Remember earlier today we reported that Xi3’s Piston gaming machine went up for pre-order? Well if you were thinking about getting your hands on the device because Valve supposedly was involved with it, you might want to rethink that. Valve’s Doug Lombardi has stepped forward and has confirmed (via Eurogamer) that the company has “no involvement” with Xi3’s Piston, which many had come to associate with Valve’s Steam Box, a console-like device that Valve is building in hopes to steal some market share away from traditional consoles like the Xbox, PlayStation and Wii. In reality, Xi3’s Piston has nothing to do with Valve, with the exception that it made an appearance at Valve’s booth at CES earlier this year, as well as having received funding from the company.
Lombardi admits that Valve and Xi3 were involved in some exploratory work last year, but does not have any involvement with any product of theirs. Gabe Newell has also confirmed that the Xi3 is not the Steam Box that Valve is currently working on, so we guess that will be another product reveal for another day. We’re not sure what to make of this; after all the Xi3 Piston is a pretty decent machine by itself, with or without Valve’s backing. Sure it is pretty pricey but to squeeze that power into such a small chassis? We’re sure that there are some who would gladly pay for the convenience and mobility.
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