The first Steam Machines gaming computers featuring Valve’s SteamOS operating system are expected to launch in 2015. But if you thought SteamOS was only designed to bring PC games to the living room with the help of gaming desktop PCs, the folks behind the SteamBoy hope to prove you wrong.

They’re working on a handheld game system that will let you play PC games on the go. The SteamBoy is basically a portable PC with a 5 inch touchscreen display surrounded by Steam Controller-style video gaming buttons.

steamboy

Full details aren’t available yet, but The Escapist has a few details about the project. While the system won’t be as powerful as a typical gaming desktop, it’ll use Valve’s operating system and hardware control buttons to let you play many PC games… at least at lower graphics quality settings.

What the PlayStation Vita is to a PS4, the SteamBoy could be to a desktop Steam Machine. It will likely have a quad-core CPU, 4GB of RAM, and 32GB of storage as well as WiFi and 3G.

We’ll have to wait until next year to find out how much the system will cost, what kind of battery life it will offer, and what kind of PC gaming experience you can really pack into a pocket-sized device.

via Engadget

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13 replies on “SteamBoy could bring PC gaming to your pocket with a handheld Steam Machine”

  1. Not sure why would people buy this:
    casual gamers already have a portable game console: smartphones.
    Looking at the size of it, the Steam-boy wouldn’t provide enough power for hardcore gamers either.
    Which consumer group is this product aiming for?

  2. Some on other sites were saying this is confirmed fake. I like the concept though. I do remember an Atom chip I read about on here that supports 4GB RAM. Would be a good device for in-home streaming and would be able to run less demanding games right on the device like sidescrollers and maybe some older shooters.

  3. They have yet to inform me of how i can throw money at them… disappointing…

  4. Change the left pad to an analogue stick and it would be compelling

    1. No just no, FPSes on a trackpad are semi-possible with good accuracy, not so with a stick.

        1. They play with other people who are handicapped with a stick as well. Something like this would be against other PC users so you’d be competing against a mouse which has a lot more precision.

  5. @Steven Baumann – Where did you get streaming from? I don’t see the word stream anywhere in the article.

    1. That’s part of Steam now so it’s a given that it can do it. What kind of graphics chip do you expect this 5″ x86 handheld to have though? It’ll have to stream or use low-end embedded graphics.

    1. The nVida Shield has in home streaming capabilities right now, for only $200

      1. For the money I spend on Steam content I’d rather have a slam-dunk compatible solution that is engineered specifically to operate in that ecosystem.
        – so count me among the interested.

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