First Steam Machine Announced

It will never be as successful as normal systems

I'm sure someone said the same thing when Microsoft first announced the Xbox. That comment is going to be there for someone to bump in 5 years and say "wow! He was way off"

Wrong.

So we'll be able to play SNOW on that?

can i play madden on it.

grand theft auto also?

What I was expecting...



imo this thing is way fucking cooler

You guys are acting like I said dont want it to do well. I fully think the steam box should replace te current market standard. I just think that the infrastructure and market dominance of Xbox. Wii, ps is untouchable by this.


PC master race as a console? I'm game.

What is it supposed to play? Anything from the steam marketplace? I feel that wouldnt be the most smooth experience for a majority of the games. A lot of times, computer games are computer games for a reason. I would really like to see this succeed though. I love Steam.

I'm really excited. Through my middle school years I gamed way too fucking hard on my pc, all being ran through steam. I'm not buying a ps4 or an x-box one, so I think i might just get this

It has the potential to be one though, and honestly that's all that matters this early. Remember that kids see a cool thing at their friends house, and they ALL go and buy it.

As much as I support the steam machine, you're right. It's not going to be succesfull in it's first gen because the other options are too set in stone at the moment. All the people who are PC gamers aren't going to buy this because they can already play steam games on their PC. Console gamers generally are very loyal to their brands, and I doubt it will take just one gen for them to make the switch over. Also, console casuals are generally intimidated by things like this. A lot of console gamers buy consoles simply because it's easy. You buy the console, and it plays the games. With PCs and machines like this, it takes a little bit more research to see if what will work for you.

so it plays PC games? or just anything available on steam?

honestly this is the first next-gen console that I have been remotely interested in. still too expensive for me personally though.

Is this like the Okama Gamesphere?

Damn that thing looks like a beast. Doubt it will be a console killer, even though the specs make the Xbox one look like an overclocked toaster. People don't buy the consoles for their specs and capabilities (though it can be a deciding factor between ps4 and Xbox one) they most of the time buy it for the social experience. Let's be honest here, PC gaming is unrivaled in performance and visuals, but I guarantee that more people at your school, work, etc have a console, meaning you'll probably be playing alone with randoms. People don't really care about specs, they just want to play with their friends, and though The PC gaming community is growing, there simply aren't enough people to warent a console fanboy to switch over so "he can play with all his friends".
Just my two cents and what I've noticed from my years of PC gaming.

Ok

This thing looks awesome. But the controller is still a mystery to me. 

Does anyone know if this thing runs solely on SteamOS or can you use it like a normal pc too?

Given Steam's reputation, I would assume it will come stock with SteamOS but be very easily "hackable" as they say about their controller. So it would not be difficult to run it how you want.

Addressing a few points in this thread.

For the guy asking to play Madden, with the strangle hold many game titles have on Consoles that will probably not happen in the near features, but as the idea of a living room computer aka this steam machine advances there might be more and more support by developers. One of the cool point is that valve who makes steam when and before they announced the steam machine they said that linux is the future of gaming due to the freedom involved within linux. The PC gaming industry currently isn't very linux based, but with the guiding hand of valve more developers have worked to work with linux as a platform which is huge.

To the people saying that it won't be as popular as a normal system you are probably right, but as I said this is the first of many different steam machine to be released this year, and probably years to come, unlike consoles which have a life span, as well as the ability to make you own steam machine and throw the OS on it and maybe windows or another partition of linux early next year and use it not only for games but for media too and really anything you want. One more point onto this is that there is a streaming function built into the OS where PC gamers can take their expensive rigs and play games at max settings and stream them onto their TV through the steam machine, meaning they can play the games they want in high ass quality, with minimal lag in the comfort of their living room on technically any computer they want because the specs needed to stream are pretty low. I'm trying to find a

Shit the less than sign screwed up my post.


Addressing a few points in this thread.

For the guy asking to play Madden, with the strangle hold many game titles have on Consoles that will probably not happen in the near features, but as the idea of a living room computer aka this steam machine advances there might be more and more support by developers. One of the cool point is that valve who makes steam when and before they announced the steam machine they said that linux is the future of gaming due to the freedom involved within linux. The PC gaming industry currently isn't very linux based, but with the guiding hand of valve more developers have worked to work with linux as a platform which is huge.

To the people saying that it won't be as popular as a normal system you are probably right, but as I said this is the first of many different steam machine to be released this year, and probably years to come, unlike consoles which have a life span, as well as the ability to make you own steam machine and throw the OS on it and maybe windows or another partition of linux early next year and use it not only for games but for media too and really anything you want. One more point onto this is that there is a streaming function built into the OS where PC gamers can take their expensive rigs and play games at max settings and stream them onto their TV through the steam machine, meaning they can play the games they want in high ass quality, with minimal lag in the comfort of their living room on technically any computer they want because the specs needed to stream are pretty low. I'm trying to find a <50 dollar old PC on craiglist so I can put the OS so I can play Skyrim on my TV in my living room without having to move anything and then I can use the computer with a boot of Windows or whatever to just do basic internet surfing with a wireless keyboard and mouse.

