NEW CONSOLE Steam Box piston?

Mick

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What is it and what does it do?

Looks interesting I watched the you tube video here:

https://www.digitalworldz.co.uk/index.php?threads/296502/

But the speakers on my laptop are blown and I could not make out exactly what it is?

Has anyone got one, used one, is it out yet???

It is TINY ;)

Cheers
Mick
 
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Lol thanks mick

I posted the original thread to make people aware of it and hopefully get a few other people's views on it .

What it is is a under tv mini pc. Or games console if you like made by xi3 and steam to compete with the ps4 and xbx720,

Essentially it's a modula mini pc , so can be upgraded unlike its competitors it is said it will run on Linux with a steam overlay

It's not out yet but since steam are currently working on their sauce engine 2 with a view to getting it out this year I would expect this to launch at the same time
 
I'm interested to know if ppl have tried xi3 and the experiences with them .?
 
I have not tried it (obviously lol) but we are always interested in new technology :)

This could be great, I wonder how much it will cost, and it's very small!

Thank you for making us aware of this!

Mick
 
Yer , xi3 have been making this type of stuff for a while but not partnered with steam , so essentially just mini pc's I have not looked at there other stuff yet to see if it's the same sort of size but the price for the piston was rumoured to start at $500 this could be total bull though ;)
 
Not heard that mate but I would assume that would stop it been upgradable and take away from part of its concept , still it's early days
 
Maybe we should have a PC gaming section?

Mick
 
I've all ways rated "steam" and there games, they have it down to a T, I was having a look at this last night and thinking how long it would be until it's "opened up" and "hacked" yeah early days but that's how my mind works.!

Steam games on your tele, well that would be awesome, keyboard and mouse job though as that's the only true way to play "steam" games!
 
I thought the same but I don't think thay will put much security on it atall due to the way there games work , I can't see them caring atall how ppl use there piston box since the steam side is prety much locked down

@mick
I always found it strange you didn't have one but I would like to see this in the console section untill it's out at least as its a sort of x over system but made for direct competition against the other 2 main systems
 
well steam isn't locked down that much, you can and there are work arounds to get steam games working, Counter Strike and Valve games and the like, even though the whole steam platform is secure there are ways around it. always ways around everything.......just about.

I know it spoils the "online" community when you get "head shot" and "see through walls" etc. when people were hammering source, but it's a neat little box by the looks of it.

I wonder how long before some "home brew" comes out for it! :)
 
I got more excited over Nvidia's announcement of their all in one running pure android. It'll also stream games from your PC if you have a newer Nvidia graphics card in it.
 
Shield is hardly a comparison to this though mate
 
It's very intresting from the streaming pov though
 
Shield is hardly a comparison to this though mate

Maybe I'm not understanding the Steam box properly then. Ideally I'd like to see costs between the 2, but personally I'd rather spend the money on Shield where I can have a handheld gaming console with a Tegra4 chip in it, shaped like an Xbox controller with a built in touch screened Android device running the OS pure that I can take with me anywhere, or wirelessly stream my Steam games to it from a decent spec'd PC I already have, especially if I can piggy back that to the TV.
 
I don't see how it will be possible to stream a game to this and play responsively , you could just set your tv up as a second monitor and have a wireless pad , if streaming remotely works I'll eat my hat
 
Defo going to see how this progresses as depending on how the PS4 and next Xbox pans out I have been thinking of going back to pc gaming so this could be a nice option.
 
I don't see how it will be possible to stream a game to this and play responsively , you could just set your tv up as a second monitor and have a wireless pad , if streaming remotely works I'll eat my hat

Just seen a Gizmodo vid hands on and they're saying lag is no more than a wireless controller is to a console... sounds odd I agree but it's early days. Truth is with Ouya and a hand full of Android systems coming to market and things like Razr Edge appearing, it's going to be a busy year for gaming choices pushing the boundary. We won't really know until after the summer I guess, but I'm still putting my money on a system built by a major chip manufacturer able to pull in favours from the big boys regarding dev, and also being a hybrid that can offload processing to an already purchased beefy gaming PC..... I suggest you hide the Fedora and buy a Fez just in case ;)
 
Maybe I'm not understanding the Steam box properly then. Ideally I'd like to see costs between the 2, but personally I'd rather spend the money on Shield where I can have a handheld gaming console with a Tegra4 chip in it, shaped like an Xbox controller with a built in touch screened Android device running the OS pure that I can take with me anywhere, or wirelessly stream my Steam games to it from a decent spec'd PC I already have, especially if I can piggy back that to the TV.

The shields only interesting feature is the streaming side . It's not a console so can't compete with xbx or ps3 so it's only really for people who already have a gaming pc and if that's the case then you don't need it anyway , if the streaming works it dose offer up alot of flexibility to how you access your games.

The piston IMO is a direct challenge to consoles offering a easy to use "closed platform" but running pc games in the same way you would normally run your console games , if you already have a gaming pc you don't need one but if you already have a console and are looking to upgrade to next gen why would you choose a ps4 or xbx over the piston , obviously we can't answer that yet but thats how I'm looking at it .


I consider myself a more than casual gamer and I had to move back from consoles to pc when bf3 came out since it was obvious the current systems could no longer handle the newer game engines , if the piston had already been out I might just well of opted for that instead , we will see how it all pans out
 
Fedora......fez..... Omg are we talking data streams or references to tf2 custom head gear lol :)
 
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