Hasta La Gadget!

Xi3 has just started taking pre-orders for its PISTON Console. The console is deeply integrated with Valve’s Steam and its Big Picture mode that allows gamers to play their favorite Steam games on the big screen using a gaming controller. Xi3′s PISTON Console is the first unoffical “Steam Box” to be announced, with Valve planning on working with more manufacturers to release their own version of the Steam Box in time for the holidays. While the PISTON Console isn’t the official Steam Box that Valve is planning on releasing in the future, Valve is still helping Xi3 finance the device.

The Xi3 PISTON console comes with a 3.2GHz AMD Quad Core A10 processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 128GB SSD. You can upgrade the SSD to 256GB for $340, or 512GB for $750. The price of the console at the standard configuration is $999.99, however if you pre-order the device anytime between now and the end of March 17th (when SXSW ends), you can get the PISTON for $100 off at 899.99. The console is expected to ship by the 2013 holiday season.

Xi3 is currently showing off its PISTON Console at the SXSW Gaming Expo where attendees can see a demonstration of the device in action. The PISTON console was designed to provide a medium between PC gaming and console gaming. It’s a small, compact system that looks like a console, but can be upgraded just like a gaming PC. The device received multiple rewards, including the Popular Mechanics Editors Choice award, Popular Science Product of the Future award, Men’s Health Coolest Tech at CES 2013 award, and many others.

While it is appealing to have a Steam Box that lets you play the entirety of your Steam library on an HDTV, Xi3′s price point can deter gamers from purchasing the console (even with the $100 discount). You can wait a little while to see the pricing of future “unofficial” Steam Boxes, or you can wait for Valve to shell out its official Steam Box. Whatever you decide on, you have plenty of time before the 2013 Holiday season rolls around before you make your decision.

[via Xi3]

Pre-order the Xi3 PISTON “Steam Box” now and get $100 off is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Prepare for nostalgic fun, as the Age of Empires series is making a comeback this spring. Age of Empires II HD will be coming exclusively to Steam on April 9 for $19.99. The game will be based off of Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, the Ensemble-developed and Microsoft-published real-time strategy game that released back in 1999.

While the game will officially release on April 9, those who pre-order the game will be able to start playing it on April 5, as well as receive a 10% discount when they pre-order. The game is being developed by Hidden Path Entertainment, the studio behind games like Defense Grid and Counter Strike: Global Offensive. Ensemble Studios have shut their doors since the release of Age of Empires II.

Age of Empires II HD is a completely remastered version of the 1999 title with support for 1080p monitors, but it still includes all of the same features and gameplay elements from the original installment. Plus, the new game includes every single-player campaign from the original game, as well as the Conquerors expansion, making that a total of 18 campaigns.

Since the game will be available on Steam, Age of Empires II HD will include Steam achievements, leaderboards, and Steam Cloud support. Steam users can also play against each other in the game, and you can even share user-created content through the Steam Workshop. As for minimum spec requirements, the game will support Windows XP and up, 1.2GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, and a DirectX 9-capable graphics card. The game is just over a month out, so in the meantime, here’s a little something to get you prepared.

[via Gamespot]

Age Empires II HD coming to Steam on April 9 is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It would appear that the Steam-powered gaming console will be available rather soon for developers and hardware partners alike. News has come down from Valve‘s Game Newell himself as he spoke with the BBC about the future of the company immediately before the start of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Games Awards. There he was also being awarded a lovely Academy Fellowship as well.

The details surrounding the Valve-made Steam Box are still on the light side here in the first part of 2013, but the platform – that which ties the whole Valve universe together – is ready and willing to take on the gaming console masses. According to Newell, the point the company is at is inside talks with partners in the hardware market. His assurance that first iterations of a real physical product existing in the next few months were less than solid.

“We’re working with partners trying to nail down how fast we can make it. We’ll be giving out some prototypes to customers to gauge their reactions, I guess, in the next three to four months. There are noise issues and heat issues and being able to [deal with] that while still offering a powerful enough gaming experience is the challenge in building it.” – Newell

Newell was unsure of the price they’d be able to offer the end-product system at, citing possibilities in subsidies from software companies (or the lack therein) as well as the early stage they’re still in with production. Noting that the partners they’re working with now “will put forth an impressive machine” without a doubt, Newell made it clear that he expects the greater app ecosystem to be “unlikely to match other consoles” with their connections to video conferencing titles, Netflix, and “non-gaming aspects” galore.

Have a peek a the timeline below to gain greater insight on the Steam Box and what it’ll mean for the gaming universe in the near future – we’ll be on top of it here on SlashGear for the foreseeable future too!

Valve Steam Box prototypes pegged for Spring 2013 is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

One of ten new additions to come from Valve’s Greenlight community platform, Surgeon Simulator 2013 was crafted in a mere 48 hours at Global Game Jam and puts you in the role of a clumsy surgeon, responsible for a patient who’s unlikely to last the night. You should consult the video after the break to get an idea of the level of incompetence here, but let’s just say your efforts are measured by Blood Level. You’ll get access to scalpels, hammers and bone saws as you perform heart surgery and brain transplants — in short, it’s going to get messy. Other new additions include Anodyne, Distance, Receiver, and Huntsman: The Orphanage and all of ’em can be downloaded from Steam starting today.

Filed under: Gaming

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Via: Joystiq

Source: Steam (1), (2)

Today Valve has announced that the Steam client for Linux is now available. The app is now available for download through the Ubuntu Software Center, and of course, as with all major announcements on Steam, the gaming service is holding a week-long sale on 50 Linux games for up to 75% off of their normal price.

The sale is actually pretty decent, with a number of popular titles getting huge discounts. The games are mostly indie titles, but there’s a number of games that are well worth the cost. For instance, Counter-Strike: Source is only $5, while Trine 2 is only $3.74. You can also get World of Goo for $2.49, and Amnesia: The Dark Descent (a fantastic horror game) for only $5.

The best part is, while all these game are for Linux, they’re also compatible for Windows and Mac, so if you don’t use Linux, you can still take advantage of the sale. Half-Life is $5, and a couple of Penumbra games are only a couple of bucks each. There’s 50 games in total, all of which are at least compatible with Windows, with just a few missing Mac support.

Valve first discussed Steam for Linux last year in April, and opened up the beta to the public back in December. The client supports Valve’s new Big Picture mode, where you can play games and navigate through the client on your big-screen living room television. Plus, Steam supports cross-platform play, so you can start a game on one OS, and finish it later on another.

Steam for Linux available now is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.