For years Alienware has seen the opportunity to bring PC gaming into the living room. We’ve developed some great products aimed at this objective, and learned a lot from these experiences. Today we’re excited to show the culmination of all these efforts — the new Alienware Alpha console, to E3 2014 attendees. The Alienware Alpha is the first console that’s specifically designed around Valve’s Steam Big Picture mode, and we believe it’s the best way to experience your PC games in the living room.

With over 75 million active users and upwards of 7 million users online at any given moment, Steam has evolved into a gaming powerhouse; however, Steam users have been eager to bring their gaming experiences into the living room. The Alpha console, powered by Steam Big Picture, does exactly that. Finally users don’t have to give up their favorite games, online friends, and all the Steam features they love just to play on the big screen. The Alpha console will provide access to the best games and user-generated content available, including over 500 controller-supported games and local multiplayer co-op titles, as well as incredible titles you simply can’t find anywhere else. All this adds up to a unique gaming experience that’s truly worthy of the title “Next-Gen”.

The Alienware Alpha blends a compact form-factor with a low thermal and noise signature, resulting in a console that is any easy addition to the living room. Our commitment to an open ecosystem ensures that the power and flexibility that you expect from PC gaming remains intact, all while bringing a turn-key console experience that just works on the big screen.

The Alienware Alpha console will ship with Windows 8.1 which, through a custom software interface exclusive to Alienware, can be easily navigated with the included Xbox 360 controller — no mouse or keyboard required. The Alpha console is also SteamOS and Steam Controller READY, and designed to easily integrate with the highly anticipated launch of each.

The Alienware Alpha console will start at $549, and will begin shipping in time for the 2014 Holiday Season.

http://www.alienware.com/landings/alpha/?dgc=UF&cid=277762&lid=5240229&acd=123092018091799916c29641391

Sooo.. a low spec steambox.. i'll pass.

Trust me when I say that Alienware is a total rip off! You can get better gaming PC if you build it yourself or pick the parts and pay someone $50 to build it for you

And I continue to massively dislike alienware.

It's pretty telling that they won't say what graphics card they used. I heard from them at the conference and at least we know it will run on an i3 with a customized nvidia card. I'm guessing nothing more than 750ti.

i really liked the idea of a steam box. but having each manufacturer using different specs and componets just blows up the concept for me.

Does this count as the new hardware?