Kotaku - The future of home gaming. The next generation. For years now, the anticipation and excitement over what's to come has been dominated by speculation over what would come next from Microsoft and Sony.
In one day, Valve has changed all of that.
It's been hard to get excited about PC gaming in the way you do about a new console. The nature of the PC means it gets a little better all the time. You don't really notice how powerful the platform has become until you stop and look back at the games and hardware that have come before.
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only hardcore gamers will get it at that price.
im interested in getting this, if no ps4 this year...then there's a 50/50 chances im getting this.
The major advantages that Sony and Microsoft will still have is marketing, a built up fanbase from previous generations and exclusive content. Valve doesn't really generate too many games of their own but what they do have is great support from smaller studios. However Xbox Live and Playstation Network are also building up their own repertoire of game support of smaller titles. Steam also relies solely on digital content and there's still quite a few gamers who prefer games on disc.
I'm still excited to see what Valve brings. They are the most flexible company of the bunch.
Reading so many of these articles & comments on Valves new box and people are not getting the real benefit a Steam Box would bring????
The hardware aspect is just a way to a means... the real story hear is the ecosystems & cost effective savings it will bring to console gamers!
Say the box does cost $700 to $1000 up front, think about the savings in game purchases in the future and not to mention the open platform of FREE mods you will have access to that the Sony & Microsoft consoles will not have, seeing how they are closed systems.
Also, think about the Summer, Fall, Winter & Spring Steam sales you will have access to that you wouldn't have with the other systems (where you can get full franchises for dirt cheap!). And lets not forget that games will be cheaper because there's no licensing fees for developers!
Think about the modular aspect of the Steam Box where as tech grows you can upgrade your Steam Box accordingly, while the other consoles are stuck with the bottleneck systems.
I think the price will be well worth it in the end!
These guys are talking as if they are trying to use some thing very similar to tegra 4 or the Maxwel.
The unreal engine needs like 2.5 teraflops right.
Maxwell sits right around 4.5 teraflops i believe and the tegra design is 200 teraflops.
Gabe wants one box to run 6 consoles with DIFFERENT games playing on each console terminal with 6-8 joypads. WOW he has to use the tegra for that design.
This is about to be the xbox that ms was afraid of. If they make a tegra box as a wireless host and even these little steam boxes as just a local rendering solution then you have your self the bose speaker edition of gaming console!
They could easily rent these boxes out. Suddenly pirating would be based on your system power and not getting a serial key. Then if they mix the grid computing into it all and make it mostly wireless boom we can see the true birth of a cell like platform finally.
Hell I wouldn't mind having this in my next LG big screen tv or maybe a samsung. Then buying extra pistons for what ever reason.
Hell they could even use NPC to pair all the tech together.
What would be a real com-by-yaaa monment is if steam box is used as method to bring true cloud gaming to consoles that are going to get crushed by the in coming maxwell and tegra 4 designs.
Even nintendo is offering the if you can do it better we will play ball with you senarios to tvii providers. A console that plays nice with PC like tech would be a god sin.
Could this be what digital movie makers, moders, and game engine story tellers have always wanted, an equal stage right beside the bloackbusters and primetime tv?
Boy what a wet dream that would be and ooooh the money it would make smdh.
Then every one would understand MHZ,GB, etc dont mean any thing unless you know how they all work together. Oh just for the record the tegra4 r&D will be paid for by tablets and phones.
Nvidia has the answers steam box needs along with sony and ms and nintendo. it would seem.
But then, someone has to take the plunge to lift up Linux as a gaming OS. And who better than Valve?
"New" Valve are built on micro-transactions and masses of cheap sales.
They understand that selling 50 $5 items is better in the long run than selling one for $250. It inspires loyalty and continued custom in a much, much larger audience, they aren't daft.
That's not to say it will be cheap either..
But yeah, ideally, they'd want to price it around (max) $600 USD.
IT is a "PC", since Gabe stated it's linux based - but you can install Windows.
Will that mean it will run a normal PC game?
Because I already have a decent PC for gaming.
