Valve's Steam Machines: How Did They Fail? - Krazy Ken’s Tech Talk

Valve's Steam Machines: How Did They Fail? - Krazy Ken’s Tech Talk

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- Valve is an $8 billion company and they've made some really successful video games. However, that wealth and success did not translate to the Steam Machine. But why? (upbeat music) Hey, everyone. How are you all doing?

If you're new here, welcome. My name is Krazy Ken, and we're gonna talk about games today. I remember when Steam first came to the Mac and I fell in love with "Portal" and "Half-Life," and I have a lot of good memories playing those games, and, of course, watching the Garry's Mod machinima. But there was a time when Valve decided to try their hand at not just making games, but making new hardware to play those games on called Steam Machines.

So, let's see what happened. Valve was founded on August 24th, 1996, by Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington. Gabe and Mike used to work at Microsoft and Gabe worked on the team that developed the first three major releases of Windows. He also played a key role in porting id Software's legendary "Doom" game to Windows 95. On November 19th, 1998, Valve launched their first game, the insanely successful first-person shooter, "Half-Life," which was built with a heavily modified version of id Software's Quake engine.

The point of view never leaves the player's eyes and there's no camera cuts, which helps create an immersive environment. Combine that with great storytelling, comprehensive AI, lip sync, and physics, "Half-Life" went on to revolutionize the game industry and it's still played today. In addition, "Half-Life's" modability allowed Valve to create other games, like "Team Fortress Classic," and it enabled the community to make their own mods too. In short, Valve had a huge hit on their hands. It's not often you see a company knock it out of the park with their first release. In 2003, Valve relocated their offices to Bellevue, Washington, and they reincorporated under the name we know them by today, Valve Corporation.

And that brings us to an important software release, Steam. Okay, so maybe not everyone loved this software when it first came out, but Steam went on to play a major role in changing the game industry. Steam was originally an online updater for Valve's games. It also offered IM features and an SDK for developers. Users could download Valve's existing games digitally too, and the first new Valve game to launch on the Steam platform was "Counter-Strike: Condition Zero," if you even remember that.

The first big game to launch on Steam was "Half-Life 2" on November 16th, 2004, and this game actually required Steam for playing. It was not optional. - [G-Man] Rather than offer you the illusion of free choice, I will take the liberty of choosing for you.

- And in 2005, Steam was opened up to third-party developers. This was a huge move because now everybody could publish games on this up-and-coming platform, not just Valve. But Valve was still making new games too. Briefly fast-forwarding to 2014, there are now 75 million registered Steam users and most of Valve's revenue was generated by the Steam platform, which made up over 70% of all internet downloaded games on Windows. As you can see, Valve was wildly successful on the software side of things, but now maybe it's time to try to venture into the hardware side.

People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware. In March, 2012, rumors of a Steam Box were brewing. This alleged hardware could potentially be Valve's new game console. Valve marketing director Doug Lombardi hinted at the possibility of new hardware, but he didn't confirm anything at the time.

He did confirm, however, that Valve was working on a new user interface for Steam users who want to game in the living room. Targeting TVs and the living room makes sense because at this time, video game console sales were in the hundreds of millions. PlayStation 1 and 2 alone hit 257.4 million unit sales by March 31st, 2012.

And these consoles are made for couches, TVs, living rooms, settings that are generally a little more laid-back and comfortable for playing games as opposed to sitting at a computer desk. Moving on to July 25th, Gabe spoke at Casual Connect about open platforms and he said a way to guarantee that open platforms survive is to make sure Linux thrives. Quick rundown, Linux is a kernel that many operating systems or distros run on, and many of these are free and open source. For example, Ubuntu or Mint.

These are alternative operating systems to Windows or macOS, for example. Linux has many uses, especially for web servers, and it's even the kernel used in Android and ChromeOS. But in terms of PC home usage, it's a small slice of the market compared to Windows. Gabe stated that one of the things holding Linux back was the lack of games.

