5 ms·

Except that (I believe) "just a PC" was a bit offputting for a lot of people - when you buy a PC you can't just turn it on and play video games, especially not

Except that (I believe) "just a PC" was a bit offputting for a lot of people - when you buy a PC you can't just turn it on and play video games, especially not after Microsoft's shenanigans. I'm honestly surprised nobody else tried a "boot to game library" PC, but then, you also need the name and reputation for it. Microsoft could've done it, but they chose to make a console. Which is mostly a PC, but you need xbox games, a separate ecosystem.

snvzz 1y ago
>Except that (I believe) "just a PC" was a bit offputting for a lot of people - when you buy a PC you can't just turn it on and play video games, especially not after Microsoft's shenanigans. Steam deck is "just a PC" as well, which can be turned on to immediately play video games. Thanks to its reputation, the masses will trust the Steam Machine to do this much. Valve know what they're doing.
- valesco 1y ago
  That machine would be very different from my gaming PC however. I could use it exactly like a console, which is a different use case than a desktop PC.
  - badsectoracula 1y ago
    I have a Steam Deck. All you have to do to use it like a desktop PC is to connect a cheap hub with power delivery, HDMI and USB ports for keyboard and mouse, then boot into KDE Plasma which is a regular desktop environment. Honestly, my SD has seen more use as a stationary PC than a handheld :-P
xxs 1y ago
but it has 'steam' in the name. So the target is the steam audience already. >Microsoft could've done it, but they chose to make a console. Missed the one, they did try with the rebranding of 'xbox'
- ljm 1y ago
  That rebranding and Microsoft's abjectly terrible product naming convention essentially killed the Xbox. What the absolute fuck were they smoking when they went from Xbox, to Xbox 360, to Xbox One, to Xbox One X, to Xbox Series S and X? Like anybody wants an enterprise gaming console. Absolutely bonkers considering how strong they came in with the first Xbox, Halo, and Xbox Live. And the rationale that they couldn't go from Xbox to Xbox 3 because of the PS3 is abject bullshit. They skipped Windows 9, after all.
  - ZaoLahma 1y ago
    Nintendo almost managed to do the same to their own gaming machines with the absolutely insanely inadequate Nintendo Wii / Wii U decision making. As an engineer and a consumer / customer, I simply cannot understand why there's a need to complicate things. You have a Thing, right? It sells, right? You develop the next Thing? Great! Call it Thing 2. Instant success.
    - MrGilbert 1y ago
      I wonder why car manufacturers don't operate like that. They might add a number to the model (e.g. "Golf IV"), but it will always be advertised as "The new VW Golf". What would've happened if Nintendo simply would've advertised "The new Nintendo Switch"? Never thought about that, but now it's an interesting thought experiment.
      - simondotau 1y ago
        In the world of cars, industrial design is the version number. Beyond that, VW just wants to sell their latest Golf to whomever is buying a new hatchback today. End of strategy. Numbering helps sell electronics because it makes it clear that your old phone/console is old and "needs" upgrading. It's also critical for selling software exclusive to a certain hardware generation.
      - vel0city 1y ago
        They did that with the "New Nintendo 3DS". It was confusing as hell. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Nintendo_3DS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Nintendo_3DS Things are going wrong when you have a model name like "New Nintendo 2DS XL" to describe a product IMO. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Nintendo_2DS_XL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Nintendo_2DS_XL
gambiting 1y ago
>> when you buy a PC you can't just turn it on and play video games, especially not after Microsoft's shenanigans. In like, what way? You can "just" boot up a new Windows PC, install some games and play them straight away. Do you mean the fact that you now have to log into a Microsoft account first? Because if yes - SteamOS also requires you to log in before you can use it.
mapcars 1y ago
>nobody else tried a "boot to game library" PC, Since Valve owns the library it makes sense that people will trust their solution and it has more chance for succcess
pjc50 1y ago
> I'm honestly surprised nobody else tried a "boot to game library" PC Microsoft used to have Windows Media Centre, which was a version of Windows designed for HTPC use that booted straight to the media centre control screen. The last version of that was in Windows 7. It is actually possible to replace the desktop in Windows, window management (but not chrome, that's part of Aero and/or individual "owner draw" applications), Explorer etc. Nobody's really bothered with that. Microsoft are just too used to not having to compete, so they don't provide lots of variant SKUs for different uses. Even "point of sale" and LTS are somewhat neglected.
- imbnwa 1y ago
  This. Zero reason I should have to download Playnite for a unified gaming frontend
pipes 1y ago
I think valve are the only players in a position to do this. They can probably ship this new hardware at a loss and make the money back through steam game purchases. Much like console manufacturers.
- yencabulator 1y ago
  LTT reports Valve said it'll be priced "like a PC, not like a console" as in not expect to be subsidized by game purchases. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3FkuZNSGkw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3FkuZNSGkw
  - pipes 1y ago
    I see :)
  - arvinsim 1y ago
    Then it will compete more with those entry-level SFF PC builds. I still hope that they will compete with console pricing though.
  - ekianjo 1y ago
    Which means expensive
BossingAround 1y ago
I mean, even Valve has tried it in the past, and it was a failure. Look up Steam Machines from 2010s. I consider the success of Steam Deck (thanks to flawless execution this time) as almost a minor miracle.
- p_l 1y ago
  The big difference is the extra years of work that went into Proton and Steam-on-Linux ecosystem, including controller support etc.
- Rooster61 1y ago
  A failure they fully admit they learned from. Proton was the outcome of that failure, and I'd say they are well poised to make a bigger dent this time.
bakies 1y ago
they've done a ton of engineering to make this happen. they implemented the necessary interfaces in steam, _they developed proton_ to avoid windows, worked with hardware to get console features like wake from controller connect, and custom hardware we see here.
Zambyte 1y ago
> I'm honestly surprised nobody else tried a "boot to game library" PC Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Atari, Sega... They intentionally choose to brand their personal computers poorly to coerce their customers into giving up control of their computers. That doesn't make their computers any less personal, unless they are using it to serve other people.
- jerojero 1y ago
  Valve had to make an entire operating system to make this the case for steam games. A lot of these capabilities would rely on windows, sleeping and resuming the system thats entirely the purview of the OS. And Microsoft just doesn't care.
  - nsxwolf 1y ago
    Microsoft’s core competency is a general purpose operating system that can be used for anything and work with infinite combinations of hardware. The fact that you can almost, sort of use a Windows PC as a gaming console, even with all the headaches that come with it, is something of a miracle.
  - Zambyte 1y ago
    Microsoft had to make an entire operating system to make this the case for running Xbox games. Sony had to make an entire operating system to make this work for PlayStation games. I don't really know why that's significant.
  - scns 1y ago
    > Valve had to make an entire operating system A Linux distribution. Which is often done by one person. Zero snark intended.
  - ekianjo 1y ago
    Valve did not write Linux from scratch or something...
- nsxwolf 1y ago
  The goal with consoles is not to force people to give up control of their computers, it’s to create the best possible gaming appliance, which consoles succeed at.
nsxwolf 1y ago
This is a good comment, I don’t understand the downvotes. Anything that makes the PC gaming experience more like a console is good. This is the first gaming PC that I could actually justify putting in the living room.

