Sounds to me like she got too emotionally attached to her baby and couldn't let it go. Lots of projects die on the vine and the talent is moved to another good idea. For whatever reason she wasn't having any of that and so they cut her loose with her loser project. There's a fine line between passionate and crazy.

I'd rather spend the $340 on a nice graphics card for my pc.

For everyone who (correctly) said you could build your own, remember that the appeal of console is a fixed system that never needs to be jacked with. These "pc boxes" are self-contained and ready to go giving peace of mind to someone new to pc gaming. Once they hear their friend explain how easy it is to upgrade the xyz component they'll be flipping it over and pulling it apart, running benchmark tests, etc.

Other manufacturers with less brand bs will release boxes with better value specs and (hopefully) an upgradeable graphics card. I think the pc box product will be the gateway drug for consolers to see the big ol' world of Steam and GOG games at ridiculously low prices. They'll be planning their next rig soon after.

If a 6 rated game is this entertaining in virtual reality just imagine what a 9 rated game intended for VR from the outset is going to be like!

I enjoyed the heck out of Psychonauts so I tried Costume Quest 1. I thought it was a nostalgic flashback sort of game with a fun sense of humor but ultimately tired of that turn-based combat tedium and quit. It would have been much more fun with less of that. Hearing CQ2 has streamlined that part is encouraging.

This Alienware Alpha is just one of (hopefully) several new micro pc's that will be coming onto the market in the near future. I consider it a gateway drug to the hard stuff for current console owners not sure of what they're getting into. My first pc was a $400 HP Pavilion. It was a piece of crap that I bought because it was cheap. After the games I wanted to play dropped to 15 fps I realized I needed a good video card. Once I opened that case and started upgrading components I was hooked on the hard stuff. That was 20 years and 5 or 6 builds ago. Long live the open-source hardware pc!

Needs an upgradeable GPU!

@frozenuxx That show made engineers look cool.

@RhythmAndBlues It always happens when the topic attracts both console gamers and pc gamers. They tend to play on different levels.

@oflow @cratecruncher MS was bleeding marketshare to Sony and had to decontent their Xbox1 and abandon it's $600 price tag. Price competition is brutal in the console market. That's why it's so hard to come up with a competitive pc alternative. Most people will just elect to "roll their own".

I continue to believe there is a segment of gamers tired of consumer jail consoles but overwhelmed by pc builds that this type product appeals to. It's a nice transition from consoles into pc gaming and that's a GREAT thing. The trouble with the Alienware product is the value proposition to the consumer. Firstly, he pays $150 more than a console for the hardware which is already very weak by today's pc standards. Then, as pc games become increasingly taxing, he can't upgrade the gpu resulting in a $550 obsolete brick in 2-3 years. He could have paid $400 and had a console box that works ok for 7-8 years. That's going to leave a bad memory for these early adopters and could effect the future growth of the "transition" segment.

Micro ATX is viable but it must be fully upgradeable!