So, Valve was going to invest in Linux and get Steam on Linux, which means they can bring a whole bunch of games with them. So, Linux was going to be a critical component to this soon to be Steam Machine product, but we're not quite there yet. There's still a lot of other work that has to be done before we launch.

In September, Valve released a beta of a new Steam UI named Big Picture mode. The interface featured large thumbnails and menus and it was compatible with game controllers while still working with keyboard and mouse. This new UI allowed gamers to navigate Steam on their TV in the comfort of their living room. And that all sounds amazing, but to reap these benefits, you have to move your computer into your living room, which I guess if you had a laptop, that would be pretty easy, but not so much for a desktop tower. At this time, it seemed like Valve had some great software solutions in place, but the hardware piece of the puzzle was still missing. But Valve's Greg Coomer hinted at the future.

While discussing Big Picture mode and the living room, he also said, "If it's getting involved in shipping some kind of hardware, then we will get involved in doing that if we need to." At the 2012 Video Game Awards, Kotaku's Jason Schreier briefly spoke with Gabe Newell and Gabe said the reaction to Big Picture mode was stronger than expected. He also said the next step is to get the Linux version of Steam out of beta and that companies would also start selling TV-ready PCs with Steam pre-installed next year. Gabe also said these upcoming PCs would run Linux, but users could still install Windows if they want to. Now, what specific Linux operating system would they be running? We don't know yet, but maybe we'll find out soon.

But at this point, we still haven't seen what any of these Steam Machines would actually look like. But we didn't have to wait much longer. On January 7th, 2013, at CES, modular mini-PC maker Xi3 revealed the Piston, a tiny gaming computer specifically designed to support Steam and Big Picture mode.

I love unconventional PC design, so this tiny curvy case is really appealing to me. And Xi3 focused on function, not just form. So, their modular computer line could attach to other modules and accessories. They could also attach to computer monitors and connect together into a server. And instead of using a single motherboard, Xi3 uses three separate boards for their components, which allowed for swapping and upgrading.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get my hands on an actual Piston because they are rare, but I do have other Xi3 computers which the Piston was based on. This is a Jade green Xi3 X5A with a SLID3 storage expander, and thanks to Bringus, I have an X7A too, which is more identical to the Piston in terms of specs. Honestly, if we just desaturate the color a little bit and add the Piston logo to the front, it basically looks the same, right? Back in September 2012, Xi3 actually used Kickstarter to try and fund their new X7A and X3A modular computers, which would join their existing X5A. Unfortunately, they didn't meet their goal, but thanks to an investment from Valve, they ended up getting enough funding in the end.

Thank you, Gabe. The Piston had up to one terabyte of SSD storage, a 3.2 gigahertz AMD Trinity quad-core CPU, eight gigabytes of RAM, a Radeon 7000-series GPU with triple-display support, and a crap-ton of I/O. The Piston was made available for limited pre-orders at South by Southwest for $999 and they would ship on November 29th. However, before the launch, some misinformation needed to be cleared up. Valve's Doug Lombardi stated to Eurogamer that Valve was distancing themselves from the Piston.

Doug didn't say why, at least in this particular article, but the answers might lie inside of Xi3's response to the situation. Xi3 published a press release talking about this separation. They confirmed that they did receive an investment from Valve in the past, but they also debunked misinformation about the Piston being a Steam Box because neither Valve or Xi3 has referred to it as such. Anyway, the main reasons for the separation in my opinion have to do with Valve's and Xi3's visions not aligning. Xi3 positioned the Piston to be a Windows PC with support from multiple gaming platforms, whereas Valve wanted to focus on Linux and Steam.

After the Xi3 separation, there wasn't much talk about the Steam Box at all, maybe a little bit, but to the public, there wasn't much progress being made. Doug confirmed to Polygon that Valve was tinkering with other prototype hardware, but that's about it. For now. We'll talk about what happened next right after this. So, let's say you want to expand the storage of your Steam Deck or your smartphone perhaps, maybe add some extra battery to them as well.

