4 ms·

I'd like to know more about the OS and price. At the moment it's just "There will be a small PC you can plug into your TV and play games on" and I can do that

I'd like to know more about the OS and price. At the moment it's just "There will be a small PC you can plug into your TV and play games on" and I can do that for myself. What advantage will this box have over that?

james4k 14y ago
I don't know, the form factor is interesting. Even aside from the modularity, the size is very small, and not sure how you could really do that for yourself. Look at the size of the ethernet port on the back compared to the whole unit. Edit: And yeah, you can build your own PC that could work for your living room just as well, but that's looking at a very small piece of the market who are comfortable with doing that. You are going to need more products like these to get Steam into more living rooms.
Karma_Police 14y ago
Latest rumor I read was that it was going to ship with Linux (if you google steam box linux you'll find some sources). Price, I haven't heard anything about. As for advantages, it's probably the same as any other console, which means it comes with the same disadvantages. There will probably be steam box approved games on steam, which you will be sure will work in it, and you may also see some developers targeting it specifically. But yes, if you know what you're doing, there probably wont be any advantage on choosing this over your own custom built PC. I don't see many developers restricting their games to steam box.
InclinedPlane 14y ago
The advantage is that it will be a streamlined experienced for non tech-savvy people.
- jiggy2011 14y ago
  That would be effectively the same as adding Steam to startup in Windows, which the installer does anyway.
  - __alexs 14y ago
    It doesn't go direct to Big Picture mode though and you still have to click through UAC and firewall alerts when launching newly installed games quiet frequently. Having full control of the software stack lets them take out quite a friction points.
    - jiggy2011 14y ago
      Adding an option to boot directly to big picture mode would be a huge problem and the Steam Windows client automatically adds firewall exceptions etc for games that you install. Since I mainly use Linux my Windows 7 PC is basically a Steam box already.
      - deltasquared 14y ago
        Likewise, my Windows 7 PC runs Steam only.
      - CrazedGeek 14y ago
        For what it's worth, there actually is an option to boot directly to Big Picture mode.
  - InclinedPlane 14y ago
    No, it's not the same, just as a bus, a sedan, and an suv are not the same even though they are functionally "identical".
    - jiggy2011 14y ago
      I don't see what the difference is apart from this runs Linux so has 1% of the games.
      - InclinedPlane 14y ago
        The difference is the experience. If they can provide an experience that people find valuable and an improvement over, for them at least, just hooking up a PC to a TV then it could be advantageous. Forget for a moment that this is "just" a linux pc running steam. Imagine for a second that this is some company launching a brand new game console. In much the same way that Sony entered the market with the PS1 or Microsoft with the XBOX. Does the installed base of games matter? Not if the console maker can drive an initial set of games on launch that are compelling enough to drive people to buy the console in large numbers, and then the installed base of consoles will incentivize other games makers to target the console. Valve has the advantage here that they are already a top tier game studio and they already have quite cozy relations with a lot of game makers and publishers. Will it work? Maybe, maybe not, it's hard to say just now. Ultimately the market will decide. Personally I'd give it just as much chance as the WiiU, if not more, of being a major player in the console games market in 5 years.
CJefferson 14y ago
One big advantage I would hope for would be "The games you can see for sale will all work on your graphics card and controller, and you won't have to play around with resolution settings and 2xFSAA, or whatever, trying to find an acceptable level of prettyness you computer can cope with".
rmk2 14y ago
It has been claimed elsewhere[1], with reference to something said by Ben Krasnow, that the projected Steam console will run Linux. Take it with a grain of salt until you hear something official, but at least, hints can be found. [1]: http://www.golem.de/news/pc-spielekonsole-steam-box-ohne-windows-1212-96609.html http://www.golem.de/news/pc-spielekonsole-steam-box-ohne-win... [german] edit: For those who don't know golem.de (presumably most here), it is one of the two major respectable German IT-news sites (next to heise.de, translated as The H)

james4k 14y ago

I don't know, the form factor is interesting. Even aside from the modularity, the size is very small, and not sure how you could really do that for yourself. Look at the size of the ethernet port on the back compared to the whole unit. Edit: And yeah, you can build your own PC that could work for your living room just as well, but that's looking at a very small piece of the market who are comfortable with doing that. You are going to need more products like these to get Steam into more living rooms.

Karma_Police 14y ago

Latest rumor I read was that it was going to ship with Linux (if you google steam box linux you'll find some sources). Price, I haven't heard anything about. As for advantages, it's probably the same as any other console, which means it comes with the same disadvantages. There will probably be steam box approved games on steam, which you will be sure will work in it, and you may also see some developers targeting it specifically. But yes, if you know what you're doing, there probably wont be any advantage on choosing this over your own custom built PC. I don't see many developers restricting their games to steam box.

InclinedPlane 14y ago

The advantage is that it will be a streamlined experienced for non tech-savvy people.

jiggy2011 14y ago
That would be effectively the same as adding Steam to startup in Windows, which the installer does anyway.
- __alexs 14y ago
  It doesn't go direct to Big Picture mode though and you still have to click through UAC and firewall alerts when launching newly installed games quiet frequently. Having full control of the software stack lets them take out quite a friction points.
  - jiggy2011 14y ago
    Adding an option to boot directly to big picture mode would be a huge problem and the Steam Windows client automatically adds firewall exceptions etc for games that you install. Since I mainly use Linux my Windows 7 PC is basically a Steam box already.
    - deltasquared 14y ago
      Likewise, my Windows 7 PC runs Steam only.
    - CrazedGeek 14y ago
      For what it's worth, there actually is an option to boot directly to Big Picture mode.
- InclinedPlane 14y ago
  No, it's not the same, just as a bus, a sedan, and an suv are not the same even though they are functionally "identical".
  - jiggy2011 14y ago
    I don't see what the difference is apart from this runs Linux so has 1% of the games.
    - InclinedPlane 14y ago
      The difference is the experience. If they can provide an experience that people find valuable and an improvement over, for them at least, just hooking up a PC to a TV then it could be advantageous. Forget for a moment that this is "just" a linux pc running steam. Imagine for a second that this is some company launching a brand new game console. In much the same way that Sony entered the market with the PS1 or Microsoft with the XBOX. Does the installed base of games matter? Not if the console maker can drive an initial set of games on launch that are compelling enough to drive people to buy the console in large numbers, and then the installed base of consoles will incentivize other games makers to target the console. Valve has the advantage here that they are already a top tier game studio and they already have quite cozy relations with a lot of game makers and publishers. Will it work? Maybe, maybe not, it's hard to say just now. Ultimately the market will decide. Personally I'd give it just as much chance as the WiiU, if not more, of being a major player in the console games market in 5 years.

CJefferson 14y ago

One big advantage I would hope for would be "The games you can see for sale will all work on your graphics card and controller, and you won't have to play around with resolution settings and 2xFSAA, or whatever, trying to find an acceptable level of prettyness you computer can cope with".

rmk2 14y ago

It has been claimed elsewhere[1], with reference to something said by Ben Krasnow, that the projected Steam console will run Linux. Take it with a grain of salt until you hear something official, but at least, hints can be found. [1]: http://www.golem.de/news/pc-spielekonsole-steam-box-ohne-windows-1212-96609.html http://www.golem.de/news/pc-spielekonsole-steam-box-ohne-win... [german] edit: For those who don't know golem.de (presumably most here), it is one of the two major respectable German IT-news sites (next to heise.de, translated as The H)