Valve SteamBox prototype

[Eschaton]

http://www.theverge.com/2013/11/4/5063760/we-try-the-steam-machine-valves-video-game-console-of-the-future

[Tasty]

That's a fuckton of RAM. God yes, pour your fat box all over me Gaben.

[Stoney Mason]

Meaningless without a price estimate attached.

[fistfulofmetal]

Meaningless without a price estimate attached.

the prototypes aren't gonna cost anything to the people getting them.

[archnemesis]

I have 16+4 GB of memory in my box and I expect modern games to make use of much of it. Did you see the specs for Watch Dogs? The recommended specs are crazy high and that's only the beginning of next-gen.

These Steam machines are way too expensive to compete against PS4/XB1. For that they need cheap Linux boxes focused on running lite indie games.

[Stoney Mason]

Meaningless without a price estimate attached.

the prototypes aren't gonna cost anything to the people getting them.

I know. I meant it as a general statement about Steam Boxes in general.

I was never expecting that there wouldn't be a high spec version of these things. You can stick whatever you want in a box. I mean that's a PC. It all comes down to the price as whether its actually something viable or not for real people.

[Stoney Mason]

Meaningless without a price estimate attached.

 


I can post smiley's too!

[Joe Molotov]

Gabe pls

[meni stronk]

this all still sounds very pointless but I'm OK with it if it brings us the Steam Controller

[Stoney Mason]

 

I can post smiley's too!

Is that the point of a prototype?

And to be clear, this design is not meant to serve the needs of all of the tens of millions of Steam users. It may, however, be the kind of machine that a significant percentage of Steam users would actually want to purchase - those who want plenty of performance in a high-end living room package. Many others would opt for machines that have been more carefully designed to cost less, or to be tiny, or super quiet, and there will be Steam Machines that fit those descriptions.

I would much prefer it if they detailed one that was kinda like the one they expect people to actually buy rather than the high end version almost no one will buy. Of course that along with some prices.

[Stoney Mason]

I would also prefer it to have information that doesn't pertain to the topic at hand on many subjects, but it is what it is.

I have no idea what this means.

[Sho Nuff]

I'm hungry

[Stoney Mason]

I would also prefer it to have information that doesn't pertain to the topic at hand on many subjects, but it is what it is.

I have no idea what this means.

The SteamBox prototype has nothing to do with price, really. It's a souped up machine for testing purposes and feedback from a very very small demographic. There are no associated 3rd party managers involved, nor finalized specs, or even a form factor clearly. So what you're doing essentially is kind of like going into a Batman Begins trailer thread and asking when The Dark Knight will come out. It just doesn't make any sense really.

Pondering a price on Steam Machines is valid. Pondering what the actual "normal" machine specs will be is also valid. But I'll leave it at that for now and stop posting. 

[Diunx]

Is steamOS gonna be a fully functional OS? meaning I can browse the web, user word processors, watch porn etc? if so and it is cheaper than building a PC then it may actually be a pretty good option.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

I'm hungry

[Joe Molotov]

pls gabe

[Rufus]

That seems like a pointless amount of RAM, but OK.

Oh and a hybrid SSHD?

I want to see the case they've designed.

Is steamOS gonna be a fully functional OS? meaning I can browse the web, user word processors, watch porn etc? if so and it is cheaper than building a PC then it may actually be a pretty good option.

It's 'just' another Linux distro. So, yeah.
Whether you would want to use a word processor on Linux is another matter.

[archnemesis]

LibreOffice is alright as long as you don't try to do anything advanced with it.

[Rufus]

Yeah, I've used it and its predecessor to write my papers back when. It was good enough for that.

[Great Rumbler]

LibreOffice is alright as long as you don't try to do anything advanced with it.

Which means it's good enough for about 99% of the people who use it.

[Eel O'Brian]

You don't even need that. Just use the word processor from Google Drive in a browser window.

[Tasty]

You don't even need that. Just use the word processor from Google Drive in a browser window.

[Phoenix Dark]

Sounds alright I guess, but any news on Facebook/social media integration?

[Diunx]

Yeah, I do need to share my cheevs.

[Damian79]

No kickstarter options, no sale.   

[pilonv1]

hybrid drives are turrible

[Human Snorenado]

Every time I see this topic I read "Valve SteamBox prototype sucks"

[chronovore]

Sounds alright I guess, but any news on Facebook/social media integration?

hopefully never

Except that Steam is also a big-ass social network layer in addition to being a distribution method. There will be FB and Twitter integration, mark my words.

Hopefully you can just leave them unregistered. A friend was noting that EA's Need for Speed game last year wanted your facebooks so badly... it would basically ask players to register after each race, when it realized it didn't have a Facebook account already registered. I think he sold it.

[Himu]

Meaningless without a price estimate attached.

 


I can post smiley's too!

Stoney, please tell me you are single.

[Rufus]

http://mobile.theverge.com/2013/11/4/5063760/we-try-the-steam-machine-valves-video-game-console-of-the-future

Actually looks pretty slick. Maybe they'll sell the case+whatever custom MB (could just be a µATX with a PCIe bridge) they have in there.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

This controller sounds like the ideal solution to Valve's problems

[Human Snorenado]

Valve has problems?   

Counting hat/card money, maybe.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Valve has problems?   

Counting hat/card money, maybe.

The problem of "how do you play L4D3 and Half-Life 3 on a TV?"

(j/k there's no such thing as Half-Life 3.)

wake me when I'm allowed to use it to play Super Mario Bros. 3

[Human Snorenado]

I'm sure Nintendo will have a Steam bundle around 2018 or so after they get out of the hardware business and start the process of milking their catalog for a little bit more money.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

YOU CANNOT PUSH TWO BUTTONS AT ONCE

I feel the need to point this out every time

[Rufus]

YOU CANNOT PUSH TWO BUTTONS AT ONCE

I feel the need to point this out every time

Wu-huh?

What do you guys think about how it looks (Image removed from quote.)

Its not offensive to me, but it seems kind of generic. pretty awesome that they managed to make it so sleek, considering the components.

Xbone tier looks, but better than 95% of PC cases. I've been thinking of moving to a much smaller PC case anyway. If they sell this separately I might just consider it.

[Human Snorenado]

When I ask whether Intel or AMD might make special chips to bring down the price of truly powerful integrated graphics, the room goes quiet for a moment. "We don’t have an answer that we can give you before January," the team answers.

The future is looking awesome, bros

[Howard Alan Treesong]

YOU CANNOT PUSH TWO BUTTONS AT ONCE

I feel the need to point this out every time

No way to push A, B, X or Y at the same time...not with that layout.

[Raban]

There are buttons on the back and shoulders though. You just couldn't press two face buttons at once with ease.

Regardless, this looks dumb. I'd rather have an Xbone

[Rufus]

YOU CANNOT PUSH TWO BUTTONS AT ONCE

I feel the need to point this out every time

No way to push A, B, X or Y at the same time...not with that layout.
(Image removed from quote.)

Oh, that. Yeah, those aren't meant to be used like the ABXY on a 360 controller, that's what the buttons on the back and the (other) pad is for, since you can map sevaral buttons to the cardinal directions (and maybe more, I forget) as well. On the Steambox Controller ABXY are supposed to be used like Start and Select on regular controllers. Dunno why they would go with ABXY, but yeah...