Report: Valve Working on 'Steam Box' Game Console

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[citation][nom]cTs Corvette[/nom]Dumbest idea Valve has ever had. Their user base already has PC's, most of which are probably better than this, so I can't imagine who they intend their target market to be.[/citation]
To me, it looks like they are trying to target an audience not already playing on Steam. People that are more comfortable with a console like device. Crazy, i know...
 
[citation][nom]shardey[/nom]Steam needs to make an OS that is dedicated for gaming. Thus, eliminating the need for another piece of electronics.[/citation]

Best idea I've heard! I'd love to have a valve OS to get rid of windows. They could call it Steam Hat and all it does is convert .exe to .bin and make life easier!
 
[citation][nom]kukhri[/nom]While exciting, I hate to think of Valve entwining itself with console gaming. It's an all to common trend and it seems fewer PC centered titles are released every year.[/citation]

The fact is, there are more PC titles, and game types that used to be only console are made for the PC as well. (For example, Borderlands was originally released on the Xbox and PS3, then later ported to the PC, but Borderlands 2 will come out of the gate with a version actually made for the PC, not just a port.)

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/nvidia-pc-console-sales-battlefield-3-bf3-pc-gaming,13499.html

Until the console industry refreshes itself (by making new and up-to-date consoles), no game will look its best on a console, and developers are well aware of that. They are also aware that while many millions have a console of one type or another, almost all of them actually have a computer as well. Does it make sense to develop for the Xbox, PS3, and PC when you can just develop for the PC and most everyone can play the game anyway?

When the Xbox and PS3 were released, they offered something that PCs at the time didn't, but that's no longer the case - they don't come close to competing with today's PC. You can get high quality console type controllers if you prefer to play with them instead of a keyboard and mouse, of all kinds, there really is no limitation and every advantage for using a PC to game on - and if you have one already, the one and only reason to buy a console over a PC is so your kid can play on it rather than your computer. Personally, I'd rather buy (actually, build) my kid a computer.

😉

 
By creating a standard PC spec which is guaranteed to run all Steam titles and by introducing a new Steam GUI which works well on TVs I think Steam will actually do ok. There's no way that Valve is creating a new incompatible system. A standard PC setup is a really good idea for non-tech savvy consumers who don't want to figure out if their system will run games.
 
[citation][nom]crewton[/nom]Best idea I've heard! I'd love to have a valve OS to get rid of windows. They could call it Steam Hat and all it does is convert .exe to .bin and make life easier![/citation]

Right. We need a third console with proprietary software.

The fact is, DirectX was and is made for gaming, and is a premium solution - developers use it because it works better than anything else, period. Sure, there are a few that want to develop outside what DirectX can do, but I'm willing to bet they also think that when it comes to developing for consoles, even more so.

DirectX came from the mind of Alex St. John, who worked for Microsoft when they realized that Windows was a terrible gaming operating system. The purpose of DirectX was to

1) Work outside of or around Windows so Windows wasn't a limitation, and

2) Give game developers everything they wanted in a neat package.

While Vista was a step back from that philosophy, they realized their mistake and Win 7 brought DirectX back in line with what it should be.

Make no mistake; Microsoft's investment in gaming is far more than just the Xbox. They realized long ago that the computer would be used for gaming in a big way, and they wanted to make sure people used what they sold for gaming as well as their other applications. Their commitment is rock solid.

😉

 
[citation][nom]Marcus52[/nom]The fact is, there are more PC titles, and game types that used to be only console are made for the PC as well. (For example, Borderlands was originally released on the Xbox and PS3, then later ported to the PC, but Borderlands 2 will come out of the gate with a version actually made for the PC, not just a port.)http://www.tomshardware.com/news/n [...] 13499.htmlUntil the console industry refreshes itself (by making new and up-to-date consoles), no game will look its best on a console, and developers are well aware of that. They are also aware that while many millions have a console of one type or another, almost all of them actually have a computer as well. Does it make sense to develop for the Xbox, PS3, and PC when you can just develop for the PC and most everyone can play the game anyway?When the Xbox and PS3 were released, they offered something that PCs at the time didn't, but that's no longer the case - they don't come close to competing with today's PC. You can get high quality console type controllers if you prefer to play with them instead of a keyboard and mouse, of all kinds, there really is no limitation and every advantage for using a PC to game on - and if you have one already, the one and only reason to buy a console over a PC is so your kid can play on it rather than your computer. Personally, I'd rather buy (actually, build) my kid a computer.[/citation]

consoles offer many things that a pc just doesn't.

