With so much hype surrounding this month's release of the Xbox One and PlayStation 3 releases, it's hard to imagine another gaming console trying to muscle its way into the spotlight. However, that's exactly what the people at Valve are going to try and do at this year's CES 2014 when it reveals more of what its upcoming Steam Machine gaming console can do. Now, new images have leaked showing exactly what the device will look like and many are pleasantly surprised.
Earlier this month, Valve announced the third-party hardware that will be behind the Steam Machine gaming console. Now, specialty PC-maker iBuyPower has actually provided fans and those curious about the new console a glimpse as to what the finished product might look like. Images of the Steam Machine prototype, seen above, have leaked. Codenamed "Gordon" and "Freeman," the two Steam OS consoles will reportedly launch for $500 in 2014 according to reports from the Verge.
For the price of an Xbox One, the computer will offer a multiocre AMD CPU and a discrete AMD Radeon R9 270 graphics card - that's a $180 GPU all by itself. Each console shipped will come with a Steam Controller.
Many who have seen the photos of the device say it looks strikingly similar to the PlayStation 4 except it's white. This isn't to say Valve or Sony ripped the device off from one or the other, it's merely a way to speak to the quality of the Steam Machine third-party gaming console, which will offer users a platform specifically designed to augment video games designed for the computer to be played on a console.
Although the console runs a Linus-based operating system and is not powered by the more popular and fan-trusted Windows operating system, Valve says that developers will be building triple-A game titles specifically for the Steam OS as early as 2014.
More images of the protoype an be seen HERE via The Verge.
What do you think of the look of Valve's first venture into the world of gaming console hardware? Comment and share your thoughts on the Steam Machine prototype design below.
