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> Hell, you have Steam Machines planned with only Intel HD graphics and also called "Steam Machines" just like the Alienware Alpha and the Syber ones, while pow

by efuquen 11y ago

> Hell, you have Steam Machines planned with only Intel HD graphics and also called "Steam Machines" just like the Alienware Alpha and the Syber ones, while power-wise they fall in totally different categories. That's the best way to kill your brand, at least 3DO never did that kind of mistake. Replace "Steam Machines" with "Andriod" and you could make the exact same arguments. And the thing is people have, and they have been to an extent completely correct. But, I don't think you would say Android hasn't been a very successful bet for Google, despite the fragmentation and huge range of quality for different mobile devices, and the problems with branding they have. What I'm seeing is Valve trying to make the exact same play in the console world, where Microsoft and Sony have it locked down very much the same way Apple did (or was on the way to doing) with the smartphones. They want to break people out of those walled gardens and bring them into their ecosystem, and they're going to provide an open platform for any hardware maker to do it, just like Android did. Of course mobile phones and consoles are two different industries, it might play out in a similar way or it might play out completely differently. But I think it's a bit premature to write it off as ridiculous or even a bad idea from the start when there is precedent for this sort of strategy working in other industries. It certainly has a chance of playing out well for Valve, branding and fragmentation be damned, as long as it opens up a much larger audience to Steam.

ekianjo 11y ago
I get the Android comparison, but I don't think it is very much relevant. People don't always get Android phones by choice, and they get a phone ANYWAY because they need a phone. For consoles, the choice is already very clear out there and the well known brands are Xbox, Nintendo and Sony, period. You can see how nVidia is struggling to establish their Shield brand in the market by the way, as a good indication of how hard it is to enter the market. There is nobody who "needs" Steam Machines out there right now, because they already either have a console, a PC or both if they actually care. And additionally, Valve is too risk-averse to actually build and sell hardware by themselves (or even take a NEXUS approach like Google), which makes me think they don't even believe in the Steam Machines themselves. We will see.
- monk_e_boy 11y ago
  Actually there are a few people (like myself, my brother and a bunch of our friends) who are waiting to see what the steam machines will be like. We're still using xbox360, wii, laptops etc to game on. Now looking to upgrade sometime this year... we've been waiting for steam machines... but the specs are way too confusing. I just about understand nvidia cards and the numbering system, but how they interact with i5/i7 and different memory? (cue 1,000 geeks who will try and educate me) I just want to buy a box that is better than XBoxOne at the same price. At this rate I think a used XBoxOne off ebay is a better option. Let steam machines bake for a year or so. The worst thing that can happen for steam machines is when 99 people buy the budget version and 1 person buys the dream machine, the 99 people see the dream machine beat their budget machines and now you've got 99 disappointed customers and 1 happy customer. This doesn't happen with playstation, wiiU or xbox. Steam machines are going to fail and I'm pretty gutted about that.
  - ekianjo 11y ago
    > I just want to buy a box that is better than XBoxOne at the same price. At this rate I think a used XBoxOne off ebay is a better option. Let steam machines bake for a year or so. Honestly the XboxOne has more value, right now, than the Steam Machines in terms of how well games will run on it. But you can say that the Steam Machines may have more games (but not as many that you can play with a joypad - since some PC games require a keyboard anyway). It's not a straightforward comparison, and it depends a lot on what games you want to play in the end. If you want AAA games, right now it looks like the Xbox one is a better option, but maybe that will change later in 2016. Who knows... > now you've got 99 disappointed customers and 1 happy customer. Which is precisely why they should have setup minimum specs for their Steam Machines, or at least have a Valve Steam Machine that sets the standard. But Valve did not do that, and I am also concerned they will fail precisely because of that.
    - Robadob 11y ago
      >But you can say that the Steam Machines may have more games (but not as many that you can play with a joypad - since some PC games require a keyboard anyway). Apparently the steam controller is designed to be a suitable replacement for a keyboard/mouse, and will include a system for sharing controller mappings for games over steam.
ZeroGravitas 11y ago
Agreed, plus, Steam is already "fragmented" on it's home turf of desktop PCs: http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/videocard/ http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/videocard/ And every time I've looked at that list, Intel integrated graphics have been fairly prominent. Some of the arguments against the steam machines make me feel like I've fallen into some weird "console vs pc" propaganda war, rather than a factual discussion about business strategies.

by efuquen 11y ago

ekianjo 11y ago

I get the Android comparison, but I don't think it is very much relevant. People don't always get Android phones by choice, and they get a phone ANYWAY because they need a phone. For consoles, the choice is already very clear out there and the well known brands are Xbox, Nintendo and Sony, period. You can see how nVidia is struggling to establish their Shield brand in the market by the way, as a good indication of how hard it is to enter the market. There is nobody who "needs" Steam Machines out there right now, because they already either have a console, a PC or both if they actually care. And additionally, Valve is too risk-averse to actually build and sell hardware by themselves (or even take a NEXUS approach like Google), which makes me think they don't even believe in the Steam Machines themselves. We will see.

monk_e_boy 11y ago
Actually there are a few people (like myself, my brother and a bunch of our friends) who are waiting to see what the steam machines will be like. We're still using xbox360, wii, laptops etc to game on. Now looking to upgrade sometime this year... we've been waiting for steam machines... but the specs are way too confusing. I just about understand nvidia cards and the numbering system, but how they interact with i5/i7 and different memory? (cue 1,000 geeks who will try and educate me) I just want to buy a box that is better than XBoxOne at the same price. At this rate I think a used XBoxOne off ebay is a better option. Let steam machines bake for a year or so. The worst thing that can happen for steam machines is when 99 people buy the budget version and 1 person buys the dream machine, the 99 people see the dream machine beat their budget machines and now you've got 99 disappointed customers and 1 happy customer. This doesn't happen with playstation, wiiU or xbox. Steam machines are going to fail and I'm pretty gutted about that.
- ekianjo 11y ago
  > I just want to buy a box that is better than XBoxOne at the same price. At this rate I think a used XBoxOne off ebay is a better option. Let steam machines bake for a year or so. Honestly the XboxOne has more value, right now, than the Steam Machines in terms of how well games will run on it. But you can say that the Steam Machines may have more games (but not as many that you can play with a joypad - since some PC games require a keyboard anyway). It's not a straightforward comparison, and it depends a lot on what games you want to play in the end. If you want AAA games, right now it looks like the Xbox one is a better option, but maybe that will change later in 2016. Who knows... > now you've got 99 disappointed customers and 1 happy customer. Which is precisely why they should have setup minimum specs for their Steam Machines, or at least have a Valve Steam Machine that sets the standard. But Valve did not do that, and I am also concerned they will fail precisely because of that.
  - Robadob 11y ago
    >But you can say that the Steam Machines may have more games (but not as many that you can play with a joypad - since some PC games require a keyboard anyway). Apparently the steam controller is designed to be a suitable replacement for a keyboard/mouse, and will include a system for sharing controller mappings for games over steam.

ZeroGravitas 11y ago

Agreed, plus, Steam is already "fragmented" on it's home turf of desktop PCs: http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/videocard/ http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/videocard/ And every time I've looked at that list, Intel integrated graphics have been fairly prominent. Some of the arguments against the steam machines make me feel like I've fallen into some weird "console vs pc" propaganda war, rather than a factual discussion about business strategies.