"The nice thing about a PC is a lot of different people can try out different solutions, and customers can find the ones that work best for them."
(Gabe Newell, Next-Gen, Valve)
@yeahokchief I disagree with your tone , so I disagreed and put you on my ignore list (I have PS3,PC,360,vita so I don't care what anyone plays on) In about 10-20 mins we wont even see yours or my comment though as you get added to spam list.
edit:"This site gives a false impression of discussion and conversation" with a comment like "Can't wait to see what the scumbag losers who ONLY play pc games have to say about this because they can't talk trash about their master" why would someone think this site has meaningful conversations especially when coming across as hostile like that.
What about anything that you're claiming about PC fanboysim can't also be said for fanboys of other formats? There's nothing unique or special about fanatics of a particular platform.
Which games are exclusive to whatever format is not something you're going to work out on N4G. People will buy what they like. Having a game available on multiple formats does not limit what other people can buy or do. I'm playing Far Cry 3 on the PC I built. If you want to play it on PS3 or Xbox, go ahead and do that. I don't give it a second thought. I bought both Borderlands 2 and Battlefield 3 on both PC and PS3 so I could play with both sets of friends. No one seemed harmed or oppressed by that (other than me and my wallet). Or if a game is part of an exclusive deal with one platform and find that's the best arrangement for them, they have every right to do that.
Your blanket statements about PC gamers is pretty offensive, so if you were not trying to be a dick, I think you've failed miserably. I have been doing most of my gaming on a reasonably high end PC recently, but you can look at my comment history and see that I've picked Journey as my favorite game of 2012 and plenty of console games as my picks for GOTY in the past, including MGS4, Demon's Souls, Red Dead Redemption (well, tied with ME2 actually), and Dark Souls (which at the time console-only). A good game is a good game.
The consumer will decide whether digital distribution or physical media (or both, which is more likely) is the future. If you don't like digital distribution, buy it some other way. BTW, all of the console developers also happen to sell games via digital distribution now, and it continues to move in that direction. I don't expect that trend to suddenly reverse.
I'm very interested to see what valve comes up with. This might stop me from turning my XBOX 360 Slim (which I never play) into a living room PC. I hope its relatively powerful and sleek looking.
This is nothing new to me, this is my way for over 15 years now, even spread this habit around my friends and family, i'm using my PC on my 65'TV right now.
the big question is will the SteamBox run on Windows or Linux?
The last thing the industry needs is another console. Developer time money and sales are already spread so thin this generation that too many companies have had to close down, one more console will just spread the industry thinner.
People WILL buy it, therefore if a developer doesn't port their game to it they will lose out on sales they would have otherwise had if there were less consoles for people to own.
My comment may seem anti-consumer, but in the end, the quality of titles will go up, the development time/cost will go down, meaning that developers will be able to put more into their games pre-launch instead of relying on DLC to make their money. And games will be less broken on release.
Are you also considering that more competition tends to lead to better products? If you are assuming that if there was one or two platforms that the manufacturers would feel just as pressured to produce games in a timely manner and for good price and pass on savings and benefits of a shorter development time, you might want to think again. Your assertion that less competition would somehow result in higher quality games is very questionable.
i think it's safe to assume no porting will be necessary, any game on the Windows steam store will rune on the box. the console will only be an extension of something that is already their.
and their is something we forgot to consider, that the Steam console will be digital only
I think what Gabe is probably going to do is do what the consoles are doing. Yet do it for PC's
Make efficient PC desktops that have decent power at an affordable cost. Like how PS3 was considered efficient even at $599. I'd probably easily buy my next computer as a Valve-PC if said theory was true. Unsure about 'Console' though as we don't need anymore console competition, but I do like more options to make great PC's. Lol
Meh. I don't need Steam on a console. But this is probably a good move for them; if they go all out on advertisement, they could REALLY dig into the console market.
At least this explains the pointless Big Picture mode. I mean, were we REALLY supposed to be like "ZOMG Awesome! I can use M/KB to open Steam, and then switch to a controller to shop and select the game I want to play!"
The problem with this is that most non-pc gamers don't even know what steam or valve is. There is no brand recognition once you get away from the core gamers, and those that care already have PCs.
I highly doubt they would do that since they would be losing a big market opportunity,HL has always felt better on the PC tho and the ports over never felt as genuine or visceral
naww. only reason traditional consoles like the PS3 and XBOX have exclusives is so they can move and sell their console hardware.