SHARGE has the solutions for you. With the Shargeek 170 and the SHARGE Disk Plus, you can bring extra storage and battery with you on the go and it will be ready for when you need it. I've always loved SHARGE's clear tech and the 170 also looks stunning. It's like something out of a Pink Floyd album cover. With two USB-C ports and one USB-A port, you can fast charge three devices at once thanks to the 170-watt max output and you can recharge the power bank super fast, up to 50% in only 20 minutes thanks to the 140-watt max input.

And the total capacity is 24,000 milliamp hours, so you have plenty of juice to share with your devices. You'll also know the status of your 170 thanks to the built-in display. And yes, it is airline safe. And here's the SHARGE Disk Plus, a slim aluminum SSD enclosure with a built-in USBC cable. All you have to do is pop in your own SSD up to four terabytes and you're good to go.

And here's the fun part. You can adhere the optional magnetic pad to the back and now the SSD can attach to any magnetic surface, like the back of an iPhone. And if your device doesn't have a magnetic back, like the Steam Deck, you can take one of the magnet rings, attach it to the back, and now your SSD can attach to your Steam Deck. And you can also charge your devices while the SHARGE Disk Plus is attached. So, click the link in the description to get your own Shargeek 170 and SHARGE Disk Plus.

And when you do that, you're also supporting the Computer Clan. So, thank you very much. All right, so Valve was tinkering with other prototype hardware, right? But other than that, there wasn't much Steam Box news available to the public until September 2013. Valve had three major announcements. Number one, SteamOS.

SteamOS 1.0, codenamed Alchemist, is an operating system based on Debian 7.1 Wheezy, a Linux distro. It came with Steam pre-installed and was primarily intended to be used with Big Picture mode. However, users could exit Steam and enter the GNOME desktop environment to use other applications.

We'll talk more about SteamOS in a moment because there is two other versions to cover, but first we need to talk about Valve's second announcement, Steam Machines. Holy ship, Valve said it. They officially said the name of this new product line, Steam Machine.

There were three main criteria for Steam Machines. One, different manufacturers can make them how they want with different parts, two, they must ship with SteamOS, and C, no exclusive games. At this time, Valve didn't show any real photos of what these Steam Machines would look like, but soon, 300 lucky people were gonna receive a prototype and it was gonna be a prototype of Valve's very own Steam Machine. And I was not one of the lucky ones that received one because I didn't enter the drawing, but I can try to find one. Pixel Peeper 3000. - [Pixel Peeper 3000] Hi, Ken.

How can I help you? - Track down a prototype Valve Steam Machine and ship it to me, please. - [Pixel Peeper 3000] I found a unit owned by an obscure indie YouTube channel. - Which one? - [Pixel Peeper 3000] Linus Tech Tips. - Huh, they must be new. Anyway, DM them and ask them if we can borrow their unit.

- [Pixel Peeper 3000] Already on it. - Cool. While Pixel Peeper contacts LTT, we must talk about Valve's third big announcement. - "Ricochet 2!!!!" - The Steam Controller.

Valve went through many iterations of the controller's design and they manufactured it with their own automated factory in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. It was designed to be compatible with every game on Steam, including old games. This controller would be included with Steam Machines and the initial version they showed had two circular high-fidelity touch pads, which were also clickable. It also had a touchscreen, four action buttons, two bumpers, two triggers, and built-in haptics. On November 4th, Valve said to IGN that they would be revealing the Steam Machine partners and their designs at CES 2014, but perhaps some of those partners were getting a little impatient. They wanted to beat Valve to the punch.

iBUYPOWER and Digital Storm revealed their Steam Machines early and the Digital Storm unit was liquid cooled. Pretty neat. - [Pixel Peeper 3000] Good news, Ken. Your Steam Machine prototype has shipped.

