Steam Box: PC Gaming's Ultimate Triumph or Ultimate Betrayal?

[capbros]

Alright couch crew, if the rumors are true and Valve really is working on a home console called 'Steam Box', which is it:
'PC Gaming's Ultimate Triumph' or 'The Ultimate Betrayal?'

[thegrogster]

Neither?
I haven't read too much into it other than quickly glance over theverge and Kotaku articles that shows off some of the twitter feed.

They have grabbed some patents and made a PC but there are so many different things that Valve can do with a set piece of hardware.

1. Console-style build games around this box and sell this device saying that the games made were made to work perfectly with it. ($600 a pop, Valve could make a killing) It gives PC users freedom to build their own computers, still but it wouldn't be necessary for Valve games
2. There could be nothing special about this box other than Coomer wanted to show off he made a kickass mini-ITX computer. (They're hard to build, I've done it)
3. Simply go into the hardware business with Alienware x51 style computers. (Trying to make Media Center PCs more popular by standardizing them)
4. They could go all-out and custom design a Steam OS for the thing. This could be a real pain since they need DirectX/OpenGL and all the fancy audio codecs in games. It would probably be easier to strip down Windows to the bare essentials. This still leaves it open for viruses though, unless the games were stored on a separate partition while this stripped down Windows OS could be reloaded quickly every time a virus gets in.
5. Actually have a console that supports mouse/keyboard in the games.

My bet is on #1. I could keep typing but I have other things to do today.

[No-eye-deer]

I'm certainly interested, but don't feel threatened in any way. Regardless of what they do, I remain confident they'll still have a pc-centric focus and continue make great stuff regardless of on what platform.

[Dirka]

i think its great. not everyone enjoys or has the confidence to build their own PC and it can be difficult and frustrating trying to figure out what you need if you go out and buy a premade one. With this, there is one standard, you know the games will run with it and it will be easy to use. like greg said, the enthusiasts can still go out and do what they've been doing, this product isn't for them. its a win-win for everyone involved except console makers.

[capbros]

My money is actually on #2.
I'm not sure I see the profit motive in this for Valve.
They already have what console makers work for, ie. make gobs of money off other people's games.
Sony/MS/Nintendo do this via license fees, Valve just takes their cut of everything sold on steam.
So why would they want to venture down the road of designing/manufacturing/stocking hardware?
Seems like a lot of risk for not much payback, unless they really are worried about PC gaming dying
or just feel the burning urge to make it easier for the kids.

capbros

[Dirka]

My money is actually on #2.
I'm not sure I see the profit motive in this for Valve.
They already have what console makers work for, ie. make gobs of money off other people's games.
Sony/MS/Nintendo do this via license fees, Valve just takes their cut of everything sold on steam.
So why would they want to venture down the road of designing/manufacturing/stocking hardware?
Seems like a lot of risk for not much payback, unless they really are worried about PC gaming dying
or just feel the burning urge to make it easier for the kids.

capbros

its simple, with the console-like standard, it brings more developers into (or back into) the PC gaming market. more games means more customers for valve.

also, with this they would be trying to grab more of the casual gamers who buy consoles because they want to have something that they plug in and it just works. it can be a real pain in the ass trying to decide what hardware to get and then troubleshoot it, mess with drivers, etc. lots of people don't want to mess with that.

[CrackRabbit]

I could see number 4 being doable if they used Windows embedded, or just an EWF (Enhanced Write Filter) partition within windows
Have the OS, Steam and other important stuff in a write filtered partition while games and save data are on another "free" partition.

[Doobler]

I would love 4 or 5 to happen, or a combo of both. I've always wanted a standardized pc console like thing.

[Hypnotoad]

Eh if they think they can make it work in the crowded console market and steal market-share from the big 3...more power to them.

[thegrogster]

Hey people, it's #2.

"Greg's one of the guys leading the effort of the Big Picture mode," Lombardi said. "The idea is that you can take Steam to any display. What we're trying to do is say, 'here's a box that we're going to use for testing that's common for Big Picture mode and get performance at a base level.'... We're always putting boxes together. Going all the way back to the Half-Life 1 days, we built special boxes to test our software render… it's just part of development."