Doesn't make sense for Valve to make their games exclusive to PC because most PC gamers won't play on a 'valve console', so Valve derives no benefit from it from a business point of view
there is no way they limit HL3 to just their PC... and really that's all it's going to be... a PC in a small form factor... if they're going to be running some custom Linux distro I see no reason why anyone would bother... Linux is free... building your system is pretty cheap and compiling a distro isn't nearly as hard as it use to be... pointless pea-cocking by Valve
if that is an exclusive for this console i will be very surprised/pissed. no way in hell they would make all the pc owners buy this box to play half life 3.
So let me get this straight...I don't have to spend a ton of money of building up a PC and keep on updating it to play on some great PC shooters?
Oh and does this mean I could download, for example, L4D and play the mods? It would be like a console version but with mods.........HOLY CRAP imagine Elder Scrolls 6, console users could enjoy mods.
I think I'm getting a head of my self but it could branch out there....right
It's very curious how they plan on making a profit. I highly doubt this box will be sold be over a thousand dollars, like a good PC costs, so that means that they're putting a whole hell of a lot of faith that each person buys enough on Steam to counter-act the loss for each system sold.
Another thing that strikes me as strange as how they're marketing it. So, it's a console-PC hybrid, essentially, so you can have all of the advantages of PC gaming without the trouble of it. However, they say it's a highly managed/controlled thing, which means that you DON'T have all of the advantages of PC gaming. The thing with PC gaming is that it's so open-ended and it extends so much further than just playing on a... SteamBox, really. I can play most every game that's ever come out on PC with the help of emulators, DOSBox, or a whole bunch of fixes. The number of games that can't be played on Win7 is very few. And even if some can't, I can just use a unused part on my HDD to put WinXP or '95/'98 and go from there. There's just so few limitations that I can't exactly figure out who Valve is trying to sell this to. PC gamers? No, due to the reason I just described. Console gamers? Not really, since they can just go with PS3, Wii U, 360 or, later, PS4 and NeXtBox. To be honest, I haven't really met many people that are interested in something in-between.
Meh, whatever the case, this system obviously isn't for me.
Well I think it's really a console, all this PC/Hybrid stuff is basicaly what Microsoft did with the first Xbox, that was basicaly a small PC at a cheaper price....
I think there saying it's a PC/Hybrid because they could be scared that it would tick off the PC audience they have and they would think that Valve are ditching them, aka selling out when all there really doing is expanding. Wait untill this thing gets going I bet they'll start marketing it as a full console with it's own controler and online (which they already have...Steam)
Plus it has Source 2 coming up and Half life 3...then they'll make Team Fotress 3 which will be a massive online game with cross platform elements to play with PC owners, then will come L4D3 etc.
Also, Valve wouldn't be stupid enough to try cross-platform play between PC and consoles. Why? Remember the 2007 Shadowrun game with cross-platform play? The 360 players were just beat down by PC users because PC users have a mouse. And when it comes to shooters, you flat-out can't beat a mouse. All cross-platform play would anger console gamers who are playing online against people who have the constant upper hand.
I don't know why everyone says mouse is better. Sure it is more accurate, but I can play just as well, if not better, with a controller as I can a mouse.
In fact, I play BF3 on my PC with a controller more often than the mouse and KB. My K/D ratio is damn near identical. I can barely pilot a vehicle (especially choppers and jets) with a mouse and KB though.
On the other hand though, I do like sniping with a mouse a hell of a lot better when you have to be that precise.
However, I am no slouch with a controller when sniping, but I have a definite edge with a mouse in that department.
There are pluses and minuses to each for me and I can use them interchangeably without a huge difference.
They already have everything in place for modding with the steam workshop. I don't expect the kind of configuring we do currently on pc for mods and such to be allowed on the steam box. BUT the workshop I imagine will be how the moddings done.
This is trouble for Microsoft. They better get their assess working on exclusives because this is going to be the console for 3rd party support. I'll be getting this along with the next playstation.
I think alienware already proves that this kind of thing is a huge rip-off. Price will determine the success of this thing because it should compete with consoles prices, Not to deal with it as a Normal PC.
I would have buy one this year, not next year when PS4 will be out, let me explain this. PS3 has been out for to long and they are just milking it and yes next year will start with many what seem good polished games but come on we want new teach already. Well if the ps4 last this long and a high end cheap console/pc launch on the right time I will buy it and it will make the wait easier untill the ps5 launch. If there is no new ps4 in 2013 and this is out and it has great servers and stress less setting and 1080p 60fps in games like far cry 3 and bf3 I will get it, but I'm sure the ps4 will be out in 2013 and make this irrelevant to me.