- Thanks. What's the ETA? - [Pixel Peeper 3000] Three seconds. - Whoa. How did you do that? - [Pixel Peeper 3000] I'm an AI, Ken. I can do anything... except draw hands.

- True. Maybe leave art to the humans. - [Pixel Peeper 3000] Good idea. - Great. So, let's take a look at this rare Steam Machine prototype. On December 13th, Valve shipped these units to 300 testers in the US and it arrives in this pretty beefy wooden box.

The prototype itself is a black box measuring 12 inches wide, 12.4 inches long, and 2.9 inches high. And I'll admit it's quite a bit heavier than I thought. It's 12.6 pounds, which doesn't sound like a lot on paper, but for a computer of this size, yeah, that's pretty dense. The chassis is made of metal with a brushed texture and the removable shell is quite thick too.

And on the front is this oversized power button with a white glowing ring, which I absolutely love. There's also tons of I/O on the back, including USB, display port, and even a PS2 keyboard port. Looks like they're covering all bases for testing. There's also two USB ports on the front. Now let's take a look at the inside. With one screw, we can remove the outer shell.

For specs, the prototype is equipped with an Intel Core i3, i5, or i7 processor, one of various Nvidia GPUs, 16 gigabytes of RAM, a solid-state hybrid drive with one terabyte of mechanical storage and eight gigabytes of solid state storage, and a 450-watt power supply. The controller that came with this prototype doesn't have the touchscreen like we saw in those other press photos. Instead it has four physical buttons in the middle, and it's not wireless yet. It's wired with USB.

But to be fair, Valve did disclose that ahead of time. Another shout-out to Bringus for loaning me this prototype Steam Controller. I got to unwrap it from its condom unit and touch it before he did. (laughs maniacally) But here's my favorite part about these prototype units. On the top here, there's 300 holes and Valve shipped 300 units, and one of them is a shiny countersunk hole. The theory for this hole is it's a unique identifier for this specific unit.

Assuming the numerical order follows left to right, top to bottom, this is unit number 78 of 300. I love prototype stuff, so big shout-out to Linus Media Group for letting me borrow this because they are really hard to find. On the same day of this prototype launch, Valve released SteamOS 1.0 to the public as a free download.

Now we arrive at CES 2014. At the show, Valve revealed the third-party partners for Steam Machines. Are you ready? Alienware, Alternate, CyberPowerPC, Digital Storm, Falcon Northwest, Gigabyte, iBUYPOWER, Maingear, Materiel.net, NEXT, Origin PC, Scan Computers, Webhallen, and ZOTAC.

(deep inhale) Holy crap. I certainly hope all these choices don't make it challenging for a consumer to decide what they want to buy. Hmm.

Steam Machines had Intel and AMD CPU options, Nvidia AMD and Intel GPU options, and the RAM configurations ranged up to 16 gigabytes and storage was generally up to one terabyte. Some went higher. On the lower end, prices were $500, and on the higher end, like with the Falcon Northwest Steam Machine, $6,000. (duck quacks) I've never spent $6,000 on a computer in my life, and I'm a Mac user. That's saying something. Apple charges $700 for freaking wheels.

On January 15th, Valve discussed more details at Steam Dev Days, which was closed off to the press. On the same day, Alienware announced the release month for their own Steam Machine, September 2014, and although they were pretty vague with the specs, I don't have to be. I've been to the future.

I know what happens. Alienware will soon offer four configurations, which start at $409.99. All models come with an Nvidia GeForce GTX video card with two gigabytes of video memory and the system can be maxed out with a one terabyte 7,200 RPM hard drive, eight gigabytes of RAM, and a 4th Generation Intel Core i7 processor. This Steam Machine also has two USB two ports on the front, and on the back, HDMI in and out, optical audio out, ethernet, and two USB three ports. And might I add, the design of this Steam Machine is really slick.