- games run off discs - if you don't care about load times, or don't want to buy a new hard drive, this is a very appealing aspect, personally so long as the game isn't load heavy, i could care less about load times.
- they just work - if a game is coded for the consoles correctly, they just work, as in no mater what console you have, what sku, you will play the game.
- a unified experience - this is more credit for the 360... i recently bought allot of games for the pc that have online that i actually want to play, dungeon defenders is one of them, it supports in game voice chat, but no one seams to have a microphone, i mean the only person i ever heard in the game use voice besides me so far is my little brother. on a 360 damn near everyone has a mic, never played online on the ps3, but you get my point, the console has a more unified experience than the computer.

these are just 3 benefits to consoles than computers, and im not even getting into driver updates on a pc can break parts of your computer, (nvidia disabling the fan and allowing gpus to cook themselves, or amd drivers breaking and fixing acdsee panning at random, im on drivers 11.12 from december 25th, the day i got my ssd and 8gb of ram and win 7 while current drivers are 12.1) or even where other programs are running and somehow spike the cpu and cause frame rate loss... yea, there are MANY reasons to love consoles over computers for just the sheer ease of use.

granted all that said, i still prefer the pc.
 
[citation][nom]alidan[/nom]consoles offer many things that a pc just doesn't. - games run off discs - if you don't care about load times, or don't want to buy a new hard drive, this is a very appealing aspect, personally so long as the game isn't load heavy, i could care less about load times. - they just work - if a game is coded for the consoles correctly, they just work, as in no mater what console you have, what sku, you will play the game.- a unified experience - this is more credit for the 360... i recently bought allot of games for the pc that have online that i actually want to play, dungeon defenders is one of them, it supports in game voice chat, but no one seams to have a microphone, i mean the only person i ever heard in the game use voice besides me so far is my little brother. on a 360 damn near everyone has a mic, never played online on the ps3, but you get my point, the console has a more unified experience than the computer. these are just 3 benefits to consoles than computers, and im not even getting into driver updates on a pc can break parts of your computer, yea, there are MANY reasons to love consoles over computers for just the sheer ease of use. granted all that said, i still prefer the pc.[/citation]

wow... i hate disc. i have way to many discs taking up space in my house. i would rather have everything be digital. never have to worry that i will loose it. even if my computer was nuked but Steam and Valve still existed (and i was still alive) i would still have my games.

Onlive takes it a step further. now i dont even need the latest and greatest hardware to run crysis. or unreal engine 4. that is left up to the server at the other end. i dont need to upgrade my computer for gaming. and again as long as i can get into my account, i will always have my games.

oh sorry did i just spill my coffee and scratch your disc beyond repair? oh dang look at that your console isnt the latest and greatest, guess you cant play the latest Crysis...

the only console i like is the Wii. totally family orientated. Xbox and Playstation...

not letting my 4 year old and 1 year old touch those...
 
Unless if Valve plans on releasing some seriously CPU heavy games that support 8 threads, the i7s are an overkill. OC'ed i5s would be cheaper and outdo stock i7s.

They're better off on loading up on GPU...
 
What is Valve plans to HEAVILY subsidize the cost of the system for the consumers, with the intent of having a MASSIVE user base to go along with it's already massive distribution platform. Like they do with the hugely discounted prices of games on their sales.
 
