Valve & Steambox
The Steambox fad has come and gone, as most people have come to the realization that a Steam Machine is nothing more than a limited PC, running Steam OS, which in itself is a limited version of Steam for Linux. That being said, there still a good amount of games to be played on Steam Machines; however, most are older games or unknown indie titles that might not draw the masses of gamers looking for the next Call of Duty, Madden, Assassin’s Creed, etc... There’s also the fundamental problem that there are over 15 Steam Machines for sale and in production, which makes it even harder for consumers making a decision on which Steam Machine to buy, who know nothing about PC hardware. Finally price was the final killer of Steam Machines as most are still overpriced gaming PCs that any capable PC builder can buy and build their own gaming PC for less, and have the full version of Steam running on Windows.
E3 2014 is Valve’s chance to fix all of that by offering their very own Steambox. With both Microsoft and Nintendo struggling to gain significant ground this early in console generation, now is the best and probably only chance Valve has to come in and gain ground on the big 3 if that’s their goal with PC gaming. However, there needs to be a clear and focused message with this Steambox, which is why Valve needs a one hour conference at E3, with the message “PC gaming made easy”.
The hurdles for most console gamers getting into PC gaming are possibly building and updating a build, price, and exclusive content. Well Steambox will take all the worry of building a PC off the minds of gamers, and stick a capable gaming PC into a small box designed to play right under their HDTV’s. The price of a capable gaming PC varies greatly depending on the hardware, which is why I think there needs to be 2 SKU’s for the Steambox. An entry-level SKU which offers comparable performance to the PS4/XBO for $399 - $499, and a high-end SKU which offers the best of PC gaming right now for $999. The Entry SKU can feature an Intel i3 Hyper-threaded CPU, GTX 750 Ti, 8GB of RAM, and a 500GB HDD for $399 - $499 allowing this SKU will run neck and neck with the consoles. The high-end SKU can feature an i5 or 17 series CPU with a GTX 770 4GB, 16GB RAM, and a 500GB SanDisk SSD (cheap, but the best value 480GB). A final step in maintaining competition is for Valve to offer new SKU’s with better hardware every 2 - 3 years, normally this wouldn’t work in the console market, but considering this is still a PC, and games scale to the hardware it’s completely fine. Having better hardware every few years will also keep the SKU’s competitive as console receive better dev tools, and eventually surpass the Entry-SKU. It would also be wise to sell the upgraded components at a reduced price to consumers who trade in the replacement piece of their old hardware into Valve’s partner; such as a trading in their 750 Ti GPU for a 950 Ti earns you $50 off the original price. This not only make sure their hardware is future proof, but it also gets gamers more into the mindset of a PC gamer, and together this gets past the hurdles of building PC and the cost of a gaming rig.
The final hurdle is content, and exclusive content. PC gaming has plenty of content and exclusive content, but it’s not necessarily the content console gamers are looking for. The first and easy way to get more 3rd party support is simply packing and selling mods. MOds can offer a single game near infinite re-playability, and if Valve works with these modders and help them package their exclusive mods as DLC with the dev, then it could be a seriously strong selling point for buying most of your 3rd party games on the Steambox. Next they must highlight unique and exclusive games that are on and coming to Steam, by showing them at a E3 conference. Valve themselves need to work harder at bringing more games and developers over to Steam OS (aka Steam Linux) so the service can stand up to the standards set by Steam for Windows. There are over 400 games for Steam OS, which seems good, but there are over 800 on Steam for Mac, and over 1,300 for the “Action genre” alone on Steam for Windows. Therefore, release parity for Steam OS needs be a strong bullet point for the future. Finally, and this may hurt some people, Valve needs to release their games as timed exclusives, for Steam OS (6 months to 1 year). Having Half Life 3, Left 4 Dead 3, Portal 3, Team Fortress 3, Counterstrike, Day of Defeat, and Dota 3 all launch over the years would help Steambox create it’s own identity and become selling points for the platform.
Hardware is 1/3 of the sale and with these specs or each SKU hardware will be a non-factor. Service is 1/3 of the sale, and Steam has proven to be the best gaming service on PCs, but Valve has some work to do to make Steam OS comparable to Steam for Mac let alone Steam for Windows. Software is the final 1/3 of the sale for Steambox and Valve to be a success they need to make games, highlight PC and Steam exclusive games, and be ready for a long and hard fight against Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo.
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I honestly forgot they existed until I saw this post. I imagine they didn't do too well.
I don't believe they were ever released!! I mean alienware steam box still says coming soon... lol I was interested but Im happy just using the hdmi port and big picture mode
It wouldnt of been easily forgotten if they just did a full on console, no 13 different variations from different companies, just one console to match the PS4 and Xbox One. With the shit MS went through last year they had their time to strike, they could of used that to wiggle into their place.
Imagine a console with mods, that would be one of their selling points. Think about if your in a shop and you want to buy, for example, Fallout 4, do you get a PS4 version, Xbox One OR as a console gamer do you get the one which will allow you to install mods made by the PC community. Sony and MS can fight over resolution and frames per second but they wouldn't have that would they. Then you have exclusives like Half Life, Portal, TF, Counter Strike, L4D etc
Honestly these steam machines are pointless when people would rather just buy a PC. They should of went fully after the console market as they already own the PC audience with Steam.
I really don't think they can do much.
"E3 2014 is Valve’s chance to fix all of that by offering their very own Steambox" - I doubt they will be doing that when their partners are saying this --> http://www.neowin.net/news/...
And knowing Alienware I don't have much hope with their hardware after the full reveal/downgrade in specs for the ibuypower model. Like you said the problem is software either you install Windows after which defeats the purpose of the systems they won't be competitive to any console for years to come because like the Wii U the third-party software it needs to grow and expand as a platform will be very little. To them I think this is more of a long term plan to try get publishers and devs to support linux more and maybe one day have parity in support for it but that will take a long while.
I'm using my own "Steam Machine" as my main gaming rig at the moment and so far I have been very impressed.
SteamOS is flexible and all but limited. I have it on my USB stick with couple games I like so I can turn any PC as "Steam Machine". Computers like Intel NUC are getting powerful enough for gaming. They already provides console experience.
Streaming is yet an another step. I wouldn't be surprised if we are able to stream games soon with RaspberryPi kind and mobile devices.
Valve is working hard as anyone knows who follows them more closely. It's true their work doesn't get attention in mainstream media or portals like N4G but that doesn't mean anything is happening. It will take long time before SteamOS is ready for serious gaming - Windows and consoles has 30 years head start.
What I hope doesn't happen is that Valve starts to make exclusives. Exclusive games and technologies are just crap when they have been done because of politics (console war). Valve should keep spreading gaming for everyone.