What I don't have (and WANT) is a next-gen console with awesome exclusive titles.
Will Valve create exclusive games for Steam Box, that won't run on PC as well? I kind of doubt it...
Not hating on the SteamBox here, just not sure why we should want one?
Of course it will run normal PC games but it won't be locked down to just Linux and that's why they mention Windows. They are trying to build Linux up so that it can support a majority of the games offered on Steam.
They just started supporting Linux on Steam so its something they still working on and improving. You won't see this Steam box until they finish with the Linux support.
If you already game on a PC and have something built up for games, no you probably won't need this. They are aiming this for console gamers with the added controller and big picture mode. This is something you will be able hook up straight to your HDTV and won't have mess around with anything else just like how consoles are.
i also agree with the director of resident evil 2. kotaku are douchebags.
* price
* convenience
* controller? Are we still stuck with mouse/keyboard? Don't get me wrong, they are needed, but lets face it, the reason I use my console is because I don't have to type a lot or require very precise movements. It's fast, it's easy.
To the people that care, they likely already have the ability to build one probably much cheaper and already probably has.
To the others, they want the console experince (i.e. people like me, who don't want upgrades, don't want settings and etc....)
I welcome competition, but I hope it's going to be stronger. There are already too many gimmicky devices such as the nvidia Shield and now this.
http://gizmodo.com/5974346/...
" He says the goal for a "Good" platform is a free device, but that one would probably start around $99 and eventually come down. Newell says a midrange device should cost around $300, and that the top-tier is only limited by how much someone is willing to spend."
http://www.theverge.com/201...
Why no Kotaku bashing in this article?
Halflife 3 is missing in the wind,
Sales for this will be nothing compared to PS4/720.
Steam is ok, but I prefer real media tbh. I don't mind d/l content from digital, but full games, no thanks.
If you aren't online, and if Steam can't check for updates for a few days, you are completely locked out of your games until you can get back online. Yes, even single-player games that do not require an online connection. Steam says "cannot access key server". In other words, Steam will pretend that you don't have valid registration keys for your games, and you won't be able to play them. If you hate the idea of "always online" gaming, Steambox will likely have it for every single game. I worry about that.
it has to have some sort of software advantages on the steam side that would justify someone getting into computer gaming that would sway someone to it rather than buying a "real" computer which would have significant advantages in terms of upgradeability and price.
in my opinion they're hoping to have that apple effect with the fine tuned hardware and releasing an upgrade every year or so but with pc gaming. I don't think its going to happen unless they can be competitively price with a xbox or a playstation and $1000 is not the way to do it, the market for this is very small and I would buy it and scratch the next xbox off my list if it was priced at $400-500 because the only games I play on my xbox are also on pc and being able to have mods and controller support on games would be that thing to justify paying $500 over an xbox.
seriously i know valve fans will hate me for saying this but he market valve is targeting knows about games and are corer gamers where they are gonna loose is when someone walks into a store to buy a new console and who doesn't come to gaming sites daily what you think he will buy? a $800 valve box or $400 xbox or playstation?
its the other way around valve should be worried about ps4 and next xbox.
price matters look at PS3 and how much hate it got so all of a sudden $600 was way over priced yet $1000 is ok? don't look at your self as a consumer we are buying because we know the tech and don't mind paying for our hobby but casual market who only buys COD and madden/Fifa each year isn't about to spend $1000 on a machine when $400 ps4 or xbox720 will be able to do both of those things
It's not the only option. Not at all.
And it's modular, so it's DEFINITELY going to be a better deal than consoles if they're still as limited as they've always been with hardware.
Running Linux ?
It will die as soon as 720 hits the market.
#in my king jaffe joffer voice
360 destroyed the market enough, like, damn, look how far ahead it is of Sony[/sarcasm]. Look how many people aren't supporting Windows 8 as it's likely to be another Vista. Since somehow when 720 comes around and if it's Kinect oriented, it will totally die since 360 and 720 will sell like hot cakes....because 360 totally sold like hotcakes....
