Tag: Steam Machine

Steam Machines And Controllers Are Exclusive To GameStop

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: With Valve’s long awaited Steam Machines finally (finally) releasing to the masses this November, gamers everywhere have been wondering just how we’ll get our hands on the oft-delayed TV friendly hardware.

Well, you can stop wondering, as Valve has revealed that GameStop will be the exclusive retailer of Steam hardware come its launch on November 10th.

Yeah, we didn’t see that coming either.

Valve’s very own Steam service has been slowly putting nails in GameStop’s brick-and-mortar coffin for years, and with this announcement gamers that probably haven’t stepped foot into one of GameStop’s stores since Steam launched will be forced to if they want to pick up any of this gorgeous hardware.

Keep in mind that this exclusivity extends to Valve’s Steam Link console (for those of you that already have powerful gaming PC’s), and the gorgeous-but-how-will-it-feel Steam Controller.

Weird.

I’m certainly interested to see how these machines do once they’re available to the public. I love the idea of a powerful gaming PC that I can simply hook up to my television, but if the Machine’s don’t sell, I can’t see many AAA publisher’s jumping on board SteamOS.

In any case, are you planning to pick up a Steam Link or Steam Machine when they launch at GameStop, EB Games, and GAME on November 10th?

Steam Machines BannerSource: Wired

 

Steam Hardware Pre-Order On Now

by Bigyanks

Valve has been teasing the gaming community for quite a while now with their proposed invasion into the living room. With their Big Picture mode. Steam OS and their Steam Machines, it appeared that Valve was ready to take on the Big Three!

Now the dream becomes a reality as preorders for their first and third party hardware start TODAY! You can get your hands on a preorder by hitting up your local GameStop or through Valve directly. If you preorder you will get the hardware on October 16th! That is almost a month early, when the entire catalog goes public November 10th!

About the Steam Hardware devices:

remote

Steam Controller — An innovative input device that allows you to play games from all genres, including traditional gamepad style games as well as games usually reserved for play with a mouse and keyboard. The Controllers are wireless, completely configurable, and available for pre- order in the U.S. and Europe for an estimated $49/?54.

steam link

Steam Link — The Steam Link allows Steam gamers to easily expand the range of their current gaming set up via their home network. Connecting any TV to your Steam host PC, Mac, or Steam Machine, the Link allows you to stream your games at 1080p 60 fps, and is available for pre-order in the U.S. and Europe for an estimated $49/?54.

SyberSteam_bk_400alienware-steam-machine

Steam Machines — Available from Alienware and other manufacturers, Steam Machines can serve as a stand-alone device for enjoying the Steam gaming experience in one box, with more than 1,000 titles available for native play. In addition, Steam Machines have the ability to broadcast and receive In Home Streaming, allowing you to stream your games to a Steam Link, or receive a stream from another Steam Machine or PC. Steam Machines will vary in price, offering a range of hard drive sizes, graphics performance, and more. Available for pre-order in the US, starting at an estimated $449.

Personally, if I were you, I’d just invest time and money on a full sized PC. With the ever increasing quality of hardware, and the cost of said hardware DECREASING in parity, you’d be better off building your own machine.

That being said, the Steam Machines are a great investment for someone wanting to explore the HUGE Steam library, without getting wrist deep in computer parts.

 

‘Gauntlet’ Reboot Hitting Steam This Summer, Watch The First Trailer!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: Yep, Gauntlet is coming back.

Warner Bros. Interactive announced a reboot of the series today, which will launch on Steam (with full Steam Box support) later this year.

The game is set to “Gauntlet will be the first title in the WB Games Vault portfolio, which will provide us with an opportunity to access emerging talent within the game development community and match unique skills and experience with our extensive library of properties.” Sounds good to me… Maybe we’ll see a new Rampart or Smash TV next.

In any case, you can watch the first trailer for Gauntlet below, and head further south for the press release in full. Excited? Sound out below!

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment today announced Gauntlet, a completely modernized action RPG version of the celebrated dungeon crawler, will be available this summer via Steam for PC, offering full support for SteamOS and the upcoming Steam Machines shipping the second half of this year. The game will lead the launch of WB Games Vault, a direct-to-digital portfolio that will deliver paid games based on popular Warner Bros. and Midway brands, plus original IP, across multiple digital networks.

 

“With Gauntlet we combined the arcade style of the original game with an entirely new look and feature set that includes emergent, local and online four-player gameplay,” said David Haddad, Senior Vice President, Digital Games, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “Gauntlet will be the first title in the WB Games Vault portfolio, which will provide us with an opportunity to access emerging talent within the game development community and match unique skills and experience with our extensive library of properties.”

