Steam Box

[MIGMaster]

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Valve-Steam-Box-Console-Gaming-Computer-Gaming-PC,14901.html

[Martok]

I heard rumors floating about this a few days ago.  Sounds like it could bridge the gap between your standard consoles and PC gaming. 

[LongBlade]

Wow. This is an interesting development.

Thanks for sharing!

[MIGMaster]

I had to laugh when they called it a re-branded PC - did they ever see the inside of an XBOX ?

Anyway, it will be interesting to see what happens - especially given the massive installed base of MS and Sony units.... and I guess you could say Nintendo to some extent.

Ohhh....and if they played their cards right marketing could certainly do a lot with the Steam Box connotations

[LongBlade]

Let's look at it from their perspective.

Steam was formed in part by the hacking of Half-Life 2. The result was robust DRM of the code.

But what if that isn't enough? What if you want to control the hardware, too, to ensure theft of the code is impossible?

Whether that animal turns into a custom PC at $700 or a rival console at $400, I wonder if the motive is less about competing in the hardware space and more about locking down on piracy and cheating?

[MIGMaster]

It may be good for the consumer - on the upside to cosle games is that they are usually programmed a bit more effciently than PC games -but I guess that might be a bit of a stereotpye given that I notice several console titles are dropping in frame rates.

[Martok]

Whether that animal turns into a custom PC at $700 or a rival console at $400, I wonder if the motive is less about competing in the hardware space and more about locking down on piracy and cheating?

To be honest, I suspect that's been their primary motive from the get-go. 

[Shelldrake]

Interesting. I assume the steambox will be restricted to steam apps and lack the flexibility of a mainstream PC?

[LongBlade]

Interesting. I assume the steambox will be restricted to steam apps and lack the flexibility of a mainstream PC?

If their objective is to control the code, then I would expect very limited ability to do anything other than turn it on, play games, and buy from Steam.

Given the success of the iPad and the Kindle - both of which are mostly just platforms to buy more stuff - that kind of strategy would appear to almost make sense.

Also, if you figure that Steam would be controlling the hardware, that means that, like consoles, a dumb-ish PC would be much easier to maintain. No messy hardware incompatibilities. It *could* be genre defining like consoles were.

or it could be a huge disaster.

[eyebiter]

.

[Staggerwing]

Wondering how this would work.  Make it a linux based OS and run the games in a Windows virtual machine?

It's an idea. Still, with all the different developers writing games that end up on Steam, what are the odds that they'll all develop games optimized for the particular hardware set that Valve decides on? At least Console developers work with the knowledge that the hardware is all the same whereas the PC developers have to still take into account the vast number of rigs the players have that are not the Steambox along with all the compromises that entails. The other option would be to require their developers to develop a Steambox version alongside their PC and Mac (and perhaps Linux) iterations. In that case they might as well make the Steambox all Linux and re-code existing popular games for that platform. The modding community has been trying to port games to Linux from other platforms for a while now. Maybe this will make it an official niche growth industry. After than will come the homebrew Steambox clones, case-theme modders, etc. Good Times!

(Edit for violating Prime Word Use Directive  :-[)

[W8taminute]

I love Steam on my PC and all, but I absolutely do not want that garbage on my console.  The console is the last refuge to escape from DRM and I don't want my peace and quiet disturbed.  I'm but one voice and realize that for business reasons Steam may come to my console in full force one day whether little old me wants it or not.  I just am stating my opinion on the matter.

[Arctic Blast]

I love Steam on my PC and all, but I absolutely do not want that garbage on my console.  The console is the last refuge to escape from DRM and I don't want my peace and quiet disturbed.  I'm but one voice and realize that for business reasons Steam may come to my console in full force one day whether little old me wants it or not.  I just am stating my opinion on the matter.

Actually, to a small extent it has already happened. The PS3 version of Portal 2 used Steamworks to update, but it also meant that any PS3 purchase of the game also gave you the game on PC. Valve will likely push for a similar setup in the future, because the 360 version of The Orange Box was quickly cast aside due to MS not wanting Steamworks-accessed free updates that the PC version enjoyed.

And Consoles are much, much more controlled systems than any PC, Steam or not.. Seriously, if you have a 360 and it is found by the network to have been modified, they can and will permanently remove Xbox Live access for that particular console. A year or so back, tens of thousands of 360's had this happen, and soon showed up in mass quantities on Craigslist. Same goes for your PS3.

And just to be clear, I'm not bad mouthing anything. I had a 360 until it finally croaked a short time back.