Steam Machines and the evolution of PC Gaming!

[Alpha Protocol]

If you could play Elite: Dangerous casually on your living room couch, would you do it? Are you going to drag your PC into your living room and connect it to your home theater? Are you dying for ED to come out on console so you don't have to? What if a console port never happens?

I would like to introduce you all to the Steam Box from Valve that is currently in a beta stage. I haven't been involved in the beta, but I am very excited about the prospect of gaming PC's becoming a fixture in family rooms and bedrooms around the world. I think this will help fuel the PC gaming industry and could really benefit us PC gamers in the long run

The Steam Box is kind of nifty! It's a small PC that connects to your TV and home theater. Steam says you can run the SteamOS on it or you can load Windows on it if your prefer. It's fully upgradeable too. You'll be able to change out RAM, CPU, GPU, motherboards etc.. Valve has even said you can hack SteamOS if you want, and it's a free!

The Steam Box is apparently being prototyped by several different manufacturers and will come in a number of shapes, sizes and price-points. The only down side to the Steam Box is at first it will be somewhat pricey, ranging anywhere from $550usd (~£330) to $1,500 (~£990). The good news is that the SteamOS is a barebones OS based on Linux. Like an OS found in consoles it won't create a Direct X bottleneck driving CPU/GPU and Ram performance down like a Windows machine does. Thusly, lower-end machines will enjoy higher-end performance. Also, the Steam Machine can play all of your Windows PC games by streaming them from your computer over your LAN or Wi-Fi

Another really nice thing about the Steam Box is, you can build your own! I plan to do just that. I have been building PC's for my wife and myself and our kids for long enough to have some spare parts sitting around.

I have been wanting to build a gaming rig for my living room for a long time. Currently I have my laptop connected to my home-theater and use it to surf the web, etc from my couch, but don't use it for games.

I own two PS3's and an XBOX 360. I never really play games on them as I prefer the style of gaming that seems to be predominately on pc's.

I think it would be fun to just sit back on the couch sometimes and do some exploring in my Cobra MkIII. I don't want to have to drag my computer into the family room to do it...

TL;DR: The Steam Box will be available 2014 and will bring elite Dangerous to a family room near you!

 

[Razorwire]

My PC is already in my lounge...

 

[Majere]

us PC gamers

I won't take offence.
Never in my life have I owned a PC and not about to start now.


There are quite a few threads on SteamBox around here with many a differing view.

Personally it probably will be released on Steam down the line. It is being developed using an in-house engine that is platform independent. This is the big show-case for it so expect all platforms to be seriously considered. Licensing would be more of a issue than technical details.

 

[Bikky]

Whereas I prefer to have a PC, as I hate consoles, and head off to the MAN CAVE to play.

That way I'm leaving the TV free, and I'm not being an ignoramous to other householders (i.e. the Mrs) who might want to watch a film, or listen to music (oh the tv is hooked up to a media centre PC with all our music on there so she'd need the TV)

 

[Alpha Protocol]

Personally it probably will be released on Steam down the line. It is being developed using an in-house engine that is platform independent. This is the big show-case for it so expect all platforms to be seriously considered. Licensing would be more of a issue than technical details.

I apologize, no offense intended I suppose I had done a better search first.

You can play ED on your Steambox without it ever being released on Steam.

a) you can stream it from your PC over your LAN or Wi-Fi

b) you can install windows on your Steambox and install ED on it.

I find it odd, that a number of people posting on a forum for a PC video game are apparently so vehemently opposed to PC's! :S

 

[Alpha Protocol]

My PC is already in my lounge...

Ah yes, I believe I recall seeing a picture of your lounge at some point

 

[Shishakli]

Ah yes, I believe I recall seeing a picture of your lounge at some point

Jesus! How many people's lounges can you see??

But on topic, I'm looking forward to steamOS encouraging games to be ported to Linux. I'll be looking at using steam as an htpc, so I'll want to see emulators and media players created for it too.

If they can pull that off its going to be Very popular

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

I won't take offence.
Never in my life have I owned a PC and not about to start now.


.

OK I have to ask as I am lost.......... you have no intention of getting a PC of any description but you are backing ED?. Please do not take this the wrong way but if you are backing in the hope of console release are u not putting the cart before the horse?

BTW FWIW both of my home TVs have a PC hooked up to them. I have not gamed on a monitor for 7 years or more.

