Valve's co-founder and managing director Gabe Newell speaks about his company's Steam Machine, proclaiming the system to be better than modern consoles.

During a recent interview, Valve's Gabe Newell asserted that Steam Machines perform better and and are more cost efficient when compared with current-gen consoles such as Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One. Furthermore, the Valve boss also suggested that consumers will ultimately end up making the best decisions when it comes to investing in newer technology, which of course, includes the purchase of a Steam Machine.

With the Steam Machines just days away from release, Newell is obviously attempting to drum up as much support as possible for the PC gaming-styled console. In doing so, Valve's head honcho has claimed he wants customers to have more choice, and focuses on the Steam Machine's strengths, saying:

"At console price points we're going to have machines like Alienware's, which are faster than today's consoles. So the same price point as today, except you get better performance and you're connected to everything you like about the PC and the Internet.

"Our perception is that customers are always going to make the best choices for what they want. We can knock down the barriers that keep PC gaming out of the living room, and then customers can decide what they want. So the way we organized it, in our thinking, is a sort of 'good, better, and best' kind of thing."

Valve's store page presently lists thirteen separate hardware units, with Alienware's specifically being priced at $450. However, the actual hardware's specs aren't explicitly provided on the website, but the most recent iteration of the particular Steam Machine discussed in-depth about a month ago is supposed to contain an Intel Core i3 Dual-Core processor, an NVIDIA Geforce GTX with 2GB of GDDR5 memory, 4GB of DDR3L system RAM, and a 500GB hard-drive.

Bearing the previously mentioned components in mind, it's obvious that the Steam Machine is powerful, but with a lot of gamers already tethered to their consoles of choice, it's possible that the company's forthcoming system might receive a lackluster release. Nevertheless, having access to Steam's vast game library on the hardware will definitely catch the attention of many fans, and might pull them away from their PS4 or Xbox One.

By foraying into the console market with its SteamOS-powered machine, Valve is obviously not content with shaking up the world of PC games sales, and wishes to innovate in the realm of living room gaming as well. In fact, the company made waves after showing off the finalized design for its controller, which resembles the Xbox One's peripheral in shape, but has touch-pad movement circles in place of thumb-sticks. Nevertheless, only time will tell if Steam Machines can outsell the dominant force that the PlayStation 4, as it has sales of nearly 30 million units thus far.

What do you think about the forthcoming Steam Machines? Is it possible that Valve's answer to current-gen consoles can edge out the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One to dominate the market?

Valve's Steam Machines currently have a release date of November 10, 2015.

Source: Develop Online (via IGN)