this post was submitted on 27 Jun 2026
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It feels so needlessly aggressive. Valve openly stated that there are alternatives to the Steam Machine, and they aren't trying to own the market. Calling your prebuilt the "Steamroller" is kind of a dickhead move. That's like Del Taco coming out with a deep friend taco shell and calling it "Fuck your Chalupa, bitch."
ITT: People who have no idea how marketing and advertising work.
That's not really how I read it. Clearly they are leveraging vale products, (steam is) so include steam in the name. They probably want this name to evoke strength and power, so what's something with steam in the name that is powerful? A steamroller.
I don't think it is meant to roll steam!
They specifically advertise it as an "upgradable alternative to the Steam Machine"; with that in mind, assuming the name isn't intended to evoke comparisons to Steam Machine is kind of ridiculous, no?
I'm getting some white knighty wiffs from this outrage over someone daring to compete with valve.
Outrage? We're just discussing it, mate...
Wild, the level of emotion some people extrapolate from text-based conversations
So I took it as rolling your own steam, not aggressive.
Eh, I see your point, but it feels pretty tongue-in-cheek to me. Steamroller is just a cool name that implies the thing is a workhorse.
I’m not sure I’d be able to order a “fuck your chalupa, bitch” with a straight face, but I’ll try.
They like it more when you giggle and order two
I would go to Del Taco right this moment if this were real.
What's the problem with it, exactly? As long as it lives up to its promise and is a better machine, why shouldn't they market it as a better machine or make direct comparisons?
It's not even saying the steam one is bad, just that it is better.
Remember literally any PC can run steam and Linux. Steam machine is still just hardware.
A little bit more than just hardware, it's also official support from Valve, who are also the creators and maintainers of both Steam and SteamOS. We'll see how much that counts for, I think Valve doesn't have a great reputation for their support.
The Steam Machine also still has the advantage of HDMI CEC. Since none of the GPU manufacturers seem to want to bother with even on cards with HDMI ports.
What about making a spherical system and calling it the Steamcube?
I think it would get massive amounts of free advertising. Not sure if it would sell because I wouldn’t want it.
Or, theres only so many ways you can make a punny name on Steam OS.
But of course that doesnt allow for righteous indignity.