News
News Categories

What's a Steamboy and what does it have to do with Steam Machines?

By Salehuddin Bin Husin - on 12 Aug 2015, 1:45pm

What's a Steamboy and what does it have to do with Steam Machines?

The Smach Zero aka Steamboy looks like a mash between Sony's PS Vita and Valve's Steam Controller,.

Valve's Steam Machine initiative isn't exactly new, though it's been rapidly picking up steam since GDC 2015, where the company unveiled what was coming. Of course, that was just the start. As the year progressed, so did Valve's plans. They announced that pre-orders for selected Steam Machines were up just a few months ago. The pre-orders were surprisingly successful, as Valve later announced that the initial batch have sold out.

Among all the hubbub though, there was one Steam Machine that was overlooked. The Steamboy, or as it is now known, the Smach Zero. What's unique about it isn't its internal hardware, but rather, how it's a portable Steam Machine.

We're not talking about streaming portables like NVIDIA's Shield machines, but an actually portable computer shaped like a PS Vita, looks like a PS Vita but plays Steam games.

A unique feature is that it the device seems to be following the layout of Valve's official Steam Controller. It has the two trackpads, though it's strangely missing the analog stick present on Valve's controller, opting instead for digital directional buttons. It's an interesting choice, similar to the original Playstation pad, which blistered many a fighting game aficionado's thumb. It also has similar face buttons to Valve's controllers as well as the same triggers on the back of the machine.

In case you're wondering what powers the Smach Zero, here are the specs, courtesy of Polygon.

There'll be a normal and PRO version of the Smach Zero with the PRO version having 4G support. It's unknown if that will be the only difference though.

Some may scoff at the 720p (1280 x 720 pixels) screen but considering it takes its cues from the Vita, it's already a step above Sony's machine, which only has a QHD (960 x 540 pixels) screen. What we're wondering instead is its battery life and its battery capacity, especially since it's a portable.

While the Smach Zero would probably have trouble running the latest games with all the bells and whistles turned on, it's safe to say that playing games like Counterstrike: GO or Team Fortress 2 during the morning commute won't be a pipe dream anymore. Smach (the company behind the machine) claims that 1000 games will be playable on its machine at launch.

While we're not skeptical at the number, we do wonder though how many of those games are AAA titles and not just indie shovelware that's clogging up Steam nowadays.

Of course, given the machine's unique control scheme, we assume that it'll only be playable with games with controller support (unlike normal Steam Machines, which also support keyboard and mouse play). That means games like the massively popular Dota 2 will be unplayable unless they incorporate controller support.

At least the Smach Zero has time on its side though. The Smach Zero's pre-order campaign will open the day of the Steam Machine launch, though the Smach Zero itself won't actually be available until Q4 2016 If the long wait doesn't deter you, the Smach Zero will be US$299 (or €299 if you're buying from Europe) once the machine is up for pre-order.

Source: Smach
Via: Polygon

Join HWZ's Telegram channel here and catch all the latest tech news!
Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.