JR actually did a nice interview with me on this site:
https://smallformfactor.net/articles/not-from-concentrate
I found a picture of the
S1, BTW.
There is a bit of history with Valve. I sent them an email when I got word that they were working on the "Steambox" concept. I sent them an email and it is fun to think about what could have been.
Here is the email. I've edited/deleted some stuff and changed a few pronouns for privacy:
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Hello (email sent to five addresses in Valve)
I was excited to hear Valve was developing a console PC or "Steam Box." I might have a solution in hand and we would like to show it to you. My soon to be released S3 gaming/media center computer meets the reported spec for the Steam Box.
By way of background, I am a big fan of Valve software and an admirer of the Steam platform. My driving passion is finding ways to make computers exciting which I've had the joy of doing as a specialty computer designer: you can see my work on my website,
nfc-systems.com.
While many gamers take pride in their PC, many more (sadly) do not. Many of these gamers are used to their PCs being slow, frustrating, and bulky and see them as a tool for getting homework done. Because they perceive building a gaming PC as challenging or expensive, they stick to consoles and cell phones, and thus miss out on the greatness of PC gaming.
Since 2009 one of my pursuits has been to present console gamers with a PC that plays by their rules: small, fast, inexpensive, and easy. Although cliché, the time has never been better to make this move in force--powerful hardware is cheap and efficient, and digital gaming distribution is king.
The S3 is the fruit of two and a half years of research and development. My prototype was shown to X and X at CES under NDA this year.
Although the chassis for the final version is in the final stages of production, the inner components and a working prototype exist.
My “sweet spot” gaming PC, running under 160 watts and fitting in a 12.5” x 8” x 2.25” box.
I have alternate configurations for people who want a faster CPU and a BluRay drive. I have plans for moving forward with production, marketing, and sales of the S3 as a gaming/media center computer and also as the hardware side of a videostreaming system, but after reading about your possible interest in a Steam Box I wanted to make contact and see if we could have an opportunity to show you our unit to see if it might serve your purposes.
I am sending this email to several folks in your organization. I wasn't sure who the right person was, so please excuse my email if I was mistaken in sending it to you.
Conveniently, my main office is in Federal Way, so making a visit to your Bellevue location would not be difficult. Less conveniently, I work from my home/office in Mississippi.
Sincerely,
Josh Sniffen
Grey turned out to be a bad color for the S3 Elite prototype. Or actually it is part of another funny story. My monitor wasn't calibrated correctly so I chose the wrong RAL code, and ended up getting this hideous blue grey batch back. Ugh, so horrible. I ruined like three 800 dollar prototypes with that mistake.