PffffftLOL.
or you could say, MegaMan's energy pack.
Valve, Nvidia, and Razer.
The problem with all three is the price or limitations. Steam box rumored at up to $1,000. The Razer tablet is $1,000 and up with weak hardware. And the Nvidia Shield is basically an Android phone that can stream your PC games to a TV with a major exception, you need a GTX 650 or up.
Why would limit myself to this only if I want to play Killzone, Gears, Halo, Mario and so on and they can only be found on consoles.
I might get this, just because the idea of it sounds awesome. But it won't replace my consoles.
Take a look at Valves profits and their stock, then compare that to Sony and MS. Then come and try to tell me they shouldn't be worried. MS only has 3 to 4 exclusives you can't play anywhere else, Sony has more, but look at the overall sales of those titles which in the big picture are poor. Hard drives can crash just the same on consoles by the way, not to mention did you forget the YLOD and RROD fiascos? Learn about market shares and stock values then you can talk about who should be scared of who.
The idea that what works for PC gaming will work for console gaming is the same kind of flawed logic that business executives have when they are part of varied industries. Just because you've had success with a business model in one area with a specific type of clientèle doesn't mean that that same business model will work for everyone. The Steambox will appeal to PC gamers first and foremost and I can say with reasonable certainty that Valve is in for the fight of its life against Sony and MS in the console arena.
but if we are listening to these rumors they shouldn't be worried, no console gamer is going to pay £1000 for a system, even if it is higher spec. that's why they play consoles and don't but a pc.
I really don't understand articles like this when we don't have any specs to make any sort of call
I'm reading plenty of articles and opinion pieces about the Piston, and somehow, plenty of them do not make any mention of the fact that for it to be so small, it usually means that it has either a mobile version of a dedicated GPU, or an integrated one. Either way, you can't expect to play the latest games at decent settings at 1080p with a stable frame rate of 60 FPS, 30 might actually be impossible in plenty of games too.
I like the idea of a Steambox, I just don't want it to be an overpriced (once again, that's by looking at Xi3's previous products) underpowered cool looking micro computer.
That being said, I'm confused... Why not just connect your pc to your tv?
If all it is is a device that runs Steam on you tv, then I've had a Steam Box for 4 years.
Someone help me out since I'm mainly a console/ handheld gamer and don't know much about this topic but it does intrigue me. The only reason I don't game on pc's as much is because I hate playing with/ against people who use mods to cheat, but if this is more of a console, would it remove the ability for people to use, for example, aim bots?
What I'm mainly wondering is, what are the benefits of buying a Steam Box if you could just plug you pc, that you already own, into you tv?
I honestly don't see the point in getting a steambox when I can just plug my pc into the tv.
I'm not looking forward to the steambox at all, just the next-gen xbox and playstation.
You're right, you already had a Steam Box once you started using Steam and playing high-end games. You aren't Valve's target demographic with this little device.
The Steam Box is for console gamers who can't afford to get into high-end PC gaming and it makes it accessible to "casual" mid-core gamers. That's all.
It's a cheap alternative to console gaming like the Ouya.
Im gonna wait until all next gen platforms are announced, see what they have to offer, Then make my choice.
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
" HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA "
Never will this particular device go mainstream, and on the contrary..the PS4 and 720 consoles (whatever they get called) have absolutely nothing to worry about.
The only positive thing for me is more competition for MS/Sony..this is a good thing for the consumer as they will all have to up the ante!
However, see yet another article pointlessly attempting to muster confusion and create a lack of confidence in the consumer...tsk!
1. They own 50-70% share of the digital distribution market for video games, so they already have a huge fan base/consumer network and have access to a wealth of digital games. Valve also have great support from third party publisher for consoles and PC exclusive titles.
2. Steam are primarily a software company so its easy for them to possibly integrate social gaming features into their platform and make it free.
3.The steam box will not only be built by software developers but by gamers. Gabe newell has extensive understanding of the gaming center and understands trends from a gamers perspective, as their heavily involved within the gaming area.
