Steambox, would you buy one? HL8 Confirmed.

[bladedanny]

Ultimately systems live and die by their 3rd party developer and publisher support, this looks rather limited for linux only Steam.

 

For it to even have a chance the AAA titles need to be on it. Without those at launch I can't see it taking off.

[localzuk]

The idea is to converge PC gaming with the living room. Most people don't want a clod-hopping giant PC sat next to their TV in the lounge whirring away.

 

So, Steam came up with the idea of creating pretty set top boxes which don't overpower your room while allowing you to engage in PC gaming and allowing upgradability or for you to use it as a remote device with your normal PC being the 'host' of your games (if you already have such a PC).

 

It doesn't make much sense for me, as my TV is the same size as my PC monitor, and I don't want to game on my sofa, but for family type living rooms, it makes sense.

[abillybob]

Ugly? not if you have a gaming laptop or a small ITX build, plus from what I can see on this thread it seems the premade builds are once again going to be overpriced! Give it a year steam will have failed unless they get AAA titles and can compete with the prices of the Current Xbox One and PS4 they don't stand a chance! Younger kids won't use this either as none of them have heard about it! Everyone knows what the PS4 and Xbox is and if their mates have got a PS4 but you've got a steambox you can't game together. The only gap in the market that I can see is to make a console with same or better hardware specs as Xbox and PS4 but much cheaper and have that console integrate with it's own and the PS4, 360 server allowing you to play with anyone from any console otherwise it's not going to work!

The idea is to converge PC gaming with the living room. Most people don't want a clod-hopping giant PC sat next to their TV in the lounge whirring away.

 

So, Steam came up with the idea of creating pretty set top boxes which don't overpower your room while allowing you to engage in PC gaming and allowing upgradability or for you to use it as a remote device with your normal PC being the 'host' of your games (if you already have such a PC).

 

It doesn't make much sense for me, as my TV is the same size as my PC monitor, and I don't want to game on my sofa, but for family type living rooms, it makes sense.

[bladedanny]

Ugly? not if you have a gaming laptop or a small ITX build, plus from what I can see on this thread it seems the premade builds are once again going to be overpriced! Give it a year steam will have failed unless they get AAA titles and can compete with the prices of the Current Xbox One and PS4 they don't stand a chance! Younger kids won't use this either as none of them have heard about it! Everyone knows what the PS4 and Xbox is and if their mates have got a PS4 but you've got a steambox you can't game together. The only gap in the market that I can see is to make a console with same or better hardware specs as Xbox and PS4 but much cheaper and have that console integrate with it's own and the PS4, 360 server allowing you to play with anyone from any console otherwise it's not going to work!

 

I agree with the AAA titles and price points but I doubt the cross platform gaming would be an issue. Don't get me wrong it would be a great feature but Playstation and Xbox can't play cross platform and both sell OK.

[edutech4schools]

Steambox is probably aimed at me. I did build gaming rigs but then children came along and less time so I went down the console road and got an xbox 360. I was also surprised that the lesser graphics made no real difference to me so long as the game was good and the mouse made no difference as everyone was on a level playing field with a controller.

 

I have not jumped on the next gen band wagon but at some point will be getting either PS4, Xbox One or a Steambox. As things stand they are in that order with Steam my last choice.

[localzuk]

Totally agree with AAA being an issue. The best thing they could do is launch Half Life 3, Portal 3 and a new Counter Strike game at launch - as they can control these themselves, but 3rd part AAA will be needed too.

[tmcd35]

I've got a PS4 but would seriously consider jumping ship to Steam around 2015 time if AAA support works out. That said, if I did convert to Steam, I'd build my own rather than buy any of the announced systems. As the £500 PC thread has shown, you can do a far better job of spec'ing components and then shove the SteamOS on the end result and buy a couple of steam gamepads.

 

The market for OEM built steam computers is exactly the same market as there was for OEM built 3D0's and mac clones in the early 90's. OEM's are never going to get a compelling price/performance because unlike MS and Sony they can't take a loss on the hardware.

 

The problem Valve have is convince Windows PC users to install SteamOS, atleast in dual boot, and getting a large enough installed userbase in SteamOS (Linux) to make AAA's want to develop for the platform. It's that chicken and egg that has Valve partnering with OEM's and I looks to me as if it might back fire on them.

