...Okay, how? Being able to put any OS or parts in it as you like isn't open? Being able to install whatever games you like, Steam-published or not, isn't open?

You could say the same thing about the iPod for MP3 players, the iPhone/Blackberry, proprietary personal computers such as the Commodore 64, Amiga, or Apple ][, or other things. It always takes some sort of proprietary initiative to get to working on a more open standard that everybody can follow. You're just not…

Well of course they won't pay for expensive ones, but what about $400-500 ones? What about, in a couple of years, when the price of doing the same quality of graphics drops significantly and you can get them for the cost of a Wii U at most? I like to think of these things as the gaming equivalent of Android…

I think you misread me a tad bit. I have a 660M, not a Ti, but it's still a pretty great GPU. That said, what I meant by my post was that a small machine like this could theoretically be very powerful considering my laptop's specs for being such a tiny machine relative to a console. It would be able to play those…

If I remove the optical drive, keyboard, and monitor from my gaming laptop, I could probably squeeze all of those parts, including my GTX 660M that can play most modern games at max or near-max settings (including some overclocking support to boost that even more) while staying relatively cool and silent into a…

Well that's pretty obvious to most PC gamers, isn't it? Everybody knows that it's cheaper to build yourself, and these kinds of PCs are to fill a need for high-end pre-built PCs that exists. If somebody wants to shell out a bunch of money for a console-sized PC, that's their decision, or they can build their own. The…

The thing about PC gaming versus consoles, though, is that you never have to "start over". Microsoft might have sold a lot of Xboxes but how many of those were RROD replacements? How many of those people will buy/have bought Xbox Ones? With PC, especially Steam, you can keep the same account for as long as you need…

Pushing the industry to a much more open and user-focused platform. Valve is platform-agnostic and Steam Machines will not only help bring PC gaming into the living room to allow it to be even more modular, but it will give developers a target platform for the future without being tied down to Windows and Mac.

So, you're just assuming that this will be overpriced based on the current market value of every single piece individually? You do realize that a lot of these specs include "up to" in them, meaning that it's configurable at even lower price points, right?

Yeah, that price of TBD really isn't cutting it for me. I expected a few hundred less.

That's kinda the point of assembling PCs. Most people just aren't up for it though, and that's why these designed machines exist. They also have support, which is something that building a PC yourself doesn't quite have to the same degree.

I actually find my backlog to be somewhat liberating. Most gamers getting only a few super-hyped-up games every year have terrible priorities when it comes to game design. They want games that last them a long time, even if it means grinding out hours and hours of their lives for petty achievements, collectibles, and…

While my pile of shame is at least 465 games/DLC campaigns high, I like to think of it as having any game I want to play available for a rainy day. I try to play a variety of them at once instead of "marathoning" only one or two games like many other gamers, keeping my mood satisfied by whatever kind of game my…

Well of course. I just mean that you could have gotten it for a tiny bit cheaper had you been watching the sales a bit better.

Its been $10 on sites like the Humble Store and even Steam itself on occasion, just so you know. You should check "Is There Any Deal?" for your wishlist if you want to stay on top of these things in the future ;)

The ZX love in here is so wonderful. I loved those games (and the Zero and pre-PS2 X games) to death. It's such a shame that they went under so many console-only gamers' radars. They're proof that Capcom didn't abandon Mega Man at all over the past decade and a half, but rather tried a ton of new things with him on a…

I finished the minisode last night and it was surprisingly great for only 20 minutes. To The Moon as a mini-series would really work if they changed a bit of the humor around to be less reliant on fourth-wall-breaking in terms of video games and more on television.

#bobsplosion

The only time I remember them doing that was with Swapnote, and good riddance. They immediately replaced it with Miiverse which is quite a lot better if I do say so myself. It's not quite as flexible but it's monitored for indecency so they obviously just didn't want duplicating services like that.

I got very bored of the first game for similar reasons, but the second one is surprisingly challenging and filled with great aesthetics and humor. That alone keeps me going even when it feels a bit like a grind. The quests are actually well-made instead of generic "kill X of Y" everywhere and even many of the weapons…