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Rumours have been circulating for ages that Valve’s going to try and shove a Steam Box under your tele, but now we have the word from Gabe Newell himself. Valve’s making a gaming PC for your living room and it’s going to take on the next-generation PlayStation and Xbox. Console versus PC gaming all over again.
The Steam Box will boot directly to Steam’s Big Picture mode, and it’ll be a very controlled console-like experience. But Valve won’t be the only Steam Box manufacturer, apparently, which means there should be many more generically PC-based options out there, just running Steam. We’ve already seen Alienware enter this kind of market with the awesome-looking X51.
It sounds like the big kick up the arse the PC gaming industry has needed for ages now, and Valve’s one of the only companies I reckon can actually pull it off. Would you buy a Steam Box? If it’s priced like a console, I have to say I’d be sorely tempted. [Kotaku]
Valve Has Plenty of Boxes, But No Steam Box
The Valve Steam Box Is Real and It's Currently At CES
I think i would actually, ive never really been into consoles gaming and this would be a tempting alternative, i wonder it if would still use a keyboard and mouse? And is it basically a small form factor PC running steam?
Big Picture mode is designed to be controlled using a controller, so the indication would be designed for controller.
I am gonna guess with mouse and keyboard support though.
So what is the point of ‘PC Gaming’ if it is exactly like a console?
All the power of a PC, all the simplicity of a console, best of best worlds
So it’s a non-upgradeable made-in-obsolescence large container which may or may not stop working forever at any point and will cost me £1000?
Well, there’s no denying there’s a gap in the market there…
Well for a start it wont be £1000. It will be almost indistinguishable from how an Xbox 360 or PS3 works, but is using current gen PC tech rather than 8+ year old stuff.
This is not a hugely new business model, this is just another company making a console, using some of their existing software and letting other people manufacture it using their reference designs. And having a significant spec bump on existing consoles.
This sounds awesome. I used to only play games on a PC a long time ago but fell out of it and now only really game on my console. Would be interested in picking up one of these if the price is right. I have a Macbook Air for general use and have been considering investing in a gaming rig again – but this could fit that hole nicely.
What they’re doing is making a console to where developers will design games for one spec that Valve makes and in the end it’s bad for PC gamers as it’ll draw Steam down this route.
I don’t see why any PC Gamer would care for this and why any console gamer would either, they have the Xbox for console gaming and PC gamers have the PC. The whole point is it is an open platform and as soon as you do this then it isn’t PC but a console.
Steam isn’t the be all and end all of the PC, in fact I think it is a slow piece of poorly designed software and it always has been. The only reason it has become so powerful is it was the first really to offer full digital distribution and the competition suck so badly.
Software like Steam is bad, it’s a DRM monopoly and it puts all your eggs in one basket, it means you have to keep buying games off of Steam to have them all in one place. What happens when Steam goes under? You’ll lose all your convenient access to your games that is for sure. Retail is a much better place to buy PC games, it puts the power in your hands to look after your own games.
I just think the whole move is dumb, no one will care and they’re just doing anything at this point to not deliver HL3.
Steam used to be awful, granted, but it has improved in leaps and bounds over the years. I can’t believe you would even bother with trying to buy PC games via retail outlets now; even physical games through Amazon. Most of the games I want to buy retail versions of use Steamworks anyway and Game’s poor selection of titles is ridiculous – most Game stores now offer Steam Wallet vouchers because the retail market has pretty much given up on PC gaming.
I suppose you hated the recent THQ Humble Bundle for similar reasons. And what about the social aspect of Steam? The sales and integration of DLCs/gifts etc?
I have tons of games on discs…often multiple CDs and DVDs that I find incredibly inconvenient to have to swap during installation and to have to keep the manuals with the game keys on.
Steam is such a slow aging bit of software, when you go to new windows it is so slow, downloads are so slow quite often and the layout is a mess. Valve are also hypocrites saying DRM is bad and yet Steam is that DRM and how one company shouldn’t have complete control and yet they’re doing that now with the Steam Box.
It isn’t even going to be a PC, if it only runs their software then it is a console and standardizing hardware is such a bad idea. You just end up with everyone having an iPhone then instead of the vibrant Android choice of hardware.
I don’t like one company having a monopoly where you have no other choice to run your games on. As soon as Steam goes under then what happens? Why you need hard copies…
So slow? Seems like you need to upgrade your PC with an SSD, my dear chap – runs like a rocket here.