It's a PC box that plays pc games on steam, using the "big picture" mode available now and meant to be used like a console with a controller, that's what I want
I saw this coming.... so simple to see With the controller leaks, and the big picture UI beta; I knew valve was just making a HTPC to compete with consoles.
I imagine it will mirror computers with hardware to a certain degree to keep it compatible with the steam library.
Now steam has a chance to get massive and completely replace dvd and bluray data formats imo.
Their games have always been kind of exclusive to PC, they constantly update their games on PC unlike the console counterparts, compare TF2 on console to TF2 on PC.
I believe that Valve had always wanted to move into the console industry. The problem was just with Sony and MS with their update and server policies. So, with Valve's infinite money, they wanted to make one themselves and bring it within one Valve year. (When Valve says one year, they mean three. /valvetime)
unless pc devs can optimize their games to run on this pc hardware without incident on ultra for at least 3 years without the need to upgrade then itll stand a chance. pc gaming is amazing because i love powerful hardware but its not a practical device for someone who wants ease of use, to play all games at max for at least 4 years and have all updates and software to work seamlessly.
ive downloaded drivers that needed to be deleted and re-downloaded again over and over. ive had issues where if im signed into origin i cant launch my games and all sorts of shenanigans. the ease of consoles with their reliability and support makes them way better than pcs. next gen consoles will be quite powerful the xbox 720 and ps4
asus maximus v extreme , 3 x gtx580, i7 2600k, 16gbs cors veng ddr3 1866, im thinking of getting rid of my 3 video cards to get 1 gtx 690 for crysis 3
if you have taken the time to read you wouldn't have written this comment.
Gabe: "certainly our hardware will be a very controlled environment. If you want more flexibility, you can always buy a more general purpose PC."
And just like PS4, Wii U and X720 the Valve PC/Console will probably use Radeon too and you know what that means right? It means that most devs will optimize for Radeon and not for Nvidia.
Nvidia must be crumbling in fear because AMD Radeon will be the one leading the market now.
"And just like PS4, Wii U and X720 the Valve PC/Console will probably use Radeon too and you know what that means right? It means that most devs will optimize for Radeon and not for Nvidia."
I call bullshit on the grounds that the PS4 and 720's specs aren't official.
Why would they do that when AMD are really dropping behind in the GPU market now and have even said themselves they are going to concentrate more on mobile chips for notebooks.
Why does it have to play games at max settings? Console gamers already don't care to play games at max settings (they still play games at 720p or worse lol)
As someone who plays consoles over PC I would appreciate it if you didn't speak for me. It's not that I don't care about graphics, I have little choice. Put out a full 1080p powerhouse of a console and I will be buying that... until then sit back down and shut up, I don't want to play PC with you.
0_o What in the sam hell are you talking about? Are you really so naive that you think Valve will fall if this isn't a success? Or that if this IS a success, that Valve will ignore the PC market?
I'm calling it a consoles that's not going to be called a console. Something simple and cheap Valve can use as a livingroom storefront for Steam and have a few features, a better web browser, then the PS3's.
@torchic Look at steam, valve made the big screen thing to make even more console gamers move to steam, every DLC on valve games is free, all valve games have constant support on PC even if they're old, etc.
How is PC gaming ripping people off? Is it the sales? The value over time vs the value on the spot? The functionality? Or am I missing something, some hidden cost that the PC illuminati are enforcing on us plebians so that they make a quick buck off of people who want to have fun?
Well I hope Valve do well as they are incredibley brave to challenge multi-billion dollar companies like Sony and Microsoft. Competition is a good thing and if they can bring something new and inovative, good!It will only raise the bar for Sony and Microsoft.
Valve is Multi billion. About 4 billion in the bank and Sony has 9 billion. It's still not 100% because Valve is a privet company and that is a nice advantage to them. They don't need to stress out or answer to investors. They just make there money, go home and pop open a beer.
For all the console players here who don't want to build PC, here you go.
Personally i think that this is great, because one thing that i can admit is annoying about my PC is that this thing is too damn big to bring over to my friends place.
I can assume that this thing will be considerably smaller than a mid tower, making it much more portable.
so however it turns out, this should make PC gaming more accessible to people.
