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It feels like a lifetime ago when the Steam Machines made their public debut in Las Vegas in January last year - an event that passed without making much of an indent in the memory, thanks to how underwhelming the initial reveal was. If this was Valve's serious play for the living room, it lacked spark and there was little in the way of substance - though, as our dearly departed Tom pointed out at the time, Valve was playing a longer game.Cut forward to March 2015, after a delay in the launch of the Steam Machines from a Valve that was surely aware of the apathy that met the assortment of hardware, and that plan is beginning to click into place. As I'm ushered into a quiet, airy booth by Valve's Erik Wolpaw, two of those Steam Machines first glimpsed at CES 2014 sit under imposingly large TV screens - the kind you'd have in your living room, if you had a generous enough budget. But it's two other devices that make Valve's arrival in the living room not only a reality but, for many of us, something of an inevitability.
First those Steam Machines, though. Familiar from last year's reveal, the two models have been selected for display from the 12 or so that will launch this November, demonstrating the range available. First up is the Alienware machine, this particular unit with an i3 processor that's capable of running Croteam's The Talos Principle at 1080p60. On the other end of the scale is a Falcon Northwest that, depending on your configuration, is going to cost between $2000 and $5000. Its excessive power is put to use as it runs Epic's new Unreal Tournament at 60fps on a 4K screen.
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