[Gatt]

Looks nice, but a decent PC setup would be a better option for now - until they get SteamOS sorted with a few more games on it - could then be tempted to dual boot my (soon to be new) PC between a PC and SteamBox (if that's at all possible!)

[abillybob]

Plus if you have a powerful steambox which has steam os on it you're really limiting yourself. On a windows machine you could do internet browsing, watch on demand, edit photos and more but if you shove steam os on a computer you're not going to be able to do anything but game so surely even if AAA titles came out on it people would still choose to run windows on their systems as they can do so much more. Steam would love people to just use their OS for one reason price they only give you one store to buy from and that's steam! Where as on a Windows computer I compare PC Download prices with Steam, Amazon, Game and find the best deal! (which normally isn't steam)

 

They are taking away all the freedom from being a PC gamer being able to add mods will be a struggle also as I'm guessing you won't have a simple file explorer to mod files. I'm all for making PC games become better known and used but they've really not thought about this!

[bushby]

im going to be building a new gaming rig soon and have made the choice of making it a mini itx so that will be my steambox however it wont be steamos untill i can build a second machine that will host the games that wont run on the steamos so that it can be streamed. and i could do it all for the cost of the alienware box

[Gatt]

Plus if you have a powerful steambox which has steam os on it you're really limiting yourself. On a windows machine you could do internet browsing, watch on demand, edit photos and more but if you shove steam os on a computer you're not going to be able to do anything but game so surely even if AAA titles came out on it people would still choose to run windows on their systems as they can do so much more. Steam would love people to just use their OS for one reason price they only give you one store to buy from and that's steam! Where as on a Windows computer I compare PC Download prices with Steam, Amazon, Game and find the best deal! (which normally isn't steam)

 

They are taking away all the freedom from being a PC gamer being able to add mods will be a struggle also as I'm guessing you won't have a simple file explorer to mod files. I'm all for making PC games become better known and used but they've really not thought about this!

 

Hang on - isn't this their chief complaint with Windows 8.x and the Windows Store?

Why would they complain loudly about Win8.x and then go and do the same thing themselves...??

[abillybob]

This is what slightly frustrates me Alienware are more expensive do to the sheer quality of the materials used and if you add them all up together Alienware make around £60 profit per machine (though I'm sure they buy in bulk for a bigger discount) Thinks like built in Bose speakers would have cost a fortune and they do an half make a difference to your gaming experience! I could name loads more such as the keyboard has reinforced aluminium behind so you can't break the keys when you game but I don't want to bore you to much. QUALITY not quantity is always the better option in my opinion.

im going to be building a new gaming rig soon and have made the choice of making it a mini itx so that will be my steambox however it wont be steamos untill i can build a second machine that will host the games that wont run on the steamos so that it can be streamed. and i could do it all for the cost of the alienware box

[localzuk]

Plus if you have a powerful steambox which has steam os on it you're really limiting yourself. On a windows machine you could do internet browsing, watch on demand, edit photos and more but if you shove steam os on a computer you're not going to be able to do anything but game so surely even if AAA titles came out on it people would still choose to run windows on their systems as they can do so much more. Steam would love people to just use their OS for one reason price they only give you one store to buy from and that's steam! Where as on a Windows computer I compare PC Download prices with Steam, Amazon, Game and find the best deal! (which normally isn't steam)

 

They are taking away all the freedom from being a PC gamer being able to add mods will be a struggle also as I'm guessing you won't have a simple file explorer to mod files. I'm all for making PC games become better known and used but they've really not thought about this!

 

I take it you've not ran SteamOS? it has a file explorer, it has other linux software. You can run an office productivity suite etc... So, it actually opens things up more to you as you are also running Linux which is open source.

[abillybob]

If you look on Youtube etc... Steam OS is basically a bigger Steam store with the same options as you get in steam! Unless they are planning on adding support to download game from anywhere but I highly doubt that feature will come along anytime. Plus I've installed third party apps not hosted on the Windows app store before with some messing about with files so it is possible if you look into it.

Hang on - isn't this their chief complaint with Windows 8.x and the Windows Store?

