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The second of this week's major Steam living room announcements has been revealed! Introducing: Steam Machines. Previously dubbed by the community as the "Steam Box", the new Steam Machines will be introduced into the market in 2014 as a variety of pre-built gaming hardware solutions designed specifically for the living room space. Every Steam Machine will run the recently announced SteamOS, and will be available from a number of different hardware partners at a variety of price points and performance rates, all of which have yet to be revealed.
The Steam Machines announcement page has revealed that, while the products are still in development and are not yet ready for a public appearance, Valve is planning a closed beta which will see the first 300 Steam Machines released for Steam users who meet a number of criteria, which we have outlined below. A new Steam Badge, known as the "Steam Hardware Beta Candidate" will track the completion of the criteria.
The list will be locked after October 25th, so be sure to complete the criteria before then if you're interested in receiving one of the first 300 Steam Machines! The rest of the announcement page features a lengthy FAQ which we highly recommend checking out if you are at all interested in Valve's hardware pursuits. The bottom question of the FAQ leads us to believe that the third and final announcement, set to be revealed in around 48 hours at 5pm GMT on Friday 27th September 2013, will somehow involve Valve's controller prototypes, as it discusses that Valve will "have some more to say very soon on the topic of input".
Until the reveal on Friday, be sure to head on over to the Steam Universe community group to get started on your 'quest'!
FAQ
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.
The Steam Machines announcement page has revealed that, while the products are still in development and are not yet ready for a public appearance, Valve is planning a closed beta which will see the first 300 Steam Machines released for Steam users who meet a number of criteria, which we have outlined below. A new Steam Badge, known as the "Steam Hardware Beta Candidate" will track the completion of the criteria.
The list will be locked after October 25th, so be sure to complete the criteria before then if you're interested in receiving one of the first 300 Steam Machines! The rest of the announcement page features a lengthy FAQ which we highly recommend checking out if you are at all interested in Valve's hardware pursuits. The bottom question of the FAQ leads us to believe that the third and final announcement, set to be revealed in around 48 hours at 5pm GMT on Friday 27th September 2013, will somehow involve Valve's controller prototypes, as it discusses that Valve will "have some more to say very soon on the topic of input".
Until the reveal on Friday, be sure to head on over to the Steam Universe community group to get started on your 'quest'!
FAQ
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.
