Watching this in retrospect, honestly I kind of feel like it would've made more sense if Valve developed their "Proton" software around the time SteamOS and Steam Machines released to allow better support for Windows-only games. I still don't think it would've been a successful platform regardless, but having a Linux-based OS when the majority of AAA games are developed for Windows without any built-in compatibility layer really didn't help.
I play everything, all consoles and PC and I'm here to answer your question as to why a person would want a Steambox/Steam Machine. I bought an Alienware X51 way before the steambox was ever announced, its about the same size as the launch 360/PS3. given that relatively small form factor (as far as PCs go) I can easily move it from room to room which can't be done with a normal sized desktop computer. now if you add in the addition of the Steam OS which is a linux based OS designed specifically for use on large HD televisions and the Steam controller which is a fully programmable controller that is compatible with every PC game you then have the perfect means to play PC games in a traditional living room setting. the steambox is not a console and they aren't trying to go after the console gaming market. Valve and PC manufacturers are trying to go after PC gamers that already have gaming PCs but also want an extra supplemental PC that they can use and play games on in their living room, also PCs have always had physical media, you can still buy plenty of games on disc and even if you buy games digitally you will own those games and are able to play them forever. the great part about PC gaming is that the games are forwards compatible. meaning the games that I buy now will still work on a PC that I buy or build 10 years from now and with the ability to use mods I can make them look like games that came out that year. and to follow up Valve has almost no money in the game here. the only hardware they are releasing is the Steam controller. the Steam OS is Linux based which means its freeware. when you buy a computer that comes with the Steam OS you don't have to pay extra to get the OS like when you buy a computer with Windows. Valve is doing this only because they love video games and want to give games a new experience and better products. the best example of that is the steam controller itself, controller support is very sporadic among PC games. most games that are on consoles and PC usually support the 360 controller but lots of other games including older games don't support controllers. the steam controller since its fully programmable is compatible with every game on PC new and old. honestly PC gaming really isn't all that different from consoles, instead of buying a new console every 5-10 years you buy a new graphics card. personally I think you should give it a shot. its initially more expensive to buy a gaming PC than a console but you save money in the long run by buying games cheap on Steam or one of the other major PC gaming retailers.
The only reason that I would like a Steambox is because my computer doesn't meet the performance needs, memory, etc. it would be a great opportunity to have a machine that plays the same games my computer does, but better. What is also great about it, is that all of your Devices with the service would be constantly connected (given that you have an internet connection) to your info. But I also see your point. I do have a Playstation and an Xbox, with hard media, but at least give the Steambox a chance.
IMO, the reason why Valve is making the Steambox is to push PC gaming towards Linux. Steambox is just a regular ass PC (of varying hardware levels) using Valve's in-house Linux-based operating system, SteamOS. Anybody that ports a game to SteamOS now has a Linux port. As more games come to SteamOS, PC gaming on Linux becomes more palatable. Valve has this fear that somehow Microsoft is going to royally fuck up PC gaming, and they want a backup plan.
Me, personally I would want a steam box. There are a bunch of games I have on steam (a lot of games) that I enjoy, but I don't enjoy huddled over a PC desk all the time, and I hate using mice and keyboards on the couch or on the bed with a laptop. I rather beable to play the games I have on a console like system, that hooks up to my TV and play a nice game of Borderlands 2 on a big screen and relax. Thats my thought at least.
Agreed. I hate this idea of online services being so tied into my games. When they decide to cut online support for your console any titles you have digitally purchased are gone. Those XBL Arcade or PSN games? Gone forever. The same goes for modern shooters like Call Of Duty or others. Once the network is gone half (or many times more since the games are online focused) of your game is now forever. Unplayable for the rest of time. Its a big reason why I support Indie games on PC because they many times give us the ability to host our own servers. Which means that as long as the game can physically run I can get the full experience from the game. No network can tell me that this portion of my game is now gone forever. Its the primary reason I still play Half-Life and its mods. Because Valve gives us the ability to host a server and still to this day can play the games in their entirety completely disconnected from Valve. Now granted Steam does limit this in some ways but cracking Steam/Offline mode is available for most titles like this. (Which again is why I support DRM free indie games.)
The sad thing is the steam box was to be made to help people get into PC gaming easier. It was like an introduction if you will. To be able to get the same PC quality experience without having to learn how to build them for gaming. But then they mess up the idea with letting 13 different companies build a steam box with different specs and prices. They completely shot themselves in the foot and it's a shame. But..it's the sad truth. The steambox will probably fail.
I would have to disagree with you when you say that the Steam Box concept is a bad idea because it will 'help people get into PC gaming easier'. Learning how to build a PC is a daunting task that many casual or current console gamers would prefer not to deal with so to make a system that is already built for it's purpose is a good thing. I believe that, in time, people who buy a Steam Box will learn how to build a system or upgrade their Steam Box if they choose to move to PC gaming fully.
It's the free market. I don't think Target and Walmart are gonna stock the $1,000 steam machines, but they will stock the $500 ones rocking r9 270xs. I remember the price point and specs from Cyber Power and another that hit $500 looked the most appealing. The other ones were blowing smoke.
you should totally do a video on digital vs physical media, its gonna be a sad day when you cant physically buy a video game anymore, The Evil Within actually came with a manual(which i thought were extinct) and it blew my freakin mind
AdamKoralik As a PC gamer I think you should. Even though I have like 170 games on steamI kinda feel that I don't own them and I'm just renting them longterm. Also remember allot of PC gamers (including myself) made a big deal of the fact that The Witcher 3 for PC is sold on GoodOldGames DRM free.
DRM Free still doesn'tc mean you OWN game. sure you now have a copy of the game on your HDD and that's all well and good. but let's say GOG goes bankrupt tomorrow and your Hardrive dies which is a common occurrence, you are at that point fucked, whereas if you had the disc version, you still have it even if teh service offering it no longer does. That's main advantage of Physical media. Of course the disadvantage being taht physical media can break, but no distribution method is without faults. I'd argue Physical is the only way to truly own your games (also them being drm free and not online-dependent)
I love the STEAM controller the Link was great too but I replaced its usage with the SHIELD TV far more usable outside of just streaming. I still use the STEAM controller on my PC.
All really good points. I personally have a well performing, self built gaming rig, which as you said is my main gaming platform. However, sitting at a desk to play games isn't always appealing at times, so being able to set up a steam box in my living room and sit on a couch is a major selling point for me, plus it lets me space out more techincal games like EVE: Online and WoW on my PC's HDD, and more controller based games like Batman and Dark Souls on my steam box.
AdamKoralik It depends though. Unless you are only using for it gaming only, I don't think anyone would wan't their PC hooked up to a television in, a the living room. I sure wouldn't. I mean, that's what the Steam Machine is meant to be used in living room, not your bedroom. If you have no interest in gaming in the living room, and only your bedroom, then yeah there's no point.
I totally agree with you dude. I'm a pc gamer and also love consoles. Getting past not having physical media is a bit hard at first but it seems so justified with some of the sales you get. Crazy good sales. Anyways steam machines seem kind of oddly marketed. I mean most major pc gamers build their own rig, it's not very hard either. But I can just build my own steam machine if I wanted to and actually build it for cheaper than most of the asking prices.
AdamKoralik Hearing some of your commentary on what makes a console a console and why that is better to some people than simply PC gaming (or at least feels a bit better), I started thinking about what sort of ways you could sell a product to particularly sell those very console-y gaming type things we've seen, and I sort of thought about it and was maybe curious if you had any thoughts on it. I was thinking that maybe you could sell it as a unique aesthetic experience for one, starting with the controller. Things like the VMU on the Dreamcast (which gave you minigames, another video display, and the different packs you could get like rumble and such), the 3 pronged layout on the N64 (which gave you a choice to have using the trigger and control stick combo or the d-pad and trigger combo for different things), or even just Sixaxis for PS3, all gave game developers interesting ways to make a great physical gameplay experience to match the gameplay in terms of genre and such. So perhaps a console that offered a unique controller or set of controllers (even things that are not quite controllers in the traditional sense) could help, and certain design choices could help reinforce that. For example, the standard controller, or one of the standard controller if there were different sorts of controllers for it would probably benefit from a 6 button layout, triggers, bumpers, analogue stick(s), and possibly a d-pad, since more buttons means more possible unique allocation of actions. Something similar to the VMU but perhaps with some touch functionality wouldn't be a bad idea for a really unique experiences. Even little things like the audio output from the PS4 controller and microphone type things allow for interesting gameplay experiences. That could be an interesting way to market a console, as that would allow someone developing for that platform to develop games with your particularly manufactured controller in mind, and might attract developers actually looking to give you a gameplay experience. Also, a console marketed for a sort of aesthetic experience would be complemented really well by physical releases of video games I think. I mean think about the ways games have used different aspects of things involved in physical releases to heighten the gameplay experience. MGS:2's game manual that had a tutorial in the form of a manga for example, the character bios and artwork, stylized game maps like with the Elder Scrolls games, MGS's use of the game's case in a puzzle (sort of), even feelies like the old adventure games used to give out (different game objects represented with real objects and in game documents). This could be used to sell not just on playing a game but encourage collecting and the immersive experience of it. Grant it, the only things is I'm not sure if how well an 'ArtBox' so to speak like that would sell, as it's clearly marketed at the niche market of actually dedicated gamers, but our weakness are ultimately tied to our strengths as well. If you could hit this dedicated market with exclusive games marketed directly at them with unique utilization of the interaction of the physical interaction with the gameplay style and the collectible aspects included in the physical release, you'd be running unopposed and get a lot of support from that small group of people. The brand loyalty a console like that could get marketing to the hardcore gamers and maybe even the people who want to enjoy it as a sort of artistic experience could be immense and if they bought enough games for it, then who knows. If you made it a cheap but effective console, maybe in the style of the Dreamcast where it's easy to program because of 'off the shelf' components, then maybe it could turn a profit depending. If the rest of gaming is fading into the tablet games and online gaming for mostly casuals and/or turning some gamers to PC, why not try to market to the group that's damned either way? So, I'm curious if you think maybe this would be a successful model (though it's not the realistic way Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft are going obvious), or if maybe it's a direction that some company might go for in the future.
Interesting to see how a few years down the line, these things flopped as predicted. What I never understood is how SteamOS is meant to be the unique selling point. It was always available for PC, and it's just linux. Windows has 100% of the steam library. Linux does not. Why would anyone want a lesser library? People would argue that you could install windows on these things. Great. That's what I did on my PC. What casual is going to bother messing with that?
Steam box I feel is the result of Gabe looking at his money from a summer sell and going "Why not?" But you are right.. No one is going to want it. Though internet speed aside digital media through steam is not really any different from physical media unless you are one of those people who set up an account and do not remember your password.. EVERYTHING you buy on steam is saved to your account, you may lose local data in some cases *saved games and what not* but you always have the ability to re download if you need to. There is no limit, you buy a game on steam you own that game. It is your game, steam cannot tell you when and when you cannot download it. But as you said A LOT of people do not understand hardware or even software requirements and often end up with a game that simply will not work on their computer , and part of it is on the consumer but a lot of it is on the developers as well in my opinion.. Who cares if the graphics for say vista users are not the same as graphics for say a windows 7 or 8 user. Just make it work! I mean if saintsrow3 and 4 of all titles supported 3 different forms of direct x there is no reason way bigger company's should not in my opinion.
The Steam Box (Steam Machine, whatever it is being called now) would probably be of most interest to people who are both console and PC gamers (yes, there are people who are both) that want that console playing experience with the types of games that have traditionally been exclusive to computers... but even that doesn't make that much sense, because typically those games have been exclusive to the PC because of the control limitations of a console controller and needing a full keyboard to make the game practical to play.