snvzz 1y ago

>Except that (I believe) "just a PC" was a bit offputting for a lot of people - when you buy a PC you can't just turn it on and play video games, especially not after Microsoft's shenanigans. Steam deck is "just a PC" as well, which can be turned on to immediately play video games. Thanks to its reputation, the masses will trust the Steam Machine to do this much. Valve know what they're doing.

valesco 1y ago
That machine would be very different from my gaming PC however. I could use it exactly like a console, which is a different use case than a desktop PC.
- badsectoracula 1y ago
  I have a Steam Deck. All you have to do to use it like a desktop PC is to connect a cheap hub with power delivery, HDMI and USB ports for keyboard and mouse, then boot into KDE Plasma which is a regular desktop environment. Honestly, my SD has seen more use as a stationary PC than a handheld :-P

xxs 1y ago

but it has 'steam' in the name. So the target is the steam audience already. >Microsoft could've done it, but they chose to make a console. Missed the one, they did try with the rebranding of 'xbox'

ljm 1y ago
That rebranding and Microsoft's abjectly terrible product naming convention essentially killed the Xbox. What the absolute fuck were they smoking when they went from Xbox, to Xbox 360, to Xbox One, to Xbox One X, to Xbox Series S and X? Like anybody wants an enterprise gaming console. Absolutely bonkers considering how strong they came in with the first Xbox, Halo, and Xbox Live. And the rationale that they couldn't go from Xbox to Xbox 3 because of the PS3 is abject bullshit. They skipped Windows 9, after all.
- ZaoLahma 1y ago
  Nintendo almost managed to do the same to their own gaming machines with the absolutely insanely inadequate Nintendo Wii / Wii U decision making. As an engineer and a consumer / customer, I simply cannot understand why there's a need to complicate things. You have a Thing, right? It sells, right? You develop the next Thing? Great! Call it Thing 2. Instant success.
  - MrGilbert 1y ago
    I wonder why car manufacturers don't operate like that. They might add a number to the model (e.g. "Golf IV"), but it will always be advertised as "The new VW Golf". What would've happened if Nintendo simply would've advertised "The new Nintendo Switch"? Never thought about that, but now it's an interesting thought experiment.
    - simondotau 1y ago
      In the world of cars, industrial design is the version number. Beyond that, VW just wants to sell their latest Golf to whomever is buying a new hatchback today. End of strategy. Numbering helps sell electronics because it makes it clear that your old phone/console is old and "needs" upgrading. It's also critical for selling software exclusive to a certain hardware generation.
    - vel0city 1y ago
      They did that with the "New Nintendo 3DS". It was confusing as hell. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Nintendo_3DS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Nintendo_3DS Things are going wrong when you have a model name like "New Nintendo 2DS XL" to describe a product IMO. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Nintendo_2DS_XL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Nintendo_2DS_XL

