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Valve Starts Listing The Steam Machines In The Steam Store

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  • zanny
    replied
    Originally posted by efikkan View Post
    Why? These machines are intended for those wanting a gaming PC for their TV without building one themselves. These might not be huge sellers, but there is certainly a market.
    I disagree with this interpretation of the role of Steam Machines, because PC gaming is defined by its environment. Consoles are couch machines, you use two hands on a controller, analog sticks et al, or maybe motion controls, from a distance of a meter or more. PC gaming is experienced up close, using mouse and keyboard (albeit control method is less relevant here since you can use any controller you want) and that means people care a lot more about visual fidelity of textures and models on PC because they are looking at higher density and thus higher precision images.

    At that, Steam Machines aren't meant to have anything to do with PC gaming. They are meant to solve several ongoing problems with how Sony and MS are developing consoles:
    • The release cycle is very long, so your hardware can start out "too good" for developers to use properly, and quickly becomes obsolete (because of the low specs required to meet <$500 price targets) that immediately start holding game fidelity behind.
    • It is a one size fits all solution, and on the other side of the spectrum is the desktop computer where you can customize it extensively on a per part basis. There really is no practical middle market until Steam Machines to meet the crowd that wants prebaked systems at multiple price points, unless you consider a prebuilt desktop you just stick behind your TV and have to set up yourself (the key point) as filling that gap. I don't.
    • Due to the way the platform is devised, it is unlikely Valve will ever need to change architectures and thus all games will remain backwards compatible for much longer in the same way Windows games usually outlast their playability relative to each console generation. And even then you can usually emulate older OS features appropriately to run older games, and the Steam Runtime gives Valve a static target they can permanantly support - if they ever have a backwards breaking update, they can just have parallel runtimes, one for newer titles and previous versions for older ones at the ready.


    Consoles as a concept are ostensibly outdated. In the 80s and 90s using specialized hardware to minimize cost for games made sense, but when you have a console generation where all three are effectively PCs (the Wii U is just powerpc based instead, while Xbone and PS4 are literally crippled x86 desktops) it is time to bite the bullet and realize the architecture - complete control of everything by the console vendor - just does not make sense anymore. It stunts game development to their time tables and their incentives (platform exclusives, milking the same hardware as long as possible, locking out fundamental computer functionality like network features behind paywalls) are entirely against the consumers interest, it just takes a sufficiently powerful player to upset that status quo.

    I really do hope Steam Machines kill consoles. If the user experience is identical, but without any of the negative effects of the single device per company model, it should bleed the market dry, especially considering how economical Steam already is considering all its sales.

    Leave a comment:


  • Guest
    Guest replied
    Originally posted by sarmad View Post
    Why so much difference? What does Intel CPUs offer over AMD CPUS?
    Hotter temperatures, stripped virtualization features, and slightly-better performance on single-threaded apps; that extra engineering "quality" costs money

    (still sour at a more-expensive i5-4670k running hotter and lacking VT-d compared to the FX-8350 I switched to)

    Leave a comment:


  • johnc
    replied
    Originally posted by MartinN View Post
    johnc's glass is always half empty, don't fret .
    half-empty with piss water

    Leave a comment:


  • johnc
    replied
    Originally posted by efikkan View Post
    Why? These machines are intended for those wanting a gaming PC for their TV without building one themselves. These might not be huge sellers, but there is certainly a market.
    Too expensive and little game selection so you're going to be streaming anyway -- might as well just get the Steam Link.

    Now if Valve had done something to make SteamOS amazing and given it a clear advantage over Windows, or did something really incredible like bundle some amazing highly-anticipated games with their console, people would be excited.

    But they didn't.

    Leave a comment:


  • kenjitamura
    replied
    I enjoy building my own systems too much to seriously consider buying one of these but more hardware being shipped with linux is a huge positive in my book.

    Leave a comment:


  • MartinN
    replied
    Originally posted by liam View Post
    Have you ever considered a career in consultancy/prognostication?
    johnc's glass is always half empty, don't fret .

    Leave a comment:


  • MartinN
    replied
    Originally posted by phoronix View Post
    Phoronix: Valve Starts Listing The Steam Machines In The Steam Store

    Valve has started showing off the Steam Controller and the many different Steam Machines within the Steam Store...

    http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...chines-Listing
    Looks freaking great for a start, but they won't become a brand unless those prices are chopped by 1/3, 1/2 or better in most cases.... The price relegates it to a niche for now.

    Leave a comment:


  • liam
    replied
    Originally posted by johnc View Post
    These things are dead on arrival.

    Steam Link has some potential though.
    Have you ever considered a career in consultancy/prognostication?

    Leave a comment:


  • efikkan
    replied
    Originally posted by johnc View Post
    These things are dead on arrival.
    Why? These machines are intended for those wanting a gaming PC for their TV without building one themselves. These might not be huge sellers, but there is certainly a market.

    Leave a comment:


  • johnc
    replied
    These things are dead on arrival.

    Steam Link has some potential though.

    Leave a comment:

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