The official Valve-constructed Steam Box is still a ways away, but Xi3 is already taking pre-orders for their alternative, dubbed Piston. It's set to launch later this year at quite a hefty asking price—the base model starts at $1000.
For quite a while now, the general gaming populace has come to believe that Valve and Xi3 have some sort of partnership in all of this, but apparently that is no longer the case. Doug Lombardi from Valve made it clear to Eurogamer that while they worked a bit with Xi3 in the past, they aren't any more. "Valve began some exploratory work with Xi3 last year, but currently has no involvement in any product of theirs," Lombardi said.
Steam fans, are you interested in the Piston, or will you be holding out for more news on Valve's official version of the hardware? Let us know in the comments below.
