Valve's Gabe Newell Gives Details on Steam Box

[robochump]

No wonder why Valve never finished the Half Life series. Busy making hardware now...lol.

 

[Antimatter79]

The Steam Workshop is fine with me b/c it's non-intrusive, but I don't want a gaming client where everybody can create a store unless I don't have to see it. I don't want Steam to become the YouTube of Gaming Clients, and I'm definitely not interested in the Steam Box for myself. If it can do cross platform gaming so my console loving wife can co-op with me while I'm on my desktop, then fine. That would also mean I don't have to upgrade her laptop since she already games on her tablet, phone, and ps3; laptop is just for her Steam games which she'd prefer on a console (tv and controller experience). If she could play on Steam with a console experience, that'd be great. I'm envisioning a 720p 30fps box, which is appealing as deep fried sh1t to me, but my wife wouldn't know the difference, being that she's primarily a console gamer anyways.

 

[czerro]

[citation][nom]kinggraves[/nom]Gabe doesn't seem to even comprehend the differences between consoles and PCs. Important factors for consoles are things like simplicity, accessibility, pricing. This doesn't sound like it will hit any of those factors. The average console player isn't looking to buy 8 TVs to play a game. They aren't looking to have 20 different models to play the same platform. You know how many of the 8GB inferior version of the Wii U sold? Not a whole lot. Iwata likely wishes they had never had a second SKU. They aren't going to bother with installing a new OS on their console. How many people actually installed Linux on ps3 without any intention on piracy or "just to have it there"? This doesn't sound like any competition for consoles.As far as PCs go, a box that small isn't made by wizards. It will have the performance of any other PC in a box that small, pretty lousy compared to what a full sized PC can do. PC gamers who want performance aren't going to get it from a Steam box. This doesn't sound like a good choice for PC players.So who IS this a good choice for? The promise of cheap, functional VR is nice, I'll believe it when I see it. I don't see anything promised by the Steam Box that couldn't be achieved through any other PC or that would be desirable for a console gamer. In b4 Steam fanboys mark me down for questioning the infinite wisdom of Gabe Newell.[/citation]

I don't think you understand what the Steambox is. It will operate exactly like a console. You will turn it on and be in some Steambox UI, like an expanded version of Big Picture mode. No different than your 360/Wii/PS3 UI. It will be connected directly to the Steam store. The biggest catalog of triple A and indie titles anywhere, will be right at everyone's fingertips. Additionally, lets say you are a budget or casual gamer, there will be some manufacturer that offers a $150 dollar Steambox that only supports 480p output and has no optical drive and maybe only connectivity for 2 controllers. There will be some midrange options available that probably only support 720p at around $300 dollars and has some more bells and whistles. For the hardcore gamer, there will be some company manufacturing $500 steamboxes that support full 1080p, 3D and all sorts of other stuff. Companies will continue developing and releasing Steambox iterations, just like smartphones. Also, Gabe wasn't declaring that the steambox Valve is going to release will even have the capability to do the things he is suggesting. These are his plans for where he wants steambox to develop into, where he wants to expand what consoles can do, what he thinks they should be trying to do. It seems like you are being intentionally daft and close-minded.

 

[boju]

I'll cop my ignorance on the chin regarding first post albeit at the time of posting, the page wouldn't update to acknowledge my post had gone through. Used both ie10 and firefox and both didn't see anyone's comments at all.

Was a similar problem with ie9 and toms where i needed to enable compatibility mode to comment in articles, especially first post. Thinking it was something relatively similar i tried many things to get my post through then all of a sudden the post count started growing....

 

[alextheblue]

[citation][nom]wannabepro[/nom]I wonder what the price range will be. I'm definitely interested. If it can get 1080p gaming in the $500 range for four plus controllers and modern graphics details, VALVE TAKE MY MONEY!!!!!![/citation]A sucker born every minute... For the kind of money they will be asking, you could just build/buy a PC that's just as powerful, and just INSTALL STEAM. USB controllers, done.

This isn't about being "open", they're just using Linux because it's free and does what they need. They can port their games to it and they don't have to worry about competing with a built-in app store (like Win8 and Android deploy). That's what this is about - control. If Win8 didn't have an app-store model, Gabe wouldn't have soiled his pants. He wants Steam to get a cut of every sale, not MS or Google. Heck they even started selling non-game software.

 

[keyholder]

A crap steam box ( pc ) that will depend on steam network being up 24/7 that will require you to have massive download capability and a rock sold internet conection ( sorry no adsl here only fiber please)... Sorry you cant play this game it needs steambox to play ... err no thanks.. keep your crap.

Now... however if this box were to act as a cloud device ( aka steam server itself in your fron room) that then allows me to get my games from this box that which is updated via the real steam cloud.. then yeah maybe ill consider getting a steam account & box ... untill that day happens ill still be avoiding steam like the clappers.

 

[captaincharisma]

sounds like they are doing what 3DO did with their console

 

[Rameez Jamion]

since this is PC like console, most gamers will Definitely want KEYBOARD and MOUSE as input devices.
But these input devices must also be produced by Valve, not any other brand.
If this happens, Steam Box sales wud BOOM!!!
Pleaz no controllers!,
how are we supposed to play FPS games on 'servers' using controllers 😵?
That wud suck!
So common Mr.Gabe! U cud do better