The company dbrand has to discontinue its companion case for the Steam Machine. Now you can recreate the case as a 3D print. However, the effort is enormous and not recommended for beginners.
What kind of case is it? The company dbrand wanted to launch a case shaped like the Companion Cube from Portal for the Steam Machine.
But apparently they forgot to negotiate the rights with Valve: With a threatening lawsuit, they cut the project and dbrand canceled all orders. The company admitted at the time: “Valve stated that the Companion Cube is intellectual property of Valve, for which dbrand has no license.”
With a trick, the case is still available now, thanks to clever users. However, the effort is quite high. This is reported by the English-language magazine TomsHardware.
You can now build the companion case yourself
Why is the case still coming out? Just a few weeks after the end of the dbrand product, a 3D printing enthusiast has now developed a DIY version that can also be produced at home. The 3D enthusiast stated in his post on Printable that he developed the case “from scratch”. The company dbrand is not mentioned at all, but the similarities are undeniable.
The “Steam Machine Companion Cube Case” is “an unofficial Portal Companion Cube case for the Steam Machine,” it says in the description. By the way, it’s not that simple because you’ll need quite a bit of material and a single-extruder printer. These are 3D printers that only have a single print head (extruder) and can process only one filament at a time.
By the way, the user did not test whether the case has thermal effects on the Steam Machine. In his post he explained that he did not conduct extensive tests, but “I don’t think this case will cause cooling problems.”
Will there be exclusive games for the Steam Machine? Valve says no and explains that they see Steam and the PC itself as the exclusive platform. So you shouldn’t count on an exclusive Half-Life for the Steam Machine. More on MeinMMO: No, there will be no exclusive Half-Life for the Steam Machine and the reason is directly stated by Valve
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