Doug Lombardi told Eurogamer that Valve had some dealings with Xi3 Corporation, the company behind the Piston, but not any more.

"Valve began some exploratory work with Xi3 last year, but currently has no involvement in any product of theirs", he said.

Link: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-03-11-valve-backed-xi3-piston-console-starts-at-USD1000

 

[Visualante2]

No official involvement... I thought they gave an angel investment?

 

[kittens]

Huh. Okay then.

 

[elementalsin]

abandon ship!

 

[gofreak]

Didn't they put out a press release together about it? With investment?

I'm starting to wonder if Valve even knows what it's doing around Steambox.

 

[JaseC]

Nice to see official confirmation, as Xi3's apparently unsanctioned partnership announcement during CES achieved nothing but copious confusion.

Didn't they put out a press release together about it? With investment?

That was just Xi3 itself, which prematurely forced Valve's hand.

 

[Canis lupus]

That thing won't sell much, not only because its so expensive but what you're getting in return. If Valve is making their own, it doesn't need to be "so small you can hide it from yo friends".

 

[ThaiGrocer]

xi3 response: We don't care.

But seriously, free market. I'd like to see how this goes, wishing the best to anyone who participates.

 

[Axspell]

Interesting. Should be good when Valve finally comes out with its main effort.

 

[angular graphics]

We kinda knew that already --> http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=507554

But it's GOOD, they clarified it further.

 

[gofreak]

Nice to see official confirmation, as Xi3's apparently unsanctioned partnership announcement during CES achieved nothing but copious confusion.



That was just Xi3 itself, which prematurely forced Valve's hand.

What a mess.

So there was no investment? Or xi3 made a bigger deal out of something than they should have?

Piston wasn't even 'approved' as a Steambox?

I wonder what he means by 'no involvement'. Will Piston even be a certified steambox now?

edit - angular graphics's link answers some of those questions.

 

[Dr.Acula]

They (Valve) need to get away from that like JT got away from Brittany.

That $1000 hunk-o-junk steam(ingpileof)box can only hurt their image.

 

[googleplex]

Didn't they put out a press release together about it? With investment?

I'm starting to wonder if Valve even knows what it's doing around Steambox.

The PS4 is the steam box!

What a twist.jpg

 

[Nome]

What a massive messaging clusterfuck.

They should've said something earlier. The confusion is going to stick around for a long time.

 

[angular graphics]

What a mess.

So there was no investment? Or xi3 made a bigger deal out of something than they should have?

Piston wasn't even 'approved' as a Steambox?

I wonder what he means by 'no involvement'. Will Piston even be a certified steambox now?

It costs $1000. The "better" controlled tier is said to cost $300 or so. So nah.

 

[JaseC]

What a mess.

So there was no investment? Or xi3 made a bigger deal out of something than they should have?

The latter, I think. Valve's "exploratory work", I'd wager, refers to experimenting with various form factors.

Piston wasn't even 'approved' as a Steambox?

Neither Steam nor Valve are mentioned even once in the trailer, and it seems Xi3 is repositioning it as a gaming-orientated multimedia device (a grossly overpriced one at that). Basically, Xi3 got a little too excited and jumped the gun, a move that is now looking mighty silly.

 

[SirIgbyCeaser]

The PS4 is the steam box!

What a twist.jpg

considering its a PC, and its not made by microsoft. It actually would be an awesome steambox.

 

[BurnOutBrighter]

"No involvement" is Valve's motto these days.

 

[damaph]

I would try to distance myself from that overpriced box too.

 

[Nome]

Neither Steam nor Valve are mentioned even once in the trailer, and it seems Xi3 is repositioning it as a gaming-orientated multimedia device (a grossly overpriced one at that). Basically, Xi3 got a little too excited and jumped the gun, a move that is now looking mighty silly.

Seems more like a business deal that went awry. Valve didn't deny the investment before, and they're using pretty dodgy wording now.

 

[ThaiGrocer]

"No involvement" is Valve's motto these days.

Yes, and peer-reviewed terminations. haha

 

[googleplex]

considering its a PC, and its not made by microsoft. It actually would be an awesome steambox.

Weird slightly off topic question. How difficult would it be to get "PC" games to run on the PS4?

 

[Socky]

The PS4 is the steam box!

