Gaming Blend "Killer Technology and MSI recently announced a collaboration of bring Killer's E2200 Ethernet technology to MSI's Gaming Motherboard setup, giving gamers a two birds for one stone sort of deal. During a press pre-briefing, Gaming Blend was given the opportunity to talk with MSI and Killer about their collaboration, as well as any possibilities of making the new hardware more Steam Box-friendly."
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I'm really trying hard to see the point of shelling out 1000$ for this while you still can have a much better PC for half the price, and you can hook it up to your TV easily.
Steambox is the most absurd idea I've ever seen, they could've made it more appealing by limiting the PC steam functionality, and give the console the premium service. but still, that would have hurt their PC fanbase, uhhh, I don't understand anymore... Can someone please explain to me the point of having a Steambox Console?
It looks to me like Valve will be offering different systems depending on how much you want to spend. A PC does many other applications than just gaming, so if Valve can somehow make a box that is just for games and optimized just for gaming that would reduce costs and help consumers who are fearful of getting into PC gaming. To me it sounds like a hybrid of consoles and PC gaming where they want to take some of complications away of building your own PC while still retaining the freedom you get on PC gaming. It may also be scalable where you could upgrade unlike consoles which are basically a set-top box that only really allows upgrades in hard drive space.
What the hell does it say? X13 Piston the "First Steam Box" to launch this year!
As you seem to not understand there is no "one" Steam Box. There will be many including one from Valve themselves.
http://n4g.com/news/1189519...
you made a very valid point. but when you look at it from a business standpoint, the target audience are gamers, and we all know that 99% of gamers know how to use Steam, it's not like using steam is difficult to begin with, all you need is an e-mail and a password then you are in. So from business stand point I don't see the target audience benefiting much from this console, it even going to cost Valve money to manifacture and sell those consoles. I still don't see the point of Steambox from a business perspective or from a gamer perspective, I really hope Valve prove me wrong though.
Anyway, Thanks MikeMyers for having time to explain this to me, I would love to have further conversation about this but the stupid bubble system won't allow for this.
Cheers.
The target audience for SteamBox would be people who do not currently use Steam but might if they had an easy (as in easy for the less technically inclined customer, not easy for enthusiast gamers with custom-built gaming rigs) way to do so.
Your guess is as good as mine. I'm not sure what their target audience is but The Big Picture mode is one step in trying to get the word out that PC gaming can do what console gaming does. I think there are still a lot of misconceptions out there when it comes to PC gaming. The Big Picture mode is one way of doing that because it shows that yes, PC gaming doesn't have to be an isolated experience where you play in a small room or office. You can actually have a media built PC that does offer Netflix and can have music and movies attached to your home entertainment system. Most video cards now come equipped with HDMI outputs too so that it's very easy to connect the PC to a big HDTV if one wants. You can also go beyond 1080p on the PC right now and have the latest audio support.
I don't have issues building my own PC so perhaps this new Steambox isn't for me but anytime they can get more consumers that's fine by me. I would love PC gaming to keep being a sustainable market and Valve has done a wonderful job at being very supportive of it. They have had their headaches working with the likes of Microsoft and would love to do more with companies like Sony but they are still closed boxes by nature. Maybe the Steambox can open up more possibilities.
I can play Steam + non-steam games that way.
PC's have been in the Living room for years (HTPC) but now they are just going full bore with it as the PC needs to be front and center in the living room for the Next Era of TV PC interaction.
I mean a large portion of my Entertainment comes from the PC and I've been watching a lot of Internet only TV lately.
Steambox is just a way for Gamers to get into PC Gaming easier and for PC Gaming to be FREE of Microsoft.
Still though there will be many cost variations and the models will change every year. It will be modular and upgradable. As long as they optimize it and don't make it to complex for consumers it should be great.
Valve is not releasing a console. Part of their overall plan is to have a "console-like" PC for the living room. Pushing Linux is another part and so is streaming games from a powerful PC anywhere in your home.
Valve is trying to move PC gaming in a different direction. They are NOT creating a single closed system that will directly compete with consoles.