Valve Meeting with Other Hardware Makers at CES, Xi3 ‘Piston’ Just One of Many Prototypes

Yesterday, the gaming world was rocked when Valve unveiled a "Steambox" unit at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Created in partnership with Xi3, the Steambox has the codename "Piston" though there's no specific release date or price, we did get to see a prototype hardware demoed n the show floor.

Now it seems Piston is but just a start in Valve's hardware plans. In comment issued to Polygon, Valve Marketing Director Doug Lombardi states Piston is one of "many" hardware prototypes they brought to CES.

Valve will be at CES to meet with hardware and content developers in our booth space…We are bringing multiple custom (hardware) prototypes as well as some off-the-shelf PCs to our CES meetings.

Lombardi describes these prototypes as being "low-cost, high-performance designs for the living room that are great candidates for Steam and Big Picture."

Sadly, that's all he had to share for now, although he did confirm that they will be sharing more info to the press and gaming public in the coming months. So, I'll pencil it in for E3, then? 

Right now, not everything is clear when it comes to Steambox and what exactly Valve has planned for its first assault in the living room. But needless to say, Sony and Microsoft should be keeping tabs.