With close to twelve Steam machines now available and having been since late last year, just how is Valve’s gaming concept fairing? Well, to get a better perspective of how the market stands, it’s probably only fair to look at where Valve would like this to go and it’s pretty obvious that they favour the Alienware offering.
As Hayden Dingman, Games Reporter over at PCWorld has observed, the Alienware machine, well, just looks the part.
It’s small yet it’s still a full-blown powerful PC, looks good in your entertainment center and has all the connectivity you’ll need. The SteamOS works, the controller is wonderfully intuitive, so where is the downside? It doesn’t work with all of your Steam library that you’ve collected over the years. Ouch…
Two years ago, it was hard to discuss PC gaming without the question of Steam Machines arising. In early 2014, Valve announced a long list of hardware companies with SteamOS-operated living room PCs in development, and alongside the still-in-development Steam Controller, it felt like these living room PCs might render the platform more mainstream, while also meaningfully endangering Sony and Microsoft’s console businesses.
Alienware was among the most proactive companies when it came to pursuing the concept. It released the Windows-based Alienware Alpha before SteamOS was finished, and the second iterations of both its Windows and SteamOS based boxes released earlier this year. And yet, in 2016, it’s rare for discussions about the future of PC gaming to include any mention of Steam Machines. read more at pcgamer.com
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