gambiting 1y ago

>> when you buy a PC you can't just turn it on and play video games, especially not after Microsoft's shenanigans. In like, what way? You can "just" boot up a new Windows PC, install some games and play them straight away. Do you mean the fact that you now have to log into a Microsoft account first? Because if yes - SteamOS also requires you to log in before you can use it.

mapcars 1y ago

>nobody else tried a "boot to game library" PC, Since Valve owns the library it makes sense that people will trust their solution and it has more chance for succcess

pjc50 1y ago

> I'm honestly surprised nobody else tried a "boot to game library" PC Microsoft used to have Windows Media Centre, which was a version of Windows designed for HTPC use that booted straight to the media centre control screen. The last version of that was in Windows 7. It is actually possible to replace the desktop in Windows, window management (but not chrome, that's part of Aero and/or individual "owner draw" applications), Explorer etc. Nobody's really bothered with that. Microsoft are just too used to not having to compete, so they don't provide lots of variant SKUs for different uses. Even "point of sale" and LTS are somewhat neglected.

imbnwa 1y ago
This. Zero reason I should have to download Playnite for a unified gaming frontend

pipes 1y ago

I think valve are the only players in a position to do this. They can probably ship this new hardware at a loss and make the money back through steam game purchases. Much like console manufacturers.

yencabulator 1y ago
LTT reports Valve said it'll be priced "like a PC, not like a console" as in not expect to be subsidized by game purchases. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3FkuZNSGkw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3FkuZNSGkw
- pipes 1y ago
  I see :)
- arvinsim 1y ago
  Then it will compete more with those entry-level SFF PC builds. I still hope that they will compete with console pricing though.
- ekianjo 1y ago
  Which means expensive

BossingAround 1y ago

I mean, even Valve has tried it in the past, and it was a failure. Look up Steam Machines from 2010s. I consider the success of Steam Deck (thanks to flawless execution this time) as almost a minor miracle.

p_l 1y ago
The big difference is the extra years of work that went into Proton and Steam-on-Linux ecosystem, including controller support etc.
Rooster61 1y ago
A failure they fully admit they learned from. Proton was the outcome of that failure, and I'd say they are well poised to make a bigger dent this time.

bakies 1y ago

they've done a ton of engineering to make this happen. they implemented the necessary interfaces in steam, _they developed proton_ to avoid windows, worked with hardware to get console features like wake from controller connect, and custom hardware we see here.

Zambyte 1y ago

> I'm honestly surprised nobody else tried a "boot to game library" PC Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Atari, Sega... They intentionally choose to brand their personal computers poorly to coerce their customers into giving up control of their computers. That doesn't make their computers any less personal, unless they are using it to serve other people.

jerojero 1y ago
Valve had to make an entire operating system to make this the case for steam games. A lot of these capabilities would rely on windows, sleeping and resuming the system thats entirely the purview of the OS. And Microsoft just doesn't care.
- nsxwolf 1y ago
  Microsoft’s core competency is a general purpose operating system that can be used for anything and work with infinite combinations of hardware. The fact that you can almost, sort of use a Windows PC as a gaming console, even with all the headaches that come with it, is something of a miracle.
- Zambyte 1y ago
  Microsoft had to make an entire operating system to make this the case for running Xbox games. Sony had to make an entire operating system to make this work for PlayStation games. I don't really know why that's significant.
- scns 1y ago
  > Valve had to make an entire operating system A Linux distribution. Which is often done by one person. Zero snark intended.
- ekianjo 1y ago
  Valve did not write Linux from scratch or something...
nsxwolf 1y ago
The goal with consoles is not to force people to give up control of their computers, it’s to create the best possible gaming appliance, which consoles succeed at.

nsxwolf 1y ago

This is a good comment, I don’t understand the downvotes. Anything that makes the PC gaming experience more like a console is good. This is the first gaming PC that I could actually justify putting in the living room.