 

Gauntlet, developed by Arrowhead Game Studios, innovates on past titles while staying true to the brand’s legendary format. Players select from four classic fantasy-based characters: Warrior, Wizard, Valkyrie, or Elf. Each character has its own unique strengths and weaknesses. For example, the Warrior does the most damage in melee combat, the Wizard has the most powerful magic, the Valkyrie has the most armor and the Elf moves the fastest. Distinctive play styles, procedural dungeons and an impressive art style keep the gameplay fresh.

 

“To us at Arrowhead, Gauntlet is one of the most defining games from our childhoods, and it’s amazing to be able to work with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment on a brand new version,” said Johan Pilestedt, CEO of Arrowhead Game Studios. “Gauntlet is one of the original and best known video game properties and we are looking forward to creating a fresh, yet true to the original, take on a multiplayer masterpiece.”

 

Upon selecting a playable character, the gameplay is set within dungeons where the object is to fight through the chambers slaying evil creatures and completing challenges. An assortment of special items can be located in each dungeon that can restore the player’s health, unlock doors, and shift the odds in the player’s favor with magical relics which can aid the player in surviving longer in the Gauntlet. The enemies are a vast assortment of fantasy-based monsters, including ghosts, grunts, demons, spiders, sorcerers and skeleton warriors.

Geekscape 319: Talking Star Wars Comics, CES And More With Zack Haddad

by Jonathan

Longtime Geeskcapist Zack Haddad returns to the show to talk news, both personal and pop culture! We talk about his recent surprise marriage and whether or not Shane O’Hare is allowed to stay this summer for Comic Con Tuesday after almost falling on his cat. We also talk about Star Wars comics leaving Dark Horse for Marvel and what it means to the Star Wars Extended Universe! CES is going on and the big news is Michael Bay bombing and the Steam Machines impressing! Plus, Matt Reeves is directing the third Planet of the Apes movie and the Robocop reboot gets not so impressive video game trailer! Also, Agents of Shield steps up but Arrow is still the show to watch!

Subscribe to the Geekscape podcast on iTunes!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 50:41 — 29.0MB)

UPDATED: CES 2013: Valve Announces 13 Hardware Partners For Steam Machine

by Shane O'Hare

Fresh outta CES 2013, we got a nice bit of news about the very much sought after Valve Steam Machine. Hot on the heels of beta hardware, Valve has just announced who they are partnering with to release the production hardware.

13 hardware companies will be joining forces with the video game giant from Seattle. They are:

Alienware, Alternate, Cyberpowerpc, Digital Storm, Falcom Northwest, Gigabyte, iBuyPower, Materiel.net, next, Origin ( the custom PC manufacturer, not the digital distribution service ), Scan Computers, Webhallen.com and Zotac.

Valve stated that these manufacturers will be releasing Steam Machines on their own release schedule and will also be shipping their own Steam Controllers.

No word on pricing or release dates just yet; details are still coming in.

UPDATE

We just got our hands on a handy dandy press release, a gallery AND pricing!

 

Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Counter-Strike, Dota 2, Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, Portal, and Team Fortress) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced over one dozen Steam Machine designs now in production from leading manufacturers and targeted for release in 2014.

 

The lineup of Steam Machines announced today offers a wide variety of price and performance options made possible by the Steam Machine’s open design, with systems starting as low as $499 and top end systems rivaling today’s bleeding edge gaming PCs.

 

Every Steam Machine includes an innovative Steam Controller designed for use with a wide variety of game genres, and is powered by the SteamOS, a custom OS built atop Linux.

 

“The first generation Steam Machines offers something for every gamer, which is a critical part of extending Steam into the living room,” said Gabe Newell of Valve. “With over 3,000 games and more than 65 million gamers on Steam, it’s important to offer gamers a variety of Steam Machines that allow them to select what makes the most sense for them.”

 

Announced earlier this year, Steam Machines are new entertainment systems targeted for use in the living room and leveraging Steam, the popular online platform for gaming and software with over 65 million accounts worldwide.

 

Valve Announces First Party Customizable Gamepad! Steam Controller Is Here!

by Shane O'Hare

Today is the final day in the series of announcements from Valve and this one is a doozy. They are officially announcing their own gamepad! Looks like my prediction from Wednesday was right! Get eyes on this baby!

Steam Controller
Dual trackpads, touch screen and customizable layout!

The Steam Controller really looks like it is the proper next step in video game input. No waggle controls, heart beat sensors or facial recognition. Valve has taken the greatest gaming controller, the Mouse and Keyboard and condensed them into a controller. The Steam Controller will work with all games on the Steam library, even the old ones!

