The new Steam Machine is pretty neat, but it’s walked a long and painful road to reach yesterday’s launch. A secret work-in-progress at Valve since at least 2023, it would be late 2025 before an initial public showing, and subsequent delays – blamed on industry-wide components shortages and the resultant price gouging – meant it that it when it did open for orders, it would be months later and at considerably greater expense than planned. The volatility and unpredictability of…