I don't know if you've done an update on the SteamBox but it isn't really licensed out. It's an open specification for an open system. I'm building and selling them already to SteamOS "early adopters" and there's nothing Valve have even tried to do to stop anyone do that. And yes I'm mainly a PC gamer and love my SteamBox. It gives a good middle ground between a PC's gaming and a consoles "sit in front of the TV, not at a desk" experience. But I've got to admit I've played my games on the TV with my keyboard on my lap for years now.
i play on PC and i don't need steamos to use steam big picture mode,(which is pretty much what steamos is). I can also configure steam so that when i boot my pc it go's straight into big picture mode so that i can plug in a 360 pad or DS3 or any other gamepad i have laying around and only control my pc with a gamepad. I also think that the steam big picture mode layout is better and even more simple than the ps4 or xboxone's dashboard.
Kind of a moot point considering how many console mods there are to change your controller pad, use controller macros, or use a keyboard and mouse on the console.
I have decided to opt for the PC instead of the traditional consoles simply because don't like paying $400-$500 + an online membership for a gimped computer when I already own computer. Most of the games I want come out for the PC, and aside from upgrading RAM & video card, my original PC from 2007 still works. (Can't say the same for my PS and 360 consoles.) Aside from Nintendo's first parties, I feel that my PC can do just about everything the 8th gens can do. And I already own my computer. Love the channel keep up the good work!
Also, I believe that 'single-format gaming' is an excellent idea. I know there are downsides to it but, I believe, ending the console war is the way forward. I also think that in a few years time the gap between PC and console gaming will close so what we essentially have is cheaper gaming PCs that can run games in the same way the current systems do.
The only reason I like the steambox (and SteamOS in particular) is because it might finally drag the gaming industry kicking and screaming into the wonderful world of Linux. As a PC gamer, and linux fan, I have often lamented the need to rely on Windows in order to game on my PC. If Valve is able to put sufficient pressure on the gaming industry to develop Linux compatibility then I, and many of my fellow frustrated linux brethren, might finally be able to free ourselves from the MS juggernaut once and for all. To answer your question directly, no I do not want a Steam Box, but I do want it to succeed because what's good for Steam Box is good for Linux gaming.
I personally think the biggest advantage of the Steam Box is that it can play all games. Meaning that it could play the entire steam library where the Xbox 360/PS3 has a clear separation from the Xbox One/PS4 library. So i think that could really be a decision point for some buyers.
AdamKoralik, I'm new to PC gaming and I can say that, had the steambox been available in the past year, I would have bought it instead of a gaming PC. That's because, as you said, gaming PC's are complicated and demand a lot of work and research to aquire and maintain. I think Valve is trying to offer a product that allows the benefits of PC gaming and Steam to a crowd that is used to consoles. I played on consoles all my life, from the sega genesis to the Playstation 2 and sure can tell you that the steambox would have been more atractive to me than a gaming PC because it would be what I wanted in a PC presented in a familiar, easier and simpler package. And I sure can tell you I'm no casual gamer. I don't even have a smartphone neither a tablet lolz.
maybe the masses are not their main public. I think valve is trying to target gamers that want to migrate from consoles to pc gaming. I did just that because I don't like the direction the console market is heading, like you said in your video series, and the steambox would have helped that migration for me. However, now that i have my gaming rig, the steambox is useless to me. So I think Valve wants to capture the gamer who stands in that middle ground, between the console and pc world.
I've been mostly a PC gamer for the past few years, and you are spot on about the Steambox. It's for no one. I have no idea who's supposed to want it. 13? Casuals obv won't be able to decide... Even with the right specs, I know I'd prefer building my own PC, which could do a lot more, over buying the Steambox. But I guess no matter what, Valve gets the licensing fees. When it tanks they can say the other companies din't market it right.
As far as I can tell, the incentive to get a Steam Machine (for PC users) is to have a PC "consolized" in the living room. You could by definition do that if you either wait for SteamOS (which I'm going to because not only does it "consolize" it, but it also, as valve put it (I'm paraphrasing, but) "it cuts out the fluff of operating systems so that game developers can take full advantage of a computer's power", which I'm sure it does mainly by using a very small amount of RAM for the operating system) to come out then just "consolize" your current PC if it's good enough or if you were tech savvy enough to make a front-end system for your computer and hooked it up properly. I digress, I think the lower end versions (the IBuyPower model and the CyberPower model) are going to be for console gamers because they don't really care if the system is top of the line, they just want PC specific games too (which it'll play modern games well, I know because I've seen a beta model play Metro Last Light perfectly). The lower end models will also be for PC gamers who want cheap a cheap "consolized" PC. (I'm sure the quotations are getting annoying by now, I'm annoying myself with them.) The higher end, more expensive models are going to be for lazy PC gamers who don't actually know what the fuck they're doing with their computer. Granted, that's a very small portion of PC gamers, but it still exists. Hell, I have to use fucking TeamViewer to remote control my friend's computer just to install a mod for him. In fact, he doesn't know the specs of his computer at all. That's who the Steam Machine is marketed to as far as PC gamers go, people who have no idea what they're doing or are too lazy to do/learn what to do. It'll be for them and rich console gamers who want to brag, kind of similar to people who bought the Neo Geo AES way back when, aside from the fact that it had some awesome games. tl;dr: The Steam Machine has an audience. The lower end is for console gamers and cheap PC users, the the higher end for lazy PC users and rich console snobby console gamers. That may not always be the case, but I have a feeling that that'll be the majority of the console gamers' reason to get a higher end model because come on, what console gamer is going to spend $6k on a fucking console?
The one thing i'm curious will there be offline mode for steam machines. I assume it's only digital cause of it uses the steam os. Despite most games being digital, some games that are physical copies will require steam, so even though you cannot connect to steam servers, you can still play your games offline, it will just tell you that you cannot connect to the steam servers, and it would ask you if you want to use offline mode. As a gamer, don't really want it, cause I already have a gaming pc and my pc can do more than the steam box. One reason I like PC gaming over the console gaming is the mods. The mods for Skyrim are amaaazzing, GTA IV, the character model mods for SSFIV pc and etc, they don't have steam workshop support, and require different means of modding, by dragging and pasting. As for physical copy games, I have a ton of em on pc, borderlands 2, sims 3 and expansions, Dragon Age, ME1-3 etc, but if I can't find a physical copy of a game, I would buy the digital copy.
I agree with your points about who will want this but one thing I think valve could argue is casuals use phones and tablets and they have more variety for devices there. Granted phones and tablets do more than gaming but still. I think being that valve primarily deals with the pc fragmentation isn't something they worry about because it's part of their business.
I've been a console gamer since 95 and I love the concept of the Steam Machine. And that is because of three reasons: 1) I hate physical media. There was a time when I collected games. And consoles. And then they started to take up too much space and got too tedious to manage. With digital copies, all your games are right at your fingertips, always. Yes, physical media have pretty cover art. Except in the US and Europe they often don't: sometimes they have cheesy 3D artworks (particularly in the 32bit era) or they're budget re-releases or whatever. BTW yes, I still have a PSP Go. Don't laugh! 2) I want backwards compatibility. I really wanted to like the Xbox One, but I'm neither willing to keep multiple consoles connected to my TV nor am I willing to start over from scratch. A Steam Machine on the other hand lets me play every! single! mayor Tomb Raider game ever released! It lets me play not just the new DoubleFine releases, but also Tim's classics like Psychonauts and Grim Fandango. And all of that on the same system! 3) I want an all-in-one multimedia system, but the Xbox One doesn't go far enough. There are a lot of open questions regarding the Linux-based Steam Machines (they'll have limited backwards compatibility as well), but the great thing about Steam is its broad approach: if you want backwards compatibility, use Windows. If you want more functionality, add software. Yes, that goes against the plug-and-play nature, but it adds flexibility. To me, Steam Machines combine the advantages of PCs (compatibility, flexibility) and game consoles (small, WAF, TV-friendly, GAMEPADS). I don't care about cutting edge graphics, I just want all my entertainment in one system.
I agree with your points here, I was talking with a friend a couple months ago, I said "You know what the billion dollar idea is for a console? A console that blends PC gaming and console gaming successfully." My friend went on to say that Steambox/SteamOS is that idea in mind. In my head I'm thinking no, because the Steambox isn't really a console.
Dual booted my PC with SteamOS to see how it is, personally I've really enjoyed it for what it is. The Steambox is definitely marketed for people who want to get involved in PC gaming but don't have quite the know how and/or patience to work with PC's. Also, Gabe Newell seems extremely concerned that Windows OS will become more and more restricted (8 is pitiful), which could disrupt sales on Steam. As to whether it'll take off, your guess is good as mine. I'm more excited to test out the in-home streaming. It's only set up for LAN at the moment, but in theory you could attempt to stream over the internet via Hamachi.
I don't get what Valve is trying to do with the Steam Box. You can just buy a build PC in a store and put SteamOS on it, right? It's based on Linux, so it's free. If you had to pay for it to have your own gaming dedicated operating system I'd kind of understand. If it was just one machine so programmers could optimize their games for that machine I'd understand. But this just doesn't make sense to me.
I'm a PC gamer, and I already have an open Beta version of SteamOS installed on my PC, alongside Windows. It's just an operating system, just like Windows. It's not a console, and isn't meant to be one. The different Steamboxes are just PCs. They happen to have SteamOS preinstalled, rather than Windows. PCMasterRace was actually really excited for SteamOS, so they could PC game, without ever touching a keyboard.
Wow...never heard of you until I saw you in my sidebar of another tech video. I basically took my entire day watching all your videos about the recent generation of consoles. And although I'm primarily a PC gamer at this point in time, I pretty much agree with most of what you say! I just subscribed :) How often do you make new videos?
well, you see in owning 4 st78 gaming juxipositions i find that the simmilarities in the processes make for inevitable resuretions of the phestisiatic marketplace. its quite simple, the averege postina is going to range from about 9-12 potental retins that will make it surely viable. for theose of you who dont know hwat a retin is, it is the pinacle of the ramparto in the terms of 7 benevilouns. am i right guys??
As mentioned before, the architecture of all Steam Boxes is the same (x86, like any PC). All Steam Box really is is a new controller and a limited version of Linux that only runs on components that are specified by Valve. This allows Valve to ensure a good gaming experience because the hardware must meet a certain standard. The limited variables of a short list of compatible parts also leads to more optimization than a wide-open platform like Windows, but less than traditional consoles.It's a lot like Apple in that regard. The reason there are so many Steam Boxes is that, since they're literally just PCs with of-the-shelf parts, any boutique PC manufacturer can just slap the right parts and StreamOS free unlike Windows) into a groovy case and bring it to market. All that being said, it's appeal I'd indeed dubious at best.
I like using my keyboard and mouse and I like having physical media too, which I know is rare for a PC gamer these days. I do like the Steam sales, especially for Indie games and games I wasn't sure I wanted to pay full price for (or for games where the publisher pissed me off, such as Rise of the Tomb Raider). I'm more willing to trust Valve because they have that commitment to support their games in the event the company goes under (I'm not entirely clear on exactly how that's supposed to work, but I'll look into it if it ever looks like it might actually happen). I'm not all that interested in a Steam Box, although my interest would go up if it had a disk drive. I love having a desktop for 101 reasons, only a few of which involve gaming. Yes, not having to worry about upgrades would be nice, but from the sounds of it, the Steam Box doesn't exactly get rid of that anyway. The only thing I'm really interested in coming from the Steam Box is the one piece of hardware that seems to be the holdup - the controller. There are several PC games that just work better with a controller. I was hoping they would come out with a good controller that would be easily integrated with all or most PC games. Unfortunately, that seems to not be the case. I was hesitant with the design that Valve had originally pushed, but I probably would have given it a shot if it had gone to market. It seems the Alpha and Beta testers did not like it at all and it ended up being taken back to the drawing board. I honestly don't know if that's good or bad as I never had a chance to try it myself. What I think Valve should do instead of focusing so heavily on hardware is instead turn to software. They're popular and well-known enough that they could seriously challenge Window's monopoly on operating systems for PCs - maybe not in the business world or even a majority, but if they can chip away at their base, it would be a vast improvement and force Microsoft to compete. Especially as Microsoft is seemingly trying to branch into Steam's territory with Live for PC or whatever it is. (I don't count the Mac OS as competition for Microsoft as Apple doesn't seem interested in selling their OS, just the hardware which comes with and requires their OS, which is why Mac OS upgrades are so cheap and often free.)
