Street Valve Corporation holiday again – the number of simultaneously present in the Steam network users 1 December exceeded 7,000,000, which once again highlights the growing popularity of the service.

It should be noted that the previous record for the number of simultaneously present in the Steam users was equal to 6.6 million at the time of fixing a new record of the most popular game on Steam was Dota 2 – more than 540 thousand users. Second place deservedly won Counter-Strike: Global Offensive with a modest number of users – about 94 thousand. Among other popular games that helped jump bar at 7 million users, it is worth noting The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Sid Meier’s Civilization V and Football Manager 2013. Many believe that the establishment of a new record contributed to the decline in prices of some popular games.

It is expected that over the next few months interest in the products and service Steam Valve increase from hitherto unseen force, and this will contribute to the recently announced Steam OS, Steam Controller and Steam Machine from companies partners. We recall not so long ago it became known that Valve iBuyPower and in 2014 released Steam Machine for $ 500 .

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Earlier it was reported that the first version of Steam Machine from partner companies Valve, which will be available in mid-2014, will be shown during the CES 2014. iBuyPower has decided not to wait until January 2014, and show a prototype of such a system now.

According to Engadget, iBuyPower is preparing to release two versions of Steam Machine, under code names and Gordon Freeman. Unfortunately, the characteristics of new products is kept secret. However, we know that both models in tandem with any game on Steam can give stable 60 frames per second at a resolution of 1080p.

Recall, Valve still in early October revealed Steam Machine prototype specification and announced its intention to send 300 prototypes of its new gaming system Steam users for beta testing.

Resource The Verge notes that one of the models in the performance Steam Machine iBuyPower (at the moment it is not known what kind) will go on sale next year, priced at $ 499. At its core production configuration includes AMD, Radeon R9 270 video card and hard drive capacity of 500 GB. We also know that it comes complete with a game controller Steam Controller.

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According to representatives of Microsoft, for the first day it sold more than 1 million consoles Xbox One and many resellers shortage devices, which the company has to make in the near future.

A little earlier, a similar statement about the PlayStation 4 and the exact same figure of 1 million sales in the first day was the company Sony.

Recall that the Sony PlayStation 4 will be in Europe until January 2014, and the availability of the official Microsoft Xbox One in our country is still not known.

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Game console Xbox One will be available in the U.S. and Europe tomorrow, November 22, 2013, but the staff Microsoft, who participated in the development of set-top boxes already got an exclusive version of the console Xbox One I Made This Edition.

This version is white, in contrast to the black Xbox One, available to ordinary customers and contains the inscription I MADE THIS. LAUNCH TEAM 2013 on the console itself and the gamepad. Will the console in such a design, naturally without inscription, available some time in the stores, is still unknown.

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IFixit experts did not believe in the word of the technical director Yasuhiro Sony Ohtori, recently granted the video, which captures the process of dismantling the PlayStation 4 , and decided to dismantle the cogs on a new gaming console.

Recall that, in the configuration of the gaming console PS4 is on x86 processor from AMD with 8 cores of Jaguar and graphic blocks Radeon c peak performance of up to 1.84 teraflops, 8 GB of RAM type GDDR5, a hard disk of 500 GB, wireless modules Wi- Fi (802.11b/g/n) and Bluetooth (2.1), Ethernet network adapter with a capacity of 10/100/1000 Mbit / s connectors, and USB 3.0.

Thus, the autopsy showed that the PCB unit has 16 memory type GDDR5 production Samsung (K4G41325FC-HC03) the total capacity of 8 GB, located on both sides of the board, SoC SCEI (Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc.), Which includes 8 cores AMD Jaguar and GPU Radeon, network processor SCEI (CXD90025G), a memory module of type DDR3 Samsung 256MB (K4B2G1646E-BCK0), flash memory chip Serial Flash Memory production Macronix (MX25L25635FMI) 32 MB, a network controller Marvell ( 88EC060-NN82), the hub Genesys Logic GL3520 and other components.

Maintainability console valued at eight points out of ten. Of the benefits of the design highlights iFixit easy replacement hard drive, and the lack of glue, which greatly facilitates the process of assembly and disassembly of the console. In deficiencies recorded location fan and heatsink (to clean the dust from the cooling subsystem or to replace the fan, you need to disassemble almost the entire console), and the sharp edges on the metal lattice to which the components are mounted.

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Recently, Valve has invited representatives of news sources in its headquarters in Bellevue, Washington, to share with them some of the features of the game system Steam Machine, Steam Controller game controller and OS SteamOS.

Recall that the company Valve has opened in early October, Steam Machine specifications of the prototype , but the appearance of the body left for a snack, stating that the final design has not been approved. Currently, she decided to fill this gap. Distinctive features of the black housing rectangular steel grate for withdrawal of heated air, which covers half of the body, as well as a large circular power button. On the front cover removed two ports USB 3.0, while the rear panel boasts an extensive list of interfaces, including audio jack for headphones, ports, USB, RJ-45 connector and the video output HDMI.

It is also noted that the design of the housing, Valve has paid a significant portion of their time and attention to the ventilation holes to allow minor dimensions of the case does not reduce the efficiency of the cooling system. Resource Wired reports that Valve has resorted to some tricks and careful design of the housing. Steam Machine components accommodated in the housing separately from each other in a “thermally isolated areas”. Journalists resource The Verge called partitions “plastic casings, printed out with the help of 3D-printer.” As they do not call, they have one purpose – to regulate the air flow to improve the cooling efficiency.