4. Possibility of Half life 3 being exclusive to their platform along with others i.e portal. This could be Valves title similar to how the Halo franchise is exclusive to MS Xbox and Uncharted to Sony. Valve are also very generous releasing the orange box at a great price.
5.The steam box will be an open system allowing user to install other OS into it which is something other companies have been apprehensive about in the past. This could be the future of gaming along with digital distribution and steam could be the first to benefit from it.
I hope it changes ps4 and next box for the better, more competition means cheaper games for all us skint gamers.
Still no point in getting a steambox.
The main reason it is pointless is the fact that it won't have any exclusives. There will be no reason to buy this thing over the already established PS and Xbox.
The only company that has anything to worry about is MS. There's, yet another console available with free online gaming. At some point, people will realize that there's other options out there be it the PS4, WiiU, or Steambox.
If Valve are going to have their own hardware, they can do better than that
This means shorter periods before leaps in games' graphics and less exclusives too.
I really hope this thing succeeds for the sake of gamers taking back power from the Microsoft-Sony oligopoly.
"This means shorter periods before leaps in games' graphics(so a gradual improvement over time is a bad thing?) and less exclusives too.(wtf less exclusives is a better thing?)"
Your supposed to be a gamer? Could have fooled me, you damn sure are not a console gamer with that mindset.
Btw sony and ms aren't dragging this gen out unnecessarily, the economy is making that decision for them. Nothing is going to launch until 3rd parties will be ready to support it.
Pcs are not even relevant to this discussion, because there is no such thing as a next or new generation for pc. Since it can be trashed entirely and built with newer better hardware.
And nintendo fans call ps3/360 gamers graphic whores lol.
I remember how irritating it was waiting for a new console to be released on PS2, as while the content kept improving, the graphics stagnated, and it bottlenecked the quality of each game.
yes, less exclusives is a good thing. Exclusives are only present so that Sony or Microsoft can get a leg up over each other, and for the large part they prevent us from playing all the games.
Why should we buy an inferior product because its manufacturer has paid off content producers to support it?
Also, given the increased price of console games due to retail and the Sony/Microsoft oligopoly, gamers who buy a steambox will be able to save money buy buying more games at a lower price (Valve's philosophy), which they can use to buy upgrades for their steambox.
I love my PC, but it's not a living room machine, which is why it doesn't appeal to everyone. The steambox should address those concerns, and put reclaim power from Microsoft and Sony for ourselves as a community.
As a PS3 gamer I used to strongly dislike everything Xbox, but now I see how pointless such fanboyism is when open platforms make such conflict irrelevant.
I enjoy good graphics, but i don't consider myself to be a "graphics whore". I'm a tech geek, and love seeing in front of me the advances of new technology. Graphics go hand in hand with better engines which in turn allow for more fluid gameplay experiences. I do enjoy hand-drawn games too, but my genres are RPG and simulation, and it's hard to simulate things in 2D (or immerse yourself in a fantasy world in the case of RPG's).
PC's are relevant as well, because AFAIK one copy of a game will work on both platforms, which means that if the Steambox gets big, more games will run on PC. Also, devs can focus on content for all of us and not waste time on making buggy ports.
Also, third parties are desperate for a new console, but Sony and Microsoft are sticking with the current gen because as time goes on they make more money off software (Sony were originally making a loss on the PS3 after all). Developers are currently struggling to make games which can look good on a PC and still be technically simple enough to work on consoles!
I don't care much for big gaming divisions like Xbox or Playstation. I simply wish to see consumers gain more power within the gaming industry, and I think that that is best done through having an open platform (the PC, be it desktop or living room).
If anything console game is a one step process out of box & don't have to do anything but buy games. So for as long that they exist I will continue to buy & game on them till they cease to exist or I do.
1.) $99 with no games
2.) $ 200 - shipped with 5-10 games
3.) $ 500 - shipped with 50 games.
As i said before, MS should fear this thing.. Its upgradeable too so ya, it has my attention & ill buy it with no regrets as long as i dont go broke doing it