I have an HP pavilion dm4 3055 dx. Great little rig. I bought it so that I could go into college as a programmer. It wasn't long before I decided I'd like to play TF2 with my friends, which introduced me to Steam, which introduced me to the fact that, when on the lowest settings, I can actually play most games. Still, I don't want to tax my PC too much, so when I heard about the Steambox I was intrigued. That said, when I heard about it, there was only one. I might as well just save up and buy a straight up gaming computer, but seriously, those things are hella expensive.
Until end of 2019 I didn't like digital versions of games and game streaming, but because of of the discount prices in the Playstation Store, the monthly free games on Playstation and Xbox, and because of the Gamepass I prefer digital games now. Also I like to change the game with only a button push instead changing the CD or cartridge every time. But I think the companies should always still give the people the choice to choose physical media for many reasons.
I'm a PC Gamer and no, I don't want the Steambox the only consoles I purchase are Nintendo wants. The Steambox makes no sense. Console gamers avoid PC gaming cause of like you said balance, drivers, updating shit, building a PC or buying one, etc and etc. And then PC gamers are gonna go "I have my PC if I wanna play like a console I plug it into my TV and get a 360 controller." Also, if a console gamer gets a Steam Machine they'll likely get the cheapest one (like 500 dollars or whatever it is) they'll take it home and quickly notice it's not powerful enough to run jack shit. Whew that was a wall of text I didn't intend to write. Anyway thanks for reading. See ya.
the only thing i like about the steam box could be the price if they could make one around 399 - 499 that can play most games at 1080p .but lets wait and see not goinbg to judge something when it hasnt been release
If valve pulls off the family sharing idea well enough, I have a massive library of games that would be great to play on a couch/tv machine. I already really like big picture mode, so whether or not I just build a steambox or buy one remains to be seen, but it will happen since I have a large number of games my wife wants to play.
I bought the alienware alpha, which is a steam box, but if it didn't come with a windows operating system, I probably would not have bought the thing. I even deleted the alienware ui, which gave it that console like feel. The only thing that UI did other than being clunky was make it more difficult to boot up and I think made it more difficult to connect the machine to the contoller. With it - 20 seconds Without it - instantaneously
Those who look forward to Steamboxes are usually Linux users who want to game without booting to Windows. Since the OS for Steamboxes is Linux-based, their hope is that Valve efforts not only increase the number of games on Linux, but also makes it a better gaming system with technologies like Vulkan, which may benefit other distros.
I'm curious, for GameSocietyPimps do you just deal with digital games because your associates are fine with them and you don't want to cause any problems? I'm not familiar with the channel but I'm just wondering
This definitely seems like an interesting console. At least it doesn't squander gamers out of their money through on-line gaming like the PS4 and Xbox One do. Here's how I have it arranged: PC>Wii U>Steambox>PS4>Xbox One
I agree with most of your points- but I think the idea of Steambox (under the most ideal circumstances) isn't really targeted toward overtaking consoles at all. In fact, I see Steambox as just an operating system and a controller design, with the hardware and in some cases even the games not necessarily factoring into the equation at all. What's really promising about the idea of Steambox, I think (again, if it works at all) is providing a service platform which developers can create on and consumers can use for gaming without having to go through a proprietary operating system (Windows) every step of the way. In that sense, Steambox is really more like a console dev kit with some degree of promised interoperability and market penetration that's available to everyone freely (as in beer, not freedom). I'd say Steambox is a kind of natural evolution of what MS originally did with introduction of DirectX api, tweaked for internet age and independent developers. When viewed in that light, the craziest and the most optimal/unlikely scenario Steambox can be subject to would be something that might happen 10 years down the road- with some of the consoles out there (Nintendo? Sony?) deciding to support Steambox development environment in their own hardware to bail themselves out of one or another type of upheaval in the market.
I am one of those gamers in the middle. I play on console and pc. 95% of my computer games are on Steam, and I for one actually really like Steam. For PC games I don't mind digital content even if it is essentially "renting" the games. For Console if I'm buying a game it has to be a physical copy, I try not to get digital console games. For the Steambox, I can see a reason for them offering several options = so they will be at different price points. Adam you mentioned that people with different Steamboxes will have different specs playing the same game and could effect the game-play; that is no different than it currently is with PC gaming so I don't feel that it would change anything in that aspect. I have messed around with the SteamOS which is basically Steam Big Picture mode on top of a Linux distro. The only thing I like about is it that theoretically I can have a shitty pc hooked up to my TV and stream games across my network from my actual gaming computer. I'm only really excited for the Steam Controller. Currently I just use my Asus gaming laptop connected the TV and set Steam in Big Picture Mode using Windows. I personally will not be getting an official "Steambox" as I think people who purchase gaming computers are paying too much and they should just make it themselves or have a friend help them if they are really serious.
As Primarily a PC gamer I want a Steam box to play games on my couch, I don't have to buy the same game 3-4 times I can buy it once and have it on all my devices. Super big feature that you may not know is the Steam in Home Streaming, if the system wont play a game for Windows we can stream it from our desktop to our Steam Box. There are so many options for the Steam Box because they want people to have a set of options, if you buy the 6K system you can use it as a Steam Server and use lower powered boxes around the house to play games on. Best video I can give you to show the power of this is this Steam In Home Streaming Explained & Tested Also you can still buy physical media for PC games. I own the Physical copy of Borderlands 2 on PC, (also oblivion, and skyrim) but even today you can buy a PC game on disk. I hope you give that video a watch, you may like it :D
Personally, I would define a 'gaming console' as: 'any system dedicated to, and designed for, gaming.' So, yeah, that would also define a gaming PC as a gaming console, in theory.
i kinda like those steam boxes but i just rebuilt my pc into a htpc case to fit it into my living room, so i also don´t really need a steam box anymore^^ just plug in a 360 controller into the front usb, load up steam in big picture mode and you are ready to go, it is just like playing the 360/ps3 =)
I think the Idea behind the Steambox is just a simplified computer, already intended to play games (so by default, its HW will handle anything at reasonable performances) but i think It willallow to use it as a normal pc too.
Just wanted to address a few things: 1) Disclaimer: I'm a Linux enthusiast, therefore I am already excited for the Steambox (granted it's running SteamOS, a linux distro based on Debian). 2) I'd say the difference between the 3DO and Steambox is that, unlike the 3DO, the Steambox competitors can have more wiggle room, catering to the casual gamer (using lower-end graphics, like Gigabyte's one with Intel Graphics) or the hardcore gamer (like the Jetpack concept one). 3) Different architecture? What do you mean by that, exactly? I'm just curious, since all games will be running on PC. Perhaps you mean different setups? Sorry if I misunderstood you. 4) Who are they catering too? I will say that I'm not entirely sure, other than sorta...possibly users who want another box somewhere (which...I doubt there would be many). So yeah, that's something I question a lot, too. 5) I think the only way they could market to casuals is to label things as what they are (like the casual box or whatnot). Anyway, not trying to argue nor disprove your points, just offering a bit of input (and trying to be a bit more active...maybe overdoing it D: sorry!) and yeah. Also, I am torn over digital vs physical. I do share many beliefs that you do regarding relying upon services, but also see the benefits of digital. That's why I'm still weary of getting into Steam, but also really do want to get into it (since I do like a few PC games anyway). Anyway (again), sorry for lengthy, perhaps confrontational (didn't mean it that way :/) post!
Addressing point 3, yes I mean different setups. I admit I phrased this poorly. Actually I don't find you confrontational at all, no worries. Thanks for watching.
I'm waiting for Linux to have a spot in the games market. I mean, a number of dev companies have begun making their games compatible with OSX, which has a relatively small number of gaming users. If the major market shifts away from consoles and more towards computers via streaming and digital distribution services, maybe the small but vocal Linux community will get some attention... or maybe proprietary machines running SteamOS or another company's equivalent will become popular. Who knows?
The initial benchmark difference between DirectX on Windows and OpenGL on Steam OS is staggering. Windows > Steam OS by some 30-60% difference with the same hardware. There's a vicious cycle where there needs to be better adoption of Linux on gaming computers for there to be better driver development, but no one should buy a Steam Machine if they're playing games 1/2 as well with apple to apple hardware.
Reasons I think would be not only because you can play it on your TV like a console but that it has a huge library of low cost games. The definitive version of popular multi-platform games is always the PC version. Makes one wonder why have consoles at all and not just make every title a PC game. At the end of the day, Xbox one and PS4 basically are PCs now anyway. The only advantage is they are hardware locked which is both a positive and a negative.
I might buy a steambox as gaming system, though i'm not sure why i just would not build another computer :D . But if they guarantee hardware support for steamos, then maybe. Edit: Just realized I could build it anyways with the same hardware, stupid me X)
I've been seeing your videos, I totally agree with a lot of the stuff you say about digital not being actually owning the games, I'm both pc and console gamer, I just wanted to comment that not all pc gamers have the "rental" or "disposable" mindset and love steam. I don't, in fact I hate that mindset, I hate steam, I hate digital distribution, online only things... you get the point... I like to have a physical disc so I can install the game and play it not just when it's the latest thing, 10 years from now, 20 years from now... I can listen to a 20 years old record, I can watch a 20 years old movie, it should be the same with games. I don't like that everything now has to be online, digital, depends on the internet to do stuff that can be done offline... and I never cared for multiplayer, for me the real game is the single player story mode. multiplayer might be nice, it's not for me, but forcing it to be the only thing is not good, I remember my dissappointment when quake 3 came out, I was like "what?, it's like a multiplayer map with bots?, no story mode??, this is not a real game!". I hate the fact that lots of current pc games and even console games focus on multiplayer and don't pay attention to make a really good single player game, if it has single player at all. well... as I said, I agree with you on lots of things, maybe it's a generational mindset, I've been playing games since 80s, my first console when I was a kid was atari 2600, I've been playing on PC since I was a kid too so I don't see pc games as disposable or the rental thing you mention in your videos, I see them just like console games: "I want to own the physical media so I can put it in the thing and play it". I keep a couple of older computers around to cover the 80s and 90s, sometimes older pc games don't work in a current pc :( as for consoles, sadly I stopped caring after the ps2 and dreamcast generation, I didn't get a xbox360 or ps3 because "the stuff I like is on pc anyway" and ps3 was too expensive... somehow I'm not attracted to the seventh generation... they don't feel like consoles, I'm like "what is this?, internet?, hard disk?, operating system?, installing stuff?, I do that on pc... a console should be an offline stand alone thing where you plug it into the tv, you put the cartridge or disc, you turn it on and that's it, the game loads and you play. keep it simple and easy". it's not that I can't handle an operating system and "doing pc stuff", hehe, I'm not dumb and I've been using pc since I was a kid anyway, it's that being "more like pc and less like console" takes out a lot of the charm of consoles. I think you will understand my point... a console feels "consoley" when you plug it in your tv, put a cartridge or disc, turn it on, and the game appears, just like that, you press start and that's it. no OS, no installation, no nothing. current gent IS pc, both xbox one and ps4 are x86 with hard disk, operating system, internet, dlc, some games are digital only and don't come out on discs... I think this won't be the last console generation because the sixth generation already was!. dreamcast, ps2, gamecube and xbox 1 (not one) were the last true consoles for gamers. (and I'm not sure about xbox, it was like a pentium 3 pc, it was x86, the games were made for directx 9... so maybe dreamcast ps2 and gamecube were the last true consoles). oooh, this went too long, sorry, I just wanted to comment because I agree with most of the stuff you say, I don't like digital, I like physical media (for everything), I like consoles being console-y and not pc-y, I don't see the point of steam box...oh, aslo, back in the original console wars I was a big nintendo fanboy, I used to hate sega and sonic haha, I'd never thought I would touch a sega console, my 90s self would kick my ass xD hahaha, but when I got a dreamcast I loved it!!!, and I started to like sonic... then I got a megadrive and I liked it too. hehehe, I think you understand the mindset, if you liked nintendo and mario you hated sega and sonic, and both camps knew you would never see a mario game in a sega console and a sonic game in a nintendo console... so hell froze over for us when sonic started to come out on nintendo consoles, it's "WHAT???, WHERE AM I??, WHAT UNIVERSE IS THIS??" :D anyway, thanks to the dreamcast "the war was over" for me and I'm happy with it, and I got a megadrive and now I play it as much as the nes and snes.
