Actually news release took place in the autumn of 2014 – in the form of “naked” platform for enthusiasts. Without SteamOS and corporate controller Valve complete.

We have now fixed the bug. They presented an updated modification of the project – running above the operating system, with the “right” gamepad and an attractive price tag.

First iBuyPower SBX pleases low (relative to competitors) value. Pay for Steam Machine will have only 460 US dollars.

That for this amount will get users? Very balanced solution to the processor AMD Athlon X4 840. Plus graphics accelerator Radeon R7 250X (with 1 GB of video memory GDDR5).

If we talk about memory, the most “junior” model is equipped with 4 GB of RAM and hard drive to 500 GB. However – surcharge – both are easily double.

In addition, the presence of a complete set of necessary connectors and ports from USB to HDMI.

Body from iBuyPower SBX pretty interesting – steel, coated with plastic. Install it somehow allowed: vertical, horizontal, and so on.

Home “chip” design – LED strip that serves as an indicator for all occasions. She can impart any color to provide even animations.

For those who do not want to burden themselves with the settings – there are ready-made templates.

Release Management will be held in November this year.

Source: Steampowered

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In December last year, Valve introduced its analogue Twitch – Steam Broadcasting. Month the service is in beta stage, and with the latest update Steam opportunity to broadcast the game became available to all users.

Steam Broadcasting function is available in the main client program and the three browsers: Google Chrome, Internet Explorer 11, and Apple Safari. So far, the function only works on Windows 7 and Winsows 8, but in the future also promise to support Windows Vista, Mac OS and Linux.

Steam Broadcasting main difference from the same and other Twitch strimingovyh platforms is that there is no need to make any extra options that are not even necessary to run independently broadcast. To view just need to select the appropriate item in the player profile, stream starts automatically when someone starts to follow, as you play.

In the settings you can set who can view your broadcast. By default, the player who is broadcast, must confirm the request. But you can allow you to view all comers, then your stream will appear in the game center.

So far, the only access broadcast live, save the video for further distribution is impossible. The quality of Stream can not exceed 1080p. The developers emphasize that not only can broadcast the game window, and a work desk. This presents some limitations. A player can not show live third-party material protected by copyright, pornographic or pirated content. You also can not discuss methods of hacking the game and the use of cheat codes. User noticed something “illegal” in the streamers can send a complaint to the Valve on a particular player.

Read the answers to frequently asked questions about Steam Broadcasting can be on this page.

With the latest update to the Steam client also appeared embedded counter FPS, intended to replace the Fraps, and were made to improve the work of the Big Picture and SteamOS. For a complete list of changes can be found on the corresponding page on Steam.

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Recently, Valve has invited representatives of news sources in its headquarters in Bellevue, Washington, to share with them some of the features of the game system Steam Machine, Steam Controller game controller and OS SteamOS.

Recall that the company Valve has opened in early October, Steam Machine specifications of the prototype , but the appearance of the body left for a snack, stating that the final design has not been approved. Currently, she decided to fill this gap. Distinctive features of the black housing rectangular steel grate for withdrawal of heated air, which covers half of the body, as well as a large circular power button. On the front cover removed two ports USB 3.0, while the rear panel boasts an extensive list of interfaces, including audio jack for headphones, ports, USB, RJ-45 connector and the video output HDMI.

It is also noted that the design of the housing, Valve has paid a significant portion of their time and attention to the ventilation holes to allow minor dimensions of the case does not reduce the efficiency of the cooling system. Resource Wired reports that Valve has resorted to some tricks and careful design of the housing. Steam Machine components accommodated in the housing separately from each other in a “thermally isolated areas”. Journalists resource The Verge called partitions “plastic casings, printed out with the help of 3D-printer.” As they do not call, they have one purpose – to regulate the air flow to improve the cooling efficiency.

It is reported that the design of the controller with two round trackpads, was not immediately approved. Prior to that, the development team has created several prototypes using, according to The Seattle Times, tools from the garage of Gabe Newell. Early prototypes differed integrated joystick and trackball unusual shape. The photos below tell it better than words.

During the announcement of the controller Valve announced that Steam Controller is a “new generation of devices that provide super-precise tactile feedback” that better conveys a sense of control. After testing the controller journalists Resource The Verge noted that the built-in “tiny electromagnetic drives” can you move your fingers to feel every inch.

“If I did not know for sure, that could easily be confused with a trackball trackpads,” – said the representative of The Verge.

