Steam Machines are an interesting idea, but the idea of a handheld one is even more intriguing. Imagine having a part of your Steam library in the palm of your hand? Smach Z hopes to do that, if its Kickstarter campaign is successful. The Smach team is seeking $976,796 to make the handheld happen.
The Smach Z will supposedly be powerful enough to play games like <i>Borderlands 2</i>, <i>Civilization V</i> <i>Portal 2</i>, <i>Team Fortress 2</i>, and <i>The Witcher 2</i>. It will feature haptic controls, an AMD Embedded G-Series SoC processor, 4GB ram, 32GB internal memory, a HD 720p 5″ touch screen, and configurable touchpads. It will support Bluetooth, 4G WiFi, and HDMI. The battery life will be at least five hours. A PRO model will have 8GB ram and 128 GB memory. There will also be Smach Z pad adapters to change the control pads.
Some Smach Z stretch goals were also announced. $1 million will increase the internal memory to 32GB, and $1.25 million will result in a 1080p screen. Other notable goals include $1.5 million for emulators, $3 million for a Smach Z exclusive game, and $4 million will result in official Windows support.
As of midnight, December 10, over $83,000 had been raised. The smallest amount someone can pay to get a Smach Z is $303 at the moment. The handheld should ship in October 2016.
The Smach Z Kickstarter campaign ends on January 13. We’ll see if enough people are willing to support a handheld Steam Machine next year.
Source: Kickstarter