What a twist.jpg

I don't believe that would ever happen, but I do wonder if a partnership between Sony and Valve to bring Steam onto PS4 utilising Gaikai might work. They do seem to becoming direct competitors rather than partners now though.

The messaging Valve are allowing to occur re: Steambox is just odd. I think they could have a great system potentially, but can they really straddle the PC/console world? I always thought the price differential would be problematic and it remains so to me. Not cheap enough to compete with consoles, not powerful enough to compete with PCs. I don't get it. Seems more and more like the 3DO model of multiple hardware designed to a standard than a 'Steambox' console.

I already play Steam games on my TV too, sometimes.

Weird slightly off topic question. How difficult would it be to get "PC" games to run on the PS4?

I believe I may have just answered you: Gaikai.

 

[Corto]

I feel some disturbance in the force.

 

[Cube]

So is Valve going to release their version, or are they just leaving it open for other companies?

 

[ThaiGrocer]

So is Valve going to release their version, or are they just leaving it open for other companies?

Both.

 

[JaseC]

So is Valve going to release their version, or are they just leaving it open for other companies?

Both:

The way we sort of think of it is sort of "Good, Better," or "Best." So, Good are like these very low-cost streaming solutions that you’re going to see that are using Miracast or Grid. I think we’re talking about in-home solutions where you’ve got low latency. "Better" is to have a dedicated CPU and GPU and that’s the one that’s going to be controlled. Not because our goal is to control it; it’s been surprisingly difficult when we say to people "don’t put an optical media drive in there" and they put an optical media drive in there and you’re like "that makes it hotter, that makes it more expensive, and it makes the box bigger." Go ahead. You can always sell the Best box, and those are just whatever those guys want to manufacture. [Valve's position is]: let's build a thing that’s quiet and focuses on high performance and appropriate form factors.

Edit: b10.

 

[SirIgbyCeaser]

Weird slightly off topic question. How difficult would it be to get "PC" games to run on the PS4?

Theoretically only OpenGl shader support, porting away anything windows related. The CPU is an AMD x86 cpu like intel makes, and AMD releases for PC. The GPU is also familiar.

The thing is, valve isn't looking for any partnership with a hardware manufacturer like sony.

But hackers are going to be cracking their PS4's to run windows/linux as soon as the device is released. If they're successful, expect people running steam on it with or without valve.

 

[alexandros]

Seems more like a business deal that went awry. Valve didn't deny the investment before, and they're using pretty dodgy wording now.

Valve aren't denying the investment now. Here's my take on what happened: Valve were shopping around for a hardware company to make the official Steambox. They saw xi3's work and commissioned a prototype to see if it was good enough for that purpose. Xi3 made the Piston, it proved to be too expensive and/or too underpowered and Valve started looking elsewhere or decided to build it themselves. Xi3 decided to go ahead and sell the Piston as a separate product, using Valve's initial investment as a way of making headlines.

 

[Alexios]

Valve aren't denying the investment now. Here's my take on what happened: Valve were shopping around for a hardware company to make the official Steambox. They saw xi3's work and commissioned a prototype to see if it was good enough for that purpose. Xi3 made the Piston, it proved to be too expensive and/or too underpowered and Valve started looking elsewhere or decided to build it themselves. Xi3 decided to go ahead and sell the Piston as a separate product, using Valve's initial investment as a way of making headlines.

Alternatively, like many other companies selling htpc/small form pcs, etc, they were making this product before Valve ever entered the equation and are proceeding with it as normal. A Steambox may or may not come from this company at some point but the Piston or any other product of theirs that doesn't have Valve's involvement, which is natural at this point as Valve don't seem that far along in figuring out what that is going to be exactly, is not it. Given that, of course Valve doesn't want people buying these thinking they're steamboxes. These should be bought for people who need them for what they are and that alone.

As for people thinking Valve merely want to distance themselves from the price point and will magically offer a custom built small form PC that can run new PC games yet is not only cheaper than off the shelf desktop PC parts, but also cheap, LOL.

 

[runnin_blue]

I lost interest when they announced the price anyway.

I thought the whole point of the concept was an affordable alternative to a desktop pc.

Guess I was wrong.

 

[Sentenza]

I believe I may have just answered you: Gaikai.

That's not what he asked.

 

[Alcoholikaust]

abandon ship!

yeah

 

[Jburton]

Steam box is dead, they have scrapped it and slowly taking their fingers out of those pies ...... that's what I think anyway.

