Steam Consoles

[ronbo613]

Steam + Consoles = Steam Console!

It's the best of both worlds! Gaming nirvana!

 

[Newbian]

The problem is it's a console playing pc games where it will get outdated very fast unlike normal consoles where the games can be limited more easily.

 

[gorcorps]

I'm confused by this post... is there new news, a question you have, or have you just not been keeping up with what was revealed over a year ago?


http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2346133

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2343687

 

[Kneedragger]

So I haven't been following Steam since they announced the controller but do all games now have 100% controller support? I think they also mentioned past games were getting the controller support ?

 

[ImpulsE69]

Didn't these just basically drop off the off the face of the planet? I've seen a few 'where are they?' articles floating around.

Never did really seem like a great idea. One thing the console crowds are right about is that not all games are just going to work great out of the box. You still need to know something about PC's and tweaking if you really want to enjoy them. These just seem like really over priced less than ideal thing, that if you just bought a long HDMI and a blutooth controller would do the same thing. In home streaming when it gets to an ideal point would also render these obsolete.

Also, that controller...seems very inaccurate.

 

[zerocool84]

Didn't these just basically drop off the off the face of the planet? I've seen a few 'where are they?' articles floating around.

Never did really seem like a great idea. One thing the console crowds are right about is that not all games are just going to work great out of the box. You still need to know something about PC's and tweaking if you really want to enjoy them. These just seem like really over priced less than ideal thing, that if you just bought a long HDMI and a blutooth controller would do the same thing. In home streaming when it gets to an ideal point would also render these obsolete.

Also, that controller...seems very inaccurate.

It won't work, PC games on your TV for the average person won't work. They have to choose from the different manufacturers and then from there choose the good/better/best from that. Plus, you can't even play the full Steam catalogue, only the games that support it.

Playing PC games has its own quirks that aren't right for the average consumer, that's why they make consoles. Why play the game on a PC with a controller when you can play it on a console with a controller?

 

[poofyhairguy]

What Steam needs is a way to get on Android. Leverage the Linux base and go for it. In four years we will see mobile devices that compete with modern consoles in gaming for $100. Stick Steam on a FireTV 3 and you got a console killer.

 

[ImpulsE69]

It won't work, PC games on your TV for the average person won't work. They have to choose from the different manufacturers and then from there choose the good/better/best from that. Plus, you can't even play the full Steam catalogue, only the games that support it.

Playing PC games has its own quirks that aren't right for the average consumer, that's why they make consoles. Why play the game on a PC with a controller when you can play it on a console with a controller?

Absolutely nothing wrong with using a controller on a PC. They've had them since gaming was on PC. Not sure why you would say that as a disadvantage. You use the best controller for the game (be it a controller or mouse/kb).

Not sure if you are referring only to steam boxes or pc gaming in general, but all steam games can be played on a tv. The real issue comes down to specific games and how well they translate to not sitting 2 foot in front of the screen. Many made for PC games do not translate well due to small text and or minute details that are lost at 12' away. That really represents a small number of games these days though since so many titles are console ports. Steams big screen mode narrows the list down to games that have built in controller support, which is a dumbed down way of telling people which games work well at a distance, but you can play any game if you go to your entire list.

As for a console vs pc game, any game that is multi platform I'd buy for PC at this time simply due to cheaper and more options in the long run. Consoles are cash grabs and nothing more these days. We aren't in the NES/SNES/PSX era anymore. This gens consoles have pretty much all the negatives of PC's w/o the positives.

Playing a PC to TV isn't ideal for everyone, but if miracast takes off, that pretty much eliminates most of the negatives if you already have a PC that will play them.

 

[SlitheryDee]

I hear they've continued fiddling with the controller. There are some prototype pictures floating around with a steam controller with an analog thumbstick on it now. The idea is for that to be the "movement" stick while the trackpad side will be for aiming/turning. Problem is that the stick is on the wrong side for lefties like me. Way to completely kill my interest in the whole thing Valve.