The Controller, is the only thing about the steam machines. Also same architecture dif. components, i also think that some of the value oriented steamboxs will be a great hit because of the pc gaming experience is still there but for a fraction of it + controller. But also the steam OS is available right now to download on your machine, granted its really buggy but its there. I think steamboxs are really dumb, the main premises of it is that it is a mITX,(Mini Components into a small case), add a controller by valve (its changed like twice since initial announcement) and you have a pc not a console.
I think the steam machine might have a very small niche in the gaming market for people like me and SwankyGaming. I am mostly a console gamer but I also love pc games however, I game on a laptop because I don't have the money or desire to build a gaming rig. When I first heard of the steambox I was intrigued because it would be fun to play games like Skyrim with all the mods on my tv. However, I could only see people going after the cheapest option which, to be honest, isn't even as good as my 3 year old laptop so it isn't even worth it in the end. Just throwing my two cents in.
Thanks for that, further adding to the almost pointless nature of the Steam Machine. So far, almost no one seems to know what the point of it is. The theory seems to be it's for casuals, but this model is broken because of the inconsistent nature of the machine.
It's even worse (or better) : they are PC. You can build one yourself. You just have put their Operating System on it (SteamOS, just an Linux that boot steam directly) I'm a PC gamer. I love consoles too (Wii U promies cool stuffs, I'm a nintendo fan since the SNES, etc) An interesting thing is that you can steam your game from your PC to a steambox (or another PC) and plug it to a TV/porjector and play Windows games easily on a couch-sitted experience.
As a PC gamer, I'm excited mainly for the OS more than a "Steam Box". I really want to use my PC to game on my TV, but the idea of navigating through Windows on my TV and doing things like updating drivers is unappealing. I like that the drivers will always be up to date and there will be very minimal resources allocated to the OS. When the OS comes out of beta (I'm assuming this will coincide with the release of all the Steam Box's), I haven't decided if I will just build a new PC, or buy a Steam Box. The ibuypower version looked pretty nice, and most of their designs are easily upgrade-able, which is a necessity if I'm going to buy one. As for the controller...eh. It looks awkward and from the reviews it sounds like it takes a lot to get used to it. I may just figure out a way to still use a keyboard and mouse for shooters and use a 360 controller for everything else.
Well, it's just Debian GNU/Linux set up properly for gamers, not much of a deal. You could probably set up one of these things yourself by just autostart Steam in Big Picture Mode.
***** Done that already and have a triple boot machines (SteamOS/Win 7 BGP autostarted / Arch Linux for retro gaming), Windows 7 would get cut in a second if all my games were on SteamOS. I can't stand Windows nagging me and the GeForce Experenience blowing my game out of fullscreen.
Mikey D Interesting setup, although I don't get your point of having Arch for games as well since Debian (SteamOS, Ubuntu) can run these just fine. Then again, wouldn't it been for the whole NSA shit lately, I'd probably setup a trible boot with Se7en and OSX as well. OSX may be a stupid choice as it's still UNIX but having all those three monsters side by side sounds fun and useful to me.
Actually my RetorRig project (github.com/ProfessorKaos64/RetroRig) uses Ubuntu but will branch to other distro's maybe or be an ISO at some point. Thanks for the nice reply. Since XBMC is or already pushed into SteamOS (I think the beta has it), I may be able to integrate my project into SteamOS in the future, which would be awesome.
I just want a alien alpha because I can play really really old games and I can play brand new games such as cod aw or the crew I would have such a larger gaming options it would blow my mind
I like to have my media digital, because it actually saves space and is still easy to manage, but I still want to be able to access it offline. That's why I'm sceptical against the new PS4 game streaming service through which you will be able to stream PS3 games. If the service is down or my internet is down, I cant play them, and that sucks. If I can STORE the games in my PS3 digitally, then at least I can play them when either service is down. That's why I'm probably getting a PS3 instead of a PS4. House of the Dead 3 and 4 for the win...
I was a console fanboy up until the announcement of this current gen, when I built my pc. Since then, my console friends have also wanted a pc, but they don't want to spend the time learning how to build a pc. So I think the steambox markets to the gamer that falls between casuals and hardcore that want to play AAA titles as well as the best indie games. I don't think that's a very big market share, and despite my love of steam, it doesn't deserve it's own box.
If i was going to build a dedicated gaming rig that was specifically designed only for gaming and to maybe put in my living room and plug into my tv then i might consider using steam OS for that and set up big picture to auto load up. However, i would not buy a steam machine. The controller looks interesting but would need to test. Currently using a wireless 360 pad.
I think you're a little too focused on the 13 iterations thing. Sure, a lot of those aren't going to pan out, and that will be fine for the users because they'll still function (I would imagine), but beyond that I think the market will weed out the right specs and price-points for itself and will naturally settle on probably a couple or a few. But this will also leave the space open in the market for anyone else to enter and compete if they can do it better and cheaper.
i am pc gamer and i have no clue what the steam box is for. For the casuals it to complicated and for the few pc gamers that want a console like experience will build one, so the hardware is mostly useless, but the good part of this is the software steam is bring gaming to Linux and hopefully will make gaming on Linux a lot better
The only benefit to a steam machine is you can hook it up to you tv and play games from your gaming rig remotely. I think they are trying to get the people who want to get in to pc gaming but are afraid of the whole system maintenance part. There putting Alienware alpha's next to xbox one's in my local stores.
Steambox you could get a usb disk drive. That will solve your problem with the whole physical media thing. It is literally a PC. Everything that a PC can do can also be done with a steambox. Btw I would recommend checking out GOG.com. It's the best digital way of owning games. You could do anything with the installer with no limitations such as drm(cd keys, a background program such as steam). You could literally make a dvd\bluray that will work on any computer without hassle(it just installs and you could then play your game).
I am interested in trying a SteamBox. Just because I'm a huge PC gaming fan. But what really turns me off is that all the SteamBoxes coming out are running SteamOS. And the problem with that is Steam OS is a Linux based system. There fore you can only download games from the Linux section of Steam. And if you ask me, the selection of games for Linux is very small. So until they make SteamOS run every game on Steam. I'm going to stick with my PC.
...I wasn't expecting this video... That was actually a well rounded 'deleted scene'. You opened my eyes a bit. For at least a year I have been puzzling as to who the Steambox will be for. There will naturally be some PC gamers who also have consoles, and they will purchase the steam box for loyalty reasons, but the vast majority won't. Console gamers, as a whole, probably won't get one either unless it ends up being cheaper the a Wii U without a tablet AND has physical back-up copies of it's games. I never thought of the casual market...that being said, I'm not so sure that the Casual Market would get hooked onto the Steam Box soon enough for it to keep from being a failure. Still, that is a pretty likely theory.
I totally agree with you Adam I console and pc game. I couldn't agree with you more my view on the steam box is just more money for valve that's it... I prefer console because it's easier than building a pc with money I don't have and I'll have to upgrade it so many times which is a pain in the ass -.- but whatever that's just what I think of the steam box if people like it they like it
Hey Adam I just thought of something that might make you more lenient on digital content, if implemented. Now I don't know if this is a feature of prime or not, but anytime I buy a physical music cd from Amazon, I automatically have access to the digital version on Amazon, to me it seems at no additional cost. What if Steam implemented this?I think it'd be the best of both worlds to order a game and b able to download it while you wait for it to come in. I actually think that would make Steambox a viable console...minus the 200 versions of it. As a PC gamer though you're right, I could care less about it. To me its just...Alienware with a Valve OS? Eh...I guess thats interesting.
I'm an old school console gamer, turned PC at around the end of the 00's. No interest in Steambox. The reason I switched to PC was the ability to build ridiculously overpowered machines, and shrink my consoles to a single box via emulation. I feel the opposite from you about physical media. I prefer having things digital, although I see where you're coming from, and I can respect that. As a teen, I had shitty parents that would kick me out on more than one occasion, so lugging around that SNES/Genesis/3DO/PS1 became a chore. That being said, I miss the charm of the older console generations, but you're staying to see console releases on PC, given the console "feel", with better graphics and now 3D even if the game doesn't natively support it (thanks nVidia). Gaming-wise, I think we have similar tastes. So as a console gamer at heart, I only choose PC as a matter of what's pragmatic in my opinion to my situation. Steambox doesn't fit ANY of my criteria. I want ridiculous graphics in 3D. I want an endless retro library without a bunch of boxes/carts/discs. I want to use the controller of my choice (PS4 ftw). I want the "console experience" without the console. PC already offers all of this to me, plus I can use it as a PC. Steambox just seems redundant from all perspectives (PC/console) and that controller looks like a nightmare. Thanks but no thanks. I'm good with what I got and I don't mind shelling out $4,000 in another 5 years when I can make everything look so damned pretty and in full 3D.
What do u think about the controller ? Also I just don't get why valve Wouldn't make one for me that just seems like no confidence I also bet they wont release sales numbers when these come out only say how much people installed the os
I do prefer computer for gaming, but I mostly want a steam box because my computer isn't really great at keeping up with games due to how limited it it can, like Bioshock 2 or Rome II I can't play because it is not capable of keeping up with those kind of games. And I do agree of how ridiculous of valve letting 13 companies make their own versions of the Steam Box and already confuses me.
I'm PC Master Race Gamer (just sarcasm :D ) . I use Steam for most games I buy since 2008, and I can't see me buying SteamBox ever!! If I want to play on my TV I simply use a HDMI cable!! I would like to test the controller, but I think I don't need the console, it works on Windows too...
Watching this in retrospect, honestly I kind of feel like it would've made more sense if Valve developed their "Proton" software around the time SteamOS and Steam Machines released to allow better support for Windows-only games. I still don't think it would've been a successful platform regardless, but having a Linux-based OS when the majority of AAA games are developed for Windows without any built-in compatibility layer really didn't help.
I love how you're so active around your fans, thanks!
HeroesOfTime I try.
Jc
@DeltaXygo That's the best explanation of the need for a Steambox I've heard from anyone.
This video should've been longer. Now I have nothing to do.
That's a unique comment.
I play everything, all consoles and PC and I'm here to answer your question as to why a person would want a Steambox/Steam Machine.
I bought an Alienware X51 way before the steambox was ever announced, its about the same size as the launch 360/PS3. given that relatively small form factor (as far as PCs go) I can easily move it from room to room which can't be done with a normal sized desktop computer. now if you add in the addition of the Steam OS which is a linux based OS designed specifically for use on large HD televisions and the Steam controller which is a fully programmable controller that is compatible with every PC game you then have the perfect means to play PC games in a traditional living room setting.
the steambox is not a console and they aren't trying to go after the console gaming market. Valve and PC manufacturers are trying to go after PC gamers that already have gaming PCs but also want an extra supplemental PC that they can use and play games on in their living room,
also PCs have always had physical media, you can still buy plenty of games on disc and even if you buy games digitally you will own those games and are able to play them forever. the great part about PC gaming is that the games are forwards compatible. meaning the games that I buy now will still work on a PC that I buy or build 10 years from now and with the ability to use mods I can make them look like games that came out that year.
and to follow up Valve has almost no money in the game here. the only hardware they are releasing is the Steam controller. the Steam OS is Linux based which means its freeware. when you buy a computer that comes with the Steam OS you don't have to pay extra to get the OS like when you buy a computer with Windows. Valve is doing this only because they love video games and want to give games a new experience and better products. the best example of that is the steam controller itself, controller support is very sporadic among PC games. most games that are on consoles and PC usually support the 360 controller but lots of other games including older games don't support controllers. the steam controller since its fully programmable is compatible with every game on PC new and old.
honestly PC gaming really isn't all that different from consoles, instead of buying a new console every 5-10 years you buy a new graphics card. personally I think you should give it a shot. its initially more expensive to buy a gaming PC than a console but you save money in the long run by buying games cheap on Steam or one of the other major PC gaming retailers.