According to the resource Engadget, operating system SteamOS has a lot to do with the Big Picture mode in Steam, which has always been focused on the use of the living room.

It was learned that the version of the Steam Machine from partner companies, which will be available in mid-2014, will be shown during the CES 2014. At the moment, Valve does not plan to release their own gaming systems Steam Machine, but in the future may change your mind.

It should be noted that the production Valve controller includes gyro tracking movements. In addition, Half-Life 3 will not be exclusive to the SteamOS. We also know that at this point 40 of 330 Valve employees are still working on hardware performance Steam Machine.

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As reported in the announcement, Valve is going to send 300 prototypes of its new game system, known as Steam Machine, Steam users for beta testing and gathering feedback. And now it became known that the same will be inside the “steam engine”.

As previously reported, Steam Machines will produce different companies, and they will present different configurations, from budget to high-end solutions and gaming systems – so they are likely to be different from the prototype, which is going to test the Valve. According to her, the company wanted to present something special, so the current prototype – this is a productive system assembled from components of the upper price range. In this case, the system can be upgraded to your liking, replacing all the stuffing, leaving the original Steam Machine a unique case. Developer immediately notes that gather Steam Machine and can be yourself (which is not surprising, because in fact this is an ordinary PC), and even promises to publish drawings of the body – so that the user can optionally create their own copy of the Steam Machine, like the original, even externally.

So, the actual configuration of the first 300 prototypes Steam Machine from Valve:

• Video card: NVidia GTX660, GTX760, GTX780, Titan 
• Processor: Intel i3, i5-4570, i7-4770 
• Memory: 16 GB DDR3-1600 memory (RAM), 3 GB GDDR5 (GPU) 
• Storage: Hybrid SSHD 1 TB / 8 GB 
• Power Supply: 450 W 
• Dimensions: approximately 30 x 31 x 7 cm

Skin and body until it shows – according to Valve, its ultimate refinement is not over yet. The exact date of dispatch of the prototype also does not reveal – we only know that it will happen this year.

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Xi3 Company announced that Piston game console , compatible with the recently announced OS SteamOS, but as it turned out, not related to Valve , will be on sale on November 29. Customers who have made reservations through March, will receive the console two weeks earlier – on November 15.

«Piston provides much more than games consoles from other manufacturers. The solution of the Xi3 outperforms the competition not only in terms of computing power, but also in size, “- said the founder and CEO of Xi3 Jason Sullivan.

He also said that the official announcement of the final version of the game console Xi3 Piston held this week at the Interop trade show in 2013, and announced some changes to the hardware specifications.

“Heart” of the gaming console supports 4-core 64-bit CPU that runs at 3.2 GHz. The structure of the integrated graphics CPU is “discrete” class (384 stream processors). Despite the fact that Mr. Sullivan did not mention the name of the manufacturer of the processor, it can be assumed that the console-based solution is the “white-green”.

Possible options include SSD storage system with 128, 255 (+ $ 340 to the cost of the basic version) or 512 GB (+ $ 750). It is worth noting that the manufacturer has added another connector for the drive. Thus, if desired, can be up to 1 TB flash memory. In addition, the console is now equipped with an optional microSD card slot and supports external 4K-monitors. Moreover, the compact PC can operate with three displays of high resolution simultaneously.

What will be the main OS is currently unknown. It was assumed that the console will be running Windows, but in a press release stated that the second SSD will install another operating system, including the recently announced SteamOS.

According to the developer, the Ethernet controller has been optimized and configured so that data transmission priority is given to the game.

Recall that the cost of the base game console modification Xi3 Piston is $ 999. New products will be delivered with several pre-installed games, but so far nothing concrete. The fact is whether the supplied game controller manufacturer also silent.

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“Three-step” the announcement of the expansion of the universe Steam, Valve which stretched for nearly a week, finally came to an end, and the finale was the presentation is not Half-Life 3, hoped for millions of fans of the series and the game controller of its own design – Steam Controller.

According to Valve, the development of its own controller was conducted throughout the year, and the main task was to provide its full support to the entire library of Steam-games, including even the old name, which in principle are not familiar with this type of control as the game gamepad (about Valve not even refrained from boasting, “We tricked the old games. They think that you’re playing with a keyboard and a mouse”).