 

[smackababy]

I was under the impression these failed so hard, nobody actually put one to market. It just seems like such a bad idea. A cheap PC that can (maybe) run some ported games for the same cost of a console?

 

[SlitheryDee]

I was under the impression these failed so hard, nobody actually put one to market. It just seems like such a bad idea. A cheap PC that can (maybe) run some ported games for the same cost of a console?

They didn't really fail so much as valve axed them for a year. There has been a lot of interest overall. They had a bunch of vendors ready to go with steam boxes for the holiday season and then just said "Nevermind, we're going to work on the controller some more". From what I hear most of the vendors had to relabel the boxes they had made and sell them as regular gaming PCs to recover the money they had in the venture. Kinda shitty to do that to your partners IMO. I wouldn't be surprised if they don't have as much support the next time they try to bring them to market.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Problem with these is the following, and I think I said it before.

They aren't console enough for console gamers and they aren't PC enough for PC gamers. What I mean is that PC gamers won't have much customization and the cheap models will likely not run games as well as a system you built yourself for the same money. They will also be complicated enough to turn off some gamers who primarily play console games. There will still need to be tweaking and adjusting settings to get new games playable and that's not something a PS4 or XB1 has to deal with.

I also think the higher end models are priced outrageously and that's going to hurt. With the overhead of a real OS etc games aren't going to be as playable as a console out of the box on the low end models.

 

[smackababy]

The biggest problem I can see is that they are Linux based, which means the large library that exists on PC is basically unplayable on them anyway. That alone puts them at a significant disadvantage. They won't get all the big games that move consoles (COD, Madden, etc). They will need killer exclusives (which is exactly what again, Valve? It sure ain't HL3...) or some real incentive (price) to be picked up by people looking for some kind of gaming device for the TV.

I don't see any market where these are viable outside of the "maybe this will be a cool HTPC for the cheap" or the "omg Valve is such a great company!" people.

 

[Blanky]

Always seemed a stupid idea. That said alienware (?) actually has a DISPLAY and sells units at my local walmart. It's amazing. Nobody who goes to that display will know what they are looking at. I think somebody suckered some walmarts to carry this not realizing how stupid the entire thing always was.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Always seemed a stupid idea. That said alienware (?) actually has a DISPLAY and sells units at my local walmart. It's amazing. Nobody who goes to that display will know what they are looking at. I think somebody suckered some walmarts to carry this not realizing how stupid the entire thing always was.

Yeah I was thinking. How many people who aren't already playing games on a PC know what steam is?

 

[purbeast0]

i still have absolutely no clue who the steam console is targeting for their market. this thing has bust written all over it.

 

[Sulaco]

Wasn't there someone on here awhile back who was touting the steam console as being the best thing ever, and would dethrone the horrible, underpowered consoles and restore order to the galaxy or some such.

I'll have to search but I wonder where that guy is now...

 

[Lil Frier]

I think the idea of a Steam console isn't terrible on its face. If done correctly, it would be an interesting buy-low option to use for teaching younger gamers PCs long-term. As they get older and need newer hardware, they can be taught to upgrade it. OF course, you can do the same with a custom build, but this could have a lower buy-in price.

As a mainstream thing, I don't see it as all that meaningful, though. As I said when they were announced--those who appreciate what these can do can build their own stuff that will be better, and those who don't quite get it will stick to consoles to avoid confusion and needing PC skills to get any longevity out of the things.

 

[purbeast0]

I think the idea of a Steam console isn't terrible on its face. If done correctly, it would be an interesting buy-low option to use for teaching younger gamers PCs long-term. As they get older and need newer hardware, they can be taught to upgrade it. OF course, you can do the same with a custom build, but this could have a lower buy-in price.