Everything from the glowing Steam logo to the alien head which pulsates during sleep mode, it's just a sexy computer. And yes, the Alienware logo is the power button, and I think it's the most iconic out of all the Steam Machines. In March 2014, Valve revealed an updated design for the Steam Controller, which replaced the center touchscreen with two physical buttons and a Steam button in between. The D-pad and action buttons were also relocated below the touch pads. We're still not at the production version of the controller yet. They're getting there, but all of these refinements and tweaking were starting to cause a couple problems.

Late is temporary. Suck is forever. On May 27th, Valve product designer Eric Hope posted an announcement to the Steam Universe group stating that the controller still needs work and they were looking at a 2015 release instead of 2014. I think that's the right thing to do.

I'd rather have a good product arrive late than get a crappy product early. However, Valve wasn't the only one on this ship. There were a bunch of third-party partners getting ready to launch their hardware, but the whole Steam Machine line and brand couldn't launch until Valve was ready. But the partners were getting kind of eager. And what did some of these eager partners do? They stripped the Steam out of the machine and just repackaged their hardware with Windows. Alienware and iBUYPOWER released their systems early with Windows 8.1 instead of SteamOS.

I'm still infinitely amused by the non-Steam Alienware computer because the triangle where the Steam logo usually goes is still there. It's just empty. Despite the shift to Windows, the computers were still shipped with Steam pre-installed and it automatically loaded into Big Picture mode on startup. Okay, so we have those two computers out, but unfortunately not much else was happening for a while.

So, we must fast-forward to GDC 2015. (air whooshes) On March 3rd at the Game Developers Conference, Valve announced the release month for Steam Machines, November 2015. The final design of the Steam Controller was also revealed, along with a retail price of $50.

Compared to the last controller we examined, there's some small refinements, but the biggest change is the removal of the separate DPAD, which was replaced with an analog stick. The D-pad functionality was now combined with the left touchpad. The Steam Controller is wireless and it features haptics, a gyroscope/accelerometer, and up to 80 hours of battery life with two AAs. Also at GDC, Valve announced their new Source 2 engine and a brand-new hardware product, Steam Link. For 50 bucks, users could connect Steam Link to their TV and stream a video game from their PC or Steam Machine up to 1080p resolution and 60 frames per second with low latency. And it was cheap because it was just a streaming box, not a full-featured computer.

Wait a minute. Okay, I don't have a crystal ball with me, well, I used to, but I sold it to be able to pay for a surgery to make my head smaller. It clearly didn't work. But I think the Steam Link could cannibalize Steam Machine sales. You can now get the Steam experience on your TV for 50 to a hundred bucks as opposed to 500 to $6,000 if you were okay with the possibility of some latency maybe once in a while.

That's just me editorializing, but we'll see what happens. June 4th, 2015. After more than two years of blood, sweat, and tears and more blood, Valve finally announced the release date for Steam Machines, including the controller and Link. Everything would come out on November 10th, 2015. The first brands to launch Steam Machines were Cyber, ZOTAC, and, of course, Alienware, SteamOS 2 also launched, codenamed Brewmaster.

SteamOS 1 received updates through its development, but it was more or less a beta. 2.0 was much more refined under the hood. I installed it effortlessly on my Alienware Steam Machine, but I could only use the built-in GNOME desktop environment. Getting Steam to work was a [KENSORED!]. I could tell it was trying to auto load Big Picture mode, but all I got was a black screen with a cursor. To be fair, it was kind of unrealistic of me to try to shove a 2024 Steam client onto an operating system that was based on Debian 8, which came out nine years prior.

So, I tried interrupting the auto update process to see if an older version of Steam would work, but every time I did that, I just got caught in this fatal error screen. But I don't give up. Usually. Thanks to the positive responses from my community and Brainiac Brent's brain, I learned a few Linux tricks to load a new GNOME session, update all the software on the system, and enable namespaces so Steam could launch, and voila. The UI is a bit laggy, but the games perform at a steady 60 frames per second. Cool, so, finally, Steam Machines were off to the races and they sold... okay?