Even if you suggest Steam is not a good idea, what would your alternative be? Origin? GoG? Some other service? Please, enlighten us all so we can benefit!
The issue that scaramoosh has is that he already has an SSD in his PC, however because it’s only a piddly one and that’s the only storage he insists on owning, he has to continually re-download his Steam games.
So as he’s mentioned elsewhere, it all likelihood his frustration with the speed that Steam downloads content is probably more appropriately addressed to Virgin Media, as they keep throttling his connection for downloading 300GB+ in a month whenever he reinstalls a Steam game.
Runs perfectly on my i3 Sandy Bridge HD3000 laptop.
I broadly agree, but I think the whole notion of a Valve console is completely stillborn – unless Sony buys them and the box is called “PS4″. If it’s not based on Windows, Valve now need to convince developers to write for it. And if they still don’t support the PC side of things, they’ve lost millions of customers funding it.
I can’t see any of these things happening. The only plus side is that it might kill off Steam and Valve in one fell swoop. In the UK, Steam is the single most expensive way to buy new games there is, but Valve don’t care because millions of Americans get cheap games.
Screw that. Let them try it out, and die.
>>In the UK, Steam is the single most expensive way to buy new games there is, but Valve don’t care because millions of Americans get cheap games.
Allofmywhat.jpg / notsureiftroll.gif
Seriously ?
Amazon is routinely cheaper for new titles than Steam is (and sometimes by a significant margin) – plus you can often register the game on Steam and then toss the box if you want.
I bought Dishonoured from Amazon for £10 delivered in an offer; even now, it’s £21.25. Steam is showing £29.99. Far Cry 3 is a couple of quid cheaper on Amazon, but I guarantee you the price will drop quicker on Amazon than on Steam.
But don’t just take my word for it; have a browse about. And bear in mind : new titles – don’t be dredging up stuff 8 months old to support your misconceptions here.
Steam is bloody cheap….
Demonstrably, obviously, and simply : untrue.
Even their sales are a complete lottery. I think I’ve bought 3 old titles from them in the last 12 months, totalling about £15, and that’s the only reason I bought them. Anything new ? Full RRP for you, sunshine.
Oh yeah, new is full RRP. But I always wait 3-6 months. Completely agree with you for new. But one of the things about PC gaming is that 6 months on, everything is better.
Ah, I thought you were referring to something else – mea culpa.
So between Steam, Online retailers and bricks and mortar, there are really only a few options to go with these days and let’s face it: bricks and mortar stores are woefully inadequate.
I think the only real advantage I am willing to pay for is that instant availability and pre-loading, although I cannot remember the last time I actually did that. Most of the time I wait for those games to drop in price in Steam sales, as I do have a large library of titles to get through anyway (Far Cry 3 you say? I’m still enjoying FC2!)
For me, Amazon is a great service but for me personally I cannot take advantage of it as my post gets stolen on a regular basis – comes with living in a deprived area I guess.
Speaking of which, how have you found Dishonoured? I have been meaning to pick it up at some point as something for over the holidays.
I haven’t tried it out yet; also picked up BF3 Premium in the Origin sale, and it’s keeping me occupied with the new unlocks. But for a tenner, it’ll keep.
If you like BF3 on youtube, here’s something you might be keen on.
http://www.youtube.com/user/birgirpall
Some fantastic ways of playing BF3 that are not necessarily how the developers intended to play it.
I’m loving Dishonoured. It’s a lot like Bioshock – original gameplay, unique immersive environment, half-decent storytelling.
Thank you! Completely illogical move on Valve’s part; unless they’re just console-cock-blocking for some other long-haul game plan…?
A dedicated standard for PC gaming is sorely overdue, as PC gaming is a hit and miss affair for many who don’t own decent hardware to run games. Games have always looked better on the more current hardware of PC graphics cards, however this has led to a high bar to entry with expensive components and the knowledge to build and upgrade machines. Valve periodically send out hardware surveys to its users so they can gauge what the average PC is that people are using (screen resolution, # of CPU cores etc) and they will probably be building a machine around some of this data.
If Valve were to create a standardised platform for gaming on a PC, this would solve quite a few issues at the moment.
