Lean Mean Steam Machine

Behind Door #2: Steam Machines

Last week Valve teased a series of three announcements that would be landing this week. On Monday, we learned about SteamOS, a Steam-based operating system that would run on "living room machines". Today, we learn what those machines are: Steam Machines.

An Open Market

Contrary to what was widely believed, Valve will not be developing these Steam Boxes Machines themselves, but have opened the floor for other manufacturers to jump in and try to sell you on their own versions. This is very good news. Instead of just one manufacturer setting an insanely high price, multiple manufacturers will be competing for your cash. This equals better prices and ultimately better machines.

It also reinforces the idea that Valve is looking for Steam to be a platform that dominates the living room. Had Valve decided to just be the sole developers of the "Steam Machine" concept, it would put them up against the 'Big Three' console manufacturers directly, but especially Microsoft and Sony. Now, while I think they certainly have a viable platform, that still would have been a tough sell. An open market allows Valve to focus on what it does best, namely develop outstanding games while still being a great distribution channel for other games.

Beta Machine

That said, Valve has announced they will be distributing their own prototype Machine to 300 lucky steam users. Getting into the beta requires a little work, but it's great to hear that the company has some beta devices that it is looking to send out to the public. A couple other things that intrigued me in the announcement? First, Valve announced that users would indeed be able to build their own machines and install SteamOS. Second, even the pre-built Steam Machines (Valve's at least) could be "hacked", have the hardware changed and install other software. This seems to be the company's way of hammering home the point that it's not about the machine itself, it's about Steam and getting it into your living room.

Door #3

Valve isn't done with their announcements this week. Having only revealed two of their promised three announcements, they have already stated that the third and final reveal would take place on Friday. Now, many are thinking there is finally going to be an announcement of Half-Life 3. While that could happen, even if it does, I don't think it's the big news. 

Look at the last question on today's announcement. After assuring readers that users could utilize a mouse and keyboard or gamepads, they announce that readers should stay tuned for more "very soon" on the topic of input. If that's not a tease, nothing is!