Seven months after the launch, Valve announced they sold over 500,000 Steam Controllers, including controllers packaged with Steam Machines. And since every Steam Machine was required to be bundled with a Steam Controller, we can estimate about 500,000 Steam Machines were sold. But the controller was still sold separately. So, if we factor in individual retail sales of the controller, this estimate could actually be lower than 500,000, which is not terrible for a first try, but compared to PS4 and Xbox One sales in their first seven months, which was 15.7 million, it's a small number. And to make things even worse, only a handful of the manufacturers actually released their own Steam Machines.

A lot of them didn't follow through. Things weren't looking too good for the Steam Machine, but I promise, I promise you there was a silver lining. But before we get there, we need to examine why. Why did the Steam Machines fail? I believe there's three big reasons. Number one, too many options.

On paper, more choices may seem like a good idea to offer your customers, but in reality, if a consumer is faced with too many different buying options, it can be confusing and that can be detrimental to your business. In short, "If you confuse, you'll lose." Donald Miller. I've studied this guy before. He's a smart dude. Microsoft and Sony kept it easy. They offered two, give or take, versions of their consoles and that was it.

It was simple. And on top of these problems, some people speculated that the more affordable Steam Link killed some of the Steam Machine's momentum. I guess my theory wasn't too crazy after all.

Problem number two, lack of software support. Again, SteamOS is a Linux distro and game support was lacking. At the time of launch, only 21.5% of Steam's entire catalog was compatible with SteamOS. So, there's not much of a benefit there. You pay the money to get the hardware to get into the Steam universe, but when you arrive, you realize you only get access to 1/5 of it and it's just because of a software limitation.

You throw Windows on there, boom, you now have access to all of it. Just didn't seem that practical. And it got worse. SteamOS had some performance problems compared to Windows, and I know performance can vary depending on your hardware, your game settings, and what you're playing, so, take this with a grain of salt, but Ars Technica did a pretty thorough analysis and Windows came out on top. And problem number three, no killer features.

While I think some of the Steam Machines looked absolutely cool, there wasn't anything special about the hardware or features. And while I think it was noble of Valve to encourage no exclusives for SteamOS, that move further killed the Steam Machine's value proposition because now consumers have even less of a reason to buy them. Sony and Microsoft, on the other hand, had exclusive titles on their consoles. As time passed, unfortunately, the Steam Machine line was, well, losing steam. Some manufacturers like Alienware continued making Steam Machines into 2017, but most companies completely dropped out or switched to Windows.

SteamOS was still getting updated and more Steam games were gaining Linux support, but it was just too little too late. Then in mid-April 2019, Valve quietly de-listed the Steam Machines from its website and the Steam Link was discontinued in November of the same year. It was replaced with a Steam Link app instead, which was originally released in May 2018. Lastly, the Steam Controller continued to sell until December 3rd, 2019, when Valve ran out of stock and discontinued it. And thus marks the official death of the Steam Machine. (somber music) Hang on.

I said there was a silver lining to all this, right? I won't leave you hanging. In life, it's important to always be improving, even if it's just one small thing a day. Think about it, after a whole year, you just learned 365 new things you can use to improve your product, your business, your mission, yourself. But it's also important to know when to let something go if it's not working and try something else. But even when you do let that thing go, you can take the lessons with you. In Valve's case, they let the Steam Machines go, but the lessons would remain with them.

