14 DAY TRIAL // Valve technically launched the new Steam Machines today, but in practice they have been delayed until the end of the month.
Valve announced a while back that it planned to launch the new Steam Machines consoles on November 10. Many hardware partners have been confirmed, but none of them seems to be ready in time for the big release.
As it stands right now, the only two pieces of hardware that have been made available are the Steam Controller and Steam Link. The controller is pretty straightforward, and it’s a really interesting piece of technology, and the Steam Link connects your PC to the TV with streaming. Also, Steam Link can help stream Windows-only games to the Steam Machines, but that’s not the advertised bit.
The Steam Machines are listed on the official website, but you can’t buy any of them. What’s even worse, the main advertised ones are not even up for preorder, and there is no date attached to their release. There are a number of other hardware partners, and those companies have indicated November 21 and November 28 as the launch date.
At least, we have games
Valve went on with the launch, even if the Steam Machines are not ready. That means that we also have quite a few discounted games that do work on SteamOS and Linux. That includes titles like Alien: Isolation, ARK: Survival Evolved, Borderlands 2, Middle-earth™: Shadow of Mordor, BioShock Infinite, Dying Light, Tropico 5, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition, Spec Ops: The Line, SOMA, and many others.
It’s possible that Valve might have something to add in the coming weeks or months, but for the time being this is pretty much the entire Steam Machines launch. No glamor and no Half-Life 3 exclusively for Linux. It’s nothing more than just a stepping stone in the long game played by Valve.