After Valve announced a delay for their Steam Machines until some time in 2015, many industry insiders predicted some fallout between Valve and the hardware manufacturers that had previously committed to the program. While Valve is notorious for long delays, with the rapid pace of hardware development, hardware manufacturers are less patient when it comes to delays.
It appears as if Alienware is the least patient of the bunch, as they have announced that their previously announced Steam Machine will now be called the Alpha and will be a regular small form-factor Windows PC. The PC will run a highly customized version of Windows 8.1 with a proprietary front-end and a unique custom Nvidia GPU. Instead of the also delayed Steam controller, the Alpha will ship with an Xbox 360 controller.
To learn more about the Alienware Alpha, visit Alienware.com.