It is reported that the design of the controller with two round trackpads, was not immediately approved. Prior to that, the development team has created several prototypes using, according to The Seattle Times, tools from the garage of Gabe Newell. Early prototypes differed integrated joystick and trackball unusual shape. The photos below tell it better than words.

During the announcement of the controller Valve announced that Steam Controller is a “new generation of devices that provide super-precise tactile feedback” that better conveys a sense of control. After testing the controller journalists Resource The Verge noted that the built-in “tiny electromagnetic drives” can you move your fingers to feel every inch.

“If I did not know for sure, that could easily be confused with a trackball trackpads,” – said the representative of The Verge.

According to the resource Engadget, operating system SteamOS has a lot to do with the Big Picture mode in Steam, which has always been focused on the use of the living room.

It was learned that the version of the Steam Machine from partner companies, which will be available in mid-2014, will be shown during the CES 2014. At the moment, Valve does not plan to release their own gaming systems Steam Machine, but in the future may change your mind.

It should be noted that the production Valve controller includes gyro tracking movements. In addition, Half-Life 3 will not be exclusive to the SteamOS. We also know that at this point 40 of 330 Valve employees are still working on hardware performance Steam Machine.

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Sony has in its official blog in the final version of the list of questions and answers stated that users will not be able to use a PlayStation 4 in the role of the media server.

In the FAQ also says that the new generation of game consoles Sony does not support DLNA. Thus, the playback of streaming video can be forgotten. Another disappointment was that the PlayStation 4 may not be used for playing music or video. Recall that its predecessor – PlayStation 3, supports DLNA-connection and allows users to access media content stored on your PC, directly from the menu.

Not so long ago, Microsoft said that Xbox One does not supports Windows Media Center Extender, which could provide the ability to connect multiple devices to the console running of Windows. Support for DLNA in Xbox One at the moment is also unknown.

Recall the other day Sony told in more detail about how to share the games for the PlayStation 4 .

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Microsoft has demonstrated some of the capabilities of its game console Xbox One: voice control and multitasking.

In a short video demonstrated the possibility of the console to respond to voice commands by which are recognized by the controller Kinect. The user can enable or disable the device, run games and applications, switching between applications, to give commands in games (for example, record a video of the gameplay and share it through social services). It also demonstrates their console to multitask. For example, similar to OS Windows 8.1, you can arrange two windows on the screen: the browser and the TV. As part of the demonstration video execute commands and switching between different applications is carried out without any significant delays.

Recall the official release of the console Microsoft Xbox One has to take place on November 22.

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The company Sony, which has managed to spoil the mood considerably software giant during E3, in the present time, decided to tell in detail about their policies regarding the sharing of games in the PS4.

Recall that in the course of E3, Sony made ​​a joke about Microsoft, forcing the latter to reconsider its strategy in respect of used games. Unfortunately, exchange games, passing the disc from hand to hand, it will be possible only in the real world. In the digital world, specifically in regard to games purchased through the service PlayStation Network, Sony position a little more closed.

So, the first recorded PS4 will be the “main console”, which will be attached to all purchases by the digital world. In Sony released the list of questions and answers says that the game will be available not only to the owner of the console, but also their family members or friends who have access to the host system. At the same owner not necessarily undergo login. Moreover, if the owner of the PS4 is a subscriber to PlayStation Plus, then all the benefits of the service can also be shared with other users who have access to this system. Yet again, authorization holder is not required.

Several different things with the console. Acquired through the PlayStation Network games can be downloaded and run on any third-party PS4, but they can play only the user to whom they belong, as in this case, the authorization procedure is mandatory.

Sony has decided not to limit the number of secondary consoles that can be used for playing with your account. However, while access to the games available only to the user who has access to the main system, and authorized owner who uses a third-party games for the console.

Sony is also reserves the right to transfer the user the status of the primary system to another PS4.

Thus we can see that the exchange PS4 games in the digital world is not too different from the PS3, and is unlikely to bring much inconvenience to most users. Recall that sales in Europe start PS4 already on November 29.

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Xi3 Company announced that Piston game console , compatible with the recently announced OS SteamOS, but as it turned out, not related to Valve , will be on sale on November 29. Customers who have made reservations through March, will receive the console two weeks earlier – on November 15.

«Piston provides much more than games consoles from other manufacturers. The solution of the Xi3 outperforms the competition not only in terms of computing power, but also in size, “- said the founder and CEO of Xi3 Jason Sullivan.

He also said that the official announcement of the final version of the game console Xi3 Piston held this week at the Interop trade show in 2013, and announced some changes to the hardware specifications.

“Heart” of the gaming console supports 4-core 64-bit CPU that runs at 3.2 GHz. The structure of the integrated graphics CPU is “discrete” class (384 stream processors). Despite the fact that Mr. Sullivan did not mention the name of the manufacturer of the processor, it can be assumed that the console-based solution is the “white-green”.

Possible options include SSD storage system with 128, 255 (+ $ 340 to the cost of the basic version) or 512 GB (+ $ 750). It is worth noting that the manufacturer has added another connector for the drive. Thus, if desired, can be up to 1 TB flash memory. In addition, the console is now equipped with an optional microSD card slot and supports external 4K-monitors. Moreover, the compact PC can operate with three displays of high resolution simultaneously.

What will be the main OS is currently unknown. It was assumed that the console will be running Windows, but in a press release stated that the second SSD will install another operating system, including the recently announced SteamOS.

According to the developer, the Ethernet controller has been optimized and configured so that data transmission priority is given to the game.

Recall that the cost of the base game console modification Xi3 Piston is $ 999. New products will be delivered with several pre-installed games, but so far nothing concrete. The fact is whether the supplied game controller manufacturer also silent.

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