Valve reveals the first 13 Steam Machines during CES 2014

Last year, we posted that Valve has made the big move by invading gamers living room space. Now, they revealed that they officially have 13 Steam Machines being developed by different manufacturers. Yes, we are not talking about one unit that would be using the new Steam controller and it's new Linux-based operating system called SteamOS, we are talking about 13 kinds of units.

It's crazy. The manufacturers creating Steam Machines are Alienware, Alternate, Cyberpower PC, Digital Storm, Falcon Northwest, Gigabyte, iBuyPower, Materiel.net, Next Spa, Origin PC, Scan, Webhallen and Zotac. Each Steam Machine is different, with price range as low as $500 to as high as $1400. The shape of the unit also varies depending on the manufacturer, so there's a lot to choose from when considering Valve's Steam Machines.

Unit specs for some Steam Machines were also announced with a price:

• Alternate – $1339 CPU – Intel Core i5 4570 Graphics – Gigabyte GTX 760 RAM – 16GB Storage – 1TB SSHD
• CyberPowerPC – $499 and up CPU – AMD/Intel Core i5 CPU Graphics – AMD Radeon R9 270/Nvidia GTX 760 RAM – 8GB Storage – 500GB
• Digital Storm Bolt II – $2,584 CPU – Intel Core i7 4770K Graphics – GTX 780 Ti RAM – 16GB Storage – 1TB HDD + 120 GB SSD
• Gigabyte Brix Pro – TBD CPU – Intel Core i7-4770R Graphics – Intel Iris Pro 5200 RAM – 2 x 4GB Storage – 1TB SATA/6GB SATA
• Falcon Northwest – $1,799 to $6000 CPU – customizable Graphics – Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan RAM – 8 to 16 GB Storage – up to 6 TB
• iBuyPower – $499 and up CPU – Quad core AMD or Intel Graphics – Radeon GCN Graphics RAM – 8GB Storage – 500GB+
• Materiel.net – $1,098 CPU – Intel Core i5 4440 Graphics – MSI GeForce GTX 760 OC RAM – 8GB Storage – 8 GB + 1 TB SSHD
• Origin PC Chronos – price TBD CPU – Intel Core i7 4770K (3.9 to 4.6 GHz) Graphics – 2 x 6GB Nvidia GeForce GTX Titans
• Next SPA – price TBD CPU – Intel Core i5 Graphics – Nvidia GT 760 RAM – 8GB Storage – 1TB
• Scan NC 10 – $1,090 CPU – Intel Core i3 4000M Graphics – Nvidia GeForce GTX 765M RAM – 8GB Storage – 500GB
• Webhallen – $1,499 CPU – Intel Core i7 Graphics – Nvidia GT 780 RAM – 16GB Storage – 1TB SSHD
• Zotac – $599 CPU – Intel Core (TBD) Graphics – Nvidia GeForce GTX RAM – TBD Storage – TBD

It's exciting to know these Steam Machines will be available within the year. But I'm curious on how Valve and each manufacturer will manage the information for each unit. With each Steam Machine being different, it can come out confusing for consumers with all the choices.

Valve also announced that there are now 250 games now SteamOS ready.

Excited to get your own Steam Machine when it's available? Or are you good with your PC when it comes to your Steam games?

[Source: Joystiq, Valve]

New Tales of game announced in Japan: Tales of Zestiria

Namco Bandai has lift the lid on their next Tales of title and it's called Tales of Zestiria for the PS3. No release date was announced but a lot of detail was released during the reveal as well as a trailer.

Following the announcement from Japan, Namco confirms a worldwide release for Tales of Zestiria, marking this title as the first in the series to be released simultaneously for both western and Japan markets. This game will be their 20th anniversary title for the series.

Two characters were revealed during the presentation as well. No confirmation if this serves as two main characters with different perspective similar to Tales of Xillia.

Slay

Alicia

During the reveal, Namco also mentioned the dragon shown at the end of the trailer is a very important part of the game's story, thus having a dragon as the logo. Of course they didn't go into much detail. More details of Tales of Zestiria will be shared in the upcoming issue of Famitsu.

[Source: PS Blog EU, VG247]

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes gets a release date

Excited for a new Metal Gear title? Well Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes was just dated for PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. Konami also released two new trailers to go with the release date. Check it out after the bump.

Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes will be launched on March 18, 2014. Take note that Ground Zeroes is the prologue to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Think of it as Gran Turismo 5: Prologue way back.

With the announcement of the release date, they also released new trailers for the game. The Night trailer is a long demonstration, revealing that the game will have two difficulty settings - normal and hard.

Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes 'Night' trailer

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes 'Jamais Vu' Trailer

This trailer features an Xbox exclusive DLC content that makes the cyborg ninja Raiden a playable character in this mission. How's that possible? Let's not think about it too much, this is Metal Gear Solid after all.

[Source: Gematsu]

VGX 2013: Tales from the Borderlands announced, a Telltale crossover project with Gearbox Software

Looks like Telltale is going all out next year. Another episodic title was announced by them but this time it's a crossover project with Gearbox Software. Tales from Borderlands will take place in the crazy world of Pandora and is played like any other Telltale game. Check out the trailer below.

Another interesting mix for this story-driven developer. All development is being done at Telltale games with only Gearbox Software simply providing the assets and materials.  There will be new characters introduced as well but like what Marcus said in the trailer- They are not Vault Hunters. Interesting stuff. We'll get to explore Pandora in a different light in 2014.

This isn't the only announcement from Telltale Games. They also announced that they are currently working on a Game of Thrones title that's also going to be an episodic series just like their previous games. The Walking Dead Season 2 starting this December, The Wolf Among Us currently on-going, Tales from the Borderlands, and a Game of Thrones title all at once? Telltale Games is a busy bunch for sure.

VGX 2013: Game of Thrones title announced, being developed at Telltale Games

Apparently the rumors are true, Telltale Games is also working on a Game of Thrones title. It premiered at this year's VGX and nothing really came out of it, it was simply an announcement that it's happening. Have a look at the reveal below.

This is crazy. The Wolf Among Us, The Walking Dead Season 2, now Game of Thrones being played the Telltale way? I'm all for it, but that's a lot of games being worked on simultaneously. Regardless, it's pretty exciting since I think Telltale Games is the only developers that can pull off a really good Game of Thrones video game.