[citation][nom]DawnTreader777[/nom]wow... i hate disc. i have way to many discs taking up space in my house. i would rather have everything be digital. never have to worry that i will loose it. even if my computer was nuked but Steam and Valve still existed (and i was still alive) i would still have my games.Onlive takes it a step further. now i dont even need the latest and greatest hardware to run crysis. or unreal engine 4. that is left up to the server at the other end. i dont need to upgrade my computer for gaming. and again as long as i can get into my account, i will always have my games.oh sorry did i just spill my coffee and scratch your disc beyond repair? oh dang look at that your console isnt the latest and greatest, guess you cant play the latest Crysis...the only console i like is the Wii. totally family orientated. Xbox and Playstation...not letting my 4 year old and 1 year old touch those...[/citation]

i refuse to trust publishers, steam i have heard in the past when games were pulled, they gave a full refund if it was no longer accessible by any means, so i accept them as a digital provider, but onlive... i trust them to provide a service. i don't believe they will ever be a real game provider, mainly due to lag that will be there no matter what, and the only way around that lag in games is to dumb them down... take a simulation style racing game, you can not play those on onlive, or even racing games in competitive play due to lag, and i don't believe internet will ever be fast enough to compensate.

however, what i would love is a digital/physical middle ground.
buy a game in a store, i have it all on a disc,
i put it into steam, i can get it there too.
all in all, best of both worlds...

but seriously, there are many times in the past and some times currently where if i could play a game off a disc, i would. my dvd player is really quiet, even when its going fast. but lets look at it another way, if games on the pc all went to blu ray.

a 16x bluray drive reads at 76mb per second, and a hard drive can read up to 120-150 depending on density (ssd are excluded because of overly expensive)

if you have the game loads sequential, it will rival hdd in load times, and in cases of heavily used hdds, surpass them, this would take a bit of thinking on how to place the data on the discs, but its already done for consoles, why force computers to install... i love the conveinacen of putting the disc in and playing the game, and not needing to install, especially when you have a large game library, i have 75 recent games piled up right in front of me, and i have over 200 in the closet up stairs and about another 400 downstairs, many of them i have gotten for cheap, as in sub 5-10$ and many have been gifts, or old games that were just given to me, but i have a collection so large it cant fit on a current harddrive (not all are pc games)

running a game off a disc is a far better option than needing to constantly install and uninstall.
 
I don't know about you guys but having a game that is optimized just for a system like this would be killer.

Put me down.

And BTW all systems start expensive but work their way down.
 
I like the idea, so long as it's being sold with a choice of graphics modules and not just the very low end that usually populates a console.
And a windows PC would make sense in serveral ways.
1) many people these days have consoles + laptops ; no enthusiast gaming rigs like us
2) if they sell a tiny pc with gaming laptop hardware and a locked down version of windows on an ssd or something, that'd be a great performing silent computer. They'll just need to take care of a wsus solution and maintaining their image in such a manner that users can reset the box without losing saves and settings. Perhaps use something along the lines of deepfreeze for software maintainance and skipping patches altogether.
3) a controller with replacable parts sounds great. I hate the idea that you can't play half the wii games because you'll need the wheel from mario, or a guitar or that thumb thingie or whatever ... a controller, and then just replace a few bits and you're ready to go .. good idea.
 
Everyone analyzing the possible parts and saying this will cost too much need to remember how console manufacture differs from the PC market. Console manufacturers like Nintendo and Sony make deals and sign contracts with part manufacturers such as Nvidia/Intel/AMD to keep costs down, and Valve could very well be doing this with their console PC. If this is the mobile version of the i7 and a high end mobile Nvidia GPU, and if Valve is subsidizing it, this very well could be down in the $300-400 area like all the other consoles (save for the underpowered low cost Wii).

This is going to be great for the PC market. A console-like PC with a custom themed version of Windows and a highly competitive price will be a game changer in the PC industry if it's marketed correctly, and it will also put Valve in a good position to take on Apple when they finally make with their Apple TV plans.
 
What will make or break this console is not the system specs, but the easiness and functionality.

First off, it has to be very easy to set up and play, so those who are not familiar with PC gaming can simply plug it in to their TV and play.

Second, the interface has to be very simple, and functional. There is a reason why iphones, ipads, and the app store is so successful. Even apple's app store games are outselling the DS and PSP games. Another example is the Roku box. Sure anyone can watch internet TV on the computer if they know where to look, but to have a small device that you plug into your TV, turn on, and just works; well that is money in the bank.