The first thing you will notice about this gamepad is the dual trackpads. Each trackpad is super high resolution like that of a mouse, is clickable and opens up categories of games that were once unable to be played with a traditional gamepad. From the Press Release:

Whole genres of games that were previously only playable with a keyboard and mouse are now accessible from the sofa. RTS games. Casual, cursor-driven games. Strategy games. 4x space exploration games. A huge variety of indie games. Simulation titles. And of course, Euro Truck Simulator 2.

The Steam Controller will also feature brand new Haptic feedback. Featuring “dual linear resonant actuators”, they are saying that they will be able to deliver the kind of resistance that is missing from modern controllers and even might be able to improve on the Mouse and Keyboard!

Next we have the Touchscreen. High resolution, back lit touch screen is also one giant button that is clickable. It can be used to bring up menus, rotary options (Think weapon wheels) and even run entire in-game functions. One great feature of the touchscreen is the game integration. You won’t be forced to separate your attention between two screens. When you tap the touch screen it will overlay what it is displaying on the main screen!

Steam Controller Portal 2 Bindings
The Steam Controller will also appear as a standard Mouse and Keyboard so that you will be able to use it on OLDER games.

The best part? Is that this controller is totally open! Valve plans on releasing tools for consumers to edit the controller to their personal taste!

Personal thoughts? I didn’t really think I was going to be THIS excited for a controller, I was hoping for some #3 games (Hal-Life, Portal L4D). After reading over the entire release I honestly think Valve is making the proper next step in input. Being able to properly replicate the preciseness of a Mouse has been a goal of controller designers for YEARS. The best manufacturers were able to come up with were adapters that you plugged your mouse and keyboard in and up to your console, and even those were pretty sketchy. It’s hard to say how WELL they’ve done with this controller until we can get one in our hands, one which will be included in the hardware beta, but just from looking on their proof of concept I’d be surprised if this came out badly.

Feeling lost? Check out our Day 1 and Day 2 coverage of the year of Valve announcements!

Steam Announcements Unicorn

UPDATED: Valve Announces Dedicated Gaming Hardware! Steam Machines BETA!

by Shane O'Hare

This is the week of Steam! With the announcement of Valves dedicated OS on Monday, gamers and journalists alike started speculating right away what the next two would be. Well speculate no further! Valve has officially announced dedicated hardware, lets take a look at Steam Machines!

Valve is finally getting into the home “console” market. They are going to be partnering with hardware manufacturers (who those are have yet to be released) to create dedicated Steam Machines that will run Steam OS. There will be multiple devices available come 2014, but they have created a Beta device as a proof of concept. No pictures of the Beta, but they have listed instructions so that you could be one out of 300 people lucky enough to test the hardware. Instructions are as followed:

THE HARDWARE BETA ELIGIBILITY QUEST:
Before October 25, log in to Steam and then visit your quest page to track your current status towards beta test eligibility
3. Make 10 Steam friends (if you haven’t already)
4. Create a public Steam Community profile (if you haven’t already)
5. Play a game using a gamepad in Big Picture mode

No pictures of the Steam Machine has been released yet, but Valve is saying that it will be open and upgradeable (want to tear it apart and put a different OS on it? Sure go ahead!), and that there will be several options to choose from. They also state that this will NOT interfere with their PC market and you will not be forced to purchase additional hardware to continue using Steam.

This is a HUGE step in the direction for Valve. They’ve been a huge thorn in the side of home consoles for almost a decade now, and with Gabe Newells public disdain for companies like Microsoft, it’s obvious he wants to create a truly open platform.

Thoughts? Well, I am of course excited being a Steam/Valve fanboy, but at the same time I have to step back and look at this objectively. The concept of open gaming, much like Communism, sounds great on paper but in practice is hasn’t done so well. The Ouya is a perfect example of the “Open Gaming” platform and that hasn’t done to well. I believe Valve has the foresight to not fall into the same hole that Ouya did. A Steam Machine will of course lock you into Valves ecosystem, so those giant AAA titles like Battlefield and Need For Speed will still require you to saunter into the computer room and fire up Origin.

As more information is released we will be sure to keep you updated. Be sure to come back FRIDAY for the final bit of news from the company. What do you think it will be? Lets hope Half-Life 3, but with our luck it will be Ricochet 2.

Steam Hardware Announcement

UPDATE:

After some exploration I found THIS patent from valve. It depicts a controller/gamepad with user swappable components.  It looks a LOT like the third picture, don’t you agree?

Valve Controller Patent

Still we can only speculate as to what will be presented Friday, but this looks like a pretty serious contender.