Yeah, my PC is gigantic... I've had to bring it to a friend's house a few times in the past and it was horrible... -_- Plus you know, the slight chance to accidentally drop it and ruin a $1400 dollar system. That would be bad, m'kay...
Regardless of having a gaming PC, I can't wait to see this thing come out. I'll most likely buy it, just to have a small and easy way to play my Steam games on the TV with some friends. Having the amazing discounts and sales Steam offers, with the amazing exclusives Valve has, and the easy portability of a console, combined with the tons of games I already have in my Steam account = win!
I have a have a HAF 932 case, which has a grate with a huge fan at the top. Anything that falls through that grate (rain, for example) falls onto my mobo and GTX 670s. It stays inside. LOL. Or is wrapped in plastic in the rare instance that I move to another place.
Valve's "console" will probably just be a miniature, economical gaming PC. Some of my friends don't game on PC only because they don't feel comfortable putting a PC together or tracking down software drivers and whatnot. With this device, I would expect Valve will help streamline the driver concerns and completely handle the issue of assembling the hardware. Seems like a great option for would-be PC gamers who may be intimidated by the idea of putting together their won rig and don't want to be hosed by Alienware's massive prices.
yeah, i can imagine Valve doing automatic updates with the latest drivers through steam to help make things easier for more casual players.
this could also mean that a lot more PC games will be better optimized, because there will be specific hardware that devs can reference at least.
one thing i am curiouse about is how Valve plan on doing some optional update to the hardware down the line, i imagine some partnership with manufactures to make necessary upgrades for when the hardware is old.
A good CPU tends to last for a long time. The main thing would be to be able to upgrade the GPU now and then, and there would be some concern about how potent they'd need to make their PSU initially for upgrade possibilities in the future. I'm not sure what that deal would look like. They'd have to keep it somewhat simple; otherwise, why not just build your own rig?
I'd say Nvidia would probably have the edge for a deal currently considering their power saving tech. It doesn't matter that the 7970 uses about 30% more juice than the GTX 680 (just picking the flagships for comparison) for gamers building a custom rig with monster power supply units and multiple fans/ or water cooling, but it would probably make quite a difference if you're concerned about a finite amount of power in a little console-sized machine and need to keep everything as cool as possible.
I will buy the crap out of a Valve pc/console. Man...I can only imagine. I wonder if there will be incremental upgrades available? Like a hot swappable HDD and Video card? Everything else wouldn't really matter, and could wait another generation.
The games will be cheaper, that could be quite a big factor. Effectively it can be the same experience as a console to general users if they want, but it can do anything a Linux PC can too (I'm presuming it won't run Windows).
By the sounds of it, it'll still be a PC that plays PC games and let you upgrade anything/everything hardware wise, the only difference will be the OS being fixed and much more user friendly for a TV family environment.
That's not what he said at all. He stated clearly it would be less open than a pc. Probably a fixed motherboard, cpu, and ram. I could see the videocard and hdd upgradable, but that's about it. Chances are the videocard would be fixed also, or only a couple options available depending on your resolution needs. There needs to be consistency to make things easier on developers.
My guess would be upgradeable HDD's only. Using regular laptop hard drives most likely.
Take a look at the industry today. Most developers have to optimize for many many different pc builds. They like the one size fits all approach that comes with the console. I believe the new minimum requirements for pc gaming will be getting it to run on the steam box.
Why would ANYONE buy a PS4 / XBOX 720 when you can get steambox? Gaming without limitations... And the games will be dirt cheap?
Id like to see the Big 3 continue to try and milk console users when valve shows up with $2.50 and $5 games. Wonder how the sales will be on the Xbox live marketplace, PSN, and nintendo's online store then.
They will crash and burn thats whats up. A revolution is coming.
As a nerd I am super excited hahah. Now Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo will have to step up their game. I am a happy gamer ^__^. I can totally see, Half Life 3 finally being announced to get the pc crowd to flock over to their new hardware.
Kinda my thoughts as well. I'm just not sure what he means by a it being more closed system than a PC. Does that mean it won't be upgradeable, or that it will have a Steam running as a closed OS? Maybe both?
Also wondering what will be in the box. To run PC games on high setting will cost a lot of money, and will take a lot of power. Not to mention the noise.
Maybe running an OC a10 5800 with OC memory could be enough power for most people? I really don't know.
Tweaked pc with a big picture UI? Unless they make it cheaper than regular pcs I don't see this gaining a lot of traction. This manifesting could also be in part to gabes aversion to windows 8 closed publishing.