Not surprisingly, the result of their labors little resemblance to the traditional to the current understanding of gamepads – the main element of the Steam Controller are two circular trackpad located in the place where the current controllers are analog sticks (it looks as though they were depicted in the schematic icon in the announcement of the third day) . Valve assures us that the touch trackpads (which also act as buttons) to offer a much greater precision than conventional sticks, and that the resolution of the controller Steam comparable with the resolution of the mouse. Thus, it can be used to play all the genres, including those traditionally considered “mouse” prerogative – shooters, real time strategy, simulations, etc. (A separate item here for some reason there is Euro Truck Simulator 2 – the game is, of course, in his own very worthy, but definitely a niche – it really is so important for the audience Valve?). 

However, trackpads – is not the only control that responds to touch. In the center of the controller is the touch pad (similar solution is used, by the way, in your controller, “an indie console» Ouya). It seems that with the help of Valve plans to address the issue of compatibility with old games gamepad is not familiar with such input devices, because it is the touch pad is best suited to simulate a mouse.

Among other developments, applied in the Steam Controller, Valve indicates a kind of “super-precise tactile feedback” that better conveys a sense of control than conventional vibro motors in today’s Force Feedback-gamepad. 

But, of course, no gamepad, even the most revolutionary, can not do without buttons. They have Steam Controller will be as much as 16 (strange, that’s not 100 …). The buttons are arranged symmetrically (which should please the left-handed), and half of them will be available without interruption of the thumbs of trackpads.

An interesting feature of Steam Controller will be the total configuration – Steam users can create their own layout controls for different games using a special tool and share them with each other – sounds like an analogue Steam Workshop.

In this first encounter with the strategy of Steam completed, is to wait for more detailed information (by the way, to publish her ​​promise in this group ), while it is known that the details of the prototype for SteamOS will be unveiled next week.

Well, the last announcement was a disappointment to many – people until recently were hoping for something much more loud and sensational (Half-Life 3, yes). However, it was the announcement of its own controller was actually quite logical and easily predictable – the company is developing a complete solution for migrating your Steam store into the living room, and in this situation is stupid relegated to its direct competitor, what are now automatically becomes Microsoft, is such an important element of the system, as an input device (it is, of course, on your controller, Microsoft Xbox 360 Controller for Windows, which is now the de facto standard for computer games).

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A few days ago, Valve has promised to make a loud announcement and launched a special page with a counter , which was going to tell you how it plans to develop a “universe of Steam». And finally, the countdown is over …

… And Valve announced the development SteamOS – game operating system based on Linux, which, apparently, is designed to compete for a place under the TV in your living room with the next generation of consoles – PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. In any case, the whole announcement is built around the idea of ​​”your favorite Steam – now and in the living room.” Here we can recall that Valve has long been working in this direction – a redesign of the Steam client called the Big Picture, intended for use on the big screen and with management, optimized for the gamepad, was introduced almost a year ago, in December 2012. 

Details yet little is known – as has been said, SteamOS based on Linux, as an interface uses the Big Picture developments and, of course, will be completely free. Valve announced that they optimize the system to use the game – improve performance of graphics and audio, reduce input lag (which is very important given the use of wireless gamepads), and that game developers have optimized their projects under SteamOS (but without any concrete ).

Valve also announced new features that will appear in SteamOS, and the “old” client Steam. The first is streaming – the user will be able to play on the device SteamOS-games with the Windows-desktop system that is running the regular Steam, which will solve the problem with a library of games for SteamOS. Here we can recall that a similar decision and plans to Sony – in the absence of backward compatibility with PlayStation 4 is going to use the streaming service Gaikai to stream PS3-games on its new console.

The next thing is waiting for Steam users and SteamOS – expanding the range of the shop. Go to the games and software to add music, movies and TV series – Valve is already working with the relevant media service and support plans to include them in their clients.

The last announcement is related to the expansion of Steam per user for the whole family – this is an opportunity to provide public access to its library of games on Steam to their loved ones while preserving individual progress, the gains etc.

No specific dates for availability SteamOS Valve has not called – says only that it will “soon”, and calls for further updates to follow your page. The fact is that today’s performance SteamOS is only the first step – the next part of the veil over the global announcement “expansion of the universe Steam» promise to open up 48 hours later, on September 25 at 20.00 Moscow time. We can assume that we are waiting for the same Steam Box – Specialized game console, running SteamOS. And if you build a very very wild assumptions, then you never know – all of a sudden the third announcement will be … Half-Life 3 exclusively for SteamOS? In the end, Half-Life 2 at one time was just such an exclusive for the then new Steam …

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