Alienware Alpha gaming console available for pre-order today, begins shipping in November

Alienware has announced that it is opening up pre-order availability for its Alienware Alpha gaming console. Pricing will start at $549.

For those unfamiliar, it's basically Alienware's answer to the delayed Steam Machine. It's not necessarily designed to compete against Valve's living room console, but rather prepare users for the upcoming system which is designed around Valve's Steam Big Picture Mode.

"The Alienware Alpha merges the open ecosystem and flexibility of PC gaming with the ease-of-use and intuitive interface of consoles. This enables gamers to choose what and how they want to play, whether it’s a competitive online FPS with the bundled Microsoft Xbox 360 wireless controller for Windows, or having their friends bring their controllers of choice for a fragfest in the newest indie side scroller," Alienware detailed.

"Alienware developed the Alpha’s hardware, design and price to satisfy the demands of gamers everywhere and can be configured with Intel Quad-Core i7 processors, 8GBs of RAM, 1TB of storage, blazing 802.11 AC wireless adapter, an NVIDIA’s Maxwell-based GPU and bundled with a Microsoft Xbox 360 controller to give gamers the edge they need to game victorious in any room of the house."

Sweetening the deal, the Alienware Alpha console will come with some free games bundled with it, including PAYDAY 2, Magicka, Magicka: Dungeons and Daemons DLC, and Gauntlet Helm.

Alienware also revealed details about the exclusive Alpha UI developed specifically for the Alienware Alpha console. Designed as an intuitive interface, the UI is said to be "ideal" for navigating the console with a controller. The system is set to boot straight to the customizable Alpha UI, giving users easy access to their library of games while providing additional configuration options.

The Alienware Alpha gaming console will begin shipping in November for those in the U.S., with global pre-order availability beginning this holiday season.