Well the price is guaranteed to be low, as they have to make it cheaper than you could buy the same hardware and assemble, or consumers would quickly notice how bad of a deal the device is.
Going to be dead in the water as soon as it's released. Intel have already started selling their mini PCs from $300 for the base model with an i3 that runs Windows or Linux. As soon as the OEM's jump on board it's going to be a race to the bottom in-terms of pricing. If a "steam-box" even has a remote chance of success they have to either make the price extremely attractive with good specs or provide attractive exclusive content.
Mini-PCs running on standard hardware configurations such as mini-ITX and mini-ATX, you won't get your PC smaller than a shoebox. The Intel revision means you get a fanless case not much bigger than your external 3.5" HDD case. Think Ultrabook compared to a Notebook.
If it ain't the same thing as Intel's re-imagining of 'mini-PCs' than it just further proves my point that this is 'dead in the water': it's not smaller than Intel's new PCs but not flexible as HTPC, but yet would cost the same as both, why would you want one?
Probably the simplicity of a console. This Steam console will most likely be rigged with specs that rival that of higher-end (I use that with care) PCs so that it can play PC games, while not needing to look for/build a PC.
Also (fact of the day), monitors are faster than tv's but it's not too much or noticeable to one who uses both and isn't a tech fanatic.
I've been gaming on 50+" plasmas for all of this generation (PC and console alike)...and there's never been a monitor built that can touch the native 600 hz of plasma. The high-end 400hz LEDs are way better than a PC monitor as well. I'll gladly "sacrifice" the resolution of a PC monitor, for the native 1080p + 2-3 times size in in a large plasma or LED.
@ sp1, I gamed on a 47in 1080p lcd that ran at 60htz. I kept a 20 wide screen computer monitor just because of that very reason. Recently switched to a 60' plasma, night and day. Needless to say that 20 inch monitor is now in my 10 yr olds bed room hooked up to his blu ray player.
nothing.... but you've been on N4G long enough to know there's an abundance of console only gamers who cling to the urban myth we're all forced to squint in front of 15" screens in order to play PC games. That ends here.
I got disagreed to shit for saying this months ago. It's been obviously on the way for ages. HL3 will probably release for Linux at the same time as other platforms too (I'm presuming the box will run Linux rather than Windows).
Thats what I was thinking. With Valves push for Linux and with them releasing their own machine that could possibly have Linux on it the future looks bright for Linux and OpenGL if Valve can push it.
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The big question is: what kind of hardware will be used and if it's possible to upgrade the box.
I disagree with your tone , so I disagreed and put you on my ignore list (I have PS3,PC,360,vita so I don't care what anyone plays on)
In about 10-20 mins we wont even see yours or my comment though as you get added to spam list.
edit:"This site gives a false impression of discussion and conversation" with a comment like
"Can't wait to see what the scumbag losers who ONLY play pc games have to say about this because they can't talk trash about their master" why would someone think this site has meaningful conversations especially when coming across as hostile like that.
What about anything that you're claiming about PC fanboysim can't also be said for fanboys of other formats? There's nothing unique or special about fanatics of a particular platform.
Which games are exclusive to whatever format is not something you're going to work out on N4G. People will buy what they like. Having a game available on multiple formats does not limit what other people can buy or do. I'm playing Far Cry 3 on the PC I built. If you want to play it on PS3 or Xbox, go ahead and do that. I don't give it a second thought. I bought both Borderlands 2 and Battlefield 3 on both PC and PS3 so I could play with both sets of friends. No one seemed harmed or oppressed by that (other than me and my wallet). Or if a game is part of an exclusive deal with one platform and find that's the best arrangement for them, they have every right to do that.
Your blanket statements about PC gamers is pretty offensive, so if you were not trying to be a dick, I think you've failed miserably. I have been doing most of my gaming on a reasonably high end PC recently, but you can look at my comment history and see that I've picked Journey as my favorite game of 2012 and plenty of console games as my picks for GOTY in the past, including MGS4, Demon's Souls, Red Dead Redemption (well, tied with ME2 actually), and Dark Souls (which at the time console-only). A good game is a good game.
The consumer will decide whether digital distribution or physical media (or both, which is more likely) is the future. If you don't like digital distribution, buy it some other way. BTW, all of the console developers also happen to sell games via digital distribution now, and it continues to move in that direction. I don't expect that trend to suddenly reverse.
the big question is will the SteamBox run on Windows or Linux?