 

[runnin_blue]

Steam box is dead, they have scrapped it and slowly taking their fingers out of those pies ...... that's what I think anyway.

I'm pretty sure Valve just announced that they are working on it and it will release in 2013.

Am I wrong?

 

[Harlock]

Valve: "please don´t connect us to the U$ 1,000 price point".

 

[alexandros]

Steam box is dead, they have scrapped it and slowly taking their fingers out of those pies ...... that's what I think anyway.

Someone should let Gabe Newell know, the poor guy still thinks the Steambox is moving forward.

Newell: Steambox prototypes in 3-4 months

 

[SniperHunter]

I want Valve to stick with making games...but I guess they have become too greedy thanks to steam and all the software sales.

 

[SneakyStephan]

Good , it was obvious from the start that these clowns were just trying to ride the steambox hype...
The name alone, smh.

Maybe some no name company should make an iGalaxy s4

That thing was worthless as a gaming platform to begin with with those specs and that price.

 

[PFD]

Why should xi3 care? According to them, the demand is overwhelming for this thing, and they are drowning in preorders. lol

 

[Beermeister]

sinkingship.gif

 

[runnin_blue]

I want Valve to stick with making games...but I guess they have become too greedy thanks to steam and all the software sales.

They make GAMES?!!

 

[Orayn]

I really don't understand the Xi3/Piston. It's a neat little form factor, but the high price point pretty much dooms it to have an incredibly narrow niche.

They make GAMES?!!

They released retail or paid DD games in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012, so clearly Valve does not make games.

EDIT: In before moving the goalposts to "games I am personally interested in" or "games that are Half-Life."

 

[Interfectum]

They make GAMES?!!

How is this shit not bannable yet? Every Valve thread is derailed with this.

 

[Stahsky]

I want Valve to stick with making games...but I guess they have become too greedy thanks to steam and all the software sales.

Seems like they have been doing both just fine. What's the problem? DotA 2 is one of the best games out there.

 

[JaseC]

Seems like they have been doing both just fine. What's the problem? DotA 2 is one of the best games out there.

When people say, "Valve doesn't make games", what they mean is, "Valve hasn't been making games that cater to my tastes".

 

[runnin_blue]

How is this shit not bannable yet? Every Valve thread is derailed with this.

It's called a JOKE! Sheesh...

Get worked up much?

Tough crowd...

I like Valve games but they don't release many (fully internally developed).

Episode 3 anyone? Oh shit..I said it, didn't I?...

 

[Harlock]

People with money will pay the premium for the xi3 small size. But is good for PC side of gaming to has other options costing less but with the same amount of power.

 

[ironcreed]

Valve: "please don´t connect us to the U$ 1,000 price point".

Ha, Ha, pretty much. Good for them as well.

 

[angular graphics]

Alternatively, like many other companies selling htpc/small form pcs, etc, they were making this product before Valve ever entered the equation and are proceeding with it as normal. A Steambox may or may not come from this company at some point but the Piston or any other product of theirs that doesn't have Valve's involvement, which is natural at this point as Valve don't seem that far along in figuring out what that is going to be exactly, is not it. Given that, of course Valve doesn't want people buying these thinking they're steamboxes. These should be bought for people who need them for what they are and that alone.

Yes, this is what happened.

Here's their Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/262476727/xi3-help-us-usher-in-the-post-pc-era

- Started on September 2012 and failed. They were creating this already on their own, and trying to fund it through Kickstarter.

- Then on January 2013 they issued a press release mentioning an "investment from Valve Corporation" (which is a pretty vague statement) and that both Valve and Xi3 will show it at CES.

- At CES they were interviewed and as I said back then the Xi3 dude "gave me the impression he acknowledged it's merely a machine that plays well with Steam's BPM, not THE SteamBox (if there will ever be one) or even A SteamBox that Valve particularly prefers compared to others."

- The following day, Valve confirmed the Piston is indeed not even a potential SteamBox, the point of the CES meeting was to get together with companies like Xi3 and talk about creating a "standard" for the SteamBox. The Piston being already in production obviously wasn't designed with that (yet to be decided!) standard.

tl;dr they came up with this device on their own, and despite whatever investment they later received from Valve (if any), at CES both parties were already distancing themselves from each other.