If you've been putting off pre-ordering Valve's upcoming Steam Link or Steam Controller hardware since the devices first went on pre-sale earlier this month, we have some bad news. Valve has announced that it has sold out of units for the initial "get it early" offer (with its expected delivery on October 16). Any orders placed from now on will instead be delivered weeks later on November 10.
You may have also missed your chance to get early delivery of the first commercial "Steam Machines" pre-loaded with SteamOS. Any orders for the Alienware Steam Machines placed through GameStop since last Thursday will now be shipped November 10 rather than October 16. Syber now lists a ship date "on or after 10/15/2015" for its first wave of Steam Machines.
Anyone in Soylent-Land got their hands on a pre-release console?
Original Submission
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Valve has finally announced a release date for Steam Machines, Steam Link, and the Steam Controller: November 10th. Some "early bird" customers will get the hardware on October 16th.
First and foremost, let's start with the Steam Controller. The final version of Valve's controller is pretty much identical to what we saw at GDC 2015, featuring what has become the controller's signature touchpads, along with an analog stick, motion controls, haptics (vibration), and what Valve is calling dual-stage triggers, all communicating with host systems over Bluetooth. Though ultimately lacking the touchscreens of Valve's original design, the final controller retains the touchpads and the same goals Valve had held to since the start: making more traditional mouse-driven PC games playable on the couch with a controller. [...] When not part of a Steam Machine bundle, Valve will be selling the Steam Controller stand-alone for $49.
Meanwhile as far as performance and costs go, the initial wave of Machines run the gauntlet from low-powered, console-like computers to high-end machines that are meant to take a stab at 4K rendering. The cheapest machines start at $449, such as the Alienware in its low-end, Core-i3 powered configuration, and also the iBuyPower SBX. Meanwhile at the middle of the pack are machines like the Zotac SN970 at $999, and finally at the high-end the sky's the limit. [...] As one might expect, all of the Steam Machines are shipping with one Steam Controller, with additional controllers available from Valve for $49. Meanwhile the very first Steam Machines from Alienware and Syber are already available for pre-order from GameStop and Syber respectively, while the rest are slated to be available in November.
Finally, we have the Steam Link, Valve's in-home streaming receiver for Steam. Intended to be used with Steam's existing, built-in streaming technology, the Link is designed to allow playing Steam games in other locations away from the host PC/Machines, be it things like spare bedrooms or locating the host in said spare bedroom and putting the Link in the living room. The Link features a 2x2 802.11ac for wireless connectivity, or a 100Mbit Ethernet port for wired fallback, along with a trio of USB 2.0 ports and of course the necessary HDMI port. Valve will be selling the Link on its own for $49, while a package with the controller will be $99, and somewhat surprisingly for a consumer device these days, Valve's even throwing in HDMI and Ethernet cables. As with the Steam Machines, the Link is available for pre-order through Valve or at GameStop, with a limited number of the devices shipping on October 16th.
Original Submission
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday July 03 2015, @05:45AM
What is this, a poll question trying to see how many SN-dwellers are young and reckless to act as "early adopters"*?
Back when I was using Windows, I never upgraded to a new version of the system until SP1 was not released - took 2 years until I switched from w2k to xp
--
* (or... old and financially stable enough to understand the value of collecting first/limited edition items and affording them)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by nyder on Friday July 03 2015, @06:31AM
If i had money to spare I'd buy one. Only to show Valve I support what they are doing. But alas, I am a poor person and generally rely on stuff being discounted in some way. Sometimes I get my consoles only after a new generation hits the scene (Got both my PS2 & GC that way).
Not to mention you are talking about your personal SOFTWARE experiences, not HARDWARE experiences. While software early adopters might have to deal with bugs and other crap, hardware early adopters are stuck to the hardware that came in the machine. Many times that ends up being a less powerful machine then what finally gets released to the public.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday July 03 2015, @07:09AM
I discovered quite early that:
I made a tentative to use a gaming console about 6 year back - a Wii one - was about 1.5 years after they hit the market. I discovered that I don't like the gaming experience using a controller (repetitive strain injury started to show)
Ah, yes. I do have a "collectible" item: one of the first OLPC to arrive in Australia, on a "buy one, give one" basis. Still in its original packaging, never powered on.
There, now you heard me talking about my hardware habits: as conservative as my software ones
Allow me to ask: what's your view of what Valve's doing? What is do you think that worthy of a reward?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday July 03 2015, @06:34AM
Plus you can always make your own PC and slap SteamOS on it. Add in a Steam controller - that's about $50, right?
I'm swallowing the Oculus Rift hype though. And if Facebook is too intrusive, there's Valve's VR product, the HTC Vive. In fact, looks like both the Rift and Vive will be released in "Spring" 2016.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Bot on Friday July 03 2015, @06:38AM
Steam machines are PCs whose hardware is, let's be pessimists, *potentially* linux compatible.
Which is exactly the only PC hardware that is worth owning.
Unless you like to pay monthly for your pro level applications and windows subscriptions, which will happen in the other camp eventually.
So while it's early adopting, it's early adopting a rope when you're pushed towards a cliff.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Marneus68 on Friday July 03 2015, @08:32AM
You've seen and used Steam before, you can download SteamOS [steampowered.com] right now. Chanced are, if you care about it you already tried it and you know what it's like.
The thing that really matters is the controller and its fancy new tech. The development process of the controller was explained in detail during this talk [youtu.be] and it's in my opinion the only important thing about the pre-orders.
So anyone got pre-ordered a controller? I'm not in the best financial situation right now, so I couldn't get one and I still can't wait to try it.
(Score: 2) by Kilo110 on Friday July 03 2015, @05:18PM
I pre-ordered one controller and the streaming client set-top box. I like valve and I think it can be a cool product. Looking forward to it.