Valve's Steam Machine May Look A Bit Like The Borg Cube, But It's...

Is Valve picking up the ball console gaming dropped?

'Tis true, sire—the Steam Machine rides again. No longer simply issuing specs and outsourcing the rest, Valve is set to fully realise what was at best a half-formed vision more than a decade ago, while also fortifying its existing hardware successes. Valve has introduced a number of new branches to its hardware ecosystem, including the aforementioned PC-for-the-TV device. But who is it for? And is Valve really angling for a slice of the console market?

While we know the Steam Machine will release early next year, we don't yet know how much it will go for—but I'm feeling hopeful it could be an affordable, accessible option for the PC gaming-curious. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: PC gaming is an expensive hobby. After the not small upfront cost of building your very first rig, there's the regular rhythm of pricey hardware upgrades (to say nothing at all about the cost of repairs and replacement parts).

So, could the Steam Machine corner the market of folks curious about the power and customisability of PC gaming, but who still want to hit the ground running when it comes to gaming? Given that the bog-standard PS5 now costs $550 and the price of a 1TB Xbox X has climbed up to $650, what would a compelling price point for new hardware like the Steam Machine look like in this day and age anyway? And is modern console gaming really a fair comparison point when the technical makeup of the Steam Machine itself skews closer to a mini-PC with a discrete GPU?

I'm not just asking for myself, someone who finally upgraded to her first gaming rig only after relying on an elderly gaming laptop for a decade. I'm asking for my Mum, who is still in part relying on an HP Pro 3010 Microtower machine from 2009. Even worse, it's also a Windows 10 machine.

Now, lest you think I'm trying to foist Valve's Linux-based SteamOS PC onto someone who'd have no use for it, let me explain: I only confronted my mum's dire hardware straits recently, when I got the bright idea to see if her PC could run Steam. Before, I'd spent years poorly packing my pointy PS5 into a bag and lugging that all the way home.

Most recently, Mum has been all about solving the conundrum of how to get away with murder in Overboard, but she also sat through—and even at points enjoyed—watching me play 40 hours of crime drama Yakuza 0. Granted, neither of us were particularly fond of how the female characters were written in that '80s-set preque

Source: PC Gamer