Why would they complain loudly about Win8.x and then go and do the same thing themselves...??

[abillybob]

Ah I stand corrected haha, Watching the youtube videos last year just showed Steam store in big view with a library and nothing else, did they add these features recently then if so that's a lot better good on steam!

[LosOjos]

@alexbillbridgnorth - I'm sorry but you're obviously talking about something you don't know a lot about. SteamOS has always been Linux based. This is why we have the chicken and egg situation whereby AAA producers need to support Linux but won't if there isn't a strong enough user base. Valve want to create this user base with the help of SteamOS, but will struggle until at least one AAA producer takes a leap of faith. It's all riding on Valve getting good third party support at this point.

 

The way I see it, SteamOS is trying to bridge that gap between console and PC gaming - they want to create an environment that's as easy to use as a console while maintaining the upgrade-ability and general future proof nature of a PC. This comes at the cost of "removing" (they're still there in the background but not as obvious as a Windows/Ubuntu PC for instance) some of the things you'd normally use a PC for but then that's not the point - this is intended as a purely-for-gaming machine, not your general purpose PC.

 

I'm not convinced it will work at the moment as we're getting closer and closer to release and yet we still haven't heard anything that would make most people take the leap. Valve are going to need some awesome launch titles to get this off the ground, possibly even making them SteamOS exclusive for the first couple of months (though that will create a backlash from seasoned Steam users so might not be the best idea).

 

As for your comments RE Steam forcing you to buy everything from them - sorry, that's just wrong. You can shop around for Steam keys to get them cheaper, although to be honest I find Steam's own prices very reasonable usually, especially if you wait for the regular sales. Valve displays less of a monopoly over Steam titles than MS or Sony do over the XB1/PS4 - you only have to look at the sheer number and variety of titles available to see that. Yeah OK, wherever you buy your Steam keys from, Valve still control the DRM, but that's no different to any of the consoles, they all produce their own discs or have only their own store available for downloads. Additionally, you can add any game/program installed on your machine to your Steam library. Granted it's only a shortcut, but this opens up the possibility of adding other Linux titles (not a lot of those outside of Steam admittedly) to your SteamOS menu and continue to launch them from there. No way to do anything like that with a console.

 

Nobody mentioned Alienware so far as I can tell so I'm not sure where that came from but when it comes to pre-built PCs, it's simple - if you want an easy life, buy prebuilt. If you want VFM (and know what you're doing), build your own. Simple.

Edited January 8, 2014 by LosOjos

[localzuk]

That's a good point. About 30% of my Steam library has come from Humble Bundle purchases and boxed media with a steam key included.

[tmcd35]

Valve are going to need some awesome launch titles to get this off the ground, possibly even making them SteamOS exclusive for the first couple of months (though that will create a backlash from seasoned Steam users so might not be the best idea).

 

And here in lies the problem: Valve won't develop exclusive games for SteamOS, Steam Machines | Joystiq

 

Valve are not interested in system exclusives. They're are not really interested in defining the hardware (see the disperate nature of machines annouced, and wild price fluctuations - no real standards). They are only really interested in promoting the OS because they "don't like Windows 8". Not making the best reading for a business model no matter how good the core idea of a "steam machine" might be.

 

They need to be stricter on hardware standardisation and they need AAA exclusives. I don't think they will get either...

[abillybob]

@LosOjos - Some very good points there. I didn't do enough research into the OS I just saw a YouTube video a while back and all it showed was basically a big steam library. Just because it's Linux based doesn't mean you automatically get Linux components. People put their own "skin" on top of Linux limiting or enabling people to do certain things. So for example if Valve decided they didn't want you to use anything else and just force run Steam at startup and have generic Linux running in the background they could. I'm pretty sure when it was first announced all they were going to offer you to use was Steam Store platform restricting you from using anything else. Then gamers complained and Valve have been adding more functionality I just haven't kept myself updated and I apologise for that. Yes you can shop around for STEAM keys but as you said STEAM still own it meaning you still need to go through STEAM to download the game and no matter where you go, Greenman Gaming etc... STEAM still set the prices for Greenman Gaming to offer it at a discounted price it's all about marketing. But you can't download a game from Amazon or anywhere like that... UPlay etc.... That's the issue so I don't think you're right there steam are locking you into their platform and the whole point of PC gaming and especially Linux is that you should be able to acquire these games where you see fit, it's open platform for god sake.

