Steam Machine: does Valve's hardware live up to its potential?

Valve Software's Steam platform has become the go-to source for gamers focused on the PC. With a huge catalog, constant sales and a consumer-first attitude, the digital store for games has exploded. As of the beginning of 2014, it had topped 75 million users.But can that success translate into the living room and hardware, two arenas Valve has yet to conquer?Valve's first round of officially branded Steam Machines will roll out from several manufacturers beginning on Nov. 10. Before that happens, Polygon was able to go hands-on with Alienware's version of the Steam Machine, which comes packed with a quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, a custom-built Nvidia GeForce GTX card and 8 GB of RAM. We also got to test out Steam's unique new controller.I ordered a Steam Link (without controller) which should arrive any day now. I've heard nothing but praise for Steam's streaming, so I'm excited to try it out.