Much like how a young Krazy Ken didn't give up trying to get SteamOS working, Valve didn't give up on hardware. They launched their own VR headset, Valve Index, on June 28th, 2019, and their wildly successful VR title, "Half-Life: Alyx," which leveraged the new hardware. But more importantly, Valve was about to launch an all-new hardware product with a new form factor they've never released before and I believe this new product was the culmination of all the lessons they learned from the failed Steam Machine line and the Steam Controller, Steam Deck. Announced on July 15th, 2021, the Steam Deck was Valve's foray into the portable gaming space. Steam Deck features a thin rectangular design with grips on both sides and a seven-inch 1280-by-800 touchscreen with a 60 hertz refresh rate.

And unlike the Steam Controller, Steam Deck has not one but two analog sticks along with dual trackpads, ABXY buttons, four grip buttons, two triggers, two bumpers, a gyroscope, micro SD card slot, headphone jack, microphones, and USB-C with HDMI and ethernet support, and a dedicated D-pad which the Steam Controller lacked. Basically, Steam Deck was ready for almost any game you could throw at it. Inside is an AMD APU with a quad-core Zen 2 CPU and RDNA 2 graphics, plus 16 gigabytes of RAM.

And for SSD storage, the low end offered 64 gigabytes for $399 and 512 gigabytes on the higher end with faster NVMe storage for $649. And the built-in 40-watt-hour battery could run lighter tasks like web browsing for about seven to eight hours and games like Portal 2 for about four. Now, for software, Valve is still betting on Linux. Introducing SteamOS 3, codenamed Holo.

Version 3 was a major release. It's now based on Arch Linux instead of Debian and it uses the KDE Plasma desktop environment instead of GNOME. Just like prior releases, users could use Steam Big Picture mode, but they can also exit Steam, load a full desktop, and use Steam Deck like a portable PC, or even connect it to a keyboard, mouse, and display and use it like a desktop.

This is made possible with the USB-C port. But the docking station, which came out seven months later, also makes it easier to use your deck as a PC or a game console on your TV. Steam Deck and SteamOS 3 will run any Linux/SteamOS compatible game.

But for Windows games that don't run natively, they will run in a compatibility layer named Proton. Not every game will work 100% off the bat, so, Valve has a simple webpage which summarizes your library's compatibility, and they offer in-depth details for individual games. Now, with SteamOS 1 and 2, anybody could download those systems and install them on their PC, but Valve has not released SteamOS 3 to the public. They only use it for the Steam Deck. But that's where the community stepped in. Just like how fans mod Valve's games, they also mod Valve's operating system.

This 2021 Atari VCS belongs to my friend, Delicious Damian. Don't worry, you'll meet him in a future episode. Anyway, he installed HoloISO on this $200 computer and it works very smoothly.

You can use Steam in Big Picture mode or switch to desktop mode with KDE Plasma and it works pretty much the same way as it would on a Steam Deck. The Steam Deck released on February 25th, 2022, and it was a huge hit. Valve still sells the system today, including a new OLED model.

Reports estimated 1.62 million sales in 2022 alone. Valve even made a cake to celebrate. Huh, I guess the cake wasn't a lie after all. And in November 2023, Valve announced they sold multiple millions of Steam Decks. And I don't think the Steam Deck would've thrived the way it did if it weren't for the lessons Valve learned through the Steam Machine journey.

So, although that line failed in comparison, it helped forge a new product that millions of people love. And I can't wait to see what Valve does next. So, I wanted to show you one more thing. The holidays are coming up, right? And I think this could be a cool gift for you or for someone else who's a tech enthusiast in your life. But I'm launching a photo calendar for the year 2025.

Each month features a beautiful photo I shot. I also autograph all calendars and each calendar will come with a free wallpaper mega pack download. So, go ahead and pre-order today. And for every dollar spent, I will personally donate a dollar to hurricane relief efforts.

You can pre-order with the link in my description or visit my Etsy store. I hope you enjoy. Thanks for sticking with me.

Catch the crazy and pass it on. (upbeat music) Oh, I forgot to mention, I emailed Valve asking when Half-Life 3 would finally come out and they replied. They said the official release date for Half-Life 3 is

2024-11-14 03:07

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