 

Bottom line - it won't work!

[LosOjos]

@alexbillbridgnorth - we could go round in circles all day with this but I think you're missing the point of the Steam box - it's not intended to replace your PC, it's there to provide Steam games in a console style format. It's a totally new way of doing things (or at least the first attempt by a major company) and I think the potential is fantastic, the problem is that they're kind of falling victim to their own success. There are people with HUGE Steam libraries who would theoretically be your early uptakers (I have over 150 games and I wouldn't class myself as a hardcore gamer by any means) BUT those people already own their own gaming PCs that many of them have spent a fortune on, so they're unlikely to buy a new box just for Steam and they'll also be hesitant to convert their existing box as it is their main PC also (I'm making sweeping generalisations here I know). You've got to stop looking at the Steam box as a PC and start looking at it as what it is - a console. It's not like any other console out there, granted it's a lot more like a PC, but the aim (or so it seems) is to break in to the console market. All consoles lock you in to their infrastructure and Steam is no different.

 

As for your bottom line - unfortunately, as much as I'd like SteamOS to take off, I don't think it will. Valve have handled it poorly.

Edited January 8, 2014 by LosOjos
Steam/SteamOS - too many...

[localzuk]

Steam don't set the prices at all. Prices are set by the company selling the game. Steam just get a cut, like with any reseller.

 

Also, SteamOS has never been announced as being locked to the Steam library alone, in fact it would fly directly in the face of Gabe's views on lock-in. The first release of the software to download is like a normal Linux OS. The Steam client for Linux was the precursor for it also - and that runs on Ubuntu and (with fettling) other distros.

 

SteamOS was a reaction to Microsoft's initial announcements to increase lock-in in Windows - they discussed only allowing installation from the Windows Store, eliminating things like Steam entirely. They also at one point wanted to lock machines down to prevent dual booting outside of an OEM setting it up (ie. removing home users ability to install Linux), but everyone and their brother argued against this and they now release SecureBoot records without too much hassle.

[NerdNamedMatt]

This post may be slightly old but here we go anyway. Yes and No. I would (And have to an extent) consider buying a Steambox, especially with SteamOS looming around the corner. However, much like when ANY new OS comes out, I would wait. It could be a huge flop, we have never seen an OS from valve before and if the rumours are true and it is just a glorified version of steams "Big Picture" view then I wouldn't bother.

On the other hand I love the idea of having a customizable console for friends and family to enjoy the extent of PC gaming on.

[Arthur]

Steam Controller ditches the touchscreen for better backwards compatibility « The Verge

 

According to two game developers tweeting from Valve's Steam Dev Days developer summit, Valve has decided to remove the controller's central touchscreen. While it sounds like the gamepad's twin trackpads will remain intact, the touchscreen was deemed redundant and possibly even distracting from games, as Valve wants players looking at the television instead of their hands. That doesn't mean there won't be customizable controls in the center of the gamepad, though. Players will simply use a feature that Valve's calling "ghost mode."

 

We saw an early demo of "ghost mode" at Valve's headquarters a few months ago, and it's fairly simple: when you move your thumb on the Steam Controller's touchpad, you can see a ghostly image of your thumb on your TV screen as well, and you can press virtual buttons placed there.

 

Edited January 15, 2014 by Arthur

[Arthur]

Raspberry Pi and Android become Steam Machines with Limelight « CNet

 

Limelight Pi is a client (written in Java with JNI bindings for decoding) for Nvidia Gamestream. You can use it to stream games from your computer to your Raspberry Pi. It's port of Limelight PC which is available on https://github.com/limelight-stream/limelight-pc. It uses the hardware for video decoding and the cpu for audio decoding (The opus codec is currently unsupported by the hardware). (Source)

 

[LosOjos]

Raspberry Pi and Android become Steam Machines with Limelight « CNet

 

 

 

 

I was reading with interest about Valve's plans to implement something very similar in SteamOS. Whether the performance will be any better than this or not is anyone's guess but it's a great way to easily hook up another room with your Steam library