It's not a Steam Box, but they want us to believe it is: Xi3's Piston might be the most confusing product in gaming this year, thanks to some muddled messaging and a deal with Valve that never went anywhere.
Well, that was underwhelming: After announcing "the wait is over" late last week, Xi3 has revealed… some slightly more detailed specs for their $1000 Piston living-room PC, as well as a release date of November 29. The Piston will not natively use SteamOS.
Xi3, the company making the mysterious Valve-backed "Piston Console," says that it will be revealing more information about the product this Monday.
Hardware maker Xi3 has addressed today's confusion, telling Kotaku tonight that despite Valve's statements this morning, the Steam makers actually asked Xi3 to design the Piston PC.
In January, hardware manufacturer Xi3 announced the Piston, a living-room-friendly PC built to play Steam games in your living room. The Piston, Xi3 said at the time, had received a financial investment from Valve.
Xi3's Piston—the first unofficial Steam Box console—will launch this holiday at a starting price of $1,000, the hardware manufacturer announced today.
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Project Piston isn't the only one: Valve is showing off a number of hardware prototypes behind closed doors at the Consumer Electronics Show this week, according to a new report.
The Wii U can't survive a microwave. The PlayStation Vita can survive a four-foot drop. And I guess, technically, the Xbox 360 can run Crysis.
Let the Steam Box speculation begin. Valve is investing in computer hardware, and they're showing it off this week.
