SteamOS isn't the "SteamBox", but it's definitely a move in the right direction for Valve. In case you haven't heard, Valve introduced their new linux-based SteamOS today catering to those who want to enjoy Steam in the comfort of their living room. With SteamOS, Valve has "achieved significant performance increases in graphics processing, and [they're] now targeting audio performance and reductions in input latency at the operating system level". If that wasn't enough to entice you, SteamOS will also allow you to stream all of your Windows and Mac games on your SteamOS machine. SteamOS improvements over your current OS remain to be seen as no footage has been released to the public.
As great as SteamOS sounds, I don't really see this gaining a lot of traction, at least not until we see a dedicated machine for it which could come as early as next Wednesday ( http://store.steampowered.c... ). For now, it sounds like consoles from the Big Three still reign the living room. The two biggest concerns I have about Steam being in the living room is, players and games.
Currently, players who play video games in the living room enjoy the comfort of using a controller and sitting in practically any position ( http://bit.ly/18RbDQi http://bit.ly/16ndtZi http://bit.ly/19vgByq http://bit.ly/Ule43U). Is SteamOS going to support the use of controllers? My guess is yes. However, I think those who enjoy Steam prefer to use a keyboard and mouse (just a guess). As a PC and console gamer myself, I am conflicted. When it comes to using a keyboard and mouse, I prefer to sit at the edge of my seat staring at the screen from around a foot or two away. When I use a controller I don't really have a sitting preference (if I do it depends on the game). This could be attributed to many things such as TV size, room size, seating, etc. but I think gaming with a controller has much more flexibility than using a keyboard and mouse. Which would you prefer if you had SteamOS?
Onto the games. With the PS4 being able to support a keyboard and mouse (though I suspect only a few games will take advantage of this), what incentives does a gamer have for putting SteamOS in their living room? Transferal of their Steam library I guess. But where's EA in their living room? Most people I know have both Steam and Origin on their PCs. Without EA support I can't see Valve taking over Sony and Microsoft in the living room. Remember the Dreamcast ( http://bit.ly/15o8Ptb)? I loved Dreamcast, but with other competitors with more 3rd party support, Sega could no longer compete. In order to compete in the same arena, you need the games to back it up. With PS4 and Xbox One focusing more on independent games, does SteamOS have a chance? Maybe.
The best way I see SteamOS being implemented into the living room is through the "SteamBox". I don't think users would want to move their PC to the living room (unless it's already there) or even partition their HDD for the OS. A separate machine like the "SteamBox" seems more ideal. Even then I think they'll need to hold onto their cash cows such as Half-Life, Portal, Team Fortress, etc. and keep them as exclusives (or timed-exclusives) for their system in order to really compete. If that's not enough move units, then they'd probably have to make a comeback by releasing those games on the Big Three (Two) and and perhaps ditching the "SteamBox" all together. But for now, I can see SteamOS only being used by those familiar with Steam and not taking away any customers from the Big Three. What do you guys think?
The armadillo returns.
Sony is apparently experimenting with an AI tool that will play the game for you when you are grinding away. A PlayStation patent for “auto-play” mode would simulate your gameplay style in certain environments and apply them to skip that section completely. This technology would likely be built directly into the cloud-based PlayStation Network and be a new feature that subscribers would have access to.
Hah! Either will never happen or publishers will charge you to use this AI. This concept would only exacerbate the problem we already have with GaaS.
doesnt that concept already exist tho?
buy dlc to get a ahead in games? money, weapon and exp dlc come to mind but yeh. one more thing for them.to potentially charge for.
Usually, for GaaS/Seasonal games, you'll have to perform actions to earn specific in-game currency to buy things for events. Then they sell the currency with real cash or a third-currency to then buy the in-game currency items (it's honestly truly bloated to hide that they're cheating you out of money). With this, they'll just give you items if you do something 50 times or the like and then charge you to have the game play it for you. It's better, right? No currency shenanigans, just play the game and we reward you! But, the truth is they'll inflate the amount of times you have to play through content just to get the same thing.
Why?
Why not just remove the Grindy part?
I hope it's not an excuse to make them worse, but optional if you pay
This IGN blogger mode will allow 'reviewers' to play games like rest of us.
I will never forget watching GamingBolts spoiler video for Horizon FW and realizing they never played it. Made me wonder if they play games at all.
Duuro says: "I think the idea behind the movement is cool, but on the other hand, the execution and clear limitation of the platform somewhat undermine the whole thing."
Valve's primary goal with SteamOS is not to invade the living room (though that is a feature of it).
Their goal is to get games on Linux. They want to move PC gaming away from Windows and put it somewhere safe and protected in case Microsoft do something astronomically stupid with Windows in the next 10 years.
In short, it's safety net for the future. I might do a blog post on this tomorrow.
It doesn't need to; it's just Steam expanding options to users.
I think valve would love for steam to replace someone's home console (what firm wouldn't), that's one of the big reasons they're releasing the steambox and steamos. I mean look @ the URL name for steamos, "living room" is clearly the focus. There focus might be settling into the living room right now but eventually they'd want to take market share away from the Big 3 (that's what you'd want if you released a console). I'm just not sure if valve can really put a dent in the big 3. Perhaps they'd be satisfied with just moving a portion of their already active steam users to the living room.
If you have steam already, would you get steamos or the steambox? I'm probably not.
Considering I already have my PC hooked up to my TV this doesn't appeal to me in anyway and even then, bar getting more games to run on Linux, i'm not sure I see the point of SteamOS. I looked really hard but maybe it just isn't aimed at me.
I will wait for the next Valve announcements to see if the Steam OS is worth it or not