3:47
Ummm, why did someone say "Woo!" in the background, right after you ended that sentence?
The only reason that I would like a Steambox is because my computer doesn't meet the performance needs, memory, etc. it would be a great opportunity to have a machine that plays the same games my computer does, but better. What is also great about it, is that all of your Devices with the service would be constantly connected (given that you have an internet connection) to your info. But I also see your point. I do have a Playstation and an Xbox, with hard media, but at least give the Steambox a chance.
Yo I can't wait for this to come out. I'll get one and place it next to my Intellivision Amico when that comes out!
IMO, the reason why Valve is making the Steambox is to push PC gaming towards Linux. Steambox is just a regular ass PC (of varying hardware levels) using Valve's in-house Linux-based operating system, SteamOS. Anybody that ports a game to SteamOS now has a Linux port. As more games come to SteamOS, PC gaming on Linux becomes more palatable. Valve has this fear that somehow Microsoft is going to royally fuck up PC gaming, and they want a backup plan.
Me, personally I would want a steam box. There are a bunch of games I have on steam (a lot of games) that I enjoy, but I don't enjoy huddled over a PC desk all the time, and I hate using mice and keyboards on the couch or on the bed with a laptop. I rather beable to play the games I have on a console like system, that hooks up to my TV and play a nice game of Borderlands 2 on a big screen and relax. Thats my thought at least.
It's sad to say some can't fathom they would like a premade box for Steam that has the power of a PC for couch gaming.
Agreed. I hate this idea of online services being so tied into my games. When they decide to cut online support for your console any titles you have digitally purchased are gone. Those XBL Arcade or PSN games? Gone forever. The same goes for modern shooters like Call Of Duty or others. Once the network is gone half (or many times more since the games are online focused) of your game is now forever. Unplayable for the rest of time.
Its a big reason why I support Indie games on PC because they many times give us the ability to host our own servers. Which means that as long as the game can physically run I can get the full experience from the game. No network can tell me that this portion of my game is now gone forever. Its the primary reason I still play Half-Life and its mods. Because Valve gives us the ability to host a server and still to this day can play the games in their entirety completely disconnected from Valve. Now granted Steam does limit this in some ways but cracking Steam/Offline mode is available for most titles like this. (Which again is why I support DRM free indie games.)
The sad thing is the steam box was to be made to help people get into PC gaming easier. It was like an introduction if you will. To be able to get the same PC quality experience without having to learn how to build them for gaming. But then they mess up the idea with letting 13 different companies build a steam box with different specs and prices. They completely shot themselves in the foot and it's a shame. But..it's the sad truth. The steambox will probably fail.
I would have to disagree with you when you say that the Steam Box concept is a bad idea because it will 'help people get into PC gaming easier'. Learning how to build a PC is a daunting task that many casual or current console gamers would prefer not to deal with so to make a system that is already built for it's purpose is a good thing. I believe that, in time, people who buy a Steam Box will learn how to build a system or upgrade their Steam Box if they choose to move to PC gaming fully.
It's the free market. I don't think Target and Walmart are gonna stock the $1,000 steam machines, but they will stock the $500 ones rocking r9 270xs. I remember the price point and specs from Cyber Power and another that hit $500 looked the most appealing. The other ones were blowing smoke.
you should totally do a video on digital vs physical media, its gonna be a sad day when you cant physically buy a video game anymore, The Evil Within actually came with a manual(which i thought were extinct) and it blew my freakin mind
Eh, not sure I feel like dealing with the keyboard warriors on what one.
AdamKoralik As a PC gamer I think you should. Even though I have like 170 games on steamI kinda feel that I don't own them and I'm just renting them longterm. Also remember allot of PC gamers (including myself) made a big deal of the fact that The Witcher 3 for PC is sold on GoodOldGames DRM free.
DRM Free still doesn'tc mean you OWN game. sure you now have a copy of the game on your HDD and that's all well and good. but let's say GOG goes bankrupt tomorrow and your Hardrive dies which is a common occurrence, you are at that point fucked, whereas if you had the disc version, you still have it even if teh service offering it no longer does. That's main advantage of Physical media. Of course the disadvantage being taht physical media can break, but no distribution method is without faults. I'd argue Physical is the only way to truly own your games (also them being drm free and not online-dependent)
Totally agree with you Adam, And no physical media is also a deal breaker for me.
I love the STEAM controller the Link was great too but I replaced its usage with the SHIELD TV far more usable outside of just streaming. I still use the STEAM controller on my PC.
I love these series and your arguments.
thank you very much!
Thanks for watching Carlos.
So, basically, the Steambox (Or the Steam Machine as its final name) is really just a PC that claims to be a console!
avidsonicfan1991 (x
All really good points. I personally have a well performing, self built gaming rig, which as you said is my main gaming platform. However, sitting at a desk to play games isn't always appealing at times, so being able to set up a steam box in my living room and sit on a couch is a major selling point for me, plus it lets me space out more techincal games like EVE: Online and WoW on my PC's HDD, and more controller based games like Batman and Dark Souls on my steam box.
Couldn't you connect a PC to your TV?
AdamKoralik It depends though. Unless you are only using for it gaming only, I don't think anyone would wan't their PC hooked up to a television in, a the living room. I sure wouldn't. I mean, that's what the Steam Machine is meant to be used in living room, not your bedroom. If you have no interest in gaming in the living room, and only your bedroom, then yeah there's no point.
I totally agree with you dude. I'm a pc gamer and also love consoles. Getting past not having physical media is a bit hard at first but it seems so justified with some of the sales you get. Crazy good sales. Anyways steam machines seem kind of oddly marketed. I mean most major pc gamers build their own rig, it's not very hard either. But I can just build my own steam machine if I wanted to and actually build it for cheaper than most of the asking prices.
Exactly, their plan is...confusing.
AdamKoralik Hearing some of your commentary on what makes a console a console and why that is better to some people than simply PC gaming (or at least feels a bit better), I started thinking about what sort of ways you could sell a product to particularly sell those very console-y gaming type things we've seen, and I sort of thought about it and was maybe curious if you had any thoughts on it.
I was thinking that maybe you could sell it as a unique aesthetic experience for one, starting with the controller. Things like the VMU on the Dreamcast (which gave you minigames, another video display, and the different packs you could get like rumble and such), the 3 pronged layout on the N64 (which gave you a choice to have using the trigger and control stick combo or the d-pad and trigger combo for different things), or even just Sixaxis for PS3, all gave game developers interesting ways to make a great physical gameplay experience to match the gameplay in terms of genre and such. So perhaps a console that offered a unique controller or set of controllers (even things that are not quite controllers in the traditional sense) could help, and certain design choices could help reinforce that. For example, the standard controller, or one of the standard controller if there were different sorts of controllers for it would probably benefit from a 6 button layout, triggers, bumpers, analogue stick(s), and possibly a d-pad, since more buttons means more possible unique allocation of actions. Something similar to the VMU but perhaps with some touch functionality wouldn't be a bad idea for a really unique experiences. Even little things like the audio output from the PS4 controller and microphone type things allow for interesting gameplay experiences. That could be an interesting way to market a console, as that would allow someone developing for that platform to develop games with your particularly manufactured controller in mind, and might attract developers actually looking to give you a gameplay experience.
Also, a console marketed for a sort of aesthetic experience would be complemented really well by physical releases of video games I think. I mean think about the ways games have used different aspects of things involved in physical releases to heighten the gameplay experience. MGS:2's game manual that had a tutorial in the form of a manga for example, the character bios and artwork, stylized game maps like with the Elder Scrolls games, MGS's use of the game's case in a puzzle (sort of), even feelies like the old adventure games used to give out (different game objects represented with real objects and in game documents). This could be used to sell not just on playing a game but encourage collecting and the immersive experience of it.
Grant it, the only things is I'm not sure if how well an 'ArtBox' so to speak like that would sell, as it's clearly marketed at the niche market of actually dedicated gamers, but our weakness are ultimately tied to our strengths as well. If you could hit this dedicated market with exclusive games marketed directly at them with unique utilization of the interaction of the physical interaction with the gameplay style and the collectible aspects included in the physical release, you'd be running unopposed and get a lot of support from that small group of people. The brand loyalty a console like that could get marketing to the hardcore gamers and maybe even the people who want to enjoy it as a sort of artistic experience could be immense and if they bought enough games for it, then who knows. If you made it a cheap but effective console, maybe in the style of the Dreamcast where it's easy to program because of 'off the shelf' components, then maybe it could turn a profit depending. If the rest of gaming is fading into the tablet games and online gaming for mostly casuals and/or turning some gamers to PC, why not try to market to the group that's damned either way?
So, I'm curious if you think maybe this would be a successful model (though it's not the realistic way Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft are going obvious), or if maybe it's a direction that some company might go for in the future.
@GHStudios1000 Thanks for watching.
Interesting to see how a few years down the line, these things flopped as predicted.
What I never understood is how SteamOS is meant to be the unique selling point. It was always available for PC, and it's just linux. Windows has 100% of the steam library. Linux does not. Why would anyone want a lesser library?
People would argue that you could install windows on these things. Great. That's what I did on my PC. What casual is going to bother messing with that?
Steam box I feel is the result of Gabe looking at his money from a summer sell and going "Why not?" But you are right.. No one is going to want it. Though internet speed aside digital media through steam is not really any different from physical media unless you are one of those people who set up an account and do not remember your password.. EVERYTHING you buy on steam is saved to your account, you may lose local data in some cases *saved games and what not* but you always have the ability to re download if you need to. There is no limit, you buy a game on steam you own that game. It is your game, steam cannot tell you when and when you cannot download it.
But as you said A LOT of people do not understand hardware or even software requirements and often end up with a game that simply will not work on their computer , and part of it is on the consumer but a lot of it is on the developers as well in my opinion.. Who cares if the graphics for say vista users are not the same as graphics for say a windows 7 or 8 user. Just make it work! I mean if saintsrow3 and 4 of all titles supported 3 different forms of direct x there is no reason way bigger company's should not in my opinion.
The Steam Box (Steam Machine, whatever it is being called now) would probably be of most interest to people who are both console and PC gamers (yes, there are people who are both) that want that console playing experience with the types of games that have traditionally been exclusive to computers... but even that doesn't make that much sense, because typically those games have been exclusive to the PC because of the control limitations of a console controller and needing a full keyboard to make the game practical to play.
I don't know if you've done an update on the SteamBox but it isn't really licensed out. It's an open specification for an open system. I'm building and selling them already to SteamOS "early adopters" and there's nothing Valve have even tried to do to stop anyone do that.
And yes I'm mainly a PC gamer and love my SteamBox. It gives a good middle ground between a PC's gaming and a consoles "sit in front of the TV, not at a desk" experience. But I've got to admit I've played my games on the TV with my keyboard on my lap for years now.
i play on PC and i don't need steamos to use steam big picture mode,(which is pretty much what steamos is). I can also configure steam so that when i boot my pc it go's straight into big picture mode so that i can plug in a 360 pad or DS3 or any other gamepad i have laying around and only control my pc with a gamepad. I also think that the steam big picture mode layout is better and even more simple than the ps4 or xboxone's dashboard.
Kind of a moot point considering how many console mods there are to change your controller pad, use controller macros, or use a keyboard and mouse on the console.
