Valves Steam Box

[Smoke&Slide]

What do you lads and lasses think of this new machine ?.

 

[Jawehawk]

The most pointless and idiotic thing to ever hit the console market. Has none of the advantages of a console, nor does it have any of the advantages of a PC. A stupid concept that will hopefully fail hard.

 

[Coxis]

The most pointless and idiotic thing to ever hit the console market. Has none of the advantages of a console, nor does it have any of the advantages of a PC. A stupid concept that will hopefully fail hard.

It actually has the advantages of both. You can build it yourself, you can buy it pre-built, you can upgrade its hardware and you can install a different OS if you want.

The disadvantage lies in the fact that it'll run Linux. There are very few games that can run on Linux natively.

 

[Smoke&Slide]

Personally i think this is a great idea.To ansewer your reply unless new games are made specially for Linux for this console.Could have it so it runs a separate IPTV box aswell.

 

[Joey D]

I think it's a great way to make the glorious PC Master Race more accessible to the dirty console peasants.

In seriousness though, I really like the idea of it and chances are I'll build one because why not?

 

[Smoke&Slide]

It's gonna have 3,000 games to start with and will be priced at around 500 dollers.So very cheap i think.But haven't confirmed the hardware yet.

 

[AnAL0G]

It actually has the advantages of both. You can build it yourself, you can buy it pre-built, you can upgrade its hardware and you can install a different OS if you want.

The disadvantage lies in the fact that it'll run Linux. There are very few games that can run on Linux natively.

Funny how much this reply is in stark contrast to what you'd quoted.

 

[Smoke&Slide]

If you wanted to upgrade every 2 years or so. Then you can keep up with most of the latest pc's.And price it at about 100 pounds a chuck to upgrade hardware.If the components are only 3 months old it would be worth it.

 

[Coxis]

Funny how much this reply is in stark contrast to what you'd quoted.

Hah, I know. I'd like to see anyone try to do any of the listed things to / on a console.

(Well, except the buying it pre-buiilt thing. )

 

[bevo]

It's gonna have 3,000 games to start with and will be priced at around 500 dollers.So very cheap i think.But haven't confirmed the hardware yet.

I haven't seen any at the $500 mark. Most of them are around $1000. I think the cheapest I've seen was $800 or so. All they are is a pre built PC. There's no way their gonna hit the $500 mark and have even decent hardware in them.

 

[chromatic9]

Well really its SteamOS and an attempt to migrate away from Windows. It's a long term goal so this will be many steps.

For existing PC gamers you could dual boot and support games not running on Windows.

 

[F1 fan]

It actually has the advantages of both. You can build it yourself, you can buy it pre-built, you can upgrade its hardware and you can install a different OS if you want.

You can build it yourself, upgrade and install a different OS? So what's the point of this thing? I may not be up to date with the news, but I'd assumed that the steam box was going to be a standardized PC in a box. Everyone has the same hardware, so the games can be optimized for it. The advantages of a pc with the simplicity of a console.

At least that's what I thought... Now it's an upgradable PC... So in other words, a PC that will probably end up being quite pricy compared to similar machines. They already have supported controllers and big picture mode, so again... What's the point of this?

 

[chromatic9]

You can build it yourself, upgrade and install a different OS? So what's the point of this thing? I may not be up to date with the news, but I'd assumed that the steam box was going to be a standardized PC in a box. Everyone has the same hardware, so the games can be optimized for it. The advantages of a pc with the simplicity of a console.

At least that's what I thought... Now it's an upgradable PC... So in other words, a PC that will probably end up being quite pricy compared to similar machines. They already have supported controllers and big picture mode, so again... What's the point of this?

SteamOS migration

Ease of use for those intimidated of PC

No silly Windows $100 OS impacting GPU budget. A major concern in my view.

Potential for performance increase due to removal of Windows.

It's only a small step, its not going to turn gaming on its head over night. Probably years away and MS can do something if they wake up.

At this point Windows and Direct X are becoming less relevant. People are on mass already doing their gaming and using the internet and media without Windows or Direct X.

 

[kikie]

This is where you can read all about SteamOS.

 

[sesselpupser]

You can build it yourself, upgrade and install a different OS? So what's the point of this thing? I may not be up to date with the news, but I'd assumed that the steam box was going to be a standardized PC in a box. Everyone has the same hardware, so the games can be optimized for it. The advantages of a pc with the simplicity of a console.

