{"id":722700,"date":"2026-06-24T06:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T06:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/722700\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T06:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T06:36:09","slug":"the-steam-machines-companion-cube-case-is-big-expensive-and-based-on-a-19-year-old-joke-so-i-hate-how-well-made-it-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/722700\/","title":{"rendered":"The Steam Machine’s Companion Cube case is big, expensive, and based on a 19-year-old joke, so I hate how well-made it is"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was inevitable, wasn\u2019t it. A Valve-shaped cube was always going to end up interred within a Valve-designed Companion Cube, even if the Steam Machine<\/a>\u2019s weighted storage buddy is the work of mildly chaotic peripheral makers Dbrand.<\/p>\n

Now, Dbrand make a bunch<\/a> of good stuff<\/a>, especially for the Steam Deck<\/a>. I should say up front, though, that the Companion Cube? Not for me. Assuming you can get past the fact that it\u2019s trading on a memorable but terminally over-memed moment from Portal<\/a>, a game eight years older than Valve\u2019s entire hardware business, sliding the Machine into its waiting void is to instantly make the whole package about 25% bigger. Friends, half the reason I like the Steam Machine<\/a> is because it\u2019s so flippin\u2019 piccolo.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun<\/p>\n

It still fits on the edge of my TV stand, just, but encroaches an injection-moulded corner into the view of the screen, like my head does at any given rock concert. Then there\u2019s the price: the Steam Machine and Dbrand\u2019s Companion Cube make such a good match that the latter is also uncomfortably expensive<\/a>, while still not yet being ready to ship. The case by itself is $100<\/a>, enough to buy Steam copies of Portal for yourself and nine real-life companions, and goes out in October. Only plumping for the $130<\/a> option will secure September shipping, plus some some fancy Aperture-inspired packaging, a Portal gun skin for a Steam Controller<\/a>, and a red button base thing that both looks and feels like a cake was meant to be served on it. Great, now I\u2019ve said “cake” in a Portal post, and all.<\/p>\n

The most annoying thing, mind, is that I still can\u2019t bring myself to chuck it into the furnace, and\/or my self storage unit. I am instead forced to concede a grudging respect for the build quality and design nous, bulk notwithstanding, that have gone into this hundred-dollar in-joke.<\/p>\n

For one thing, it feels weirdly nice? It\u2019s plastic, but all the chunky parts are made of that thick, almost dusty-feeling premium plastic you get on ruggedised walkie-talkies. There\u2019s also something profoundly satisfying about how the Steam Machine smoothly, almost softly descends inside, sliding down rubbery rails for a millimetre-perfect fit.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Getting in there first requires the removal of a rear frame, with the appropriate Allen key conveniently stored in a tiny hole on the same panel. It\u2019s one of several clever little touches, along with the removeable port covers at the front \u2013 leaving an unbroken Companion Cube visage when they\u2019re not in use \u2013 and the reversible feet, which can pop out and flip around to give the Machine a dab more table clearance.<\/p>\n

Adequate airflow cutouts also ensure it doesn\u2019t compromise the Steam Machine\u2019s impressive thermal performance. Compared to my original, undressed readings, there were no meaningful CPU, GPU, or RAM temperature increases while wrapped in the Cube, and the Machine\u2019s external hot spot \u2013 the rear fan grate \u2013 only rose a single degree, from 40\u00b0c to 41\u00b0c. And that might just have been because my flat got slightly warmer.<\/p>\n

Again, I wouldn\u2019t buy one of these myself, and not just because I\u2019d already be bankrupt from buying the Steam Machine. But someone, somewhere out there, is wearing the same Party Associate t-shirt they\u2019ve owned for nearly two decades, and is counting down the days until they can have both. That\u2019s probably fine. At least they\u2019re getting some decent craftsmanship out of it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was inevitable, wasn\u2019t it. A Valve-shaped cube was always going to end up interred within a Valve-designed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":722701,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[74],"class_list":["post-722700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=722700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/722701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=722700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=722700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=722700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}