Valve Officially Announces Piston - A Steam Optimized Mini-PC

[Shawn Zipay]

Valve and mini-PC maker, Xi3, have officially announced a special Steam optimized mini-PC at CES 2013. Both Valve's and Xi3's booths at CES are showing off a "new development stage computer game system."

The device, which is still very much a current work in progress, will be optimized for large, HD displays that will make extensive use of Steam's Big Picture mode.

"Today marks the beginning of a new era for Xi3," said Jason A. Sullivan, founder, president and CEO of Xi3. "This new development stage product will allow users to take full-advantage of their large high-definition TV displays for an amazing computer game experience.

"As a result, this new system could provide access to thousands of gaming titles through an integrated system that exceeds the capabilities of leading game consoles, but can fit in the palm of your hand."

At present, the device is codenamed "Piston". It features upwards of 1TB of storage and the ability to upgrade the CPU and RAM for the device. Pricing details are sketchy at best, but the device is based off of Xi3's X7A device which is priced at $1,000 (USD). Xi3 also offers up a $500 device that comes with Linux. You should not be surprised if Piston comes out around these price ranges.

If you couldn't tell from the images, the demo device for Piston had a huge assortment of ports including four USB 3.0 ports, four USB 2.0 ports, two Mini Display Port offerings, and an HDMI port, among others. Specifics about the CPU, hard drive, and RAM were not revealed.

(Images and info via Polygon)

[jimykx]

So we should buy a pricier desktop because it is extremely smaller?

[nemes1s3000]

I have a bad feeling about this.

[The_Eliminator]

I wonder if it comes with a free hat?

[Stev0esque]

I have a bad feeling about this.

But its Valve! what could possibly go wrong?!?!?! (sarcasm)

[jimykx]

I wonder if it comes with a free hat?

that was genius

[CptainCrunch]

Though I am in the 1%, I dont think $500 is a pricey desktop myself.

This explains all the Microsoft talk from Valve though. Its going to compete with xbox/PC.

[Anarchy1]

12 USB ports but only one HDMI port? Seems a bit weird.

[jimykx]

There is a video of a truck driving over one of these things

[K-16]

12 USB ports but only one HDMI port? Seems a bit weird.

Where did you get 12? I counted 8 including the one dedicated for keyboards. I mean, I suppose your point is that there should be two HDMI ports, but I don't think too many living rooms have two televisions side by side.

Personally I hope VALVe will reject this prototype, because there isn't a whole lot you can fit in that modular motherboard. I mean, I think video cards or CPU+Video combos will cost an arm and a leg to get both current generation performance and compact sizing that will fit in there with the case on.