*** Console gamers would feel like they were buying a console-ified PC that runs games better than the other offerings that would take some of the effort out of maintaining a PC to play these games. People who like to play games on the PC but can’t handle upgrading their PC to play Crysis etc also win as well. As Big Picture has proved, Valve have the skills to adapt their service to a controller-based front end (it works really well, especially typing in chat) and this will also push for more games to support controllers that console gamers would be used to using.
** Better support for games and online components. Steam also punts out free updates to all users of their games – I recall Gabe saying that it costs a developer some 4 or 5 figure sum to put out an update via Xbox Live. Developers will be more inclined to take advantage of that availability on Steam. As games are also stored in the cloud, it doesn’t even matter if you wanted to upgrade to a fully-fledged PC in the future from the Steam Box or if your box dies – all your stuff is still there for download.
** It would provide a standardised hardware platform for developers to make their games for. With consoles, the hardware is fixed so developers can try to get the most out of it. I’m not saying that they won’t have to do the same amount of tweaking as they do now so that all different PCs are taken into account, as PC gamers will still be running Steam on machines they built themselves, but it will be a start. A proper golden age of PC gaming.
Learn how to use a PC, if you don’t want to learn then the consoles are for you. I don’t see why people want to ruin an open platform like this. Standardized hardware isn’t good either, that just slows down hardware innovation and ruins it for the rest of us who like to build their own PCs.
I just think if you’re too stupid to play PC games now then stick to console. Steam has 5-6 million people on at the same time during peak time, games like LoL and Minecraft and Dayz have millions of people playing…….. the PC isn’t in any trouble.
The PC has a healthy active community and it doesn’t need to be dumbed down for the console tards, you’ve already taken so many PC franchises and dumbed it down, ain’t that enough?
Why so harsh on console owners? It’s not us who’s “dumbed down” PC games, it’s the developers. We simply want a convenient package that allows us to play games on a pre-determined platform which the game has been coded for. I’m more than happy with my PS3, which cost significantly less than a gaming-spec PC when I bought it, and I am able to happily play some excellent games with very good quality from the comfort of my sofa.
I appreciate that PC gaming isn’t dying, and I don’t want it to either – but I treat the console market as separate from the PC market. If you have an issue with developers dumbing down games destined for PCs because they have to port to consoles, take it up with the devs. Don’t target the console consumers.
PC Gaming hasn’t been DRM free (i.e. open) except for indie games, for years.
I like this scaramoosh guy – you got me in a nut-shell. I hate PCs cause I’m dumb and inpatient. But even I can see, from my high-console perch, that Valve are trying to hammer a nail into jelly with this idea. PCs and consoles are two different species that shouldn’t be merged. It’s wrong. Human-centipede wrong. Consols aren’t all that bad. Both PC & console do very different things; (at a respectful distance where it should stay).
A “dedicated standard” is an absolutely idiotic idea for a PC. The entire strength of PC gaming is that as other hardware falls by the wayside, the PC continues to get faster and more capable.
I think my original thinking was that for all the PC users who want to game at least have access to a gaming spec machine with an decent-spec graphics card.
For everyone else they can still enjoy building machines to suit their purposes.
Btw the PC hasn’t needed any kick up the arse, it’s the strongest gaming platform, it’s only getting better and the consoles have been falling quickly behind for many years. There is more money to be made off the PC and it’ll live on way beyond the consoles.
The PC drives innovation and everything that is happening on the PC gets copied by consoles years later, they’re still way behind in terms of digital distribution too.
The Media and average people just tend to be ignorant to the platform and buy shitty pre made PCs with worse specs than something I made 6 years ago.
The figures say different, the PC is a very difficult market to make money on a game given the huge costs of development, countered by rampant piracy and fewer gamers.
I am a huge supporter of PC games, but you can’t deny they are far less important than they were 10 years ago.
Standardisation will not limit the enthusiasts who want to build their own, but it will allow game makers to optimise for one hardware setup. Much how Xbox gamepads have helped standardise PC game inputs, but I can still buy a mega controller and configure it myself.
Alright Scaramoosh, calm down dear – it’s just a conflab…
I console game these days, I can be bothered with the ever increasing need to upgrade your pc every time a new game comes out! It cane become and expensive hobbie!
I love the easy of the console but I dont like the smaller online games! I miss the 32 vs 32 player games of Battlefield!