"Does anyone know if this thing runs solely on SteamOS or can you use it like a normal pc too?". It most likely normal PC hardware and I betcha valve is working with all the developers that it can to be able to run whatever you throw at it, which would include origin games, and stuff of that nature. I also wouldn't be surprised if they had a way to duel boot operating systems on it if you wanted to use it as a normal computer, because people that build their own would have no problem doing that. We will have to see

Lastly you have all the perks of PC gaming(This paragraph is jumbled I know). One, steam sales, for chirst sake, its the most glorified DRM available but they don't screw people for the most part with it. Buying the majority of your games for 50-80% off is a great feeling. Now with the addition of family sharing and an actual working offline mode valve is slowly chipping away at the few complaints they have about steam. Then you bring in points like better graphics, and the ability to use a mouse can keyboard as well as a controller of your choosing, then the fact that computers can be used for things besides gaming brings PC gaming way up there.

You pretty much covered everything in this post, nice job.

I feel like all of us can agree that the developments in the last 5 years are ultimately leading to one supreme streamlined multi-media box in a house-hold that does basically anything you want be it gaming, TV, or internet..

Wow this is great news. I was worried that the Steam box would be overpriced, but I couldn't have been further off. I think this will definitely be a huge boost for PC gaming, as the real barrier to entry for most people is the cost of a gaming pc.

Thanks Parrish.

This is super exciting. And I agree with what Thizzle said as well--thus, I am particularly happy that Valve got there first. I'd much rather see them there than almost any other manufacturer.

This doesn't seem like a multiplayer system. My idea of steam is more of sitting in your room alone playing video games. I more enjoy playing games with my friends like halo, madden or fifa, because video games just dont interest me otherwise. does steam have any games like that or is it all 1player or playing alone against random people online

Steam games are PC games, so they all pretty much involve playing online. However, my guess is as time goes on and these systems see more and more popularity, a lot of these games will incorporate split screen and local multiplayer options.

Also, I don't know what some of you guys know about steam, but one of the great things about it is that you can get games for incredibly cheap. I rarely pay over 15 dollars for games on steam due to the great deals they always have going on, and often can get great games on sale for 5 to 10 dollars.

This and the price-point of a gaming PC are the two major things about them that separate the market. Although there is a very large demographic of older gamers who wish to have a somewhat serious and better gaming experience there is also those who just want to play some entertaining decent games with their friends. When I was younger my parents bought my brother and I an Xbox 360 whenever they came out... and I took it to college this year. it gave my brother, me, and our friends days of entertainment for a relatively low price and a decent gaming experience. While if I REALLY wanted to get in to gaming, I would have had to drop a lot of $ on a gaming PC and it would be me playing my PC with randoms rather than split-screening Black Ops and switching off with a couple buddies... I think the steam machine has the potential to bridge the gap, if it can cross the threshold from more serious gamers to the fifa, madden, call of duty, with the friends type of gamer. We'll see.

While this is true, most consoles recently have been geared more towards single player games or playing online.

And if you think about isn't the random people online the same as xbox live and psn, steam has a friends list function just like any other system. Like its sad to say but many games that consoles feature more recently have been more about online support then doing split-screen, but I bet as the steam platform moves forward I could see valve working on improving multiplayer split-screens in more games.

Steam console will be in competition by 2016 to XBO and PS4. Watch.

No one knows gaming like VALVe and Steam. It's common sense. Because of the price those that have played XBL will continue to get an Xbox. Same with Sony users. Steam IS targeted for PC users as of now, and it sucks because everyone and their brother plays COD like its God's greatest gift to hit a TV screen. Who cares? COD is the easiest FPS game to play, BF is up there as well. GTAV is, well....GTAV. But those that are serious about gaming, want the best picture (Steam will render games for future 4K screens and once TV's become more available in 4K and have a better price point, Steam sales will hopefully escalate to the public over it's competitors), and the better specs.

AMD, Intel, nVidia, etc... all other PC companies that were there first will continue to market their newer or higher end products towards an already growing company like Steam.

I've been a member on Steam since the day it came out. I played CS in it's beta stages and I've been a member of the MLG community for almost a decade and to see VALVe, ESEA, Steam, and it's brother and sisters step up like it has over the last 3 years is so great. Half-Life set the bar. CS set the bar.


Steam will set the bar.

Does anyone know if you're limited to the controller or can you still game with the PC standard keyboard and mouse?

Steam sale is on right now, which happens very often, along with just weekly, daily, and just flash deals they do cause they want to and can.

Counter Strike: GO is $3.74 right now, and 75% off sales for games isn't uncommon. I actually feel mad that I paid 10 dollars for Dishonored during the summer sale when I could have picked it up during the autumn sale for 5 which is petty and stupid on my part but its part of being spoiled with steam sales. PC has tons of Free to Play games (Team Fortress 2, Planetside 2, Path of Exile, etc) not to mention an incredible modding community which bring tons of perks like updated HD graphics addons and even advancements in games themselves. Then you add beta/alpha periods to the list as well.

Look at a game like Minecraft that recently has blown up on Xbox. Minecraft has been around for a number of years now but only has been somewhat recently released as an actual game that got out of beta but constantly changes do to the community. Pistons were a mod way back in the day and now are a key function in the game mechanics. That just something you don't get on consoles.