At the beginning of the 2000s buying a CD or DVD was about the only way for a game to be owned by a player. It was an age of retail, and all the online games were incredibly fragmented when it came to patches, updates and modifications. Then Counter Strike came, and things have changed for the first time in history. Valve created Steam out of the need of deploying updated to Counter Strike at the same time for every player. Besides updating the games simultaneously, Valve added anti-piracy and anti-cheat features to the platform, and slowly turned it into a digital distribution network for a series of games. Today buying games through Steam – or other similar networks launched by other game developers – has become as easy as playing them. You buy online, play online on any PC, and have your achievements stored online. But this is apparently not enough, so Valve – and Steam – is changing the gaming landscape once again with two of its upcoming hardware releases: the HTC Vive virtual reality platform, co-developed by Valve, and the series of Steam Machines, set to be released this November.
Steam Machines will be a combination of a gaming console and a gaming PC, bringing Windows and Linux games into your living room. Basically, they will be a series of pre-built gaming PCs running either Valve’s own Linux based SteamOS operating system, or Microsoft’s Windows plus a pre-installed Steam client on them. You might argue that these sound just like the usual gaming consoles provided by companies like Sony and Microsoft, but there is a huge difference – Steam Machines will be as modular and upgradable as a desktop PC, and as visually appealing as a classic gaming console.
I, for one, would prefer a Windows powered Steam Machine, as it will surely run my favorite Red Flush Online Casino Games. I turn to them whenever I don’t feel like engaging in a hour-long intense session of shooting monsters. Red Flush offers me the casual entertainment I often need, and also the chance to fill my pockets with some extra cash (that I use to buy games on Steam). Red Flush gives me the chance to take the best of their games with me wherever I go – they work on smartphones and tablets, too (something Steam still owes us, don’t you think?). Besides, it gives me the same peace of mind like Steam, being one of the most secure gaming portals I have ever visited.
Steam Machines will be available in a series of versions, built by dedicated computer hardware companies. Alienware has already launched its version of the Steam Machine, with nVidia GeForce GTX graphics and Intel Core processors. Syber has also released its version, built using off-the-shelf hardware (which makes it fully customizable). Both of these models will have a starting price under $500. Other manufacturers, such as Gigabyte, Maingear, ASUS, Alternate, DigitalStorm, Origin or Nextbox, are also preparing their own take on the Steam Machine, with prices between $599.99 and $4,999.99 (this most expensive one will be released in November by Falcon Northwest, with a Core i7 CPU, a GeForce Titan Z class video card, up to 16 GB of DDR3 RAM and up to 8 TB of SSD storage).
Steam Machines are expected to become available on November 10th this year, just in time to make it on your Christmas wishlist. I know they will be on mine…
1 Comment
The controller is all I need, me ain’t no need any garbage steam machine.