If the steam box can be as easy as a console but as powerful as a pc and wont need upgrading every five minutes I would love one!
Another person with no clue.
You only have to upgrade every year if you have no clue what you’re doing……
I’ve been building PCs since I could afford to when I got my first job in 2003 and I’ve only ever built 3 since then and I’ve always been able to max every game. 2003, 2007, 2011.
Ended up spending less on my PCs than if you bought the consoles at launch, spent £40 on every game and bought new controllers and other propitiatory tech they make you buy. With the Xbox also having to pay them for Live :S
Look, it’s clear that the Steam Box is NOT MARKETED AT YOU. It’s marketed at console peons who want to take advantage of Steam’s business model and can’t be bothered to build and maintain a computer. It’s an attempt to skewer both together.
For the PC master race, we will still be able to take advantage of all these games and play them at maximum settings etc.
I’m not gonna be silent and let Valve try to bullshit their way with this one. They’ve already dumbed down all their games for consoles and are clearly shifting that way. Portal 2, L4D and frigging CS:GO, all so dumbed down for tards and their controllers. L4D was even made linear for the tards who kept getting lost in an open map……
Thank God there are proper developers out there like Dean Hall making Dayz.
Hold on, we were talking about hardware and distribution methods, now it’s about games?
Perhaps you’re missing the point with L4D, in that it’s a different experience each time you play through and it depends on the people you play with as well.
If you want to get lost in a huge world, then there are plenty of other games of that ilk. Most of them are just MMORPGs and sandbox games.
Well you go and have fun now with your keyboard you arrogant arse! C U next Tuesday!
OK. For starters stop being such a sanctimonious prick. Secondly, if you are going to call people retards, use the term retards. Dropping the re doesn’t somehow make it all a bit fluffier and nice. It still makes you a bit of a prick.
I like PC gaming. I have been building and maintaining gaming machines for nigh on 15 years. It’s fun. However it is also expensive. Far too expensive for my current wallet to absorb. You know sometimes life dictates you have other priorities then a new graphics card. One day maybe I will get back into it, but for now console gaming provides me with my gaming kick, for a much reduced amount of cash. Especially if, like me, you rent the vast majority of games rather then buy. Obviously I have become some controller based retard in the process, but I’m willing to live with that.
Now PC gaming is not the world of the elite. It is not some place where you can look on lower forms of life and pity them and their vastly inferior knowledge. Everyone should be able to access the improved graphics that PC gaming give you. You shouldn’t need to be some computer wizard to buy into it. Accessibility is vital and Valve understands that much better then you obviously do. If they can offer people the advantages of PC gaming, with the price tag of a console they are on to a winner. I would buy it.
It doesn’t mean that PC gaming will be dumbed down, you will still be able to go and buy your new £600 graphics card once a year and sit on your pedestal being all superior if you want. No one will stop you. For the rest of us it will mean another player in the game and more importantly competition for Sony and Microsoft. If I can access a Steam version of the new Bioshock for £10 less then the XBox720 version on Amazon where will I go? We might finally see some price matching with PC games.
Developers like Dean Hall will have another outlet. They will be able to get their games out to more and more people who would of otheriwse missed them as PC gaming is beynd them right now. That can’t be a bad thing surely?
It seems terribly naive of you to just dismiss it out of hand because of some prejudiced view of console gamers and how this might mean it leaking into your precious PC gaming. It could very well be the other way around and be the kick up the arse that console gaming is so desperately in need of.
*claps* Bravo!
You win the internet. Have a star.
after reading through these comments everyone seems a bit onesided and very closed minded. I’ve been gaming for roughly 12 years most of it on a PC, but i have used an xbox and ps3 (never owned, friends and ex’s), from what i know this idea will either make steam or ruin steam personally i do not like steam needing a DRM to run a game seems pointless and a pc that just runs a peice of software and no other functions pointless, i can see why they are trying to do this i imagine they will look at low market budgeting for people who cant afford the high end spec gaming machines.
For you who argue, you should think is this target at me if not then go read something else! as well if your current system or you have the money to build a better pc then go do so, but from what i can tell a pc is designed more for a one person at a a time use (e.g. only one person could be on the pc on one game at a time) unlike the xbox etc which provide a more “family” experience allowing multiple players on one console. That is where consoles will beat pc’s but down to power and performance and detail a pc will always win on that level.
