Maximum PC: In an alternate reality, Dell is launching its Alienware Alpha PC game console as its official Steam Machine. In this world, however, Valve threw a wrench into every OEM's plans by delaying the launch of its Steam Machine platform until next year, as it wanted more time to tweak its Steam Controller. Fair enough, though not all system builders are willing to put their PC console plans on hold. Enter Alienware, which today announced it's taking pre-orders for its Alpha console.
Baden of WGB: "The Steam Machine is all but officially dead by this point, its glorious hopes of competing with consoles having been smashed to pieces thanks to Valve not making the process of choosing one simpler, and being unable to explain why you’d spend so much cash on a Steam Machine when so many alternatives were available. Still, the dream of putting computers where consoles reside hasn’t gone away completely, hence today’s review of Alienware’s Alpha R2, a small box that packs a wallop."
Alienware's Alpha isn't the console killer people hoped it would be but its merits still make it a worthy gaming computer and perhaps the best deal going in small PCs today.
What a surprise one of the worst in customer service from a software distribution company, screws over a possible successful gaming console launch. If it wasn't for the fact that they got their first Steam would be out of business.