Hardware Piston Featurebanner 14 Mar

Hardware developer Xi3 has issued a statement to Kotaku in which the company maintains that Valve actively requested the developer to create the Piston, and has invested in the project. Valve, on the other hand, issued a statement earlier this week in which it denied any ongoing involvement with Xi3 and the Piston. More details are included after the jump.

Speaking to Eurogamer, Valve’s Doug Lombardi stated that “Valve began some exploratory work with Xi3 last year, but currently has no involvement in any product of theirs.” However, Xi3 announced during the CES in January that it had received an investment from Valve. In fact, Xi3 maintains that Valve’s Gabe Newell actually asked Xi3 to work on the project.

The statement to Kotaku also indicates that the Xi3 is not the official Steambox, but will be compatible with the platform and possible others as well. Unlike the Steambox as the platform holder originally seemed to have envisioned it, the Piston by Xi3 will run on a Windows OS, rather than Linux.

The Piston is currently available for pre-orders at $999, and slated for a release this holiday season.