People WILL buy it, therefore if a developer doesn't port their game to it they will lose out on sales they would have otherwise had if there were less consoles for people to own.
My comment may seem anti-consumer, but in the end, the quality of titles will go up, the development time/cost will go down, meaning that developers will be able to put more into their games pre-launch instead of relying on DLC to make their money. And games will be less broken on release.
Are you also considering that more competition tends to lead to better products? If you are assuming that if there was one or two platforms that the manufacturers would feel just as pressured to produce games in a timely manner and for good price and pass on savings and benefits of a shorter development time, you might want to think again. Your assertion that less competition would somehow result in higher quality games is very questionable.
i think it's safe to assume no porting will be necessary, any game on the Windows steam store will rune on the box. the console will only be an extension of something that is already their.
and their is something we forgot to consider, that the Steam console will be digital only
Make efficient PC desktops that have decent power at an affordable cost. Like how PS3 was considered efficient even at $599. I'd probably easily buy my next computer as a Valve-PC if said theory was true. Unsure about 'Console' though as we don't need anymore console competition, but I do like more options to make great PC's. Lol
...Along with Doom 4.
I know "just build a pc".
But It's not for pc gamers. It's for console gamers who want to game on a pc with a console experience. Basically a casual pc.
https://www.youtube.com/wat...
Now seeing that it's valve I wonder if it will be nicely priced?
I wouldn't mind seeing an open platform become more popular with AAA devs.
Anyway they should put HL3 on desktop and steam box to sell it.
At least this explains the pointless Big Picture mode. I mean, were we REALLY supposed to be like "ZOMG Awesome! I can use M/KB to open Steam, and then switch to a controller to shop and select the game I want to play!"
The problem with this is that most non-pc gamers don't even know what steam or valve is. There is no brand recognition once you get away from the core gamers, and those that care already have PCs.
I just don't see a big market for this.
So what will this be a PC that want's to be a console or console that want's to be a PC?
Wow! Four console competition!
bring it!
the more the merrier!
Doesn't make sense for Valve to make their games exclusive to PC because most PC gamers won't play on a 'valve console', so Valve derives no benefit from it from a business point of view
So let me get this straight...I don't have to spend a ton of money of building up a PC and keep on updating it to play on some great PC shooters?
Oh and does this mean I could download, for example, L4D and play the mods? It would be like a console version but with mods.........HOLY CRAP imagine Elder Scrolls 6, console users could enjoy mods.
I think I'm getting a head of my self but it could branch out there....right
Another thing that strikes me as strange as how they're marketing it. So, it's a console-PC hybrid, essentially, so you can have all of the advantages of PC gaming without the trouble of it. However, they say it's a highly managed/controlled thing, which means that you DON'T have all of the advantages of PC gaming. The thing with PC gaming is that it's so open-ended and it extends so much further than just playing on a... SteamBox, really. I can play most every game that's ever come out on PC with the help of emulators, DOSBox, or a whole bunch of fixes. The number of games that can't be played on Win7 is very few. And even if some can't, I can just use a unused part on my HDD to put WinXP or '95/'98 and go from there. There's just so few limitations that I can't exactly figure out who Valve is trying to sell this to. PC gamers? No, due to the reason I just described. Console gamers? Not really, since they can just go with PS3, Wii U, 360 or, later, PS4 and NeXtBox. To be honest, I haven't really met many people that are interested in something in-between.
Meh, whatever the case, this system obviously isn't for me.
I think there saying it's a PC/Hybrid because they could be scared that it would tick off the PC audience they have and they would think that Valve are ditching them, aka selling out when all there really doing is expanding. Wait untill this thing gets going I bet they'll start marketing it as a full console with it's own controler and online (which they already have...Steam)
Plus it has Source 2 coming up and Half life 3...then they'll make Team Fotress 3 which will be a massive online game with cross platform elements to play with PC owners, then will come L4D3 etc.
Also, Valve wouldn't be stupid enough to try cross-platform play between PC and consoles. Why? Remember the 2007 Shadowrun game with cross-platform play? The 360 players were just beat down by PC users because PC users have a mouse. And when it comes to shooters, you flat-out can't beat a mouse. All cross-platform play would anger console gamers who are playing online against people who have the constant upper hand.
I don't know why everyone says mouse is better. Sure it is more accurate, but I can play just as well, if not better, with a controller as I can a mouse.
