Mean Machines

The Steam Machine is Valve's new piece of hardware entering the scene as a mini PC built for living room gaming. I love a lot about it, had some issues with it, but overall came away from my time with it feeling very positive. The big question mark has been around the Steam Machine price. After the Steam Deck had a jump in price, we knew that would be a major factor in who to recommend this to for PC gaming. The Steam Machine specs in coordination with how well it works with the Steam Controller being still make this an appealing PC rig to consider.

A wonderful design can't beat the ugly realities of pricing, performance, and consumer value.

Valve opened Steam Machine pre-orders, giving you a chance to get your name down early for a reservation, though it may be a while until you get it .

The Steam Machine got announced earlier today with an eye-watering $1049 asking price for the entry-level 512GB model. But that's probably not the price Valve had in mind for its mini gaming PC.When I got a chance to sit down with Valve Engineers Pierre-Loup Griffais and Yazan Aldehayyat last week to talk about the Steam Machine, I asked them what the Steam Machine would have cost before the current memory market. And while neither of them would give me a hard number, I was told that it was "probably similar" to the price increase that the Steam Machine experienced last month. So

Smash five vending machines for the Snack Attack challenge.