Xi3's Piston living room PC has been in the news quite a bit recently, both opening for pre-order and being officially declared to not be the SteamBox everyone has been waiting for earlier this week. The most recent news is a press release from Xi3 boss Jason Sullivan, which details some of the sordid history behind the Piston, and Xi3's relationship with Valve. Valve did provide some funding to the project, and asked to build something specifically for Valve - which became the Piston. However, neither company ever said that the Piston was the SteamBox, but just because that is Valve's current stance doesn't mean that it will stay that way permanently.

What will happen is that the Piston, which will run Windows natively (with the option of installing other Operating Systems), will allow players to use Steam no matter what, but also support a host of 'other Internet-based gaming and entertainment platforms'. Since this is more than Valve's apparent vision for the SteamBox, according to Sullivan this will mean that the Piston can and will be seen as something more than the SteamBox. Sullivan went on to say that Xi3 as a whole has 'been amazed at the interest and amount of pre-orders we have received thus far. This just reaffirms to us our decision to open pre-orders, because we are seriously concerned we will not be able to meet the demand for PISTON Consoles for the 2013 Holiday Season.'