Finally, if this comes out, I will definitely be buying more games on Steam.
 
RE: the i7 processor

If this prototype is using onboard "mobile" Nvidia graphics, perhaps the entire system is built with mobile components.

Yes, i7 2600k's are expensive, and honestly overkill.
But the math is a little different for mobile parts
Like say, an i7-2630QM, which is only offered to OEMs and also I don't believe has publicly known pricing.

I don't have much confidence in "onboard" graphics though.
I think an i7-2720QM and 6770M (used in my own personal system),
pushed into an HTPC/Console chassis could be a highly effective combination.
 
Seriously, people still take this as "news"? It's a stupid assumption from people that read an interview with Gabe Newell where he stated that if Valve had to deliver hardware themselves, they'd do it, but he was mostly referring peripherals like the biometrics that they were testing for introducing in newer games. This "SteamBox" is just a overhyped rumor with no basis at all. Seriously, drop it.
 
"For a software company, entering the hardware market is a big enough risk, but at least a console's life-cycle is usually pretty long"


a risk steam likely can absorb massive loss on if they have to just to get market penetration , keep in mind this is vavle we are talking about , likely the richest publisher/developer around. last figures i saw said something like 86% of pc gamers own at least one steam based game
 
How about a subscription based hardware platform?? Tiered pricing plans give access to REGULARLY UPDATED hardware and current games.

Maybe they could further revive PC gaming instead of beating it to death with yet another console.
 
As long as they dont tamper with Steam on our traidional PC and don tmake anything exlusive on this console Im good. Its been a while since I wanted to buy a really powerful yet small pc to play games and use it as a console (to carry around). And calling it Steam Box assures you that any game to the date you buy the box plays everything. Its nice.
 
The idea could work if done right, for sure. I'm not crazy about the "Steam Box" name, too close to the Xbox name. Maybe call it the "Steam Machine" or something like that. :)

The controller concept scares me too. If it's well made it could be pretty cool. However if it's cheaply made it could be a major pain in the ass. I can see a lot of impatient people breaking their controllers/attachments. It would also suck if you had to buy separate attachments instead of getting most of them with the controller. I'm not saying they would go that route, but I wouldn't be surprised just because it would be a way to make a bit more cash (see the Mann Store, hats, etc.). If this whole rumor comes to fruition then I would be interested IF it's done right. Valve is smart, they could do it if they try hard enough.
 
If Half Life 3 is an exclusive title on the Steam Box, I'm going to be pissed.

This device seems cool, but I'm really worried about the price.
 
Its an intresting idea. Make a computer that is small and easy to setup, and capable of playing any steam title, and sell it at a resonable price. I know people that would buy that. They could even spin it as a HTPC. The trouble with most of the out of box HTPCs and even big brand gaming PCs is they never seem to be able to play games do to poor(or cheap) GPU choices.
 
[citation][nom]husker[/nom]I don't think people posting understand how much this idea could help PC gaming in the long run. Valve is introducing a "console-like" PC to help woo some console gamers back into the PC fold. This box could offer the convenience of a dedicated game console, in which games could be certified to run without various driver or other mis-matched hardware issues. Remember, this is Steam - the king of downloading and managing the software installed on a box. It would just work. You don't like this PC fine, then don't buy one. But somebody will, and it is likely to be console users. That would mean a larger PC gamer market. A larger PC market means more and better games developed to be played on a PC, rather than as a console port afterthought.[/citation]


just console gamers ??? hell i'm already a PC gamer and i'm liking this idea , and the system specks already sound like it makes my 2008 desktop look like a punk b----. if they can sell this ion the neigbor hood of 400 bucks , i'd jump at it at this point , then i can turn my desktop into pure workstation (via a work station vid card) loose all the non work stuff and play this machine for my games on my 42 inch 1080p LG LCD

i don't see what's to loose , aside from needing the money for this machine , just hoping it they keep it's cost in the lower range.
 
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