At least that's what I thought... Now it's an upgradable PC... So in other words, a PC that will probably end up being quite pricy compared to similar machines. They already have supported controllers and big picture mode, so again... What's the point of this?

I think the key thing is that Valve are laying down rules for what is and what isn't a Steam Machine, so that games designed to run on a Steam Machine will have a certain minimum level of performance and any 'approved' components you upgrade to will improve your performance. How this will work out in the long run obviously remains to be seen, because surely they will reach a point where old Steam Machines are no longer qualified as the base level machine because of how things move on so quickly, and it'll be interesting to see how far down the road that point is. I'd be astonished if the life cycle of a Steam Machine is anywhere near as long as a console, though I do also think you could argue that console life cycles are about two years too long.

About the fact they already have Big Picture and controller support; yeah, they do, but they also depend entirely on Microsoft and Windows. Gaben has publicly said that 'Windows 8 is a disaster' or something similar and they want to wrestle control of PC gaming from them, quite rightly so if you ask me. In terms of actual reasons why a gamer might want SteamOS, I don't think it is intended to replace Windows right now, but the ability to stream PC games within your own home is pretty cool and is something I definitely want because right now I can only play games on my PC or on the TV across the room from it. If I could have a (slightly more) portable console that I could set up anywhere in the house I'd be much happier, and I'm hoping that when SteamOS has matured a little, a basic netbook will be sufficient for streaming purposes.

I'm going to price up a fairly basic Steam Machine when I have time, right now the requirements to run SteamOS are:

64-bit processor
500GB hard drive
4GB RAM
NVIDIA graphics
UEFI support
A USB port.

As I have my main PC already my interest in Steam Machines and SteamOS is limited to the streaming aspect, for now at least. I'm very excited to see where they take it, but I imagine it'll take a couple of years before SteamOS is properly useful. One thing's for sure, though, I'm getting one of those controllers ASAP.

 

[Smoke&Slide]

Just wondering fellas, is the intel I7 4770 cpu and Nvidia Titan gonna be the highest spec that can't be upgradeable ?.If so it's a waste of time and money.

 

[bevo]

Just wondering fellas, is the intel I7 4770 cpu and Nvidia Titan gonna be the highest spec that can't be upgradeable ?.If so it's a waste of time and money.

Why would it not be upgradable? It's just a PC.

 

[Smoke&Slide]

I suppose you can plug in an external hard drive for this ?.

 

[bevo]

I suppose you can plug in an external hard drive for this ?.

Yes. You can plug anything into it that you can plug into a PC. It's just a normal gaming PC but it comes with steams operating system installed on it.

 

[dr_slump]

NVIDIA graphics

Nope, you can already use Intel and AMD graphics.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTU0NDQ

EDIT: Maybe this post came too late, if that's the case I'm sorry.

 

[SkylineR88]

As I have my main PC already my interest in Steam Machines and SteamOS is limited to the streaming aspect, for now at least.

If you could provide more information on this streaming aspect? As I fail to see how this cannot be accomplished using a regular PC.

 

[sesselpupser]

If you could provide more information on this streaming aspect? As I fail to see how this cannot be accomplished using a regular PC.

Then you must know something no-one else does, one of the main selling points of both SteamOS and Nvidia's Shield is their streaming capability. And even if you could find a remote desktop program for Windows that could give you a high quality, high frame rate video and audio feed, allow you to use a keyboard and mouse or controller AND with minimal latency or impact on the gaming performance of the host, something I've not found after several months of searching, you'd still have to pay for another Windows license for the client machine.

As for information, I only know what Google can tell me.

 

[SkylineR88]

As for information, I only know what Google can tell me.

sorry i took the term streaming and spoke on that only, without knowledge of the exact specs.
If you could please provide some information, perhaps that you found while googling ?

 

[sesselpupser]

sorry i took the term streaming and spoke on that only, without knowledge of the exact specs.
If you could please provide some information, perhaps that you found while googling ?

That was my attempt at politely suggesting in an un-patronising manner to Google it for yourself, the alternative being a 'lmgtfy' link. If I was at my PC I'd be able to post a load of links but being away from home using the app makes it tricky.

Basically the only information at the moment is that SteamOS will allow you to use a computer - Windows, Mac, SteamOS or (probably) Linux - as a host machine for streaming games. You'll be able to play any Steam game (or so they say) with this streaming system on any machine that can run SteamOS, but you can't use the host computer while you're streaming, like how you can't use a PS3 while a PS Vita is connected via remote play. That's pretty much all we know, though I haven't read up on it for the past couple of weeks though so maybe something has changed.