The idea of this design is a nice idea but will it kick off i dont think so due to the varity of consoles and gamers and user knowledge where this will try to standadize hardware which will limit coders and designers on how detail they can make a game and add different options
I thought no one uses PC now a days anymore at home, I was wrong..I was so wrong..
ps. can’t wait for MW4 comes out on PS4 *YAY*
PS4?? The other week Sony had its financial status rendered “Junk” not sure they will be coughing out a Ps4 anytime soon.. The Vita is not doing that well is it, predicted sales at 16million, 3 months in 1.8 million sold so predictions lowered to 12million, Japan has seen a spike but really? PS has a great following but its gone a bit stale, it has nothing to offer ontop of blu-ray and game play, it feels a relic when you boot it up next to the current OS of the Xbox.. anyway on point.. a Valve console could be amazing! im gunna need a bigger TV stand to fit them all under!!!
After PC gaming I got myself xbox360 but soon realised the benefits of PS3
1. Built in WiFi
2. No yearly subs
3. BluRay
So I did the obvious, switch!
ps. I’m a COD fanboy so it suits me lol
i have both (and Wii) wifi was an issue but then i got a network plug and how enjoy Ethernet speeds, paying £40 a year does not bother me, i find the connection much better, servers, upgrades, streaming, chat, party chat, other online services much much better on the Xbox, in fact the only thing i find these days i turn the PS3 on for is the bluray and DVD playback which it is better at as well, i do still play it, mostly just PS3 only titles mind and fifa, i think the pad is better for fifa than the xbox but as for FPS i find the xbox pad so much better.. but thats just me. Also xbox live has never crashed, been hacked and had all my personal data nicked.. let alone twice! But the real next level thing about the xbox is “kinect” with “Smartglass” and all the media apps that have been designed in detail with MS rather than just dumped on the console like with the PS3. iPlayer on the PS3 works better through the browser than the iplayer app.. nuts..
If paying £40 a year doesn’t bother you, can I have some money?
The online service for Xbox is worse. I have been playing the new COD on Xbox round at a mates and the glitches and lag are annoying. And they are paying for that “privilege”!
On PS3 it runs fine with the occasional lag every now and then.
I am paying an extra £40 to sony every year, but they give me a shit ton of games for that. Just got Batman Arkham City & Crysis 2 this month for (along with the other 15 games and more to come).
The PS3 is a better machine and has been for the past 6 years
I really am looking forward to Crysis 3, really not liking Black Ops2. MW3 lives on
I found Blops2 a bit hard at first.
Its just a faster game and after switching from Assault Rifles to SMG’s I’m able to get back in the game with out looking like a NOOB.
Also if your a Crysis fan pick up FarCry 3 as soon as you can!!!
Its the best game ever made!
I think I’ll exchange my BO2 for FarCry 3 until Crysis 3 comes out! I’ve been doing clan ops on cod for a year and half of my mates like BO2 and the rest including me sticking to MW3. I found BO2 graphics too cartoonish and sounds are appaling. Modern Warfare series which is based on the IW engine seems more fluid and smoother to me. I wonder if Respawn entertainment actually working on Crysis 3 alongside EA
The PS4 is coming, like it or not. Credit ratings have nothing to do with what products companies put out – if anything, the amendment to Sony’s rating will spur them to pull something truly amazing out of the bag in order to resuscitate their financial situation. To release nothing at this stage would be an additional nail in their coffin.
Additionally, the Vita is not germane to this topic – it’s a handheld device, not a TV console. The PS3, in contrast, has recently caught up with the 360 in total sales worldwide, and is set to overtake pretty soon if it hasn’t done so already. And the PS3 released quite a long time after the 360, so it’s had some ground to cover.
As for not offering anything on top of blu-ray and gameplay, have you not seen the additional content Sony have provided? Netflix, LoveFilm, movies available via the PSN coming soon, PS+ providing incredible bargains on some excellent games – and there’s more on the way, you can bet on it. Sony aren’t done yet.
i hope you are right, i hope they do kick out a new PS4, i like the console, but no, i dont like the new extras on the PS3, they are slow loading, blocky and feel un-native with no real flow to navigation. Ps+ does provide great games, i agree and when i want one ill play it, but i feel it just does not compare to the offering and user experience of the xbox. Sorry. Dont get me wrong i enjoy the PS3, i have most of the gear for it, i even played Killzone3 using the Move gun from start to end.. it was great.. but then it was over, also i think PS needs a real leading title, Xbox has Halo and Gears, things like COD are the same on either but PS does not seem to have an icon like this.. does it?