I have decided to opt for the PC instead of the traditional consoles simply because don't like paying $400-$500 + an online membership for a gimped computer when I already own computer. Most of the games I want come out for the PC, and aside from upgrading RAM & video card, my original PC from 2007 still works. (Can't say the same for my PS and 360 consoles.) Aside from Nintendo's first parties, I feel that my PC can do just about everything the 8th gens can do. And I already own my computer. Love the channel keep up the good work!
Also, I believe that 'single-format gaming' is an excellent idea. I know there are downsides to it but, I believe, ending the console war is the way forward. I also think that in a few years time the gap between PC and console gaming will close so what we essentially have is cheaper gaming PCs that can run games in the same way the current systems do.
The only reason I like the steambox (and SteamOS in particular) is because it might finally drag the gaming industry kicking and screaming into the wonderful world of Linux. As a PC gamer, and linux fan, I have often lamented the need to rely on Windows in order to game on my PC. If Valve is able to put sufficient pressure on the gaming industry to develop Linux compatibility then I, and many of my fellow frustrated linux brethren, might finally be able to free ourselves from the MS juggernaut once and for all.
To answer your question directly, no I do not want a Steam Box, but I do want it to succeed because what's good for Steam Box is good for Linux gaming.
I personally think the biggest advantage of the Steam Box is that it can play all games. Meaning that it could play the entire steam library where the Xbox 360/PS3 has a clear separation from the Xbox One/PS4 library. So i think that could really be a decision point for some buyers.
AdamKoralik, I'm new to PC gaming and I can say that, had the steambox been available in the past year, I would have bought it instead of a gaming PC. That's because, as you said, gaming PC's are complicated and demand a lot of work and research to aquire and maintain. I think Valve is trying to offer a product that allows the benefits of PC gaming and Steam to a crowd that is used to consoles. I played on consoles all my life, from the sega genesis to the Playstation 2 and sure can tell you that the steambox would have been more atractive to me than a gaming PC because it would be what I wanted in a PC presented in a familiar, easier and simpler package. And I sure can tell you I'm no casual gamer. I don't even have a smartphone neither a tablet lolz.
Yeah, that's what I'm figuring their intention is. Problem is, I still think it's too complicated for the masses.
maybe the masses are not their main public. I think valve is trying to target gamers that want to migrate from consoles to pc gaming. I did just that because I don't like the direction the console market is heading, like you said in your video series, and the steambox would have helped that migration for me. However, now that i have my gaming rig, the steambox is useless to me. So I think Valve wants to capture the gamer who stands in that middle ground, between the console and pc world.
After this video I have 10 more minutes before I need to go but all your other videos are in the 20-30 min range. Need more that are short and sweet.
I've been mostly a PC gamer for the past few years, and you are spot on about the Steambox. It's for no one. I have no idea who's supposed to want it.
13? Casuals obv won't be able to decide... Even with the right specs, I know I'd prefer building my own PC, which could do a lot more, over buying the Steambox. But I guess no matter what, Valve gets the licensing fees. When it tanks they can say the other companies din't market it right.
As far as I can tell, the incentive to get a Steam Machine (for PC users) is to have a PC "consolized" in the living room. You could by definition do that if you either wait for SteamOS (which I'm going to because not only does it "consolize" it, but it also, as valve put it (I'm paraphrasing, but) "it cuts out the fluff of operating systems so that game developers can take full advantage of a computer's power", which I'm sure it does mainly by using a very small amount of RAM for the operating system) to come out then just "consolize" your current PC if it's good enough or if you were tech savvy enough to make a front-end system for your computer and hooked it up properly. I digress, I think the lower end versions (the IBuyPower model and the CyberPower model) are going to be for console gamers because they don't really care if the system is top of the line, they just want PC specific games too (which it'll play modern games well, I know because I've seen a beta model play Metro Last Light perfectly). The lower end models will also be for PC gamers who want cheap a cheap "consolized" PC. (I'm sure the quotations are getting annoying by now, I'm annoying myself with them.) The higher end, more expensive models are going to be for lazy PC gamers who don't actually know what the fuck they're doing with their computer. Granted, that's a very small portion of PC gamers, but it still exists. Hell, I have to use fucking TeamViewer to remote control my friend's computer just to install a mod for him. In fact, he doesn't know the specs of his computer at all. That's who the Steam Machine is marketed to as far as PC gamers go, people who have no idea what they're doing or are too lazy to do/learn what to do. It'll be for them and rich console gamers who want to brag, kind of similar to people who bought the Neo Geo AES way back when, aside from the fact that it had some awesome games.
tl;dr: The Steam Machine has an audience. The lower end is for console gamers and cheap PC users, the the higher end for lazy PC users and rich console snobby console gamers. That may not always be the case, but I have a feeling that that'll be the majority of the console gamers' reason to get a higher end model because come on, what console gamer is going to spend $6k on a fucking console?
The logic of it baffles me too.
Thanks for watching and giving your insight.
The one thing i'm curious will there be offline mode for steam machines. I assume it's only digital cause of it uses the steam os. Despite most games being digital, some games that are physical copies will require steam, so even though you cannot connect to steam servers, you can still play your games offline, it will just tell you that you cannot connect to the steam servers, and it would ask you if you want to use offline mode. As a gamer, don't really want it, cause I already have a gaming pc and my pc can do more than the steam box. One reason I like PC gaming over the console gaming is the mods. The mods for Skyrim are amaaazzing, GTA IV, the character model mods for SSFIV pc and etc, they don't have steam workshop support, and require different means of modding, by dragging and pasting. As for physical copy games, I have a ton of em on pc, borderlands 2, sims 3 and expansions, Dragon Age, ME1-3 etc, but if I can't find a physical copy of a game, I would buy the digital copy.
Yeah, I don't pretend to know how they'll handle DRM.
I agree with your points about who will want this but one thing I think valve could argue is casuals use phones and tablets and they have more variety for devices there. Granted phones and tablets do more than gaming but still. I think being that valve primarily deals with the pc fragmentation isn't something they worry about because it's part of their business.
I've been a console gamer since 95 and I love the concept of the Steam Machine. And that is because of three reasons:
1) I hate physical media. There was a time when I collected games. And consoles. And then they started to take up too much space and got too tedious to manage. With digital copies, all your games are right at your fingertips, always. Yes, physical media have pretty cover art. Except in the US and Europe they often don't: sometimes they have cheesy 3D artworks (particularly in the 32bit era) or they're budget re-releases or whatever. BTW yes, I still have a PSP Go. Don't laugh!
2) I want backwards compatibility. I really wanted to like the Xbox One, but I'm neither willing to keep multiple consoles connected to my TV nor am I willing to start over from scratch. A Steam Machine on the other hand lets me play every! single! mayor Tomb Raider game ever released! It lets me play not just the new DoubleFine releases, but also Tim's classics like Psychonauts and Grim Fandango. And all of that on the same system!
3) I want an all-in-one multimedia system, but the Xbox One doesn't go far enough. There are a lot of open questions regarding the Linux-based Steam Machines (they'll have limited backwards compatibility as well), but the great thing about Steam is its broad approach: if you want backwards compatibility, use Windows. If you want more functionality, add software. Yes, that goes against the plug-and-play nature, but it adds flexibility.
To me, Steam Machines combine the advantages of PCs (compatibility, flexibility) and game consoles (small, WAF, TV-friendly, GAMEPADS). I don't care about cutting edge graphics, I just want all my entertainment in one system.
I agree with your points here, I was talking with a friend a couple months ago, I said "You know what the billion dollar idea is for a console? A console that blends PC gaming and console gaming successfully." My friend went on to say that Steambox/SteamOS is that idea in mind. In my head I'm thinking no, because the Steambox isn't really a console.
Thanks for watching!
Dual booted my PC with SteamOS to see how it is, personally I've really enjoyed it for what it is. The Steambox is definitely marketed for people who want to get involved in PC gaming but don't have quite the know how and/or patience to work with PC's. Also, Gabe Newell seems extremely concerned that Windows OS will become more and more restricted (8 is pitiful), which could disrupt sales on Steam.
As to whether it'll take off, your guess is good as mine. I'm more excited to test out the in-home streaming. It's only set up for LAN at the moment, but in theory you could attempt to stream over the internet via Hamachi.
That is a really good point about Windows 8, I hadn't thought of that.
I don't get what Valve is trying to do with the Steam Box. You can just buy a build PC in a store and put SteamOS on it, right? It's based on Linux, so it's free. If you had to pay for it to have your own gaming dedicated operating system I'd kind of understand. If it was just one machine so programmers could optimize their games for that machine I'd understand. But this just doesn't make sense to me.
I agree.
I'm a PC gamer, and I already have an open Beta version of SteamOS installed on my PC, alongside Windows. It's just an operating system, just like Windows. It's not a console, and isn't meant to be one. The different Steamboxes are just PCs. They happen to have SteamOS preinstalled, rather than Windows. PCMasterRace was actually really excited for SteamOS, so they could PC game, without ever touching a keyboard.
Wow...never heard of you until I saw you in my sidebar of another tech video.
I basically took my entire day watching all your videos about the recent generation of consoles. And although I'm primarily a PC gamer at this point in time, I pretty much agree with most of what you say! I just subscribed :) How often do you make new videos?
Thanks!
Usually every few days.
well, you see in owning 4 st78 gaming juxipositions i find that the simmilarities in the processes make for inevitable resuretions of the phestisiatic marketplace. its quite simple, the averege postina is going to range from about 9-12 potental retins that will make it surely viable. for theose of you who dont know hwat a retin is, it is the pinacle of the ramparto in the terms of 7 benevilouns. am i right guys??
As mentioned before, the architecture of all Steam Boxes is the same (x86, like any PC). All Steam Box really is is a new controller and a limited version of Linux that only runs on components that are specified by Valve. This allows Valve to ensure a good gaming experience because the hardware must meet a certain standard. The limited variables of a short list of compatible parts also leads to more optimization than a wide-open platform like Windows, but less than traditional consoles.It's a lot like Apple in that regard. The reason there are so many Steam Boxes is that, since they're literally just PCs with of-the-shelf parts, any boutique PC manufacturer can just slap the right parts and StreamOS free unlike Windows) into a groovy case and bring it to market. All that being said, it's appeal I'd indeed dubious at best.
I like using my keyboard and mouse and I like having physical media too, which I know is rare for a PC gamer these days. I do like the Steam sales, especially for Indie games and games I wasn't sure I wanted to pay full price for (or for games where the publisher pissed me off, such as Rise of the Tomb Raider). I'm more willing to trust Valve because they have that commitment to support their games in the event the company goes under (I'm not entirely clear on exactly how that's supposed to work, but I'll look into it if it ever looks like it might actually happen).
I'm not all that interested in a Steam Box, although my interest would go up if it had a disk drive. I love having a desktop for 101 reasons, only a few of which involve gaming. Yes, not having to worry about upgrades would be nice, but from the sounds of it, the Steam Box doesn't exactly get rid of that anyway. The only thing I'm really interested in coming from the Steam Box is the one piece of hardware that seems to be the holdup - the controller. There are several PC games that just work better with a controller. I was hoping they would come out with a good controller that would be easily integrated with all or most PC games. Unfortunately, that seems to not be the case. I was hesitant with the design that Valve had originally pushed, but I probably would have given it a shot if it had gone to market. It seems the Alpha and Beta testers did not like it at all and it ended up being taken back to the drawing board. I honestly don't know if that's good or bad as I never had a chance to try it myself.
What I think Valve should do instead of focusing so heavily on hardware is instead turn to software. They're popular and well-known enough that they could seriously challenge Window's monopoly on operating systems for PCs - maybe not in the business world or even a majority, but if they can chip away at their base, it would be a vast improvement and force Microsoft to compete. Especially as Microsoft is seemingly trying to branch into Steam's territory with Live for PC or whatever it is. (I don't count the Mac OS as competition for Microsoft as Apple doesn't seem interested in selling their OS, just the hardware which comes with and requires their OS, which is why Mac OS upgrades are so cheap and often free.)