In any event, streaming is pretty much the extent of my interest in SteamOS right now. If we ever get to the point where it makes Windows redundant then I'll probably permanently switch, but as it's unlikely that it'll ever support all of the games I want to play that I own right now I imagine I'll always have a Windows 7 install kicking around. Then there's the question of peripherals like my G27, X52 Pro, FreeTrackIR, triple monitor support and all that stuff...

 

[SkylineR88]

I am still not with you on this streaming thing.
You say the Steambox thing is the host. So what is your client?
At this point I am having difficulty realising the point of this as you can use Actual Steam to play the games on any machine without the necessity to stream to it.

 

[KingPing]

Some people won't benefit from streaming others will, personally this is a dream come true to me, i waited many years for Microsoft to do something like this for Windows but no they keep scratching their asses.

Steam is the client and the host, you don't need a Steambox, as long as you have steam installed (Steam on Windows, Linux, Mac or SteamOS streaming to a Windows PC, Linux, Mac or Steam OS). This is handy for me since i have 2 PCs one my main PC in my bedroom and a secondary PC on my living room, right now i need 2 powerful PCs to play games (sometimes i want to play in my bedroom and others in the living room), with streaming through Steam i only need one powerful PC, so i spend half the money or spend the same but in a way more powerful PC.

 

[sesselpupser]

I am still not with you on this streaming thing.
You say the Steambox thing is the host. So what is your client?
At this point I am having difficulty realising the point of this as you can use Actual Steam to play the games on any machine without the necessity to stream to it.

Sorry, I'm home now so I can type without being too distracted.

SteamOS will allow you to use a computer - Windows, Mac, SteamOS or (probably) Linux - as a host machine for streaming games.

Meaning your existing, expensive computer is the host while a secondary computer with SteamOS installed becomes the client. I'm hoping we'll be able to install it on something super lightweight, maybe a netbook or possibly even a Raspberry Pi (or similar, like the Ouya (hah), Intel Galileo or Beaglebone Black), to make a tiny portable console for use inside the house, the idea being that if it never actually runs the games itself then processing power shouldn't be much of an issue.

Right now I have my PC set up in the corner of my living room with three monitors and a G27 mounted on a desk, it's a little cumbersome and overkill for playing most games, so I've got a 15 metre HDMI cable to plug my PC into the TV across the room. It works fine with a 360 controller or Dualshock 4, but I'm only able to use that TV with it, if SteamOS would enable me to have a portable streaming client I could use any TV in the house and that would be awesome. The thing is it would have to be cheaper than an Nvidia Shield, otherwise I'd just get one of those, assuming they open it up to stream any game and not just those compatible with it.

 

[bevo]

I've got a question about the streaming.

In theory could I use my high end gaming PC to run multiple games at once and stream one to my laptop while I play another one on my main PC.

This way my son could play PC games with me without having to go out and spend a bunch of money on another desktop. Or does the laptop take complete control of my main PC.

For instance could I run say battlefield with me playing on my setup while my son streamed another game to my laptop for him to play?

 

[sesselpupser]

I've got a question about the streaming.

In theory could I use my high end gaming PC to run multiple games at once and stream one to my laptop while I play another one on my main PC.

This way my son could play PC games with me without having to go out and spend a bunch of money on another desktop. Or does the laptop take complete control of my main PC.

For instance could I run say battlefield with me playing on my setup while my son streamed another game to my laptop for him to play?

I've read that when streaming, your PC - or Steam, at least - is taken over so that you can't use both at the same time. I wouldn't be surprised if someone came up with a workaround for this, I mean some people have gotten local split-screen working in games that don't support it (like Borderlands 2) on PC, but the default behaviour is that you can't play the same game in two places at the same time.

Speaking of streaming, I've just found out about Kainy. It's an Android app that is a gaming-oriented RDP client, meaning you should be able to stream games from your PC to any Android device. I'm tempted to get an Ouya just for this reason but I'd want to be sure that I can use my Dualshock 4 with it.

 

[SkylineR88]

I am begining to see how this is suppose to work and i suggest a long HDMI cable and a wireless mouse and keyboard.
Actually skipping the second PC altogether in favour of some cables, peripherals and a monitor.