As a mainstream thing, I don't see it as all that meaningful, though. As I said when they were announced--those who appreciate what these can do can build their own stuff that will be better, and those who don't quite get it will stick to consoles to avoid confusion and needing PC skills to get any longevity out of the things.

why not just buy a low end pc instead? the steam console would confused someone who is uneducated and looking to get into pc gaming because it's trying to turn a pc into a console, which are both coming machines, but in general have totally different philosophies.

 

[Skel]

What Steam needs is a way to get on Android. Leverage the Linux base and go for it. In four years we will see mobile devices that compete with modern consoles in gaming for $100. Stick Steam on a FireTV 3 and you got a console killer.

That forgets/ignores the fact that the consoles will release new versions that have more power in them continuing the cycle we all know and loath.

The biggest problem I can see is that they are Linux based, which means the large library that exists on PC is basically unplayable on them anyway. That alone puts them at a significant disadvantage. They won't get all the big games that move consoles (COD, Madden, etc). They will need killer exclusives (which is exactly what again, Valve? It sure ain't HL3...) or some real incentive (price) to be picked up by people looking for some kind of gaming device for the TV.

I don't see any market where these are viable outside of the "maybe this will be a cool HTPC for the cheap" or the "omg Valve is such a great company!" people.

I thought they had fixed this issue with streaming the game from a Windows machine. You'd figure with the prices I remember seeing on these they'd throw in a Windows license so you can VM it. If nothing else it'd be amusing to listen to the supporters of this suddenly tell me that the hit from running in VM isn't bad at all and somehow boosts the game.

i still have absolutely no clue who the steam console is targeting for their market. this thing has bust written all over it.

It's for the people that want to be part of the PC elite but don't want to give up the couch. In a few years when this fails it'll be the group of people that swear it was perfect but the game devs failed it by getting paid off by the console people to hold us back. #gimpedconsolegate!

 

[purbeast0]

It's for the people that want to be part of the PC elite but don't want to give up the couch. In a few years when this fails it'll be the group of people that swear it was perfect but the game devs failed it by getting paid off by the console people to hold us back. #gimpedconsolegate!

i fail to see how having a low end pc puts you in the "PC elite" group.

 

[Skel]

i fail to see how having a low end pc puts you in the "PC elite" group.

The way I understand it, the fact that you get to deal with the minutiae of all those settings somehow makes the game better than just plugging it into the console and playing it. As I own consoles I'm not part of the group and could be wrong...

 

[cmdrdredd]

The way I understand it, the fact that you get to deal with the minutiae of all those settings somehow makes the game better than just plugging it into the console and playing it. As I own consoles I'm not part of the group and could be wrong...

This really only applies IMO when you have higher end hardware and can turn settings up. Not when you have to start turning things down. I don't doubt that some of these steam boxes would be running settings lower than consoles because they don't have a low level API.

 

[poofyhairguy]

That forgets/ignores the fact that the consoles will release new versions that have more power in them continuing the cycle we all know and loath.

Console cycles are stretching (the PS2 lived forever, as does the 360) while ARM is accelerating at a break-neck pace. Eventually the lines will cross.

 

[SlitheryDee]

The way I understand it, the fact that you get to deal with the minutiae of all those settings somehow makes the game better than just plugging it into the console and playing it. As I own consoles I'm not part of the group and could be wrong...

One of the things I thought should happen is that valve should provide a config.ini or similar settings file that already has the optimal settings for your box for each game. It would be a lot of work to do, but it would go a long way toward the kind of "plug in the game and start playing" experience that people think will be missing in steam boxes.

For instance, if you are playing Call of Duty: whatever on a low end steam box, steam will detect that and drop a configuration file with medium to low settings directly in the appropriate game folder during the install process. Then when you start the game, those settings will be loaded and you know you're getting a good experience for your system without touching any settings. On a high end box you'd get a different config file with higher detail settings.

I doubt this will happen, but it seems possible to me for a lot of games. There are some games that use another method of storing graphic settings that may not lend themselves to this idea though.