In fact, I play BF3 on my PC with a controller more often than the mouse and KB. My K/D ratio is damn near identical. I can barely pilot a vehicle (especially choppers and jets) with a mouse and KB though.
On the other hand though, I do like sniping with a mouse a hell of a lot better when you have to be that precise.
However, I am no slouch with a controller when sniping, but I have a definite edge with a mouse in that department.
There are pluses and minuses to each for me and I can use them interchangeably without a huge difference.
And the fact that gabe is keeping valve a private entity rather then trading public. holy shit will they make bank
let me explain this.
PS3 has been out for to long and they are just milking it and yes next year will start with many what seem good polished games but come on we want new teach already.
Well if the ps4 last this long and a high end cheap console/pc launch on the right time I will buy it and it will make the wait easier untill the ps5 launch.
If there is no new ps4 in 2013 and this is out and it has great servers and stress less setting and 1080p 60fps in games like far cry 3 and bf3 I will get it, but I'm sure the ps4 will be out in 2013 and make this irrelevant to me.
With the controller leaks, and the big picture UI beta; I knew valve was just making a HTPC to compete with consoles.
I imagine it will mirror computers with hardware to a certain degree to keep it compatible with the steam library.
Now steam has a chance to get massive and completely replace dvd and bluray data formats imo.
Look at canadian internet today...
http://speedtest.net/result...
only a matter of time when we'll be able to download games in <5 minutes.
what about the controllers lag ? cuz playing on a keyboard is shit.
PC hardware is reference for response time btw; keyboard and mouse trump all other input methods for FPS skill btw.
Steam just won the console race; PC gaming master race has just been proven.
I believe that Valve had always wanted to move into the console industry. The problem was just with Sony and MS with their update and server policies. So, with Valve's infinite money, they wanted to make one themselves and bring it within one Valve year. (When Valve says one year, they mean three. /valvetime)
The only question now is if Valve PC/Console becomes a hit which one of the big 3 will go the way of the Dream Cast.
The gaming market cant maintain 4 consoles so one will have to go.
My money is on Nintendo getting the console boot and will only focus on the hand held market.
Edit: Can you imagine the exclusive launch line up for the Valve console.
2 New IP's
Half Life Ep3
left for Dead 3
Portal 3
TF3
Counter Strike 2
Day of Defeat 2
Ricochet 2
Dota 3
Alien Swarm 2
Exactly and the problem is Microsoft relies on that money coming in from Live.
To be honest, if Valve play this right and by right I mean perfectly, they could possibly knock Microsoft out of the console industry.
ive downloaded drivers that needed to be deleted and re-downloaded again over and over. ive had issues where if im signed into origin i cant launch my games and all sorts of shenanigans. the ease of consoles with their reliability and support makes them way better than pcs. next gen consoles will be quite powerful the xbox 720 and ps4
asus maximus v extreme , 3 x gtx580, i7 2600k, 16gbs cors veng ddr3 1866,
im thinking of getting rid of my 3 video cards to get 1 gtx 690 for crysis 3
Gabe: "certainly our hardware will be a very controlled environment. If you want more flexibility, you can always buy a more general purpose PC."
And just like PS4, Wii U and X720 the Valve PC/Console will probably use Radeon too and you know what that means right? It means that most devs will optimize for Radeon and not for Nvidia.
Nvidia must be crumbling in fear because AMD Radeon will be the one leading the market now.
I call bullshit on the grounds that the PS4 and 720's specs aren't official.
Think before you type.
Maybe because consoles come under the mobile heading? They certainly don't count as desktop parts.
I think you thinking about their CPU/APU's. I thought they said they wouldn't compete with Intel in terms of raw cpu power.
Here are the "recommended" specs:
Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8
Latest DirectX 11 graphics card
Latest quad core CPU
8GB Memory
Example 1 (Nvidia/Intel):
NVidia GTX 680
Intel Core i7-2600k
Example 2 (AMD):
AMD Radeon HD7970
AMD Bulldozer FX4150
steam is by far the most amazing platofrm i have ever used for gaming
i play on ps3/360/wii/ds/psp and pc
by far the best multiplayer, chat, communities, forums, mod portals, sales, everything all in one
steam makes psn and xbox live look like alpha ideas that have never left the lab
\cannot wait to see what they do with this
though, i will still build my own rigs most likely
i doubt it will be close to a gtx 680, i-7 2600k and 12gb ram:)
We all thank your for all the amazing games you've offered us
Oooookaaaay then.