Dude i love your videos on this stuff keep it up
I have an HP pavilion dm4 3055 dx. Great little rig. I bought it so that I could go into college as a programmer. It wasn't long before I decided I'd like to play TF2 with my friends, which introduced me to Steam, which introduced me to the fact that, when on the lowest settings, I can actually play most games. Still, I don't want to tax my PC too much, so when I heard about the Steambox I was intrigued. That said, when I heard about it, there was only one. I might as well just save up and buy a straight up gaming computer, but seriously, those things are hella expensive.
Until end of 2019 I didn't like digital versions of games and game streaming, but because of of the discount prices in the Playstation Store, the monthly free games on Playstation and Xbox, and because of the Gamepass I prefer digital games now. Also I like to change the game with only a button push instead changing the CD or cartridge every time. But I think the companies should always still give the people the choice to choose physical media for many reasons.
I'm a PC Gamer and no, I don't want the Steambox the only consoles I purchase are Nintendo wants. The Steambox makes no sense. Console gamers avoid PC gaming cause of like you said balance, drivers, updating shit, building a PC or buying one, etc and etc. And then PC gamers are gonna go "I have my PC if I wanna play like a console I plug it into my TV and get a 360 controller." Also, if a console gamer gets a Steam Machine they'll likely get the cheapest one (like 500 dollars or whatever it is) they'll take it home and quickly notice it's not powerful enough to run jack shit. Whew that was a wall of text I didn't intend to write. Anyway thanks for reading. See ya.
I wonder if you can still use a steam box in 2021???since it’s all digital and it failed
the only thing i like about the steam box could be the price if they could make one around 399 - 499 that can play most games at 1080p .but lets wait and see not goinbg to judge something when it hasnt been release
If valve pulls off the family sharing idea well enough, I have a massive library of games that would be great to play on a couch/tv machine. I already really like big picture mode, so whether or not I just build a steambox or buy one remains to be seen, but it will happen since I have a large number of games my wife wants to play.
Oh my god! I love kung pow! That's the first reference to kung pow I've ever seen on youtube. Nice one.
I love that movie more than you can imagine.
AdamKoralik Now.. For a joke. What do you get when you cross an owl with a bungee cord?.... My ass HEEhahah
I bought the alienware alpha, which is a steam box, but if it didn't come with a windows operating system, I probably would not have bought the thing. I even deleted the alienware ui, which gave it that console like feel. The only thing that UI did other than being clunky was make it more difficult to boot up and I think made it more difficult to connect the machine to the contoller. With it - 20 seconds Without it - instantaneously
Those who look forward to Steamboxes are usually Linux users who want to game without booting to Windows. Since the OS for Steamboxes is Linux-based, their hope is that Valve efforts not only increase the number of games on Linux, but also makes it a better gaming system with technologies like Vulkan, which may benefit other distros.
I'm curious, for GameSocietyPimps do you just deal with digital games because your associates are fine with them and you don't want to cause any problems? I'm not familiar with the channel but I'm just wondering
GamingCompass Essentially yes.
This definitely seems like an interesting console. At least it doesn't squander gamers out of their money through on-line gaming like the PS4 and Xbox One do.
Here's how I have it arranged: PC>Wii U>Steambox>PS4>Xbox One
As I mentioned in a previous post. The Steambox was gimped...but I think SteamOS will live on, especially if it remains free.
I agree with most of your points- but I think the idea of Steambox (under the most ideal circumstances) isn't really targeted toward overtaking consoles at all. In fact, I see Steambox as just an operating system and a controller design, with the hardware and in some cases even the games not necessarily factoring into the equation at all.
What's really promising about the idea of Steambox, I think (again, if it works at all) is providing a service platform which developers can create on and consumers can use for gaming without having to go through a proprietary operating system (Windows) every step of the way. In that sense, Steambox is really more like a console dev kit with some degree of promised interoperability and market penetration that's available to everyone freely (as in beer, not freedom). I'd say Steambox is a kind of natural evolution of what MS originally did with introduction of DirectX api, tweaked for internet age and independent developers.
When viewed in that light, the craziest and the most optimal/unlikely scenario Steambox can be subject to would be something that might happen 10 years down the road- with some of the consoles out there (Nintendo? Sony?) deciding to support Steambox development environment in their own hardware to bail themselves out of one or another type of upheaval in the market.
I am one of those gamers in the middle. I play on console and pc. 95% of my computer games are on Steam, and I for one actually really like Steam. For PC games I don't mind digital content even if it is essentially "renting" the games. For Console if I'm buying a game it has to be a physical copy, I try not to get digital console games.
For the Steambox, I can see a reason for them offering several options = so they will be at different price points. Adam you mentioned that people with different Steamboxes will have different specs playing the same game and could effect the game-play; that is no different than it currently is with PC gaming so I don't feel that it would change anything in that aspect.
I have messed around with the SteamOS which is basically Steam Big Picture mode on top of a Linux distro. The only thing I like about is it that theoretically I can have a shitty pc hooked up to my TV and stream games across my network from my actual gaming computer. I'm only really excited for the Steam Controller.
Currently I just use my Asus gaming laptop connected the TV and set Steam in Big Picture Mode using Windows. I personally will not be getting an official "Steambox" as I think people who purchase gaming computers are paying too much and they should just make it themselves or have a friend help them if they are really serious.
As Primarily a PC gamer I want a Steam box to play games on my couch, I don't have to buy the same game 3-4 times I can buy it once and have it on all my devices.
Super big feature that you may not know is the Steam in Home Streaming, if the system wont play a game for Windows we can stream it from our desktop to our Steam Box.
There are so many options for the Steam Box because they want people to have a set of options, if you buy the 6K system you can use it as a Steam Server and use lower powered boxes around the house to play games on.
Best video I can give you to show the power of this is this Steam In Home Streaming Explained & Tested
Also you can still buy physical media for PC games. I own the Physical copy of Borderlands 2 on PC, (also oblivion, and skyrim) but even today you can buy a PC game on disk.
I hope you give that video a watch, you may like it :D
Personally, I would define a 'gaming console' as: 'any system dedicated to, and designed for, gaming.' So, yeah, that would also define a gaming PC as a gaming console, in theory.
i kinda like those steam boxes but i just rebuilt my pc into a htpc case to fit it into my living room, so i also don´t really need a steam box anymore^^ just plug in a 360 controller into the front usb, load up steam in big picture mode and you are ready to go, it is just like playing the 360/ps3 =)
I think the Idea behind the Steambox is just a simplified computer, already intended to play games (so by default, its HW will handle anything at reasonable performances) but i think It willallow to use it as a normal pc too.
I’m the oddball that enjoys console & pc gaming. At the same time. Although honestly more of a console gamer.
Just wanted to address a few things:
1) Disclaimer: I'm a Linux enthusiast, therefore I am already excited for the Steambox (granted it's running SteamOS, a linux distro based on Debian).
2) I'd say the difference between the 3DO and Steambox is that, unlike the 3DO, the Steambox competitors can have more wiggle room, catering to the casual gamer (using lower-end graphics, like Gigabyte's one with Intel Graphics) or the hardcore gamer (like the Jetpack concept one).
3) Different architecture? What do you mean by that, exactly? I'm just curious, since all games will be running on PC. Perhaps you mean different setups? Sorry if I misunderstood you.
4) Who are they catering too? I will say that I'm not entirely sure, other than sorta...possibly users who want another box somewhere (which...I doubt there would be many). So yeah, that's something I question a lot, too.
5) I think the only way they could market to casuals is to label things as what they are (like the casual box or whatnot).
Anyway, not trying to argue nor disprove your points, just offering a bit of input (and trying to be a bit more active...maybe overdoing it D: sorry!) and yeah. Also, I am torn over digital vs physical. I do share many beliefs that you do regarding relying upon services, but also see the benefits of digital. That's why I'm still weary of getting into Steam, but also really do want to get into it (since I do like a few PC games anyway).
Anyway (again), sorry for lengthy, perhaps confrontational (didn't mean it that way :/) post!
Addressing point 3, yes I mean different setups. I admit I phrased this poorly.
Actually I don't find you confrontational at all, no worries.
Thanks for watching.
I'm waiting for Linux to have a spot in the games market. I mean, a number of dev companies have begun making their games compatible with OSX, which has a relatively small number of gaming users. If the major market shifts away from consoles and more towards computers via streaming and digital distribution services, maybe the small but vocal Linux community will get some attention... or maybe proprietary machines running SteamOS or another company's equivalent will become popular. Who knows?
The initial benchmark difference between DirectX on Windows and OpenGL on Steam OS is staggering. Windows > Steam OS by some 30-60% difference with the same hardware. There's a vicious cycle where there needs to be better adoption of Linux on gaming computers for there to be better driver development, but no one should buy a Steam Machine if they're playing games 1/2 as well with apple to apple hardware.
Reasons I think would be not only because you can play it on your TV like a console but that it has a huge library of low cost games. The definitive version of popular multi-platform games is always the PC version. Makes one wonder why have consoles at all and not just make every title a PC game. At the end of the day, Xbox one and PS4 basically are PCs now anyway. The only advantage is they are hardware locked which is both a positive and a negative.
I might buy a steambox as gaming system, though i'm not sure why i just would not build another computer :D . But if they guarantee hardware support for steamos, then maybe.
Edit: Just realized I could build it anyways with the same hardware, stupid me X)
Can I like download pc games like Dragon nest and still play it on a steam machine like a regular computer?
I've been seeing your videos, I totally agree with a lot of the stuff you say about digital not being actually owning the games, I'm both pc and console gamer, I just wanted to comment that not all pc gamers have the "rental" or "disposable" mindset and love steam. I don't, in fact I hate that mindset, I hate steam, I hate digital distribution, online only things... you get the point... I like to have a physical disc so I can install the game and play it not just when it's the latest thing, 10 years from now, 20 years from now...
I can listen to a 20 years old record, I can watch a 20 years old movie, it should be the same with games. I don't like that everything now has to be online, digital, depends on the internet to do stuff that can be done offline... and I never cared for multiplayer, for me the real game is the single player story mode. multiplayer might be nice, it's not for me, but forcing it to be the only thing is not good, I remember my dissappointment when quake 3 came out, I was like "what?, it's like a multiplayer map with bots?, no story mode??, this is not a real game!". I hate the fact that lots of current pc games and even console games focus on multiplayer and don't pay attention to make a really good single player game, if it has single player at all.
well... as I said, I agree with you on lots of things, maybe it's a generational mindset, I've been playing games since 80s, my first console when I was a kid was atari 2600, I've been playing on PC since I was a kid too so I don't see pc games as disposable or the rental thing you mention in your videos, I see them just like console games: "I want to own the physical media so I can put it in the thing and play it". I keep a couple of older computers around to cover the 80s and 90s, sometimes older pc games don't work in a current pc :(
as for consoles, sadly I stopped caring after the ps2 and dreamcast generation, I didn't get a xbox360 or ps3 because "the stuff I like is on pc anyway" and ps3 was too expensive...
somehow I'm not attracted to the seventh generation... they don't feel like consoles, I'm like "what is this?, internet?, hard disk?, operating system?, installing stuff?, I do that on pc... a console should be an offline stand alone thing where you plug it into the tv, you put the cartridge or disc, you turn it on and that's it, the game loads and you play. keep it simple and easy".
it's not that I can't handle an operating system and "doing pc stuff", hehe, I'm not dumb and I've been using pc since I was a kid anyway, it's that being "more like pc and less like console" takes out a lot of the charm of consoles. I think you will understand my point... a console feels "consoley" when you plug it in your tv, put a cartridge or disc, turn it on, and the game appears, just like that, you press start and that's it. no OS, no installation, no nothing.
current gent IS pc, both xbox one and ps4 are x86 with hard disk, operating system, internet, dlc, some games are digital only and don't come out on discs... I think this won't be the last console generation because the sixth generation already was!. dreamcast, ps2, gamecube and xbox 1 (not one) were the last true consoles for gamers. (and I'm not sure about xbox, it was like a pentium 3 pc, it was x86, the games were made for directx 9... so maybe dreamcast ps2 and gamecube were the last true consoles).
oooh, this went too long, sorry, I just wanted to comment because I agree with most of the stuff you say, I don't like digital, I like physical media (for everything), I like consoles being console-y and not pc-y, I don't see the point of steam box...oh, aslo, back in the original console wars I was a big nintendo fanboy, I used to hate sega and sonic haha, I'd never thought I would touch a sega console, my 90s self would kick my ass xD hahaha, but when I got a dreamcast I loved it!!!, and I started to like sonic... then I got a megadrive and I liked it too.
hehehe, I think you understand the mindset, if you liked nintendo and mario you hated sega and sonic, and both camps knew you would never see a mario game in a sega console and a sonic game in a nintendo console... so hell froze over for us when sonic started to come out on nintendo consoles, it's "WHAT???, WHERE AM I??, WHAT UNIVERSE IS THIS??" :D
anyway, thanks to the dreamcast "the war was over" for me and I'm happy with it, and I got a megadrive and now I play it as much as the nes and snes.
