Valve Software’s Steam Machine seems to be moving towards becoming a real consumer product — today at the Consumer Electronics Show, the company officially announced the first 13 partners building Steam Machines, and it shared the pricing and basic specs.
The Steam Machine initiative was announced last fall. Valve co-founder Gabe Newell reiterated today that it’s meant to bring the openness of the PC into the living room, particularly for gaming. At the time, the company only created 300 prototypes for beta testers, so it seemed like it would be relying on third-party hardware manufacturers to bring Steam Machines into the homes of consumers.
The initial lineup of partners includes Alienware, Digital Storm, Gigabyte, Materiel.net, Origin PC, Webhallen, Zotac, Alternate, CyberPowerPC, Falcon Northwest, iBuyPower, Next, and Scan Computers. (Engadget actually got ahold of the list before it was officially announced.)
Asked whether Valve is going to make any more devices of its own, Newell said, “We’re going to continue to make that decision as we go along.” He said that the company is happy with the results so far, although it’s been prodding testers for more negative feedback.
Anyway, here’s the Valve brochure with the details. Release dates were not announced.
Steam Machines Brochure by TechCrunch
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