The Wait Is Finally Over: Steam Machines, Link & Controller Are Now Available

We’re here! Steam Machines, Steam Controller, Steam Link, and of course, SteamOS, are all officially official. We’ve come a long way since the release of the first SteamOS beta a couple of years ago. Today, there are many PC vendors that have produced specialized machines for SteamOS use, and Valve itself has crafted a gamepad and streamer to help augment the overall experience.

On its hardware page, Valve highlights a couple of Steam Machines; from ZOTAC, Alienware, and Syber. For some reason, there’s no portal to go look at all of the rest, so to check them out, you’ll have to look here.

MAINGEAR’s DRIFT Steam Machine

If you don’t want a pre-built Steam Machine, you can build your own. For starters, you’ll want to head here to grab the SteamOS download, and peruse both the instructions and list of recommended hardware. A UEFI-based system is recommended.

Also with this launch comes the Steam Controller and Steam Link. The controller sports an interesting design that’s sure to take some getting used to. The upside, Valve claims, is that after you do get used to it, you’ll improve your gameplay versus playing with any other gamepad. Clearly, when it comes to certain games, nothing is going to beat a keyboard and mouse.

With Link, gamers will be able to stream from their Steam Machine (or PC that has Steam installed) to their livingroom TV. This offers the ability to use the same peripherals in front of the TV, although it goes without saying that wired devices are not going to be ideal.

With this launch, Valve touts support for over 1,000 native games. That seemed like an awfully lot, so I checked things out, and sure enough, it appears that there are 1,617 as of the time of writing. Not bad considering where we were just a couple of years ago.

Are you planning to pick up or build a Steam Machine? Or get a controller or Link?