Thank you for watching, I'm glad we think a like in a lot of ways.
And yeah, after the Dreamcast...it was rough. :(
The Controller, is the only thing about the steam machines. Also same architecture dif. components, i also think that some of the value oriented steamboxs will be a great hit because of the pc gaming experience is still there but for a fraction of it + controller. But also the steam OS is available right now to download on your machine, granted its really buggy but its there. I think steamboxs are really dumb, the main premises of it is that it is a mITX,(Mini Components into a small case), add a controller by valve (its changed like twice since initial announcement) and you have a pc not a console.
I think the steam machine might have a very small niche in the gaming market for people like me and SwankyGaming. I am mostly a console gamer but I also love pc games however, I game on a laptop because I don't have the money or desire to build a gaming rig. When I first heard of the steambox I was intrigued because it would be fun to play games like Skyrim with all the mods on my tv. However, I could only see people going after the cheapest option which, to be honest, isn't even as good as my 3 year old laptop so it isn't even worth it in the end. Just throwing my two cents in.
Thanks for that, further adding to the almost pointless nature of the Steam Machine. So far, almost no one seems to know what the point of it is.
The theory seems to be it's for casuals, but this model is broken because of the inconsistent nature of the machine.
It's even worse (or better) : they are PC. You can build one yourself. You just have put their Operating System on it (SteamOS, just an Linux that boot steam directly)
I'm a PC gamer. I love consoles too (Wii U promies cool stuffs, I'm a nintendo fan since the SNES, etc)
An interesting thing is that you can steam your game from your PC to a steambox (or another PC) and plug it to a TV/porjector and play Windows games easily on a couch-sitted experience.
I just have a question.
How do we differ a Harcore Gamer and a Casual Gamer?
For me it is pretty rare that I buy digital games. I like having something tangible after a purchase.
Me too.
As a PC gamer, I'm excited mainly for the OS more than a "Steam Box". I really want to use my PC to game on my TV, but the idea of navigating through Windows on my TV and doing things like updating drivers is unappealing. I like that the drivers will always be up to date and there will be very minimal resources allocated to the OS. When the OS comes out of beta (I'm assuming this will coincide with the release of all the Steam Box's), I haven't decided if I will just build a new PC, or buy a Steam Box. The ibuypower version looked pretty nice, and most of their designs are easily upgrade-able, which is a necessity if I'm going to buy one.
As for the controller...eh. It looks awkward and from the reviews it sounds like it takes a lot to get used to it. I may just figure out a way to still use a keyboard and mouse for shooters and use a 360 controller for everything else.
Well, it's just Debian GNU/Linux set up properly for gamers, not much of a deal.
You could probably set up one of these things yourself by just autostart Steam in Big Picture Mode.
***** Done that already and have a triple boot machines (SteamOS/Win 7 BGP autostarted / Arch Linux for retro gaming), Windows 7 would get cut in a second if all my games were on SteamOS. I can't stand Windows nagging me and the GeForce Experenience blowing my game out of fullscreen.
Mikey D Interesting setup, although I don't get your point of having Arch for games as well since Debian (SteamOS, Ubuntu) can run these just fine.
Then again, wouldn't it been for the whole NSA shit lately, I'd probably setup a trible boot with Se7en and OSX as well.
OSX may be a stupid choice as it's still UNIX but having all those three monsters side by side sounds fun and useful to me.
Actually my RetorRig project (github.com/ProfessorKaos64/RetroRig) uses Ubuntu but will branch to other distro's maybe or be an ISO at some point. Thanks for the nice reply. Since XBMC is or already pushed into SteamOS (I think the beta has it), I may be able to integrate my project into SteamOS in the future, which would be awesome.
I just want a alien alpha because I can play really really old games and I can play brand new games such as cod aw or the crew I would have such a larger gaming options it would blow my mind
Is steam OS (big picture mode) even an operating system? Especially since it needs windows to run the games. Great video Adam, keep up the good work!
I like to have my media digital, because it actually saves space and is still easy to manage, but I still want to be able to access it offline. That's why I'm sceptical against the new PS4 game streaming service through which you will be able to stream PS3 games. If the service is down or my internet is down, I cant play them, and that sucks. If I can STORE the games in my PS3 digitally, then at least I can play them when either service is down. That's why I'm probably getting a PS3 instead of a PS4. House of the Dead 3 and 4 for the win...
I was a console fanboy up until the announcement of this current gen, when I built my pc. Since then, my console friends have also wanted a pc, but they don't want to spend the time learning how to build a pc. So I think the steambox markets to the gamer that falls between casuals and hardcore that want to play AAA titles as well as the best indie games. I don't think that's a very big market share, and despite my love of steam, it doesn't deserve it's own box.
If i was going to build a dedicated gaming rig that was specifically designed only for gaming and to maybe put in my living room and plug into my tv then i might consider using steam OS for that and set up big picture to auto load up.
However, i would not buy a steam machine. The controller looks interesting but would need to test. Currently using a wireless 360 pad.
So far the masses seem to think the same thing.
I think you're a little too focused on the 13 iterations thing. Sure, a lot of those aren't going to pan out, and that will be fine for the users because they'll still function (I would imagine), but beyond that I think the market will weed out the right specs and price-points for itself and will naturally settle on probably a couple or a few. But this will also leave the space open in the market for anyone else to enter and compete if they can do it better and cheaper.
Never heard of a steam box. It d sounds like a hopeless idea. Did it take off?
Not surprisingly, it didn't pan out.
i am pc gamer and i have no clue what the steam box is for. For the casuals it to complicated and for the few pc gamers that want a console like experience will build one, so the hardware is mostly useless, but the good part of this is the software steam is bring gaming to Linux and hopefully will make gaming on Linux a lot better
The only benefit to a steam machine is you can hook it up to you tv and play games from your gaming rig remotely. I think they are trying to get the people who want to get in to pc gaming but are afraid of the whole system maintenance part. There putting Alienware alpha's next to xbox one's in my local stores.
"He's a loathsome offensive brute, yet I can't look away!"
Steambox you could get a usb disk drive. That will solve your problem with the whole physical media thing. It is literally a PC. Everything that a PC can do can also be done with a steambox.
Btw I would recommend checking out GOG.com. It's the best digital way of owning games. You could do anything with the installer with no limitations such as drm(cd keys, a background program such as steam). You could literally make a dvd\bluray that will work on any computer without hassle(it just installs and you could then play your game).
I am interested in trying a SteamBox. Just because I'm a huge PC gaming fan. But what really turns me off is that all the SteamBoxes coming out are running SteamOS. And the problem with that is Steam OS is a Linux based system. There fore you can only download games from the Linux section of Steam. And if you ask me, the selection of games for Linux is very small. So until they make SteamOS run every game on Steam. I'm going to stick with my PC.
Wooh! More content is always welcome
Thanks for watching.
...I wasn't expecting this video...
That was actually a well rounded 'deleted scene'. You opened my eyes a bit. For at least a year I have been puzzling as to who the Steambox will be for. There will naturally be some PC gamers who also have consoles, and they will purchase the steam box for loyalty reasons, but the vast majority won't. Console gamers, as a whole, probably won't get one either unless it ends up being cheaper the a Wii U without a tablet AND has physical back-up copies of it's games.
I never thought of the casual market...that being said, I'm not so sure that the Casual Market would get hooked onto the Steam Box soon enough for it to keep from being a failure. Still, that is a pretty likely theory.
Thanks for watching.
I'm glad you could see what I'm saying here.
This one was flagged again. :/
...Does anyone else who comments on your videos consistently have this issue with flagging?
Falling Pictures Productions Not really, no. :/
wow. I wonder why.
Falling Pictures Productions Me too.
I totally agree with you Adam I console and pc game. I couldn't agree with you more my view on the steam box is just more money for valve that's it... I prefer console because it's easier than building a pc with money I don't have and I'll have to upgrade it so many times which is a pain in the ass -.- but whatever that's just what I think of the steam box if people like it they like it
Hey Adam I just thought of something that might make you more lenient on digital content, if implemented. Now I don't know if this is a feature of prime or not, but anytime I buy a physical music cd from Amazon, I automatically have access to the digital version on Amazon, to me it seems at no additional cost. What if Steam implemented this?I think it'd be the best of both worlds to order a game and b able to download it while you wait for it to come in. I actually think that would make Steambox a viable console...minus the 200 versions of it. As a PC gamer though you're right, I could care less about it. To me its just...Alienware with a Valve OS? Eh...I guess thats interesting.
I'm an old school console gamer, turned PC at around the end of the 00's. No interest in Steambox. The reason I switched to PC was the ability to build ridiculously overpowered machines, and shrink my consoles to a single box via emulation.
I feel the opposite from you about physical media. I prefer having things digital, although I see where you're coming from, and I can respect that. As a teen, I had shitty parents that would kick me out on more than one occasion, so lugging around that SNES/Genesis/3DO/PS1 became a chore.
That being said, I miss the charm of the older console generations, but you're staying to see console releases on PC, given the console "feel", with better graphics and now 3D even if the game doesn't natively support it (thanks nVidia).
Gaming-wise, I think we have similar tastes. So as a console gamer at heart, I only choose PC as a matter of what's pragmatic in my opinion to my situation. Steambox doesn't fit ANY of my criteria. I want ridiculous graphics in 3D. I want an endless retro library without a bunch of boxes/carts/discs. I want to use the controller of my choice (PS4 ftw). I want the "console experience" without the console. PC already offers all of this to me, plus I can use it as a PC. Steambox just seems redundant from all perspectives (PC/console) and that controller looks like a nightmare. Thanks but no thanks. I'm good with what I got and I don't mind shelling out $4,000 in another 5 years when I can make everything look so damned pretty and in full 3D.
What do u think about the controller ? Also I just don't get why valve Wouldn't make one for me that just seems like no confidence I also bet they wont release sales numbers when these come out only say how much people installed the os
It's weird to look at, but it could actually be awesome in your hands. Hard to know at this point.
I do prefer computer for gaming, but I mostly want a steam box because my computer isn't really great at keeping up with games due to how limited it it can, like Bioshock 2 or Rome II I can't play because it is not capable of keeping up with those kind of games. And I do agree of how ridiculous of valve letting 13 companies make their own versions of the Steam Box and already confuses me.
101% true most people don’t understand technology. For most it’s basically “magic box”.
I'm PC Master Race Gamer (just sarcasm :D )
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I use Steam for most games I buy since 2008, and I can't see me buying SteamBox ever!!
If I want to play on my TV I simply use a HDMI cable!!
I would like to test the controller, but I think I don't need the console, it works on Windows too...