CES: Alienware, Valve, Steam it up

Alienware and Valve announced at CES 2014 yesterday that they have collaborated on the first dedicated Alienware Steam Machine gaming console.

High-performance computing leaders Alienware, a Dell subsidiary, and Valve, the developers of the world’s largest online gaming platform, have collaborated to make the first dedicated Alienware Steam Machine gaming console.

Valve are best known as creators of the Half-Life franchise.

Alienware says it designed its upcoming Steam Machine to deliver the benefits of PC gaming in an incredibly small footprint, providing the best balance between size, performance and aesthetics for the living room gaming experience. Its sleek design is both distinctively Alienware yet unobtrusive in a media cabinet.

“With the introduction of the X51 system nearly two years ago, Alienware kicked off an evolution of small form factor PC gaming systems designed for every living area,”” said Frank Azor, Co-Founder and General Manager of Alienware. “”When Valve and Alienware began collaborating on our vision for a PC gaming console several years ago we could clearly see we were on to revolutionizing PC Gaming forever.””

Since Alienware began pre-installing Steam on systems four years ago, Alienware has had the opportunity to work closely with Valve on multiple fronts.

‚””We have been working with Alienware since we began defining our vision of the Steam Machine. Alienware’s historic commitment to gaming, their design and engineering capabilities and their global reach made them an ideal partner for us on our Steam Machine project,‚”” said Gabe Newell, Founder of Valve.

‚””The result of our collaboration is the Alienware Steam Machine, a console that encapsulates the full potential of what a Steam Machine should be.‚””

In addition to the Alienware Steam Machine PC gaming console, the Alienware X51 desktop will be available as a Steam Machine in 2014. By offering the Steam Machine edition of the X51, gamers will be able to choose between form factors, depending on which suits their needs better.

Availability

The Alienware Steam Machine and X51 Steam Machine edition are scheduled to launch in late 2014. Specific availability and pricing will be announced closer to the launch date.

– Gadget.co.za

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