Several, actually. Uncharted being the main one. You can also add Gran Turismo, ‘thatgamecompany’s lineup (Flow, Flower, Journey) and LittleBigPlanet.
Others, which are admittedly not such big names, are Motorstorm, Resistance, Infamous, SingStar and Killzone, which you’ve already mentioned.
There’s also The Last of Us and The Last Guardian (if it ever materialises) on the way.
oh yer Gran Turismo, i enjoyed that back on the PS2.. as for Uncharted ( i know i am about to be shot here but..) i thought it was just awful, a poor play at Tomb raider but with less puzzles and when you did have a puzzle it told you the answer..
never hear of infamous and resistance was almost funny to play it was so bad. i do love little big plant mind that is great fun and the wife joins in as well.. what are the last 2? ill check IGN..
Killzone i like, singstar should be banned.. its inhumane
I have both, and I can’t use the XBox. Not saying I think the PS3 is better, they both clearly have the advantages, but the UI on the XBox is unusable. I know some people adore it, but the PS3′s is wildly superior in my eyes. And all of T’s reasons. I just genuinely can’t come up with any statistic where the XBox is superior, so I plan on selling it before Christmas.
really? i guess its preference as always, but i find it odd how you cant use the Ui, you just need to talk to it? i must admit the PS is clear and simple where the xbox is surfaced more and filled like live tiles on win8. dont get me wrong there are things in the xbox that drive me nuts, like why cant i choose which tiles go where or the apps i use most at the top of the list etc.. i do like “smartglass” however which is great fo app launch and that keeps a record of most used apps so i guess its kinda solved ish.. oh well.. ill still buy both new ones when and if they come out. Its long over due really, i wont however be getting a wiiU i hardly play my Wii let alone another one..
I use the Wii for group parties, it’s great fun for that, but give me a PC/PS3 any day for on my own. I don’t have Kinect, by the way, so maybe that’s a factor.
PS3 + Buzz TV Quiz + Any move party game (top darts while drunk is brilliant) = my Wii no longer being used for group parties.
Kinect was a waste of time, usually “Better with Kinect” means “oh, this game uses the microphones on the kinect rather than the headset”
See, I tried that with the PS3, but it just doesn’t have the same quirky feel as any one of the 17 multiplayer games I have for my Wii.
yer game wise the kinect is still to be used, its a shame cos its one of the best advancements in tech for a long time and no one really likes it or uses it or even know what it can do.. it so dam smart but MS have failed to really sell it, trying to only please soft gamers with it and studios dont seem to know what to do with it. Lionhead has made fable for it but TBH as great fun as it is i can see having your arms raised up a real pain the ass. but it will get better and it will be pretty good fun soon enough… Move is pretty cool most of the time, i hate games like singstar and rockband the idea of them is makes my skin crawl, if i have friends over last thing i want to do is play games like that, i want to talk to them and i think more classic boardgames work better. but i know thats just me being an old tart! Sams with “Smartglass” at the mo its heavily under utilised and i am not sure studios will think to use it well, it would be great as a map screen/satnav (gta) or as an items store (Skyrim) or weapon options (COD) etc.. it could be used in such great ways it has so much potential but i fear MS will let it fail like all their recent releases, someone needs to take the “stale” out of their sale skills..
one thing about the PS4, is i hope they change the pad, its a bif dated now and i find it very small now i am no longer 12.. triggers are a fail and to close and the sticks buttons out so my thumb slides off all the time, i had to buy grips and trigger extenders just to play fifa… lol
The PS3 controller is about a thousand times better than the XBox one…
While it is very interesting and I would like to see it happen that is not what I or apparently any other commenters over on Kotaku thought that article said. It is a bit of leap to go from Gabe talking about doing more with big picture and a steam box unless you are privy to more of the conversation than was reported in the article.
In fact from what he said, Steam are working hard on there software and leaving it to other companies do the hardware. He might know there is a steam box on the way, but it won’t be a “steam” box and it won’t be made by valve it will just be a more generic x51 type system.