Hello, http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/3/3289689/valve-confirms-hardware-plans Valve has confirm hardware plans. Clearly they are working on a Stem Box, which you use your computer monitor keyboard and mouse, and use Linux with Steam. Which explains why Gabe Newell was bashing on Windows 8. They want to convince that Windows 8 is crap, and that Microsoft can't do gaming, and probably will push forward that Steam Box offers all that, even thought it's just Linux running on a PC with Steam, and probably custom KDE or Gnome xWindows skin, or Steam running full screen only, type of system. In any case, competition is good.
Primary and major reason why none of the big guys likes Windows 8 is the Store and nothing else. Don't think it is about anything else - it is only about money. Gabe doesn't like that a new kid on the block will be preinstalled on every W8 computer.
could be a good thing, hopefully the "operating system" will be available for us to install onto our own computers with having to buy some sort of "steam box", would be great to have a media center dual booting between W8 and steamOS.
Every big guys that complain about Windows 8, provide 0 argumentation onto why it's so bad as they say. They keep it EXTREMELY vague... they are literally going "It sucks, because it sucks!". So far, I have not found a single blog or article post that bashes Windows 8 with any sort of eight. You can see that they all look at pictures and write crap with a big headlines to attack clicks, and, as always, have the blog post/article comment section blasted with points showing how the article or blog post is completely wrong with pictures and everything. Same story with Windows 7, and XP. And now they are seen as "best OS".
This. I mean, this statement in itself speaks volumes too; "we're frustrated by the lack of innovation of in the computer hardware space, so we're jumping in" Like his Win8 statement this is as open-ended. It's a justification for his action in business-speak so investors don't get anxious thinking he's going up against Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. It's not like we haven't seen alternative input methods tried in the past and even now: Kinect, PS Move, the Wii 'wand', dance mats, 3D glasses. It's all casual though; they are going to be hard pressed to tear the KB+M from a hardcore gamers fingers.
I dunno what to make of all this. First off, if it can run Arma3, ArcheAge, Baldur's Gate remakes, old stuff and new, and even the applications I use regularly, and somehow improves on a normal PC in either price and/or usability, then I'll eat my hat. If it can only run a certain selection of stuff, and it's Valve approved stuff, then it's not really a PC and it's more of a console, and that's fine, but then they have no place talking **** about Windows 8. If however it could basically be a rival to the new xbox and ps4, but with a keyboard and mouse... it could start a revolution that makes those things a staple part of console gaming, and that would be a big deal. Also, talk about how we control our pc's etc.. I don't like people talking about stuff like that, because quite frankly, I basically control my entire PC with my hand gently resting on my mouse, comfortably supported by my desk and leather arms on my chair. It's 100% comfortable and efficient, and I like it even more than touch screens. Unless they have something better than that, and I doubt it, then they should stfu about the lack of innovation. Even if they made something that tracked my eye movement, that would be annoying for me and a far bigger chore than moving a mouse. Short of something that reads my thoughts, it's all hot air. But I don't really know what to make of it all. I'll wait and see more about the stats and actual details.
Basically it is souding like what I think a 21st century console should be. I imagine it would boot straight into steam in some sort of kiosk mode so that is pretty much all you can use. A dumbed down PC so consoletards can use it. Hope they don't make it too low spec though, as I can only assume they would be going for a single board design with no possiblity to upgrade in any way. I wish MS and Sony would go x86 too. Would take away excuse for bad pc ports or not porting at all.
I cannot see the good in this for gamers. PC gamers aren't going to buy it because they like their games high spec, and the console crowd are too busy creaming themselves in anticipation of next gen consoles from Microsoft and Sony to even notice.
Well it depends on all the finer details, which we have none of yet For example, if its mass produced and sells millions, then it could end up being cheaper than what we spend on our PC's. So if its like a completely silent quad core 5ghz with 16gig of ram and GTX690 type graphics and it 'only' costs £600 or something, and yet it does everything our current PC's do and more, then I would seriously consider getting one. And if it's truly a PC, then even if I don't like the mouse or whatever I could just tweak it to be however I want. It could basically be all that's good about consoles, yet all that's good about PC's too. But who knows, at this point it could be anything.
True they haven't confirmed anything like that. But it's unlikely they would make such a fuss if all they were about to release was some peripherals. And the Steam Box rumour recently fits in to place.
I would say that's more likely yes. I can't really see a market for what would essentially be a games ready media centre anyway. Consoles are essentially that anyway these days. It might just be me, but the thought of a 'Steam box' just makes me cringe. But, that is probably because I personally don't need or want one. I've already got a 6 year old box that sits there and does nothing. It's called my 360. Plus, if it were true, it would be a midrange PC at heart at best. This is Valve, not Nvidia/AMD. Really can't see the market tbh. So yeah, some form of input device seems more likely IMO
I think you've missed a huge portion of the market. Some of the biggest multiplayer games: TF2 and CG variants are from Valve. All they have to do is tailor them to their hardware and you get LANs full of Steam boxes. The market sizes are as follows: (mainstream console gaming (mainstream PC gaming (enthusiast techies) ) ) Mainstream PC gamers don't read tech sites, they read gaming sites, and know only few brands: buy an Intel/Nvidia/AMD. The rest is noise to them. It's the same reason why Alienware, ROG Tytan and other pre-built PCs still sell but everyone here turns their nose up If they can hit the middle group with a splash of the outer one, without having to subsidise the device, they've already made good money. It ALL comes down to cost and the perception of value though.
Mainstream PC gamers isn't exactly a massive target audience though. In fact I'd say it's pretty small. If you discount WoW players, which don't count as they don't actually play anything else lol. Suppose it just depends if the products good enough to begin with.
It's comparatively massive versus tech enthusiasts. Mainstream PC gamers also overlap console gamers; there is no such thing as complete segmentation. They are gamers first, tech interested second.