Look at steam, valve made the big screen thing to make even more console gamers move to steam, every DLC on valve games is free, all valve games have constant support on PC even if they're old, etc.
(I'm a console fan, only thing I game on besides MC and Linux games, but really I'm tired of this moron.)
Or if you Gabe you pop open a whole buffet:)
For all the console players here who don't want to build PC, here you go.
Personally i think that this is great, because one thing that i can admit is annoying about my PC is that this thing is too damn big to bring over to my friends place.
I can assume that this thing will be considerably smaller than a mid tower, making it much more portable.
so however it turns out, this should make PC gaming more accessible to people.
Plus you know, the slight chance to accidentally drop it and ruin a $1400 dollar system. That would be bad, m'kay...
Regardless of having a gaming PC, I can't wait to see this thing come out. I'll most likely buy it, just to have a small and easy way to play my Steam games on the TV with some friends. Having the amazing discounts and sales Steam offers, with the amazing exclusives Valve has, and the easy portability of a console, combined with the tons of games I already have in my Steam account = win!
Valve's "console" will probably just be a miniature, economical gaming PC. Some of my friends don't game on PC only because they don't feel comfortable putting a PC together or tracking down software drivers and whatnot. With this device, I would expect Valve will help streamline the driver concerns and completely handle the issue of assembling the hardware. Seems like a great option for would-be PC gamers who may be intimidated by the idea of putting together their won rig and don't want to be hosed by Alienware's massive prices.
this could also mean that a lot more PC games will be better optimized, because there will be specific hardware that devs can reference at least.
one thing i am curiouse about is how Valve plan on doing some optional update to the hardware down the line, i imagine some partnership with manufactures to make necessary upgrades for when the hardware is old.
I'd say Nvidia would probably have the edge for a deal currently considering their power saving tech. It doesn't matter that the 7970 uses about 30% more juice than the GTX 680 (just picking the flagships for comparison) for gamers building a custom rig with monster power supply units and multiple fans/ or water cooling, but it would probably make quite a difference if you're concerned about a finite amount of power in a little console-sized machine and need to keep everything as cool as possible.
But hey, EVEN more affordable gaming for some.
Man...I can only imagine.
I wonder if there will be incremental upgrades available? Like a hot swappable HDD and Video card?
Everything else wouldn't really matter, and could wait another generation.
This also explains why they put so much work into the new Source engine on Linux starting early this year.
He stated clearly it would be less open than a pc. Probably a fixed motherboard, cpu, and ram. I could see the videocard and hdd upgradable, but that's about it.
Chances are the videocard would be fixed also, or only a couple options available depending on your resolution needs.
There needs to be consistency to make things easier on developers.
Take a look at the industry today. Most developers have to optimize for many many different pc builds. They like the one size fits all approach that comes with the console. I believe the new minimum requirements for pc gaming will be getting it to run on the steam box.
Why would ANYONE buy a "Steam Box" when they can buy a PS4 or Xbox 720?
I'm afraid we're about to have another video game industry crash....there can't be 4 consoles out there.
Why would ANYONE buy a PS4 / XBOX 720 when you can get steambox? Gaming without limitations... And the games will be dirt cheap?
Id like to see the Big 3 continue to try and milk console users when valve shows up with $2.50 and $5 games. Wonder how the sales will be on the Xbox live marketplace, PSN, and nintendo's online store then.
They will crash and burn thats whats up. A revolution is coming.
http://store.steampowered.c...
My pc is basically a digital platform, I very rarely buy physical copies. And I have more games available to me on it than all my consoles combined.
What is the estimated price?
Fixed.
Good question,but that is Valve problem and Valve has tons of cash around.
Also wondering what will be in the box. To run PC games on high setting will cost a lot of money, and will take a lot of power. Not to mention the noise.
Maybe running an OC a10 5800 with OC memory could be enough power for most people? I really don't know.
If it ain't the same thing as Intel's re-imagining of 'mini-PCs' than it just further proves my point that this is 'dead in the water': it's not smaller than Intel's new PCs but not flexible as HTPC, but yet would cost the same as both, why would you want one?
Also (fact of the day), monitors are faster than tv's but it's not too much or noticeable to one who uses both and isn't a tech fanatic.
but you've been on N4G long enough to know there's an abundance of console only gamers who cling to the urban myth we're all forced to squint in front of 15" screens in order to play PC games. That ends here.