NEWS

Valve to show off the "Steambox" today


Valve is set to unveil their living room PC - dubbed the "Steambox" - today at CES 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The hardware was developed by Xi3 but paid for by Valve and is aimed at assaulting those consoles underneath your television sets. Xi3 is calling the unveiling the "development stage" as the hardware is not yet ready for launch.

The set, as it is without a formal name, has been codenamed "Piston" and is said to be the size of a grapefruit. The box is specifically designed with Steam in mind and will take full advantage of the service's Big Picture mode. The system developer has stated that the box was also developed to be moved around, just in case you and your buddies are getting together later.
“This new development stage product will allow users to take full-advantage of their large high-definition TV displays for an amazing computer game experience. As a result, this new system could provide access to thousands of gaming titles through an integrated system that exceeds the capabilities of leading game consoles, but can fit in the palm of your hand,” Xi3 CEO Jason A. Sullivan said.
According to Xi3 marketing officer David Politis, speaking with Polygon, that while no specific hardware specs were to be announced at this time, the "Piston" is very similar to the X7A, both in specs and price (the X7A ran about $1000).

The "Piston" will have up to 1TB of internal storage and you'll be able to upgrade the hardware's RAM and eventually CPU. The device that will be shown later today will have an HDMI output, two mini display ports, four USB 2.0 ports (with one being dedicated for a keyboard), four USB 3.0 ports, Ethernet, four eSATAp ports, and optical and standard audio.