I see the steam box as a half way house for those who want to go over to PC gaming but wants to keep the training wheels on to a degree. (No offence intended but for anyone computer savvy IMO a proper purpose built games PC offers more bang for your buck than a steam box and is more configurable)

 

[Lortsamler]

I am a multi platform gamer,and steambox would fit me perfectly,because i love my sofa,but hate the idea of dragging my huge gamingrig into the livingroom. Not to forget that my wife would probably kill me if i tried

 

[Slawkenbergius]

I see the Steam box falling between two stools. I can't exactly switch from gaming with my usual PC setup to a TV. I've got multimonitor, joystick, keyboard, mouse, gamepad... That doesn't translate to a sofa experience.

Maybe the expected audience is console owners, who now pretty much run specialised PCs anyway, with the old joys of cartridge-based gaming long gone. But unless the Steam machine competes on hardware price, I can't see any of the console owners I know being tempted away.

 

[Roepie]

In my opinion, gaming in the living room is for casual games and playing them for 1 hour max.
As the previous poster, I do not see me playing Elite: Dangerous without joystick, multi monitor setup, mouse etc.

Perhaps for checking my trading prices (although I would like to use my tablet for that)

 

[Shishakli]

Maybe the expected audience is console owners, who now pretty much run specialised PCs anyway,

No I don't think so. I think the audience will be a mix, but definitely appeal to people who love hard core pc gaming and can't justify buying a new console with full priced games. Hard core gaming enthusiasts like myself who enjoy all that the pc has to offer while still having moments where you want to play games or wind down but can't disappear to your man cave.

For instance I have a toddler that needs to have someone watching him the whole time. I can't do that strapped into my pc, but I CAN do that sitting on the couch playing something like super meat boy or warthunder or whatever else I could run with a controller (keeping in mind that the steambox controller does an excellent job of emulating a keyboard and mouse)

Is it the BEST gaming experience? He'll no! But it's better than the alternative in that situation which is to be able to afford a PS4 and full priced games or nothing at all!

 

[Im_Lost]

In my opinion, gaming in the living room is for casual games and playing them for 1 hour max.

I agree.

Also if you really want living room gaming you could just move your PC in to the living room and hook it up to the TV and use a control pad. Theres nothing a console can do that a PC can't. But most PC gamers don't do this because it's not what they want.

 

[Alpha Protocol]

No I don't think so. I think the audience will be a mix, but definitely appeal to people who love hard core pc gaming and can't justify buying a new console with full priced games. Hard core gaming enthusiasts like myself who enjoy all that the pc has to offer while still having moments where you want to play games or wind down but can't disappear to your man cave.

For instance I have a toddler that needs to have someone watching him the whole time. I can't do that strapped into my pc, but I CAN do that sitting on the couch playing something like super meat boy or warthunder or whatever else I could run with a controller (keeping in mind that the steambox controller does an excellent job of emulating a keyboard and mouse)

Is it the BEST gaming experience? He'll no! But it's better than the alternative in that situation which is to be able to afford a PS4 and full priced games or nothing at all!

I agree.

Also if you really want living room gaming you could just move your PC in to the living room and hook it up to the TV and use a control pad. Theres nothing a console can do that a PC can't. But most PC gamers don't do this because it's not what they want.

I agree my gaming rig can't be replaced. I use HOTAS, OR, etc.. and I wouldn't want all of that stuff in my family room. Like I stated in the OP, my laptop is connected to my home theater, but it's not really a gaming laptop either. I am more interested in building my own Steam Box so I can stream games from my pc if I want to just putter around a bit.

 

[Patrick_68000]

I'll play the conventional way on my PC with a PC screen. No living room, no TV. I'm going to upgrade my PC and I play isolated in the house with a good internet connection. That way, I will not disturb, and nobody will disturb me

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

The thing is that is the joy of a PC. It is totally configurable to use it exactly as you want. Lounge media games PC, massive static cutting edge games rig or compact mobile games rig. Assuming steam os will end up being compatible on most PCs I still see steambox as an expensive way into PC gaming.

I can't disagree more about the notion of a TV based games rig or lounge console as a device for casual <1hr game experienes however. I lost hundreds (1000s) of hrs to these devices over the years. Gears of war 2 alone over 30 days play time (scary when u think about it)

 

[Slawkenbergius]

I can see how a secondary device that let me plug in a wireless controller and stream from my current PC would be nice. Something I'd expect to pay £100 for. There's no way I'd duplicate my gaming PC hardware in the living room though, especially on a Steam Machine, as I don't expect Elite to release to Linux/SteamOS for quite some time. The cost is too high, and the benefits too low.

 

[Beachlight7]

Console gaming is not specifically for sofas.
It depends on what the game is you are choosing to play on the console.
My console is setup for the pure purpose of driving simulator, in front of my large living room TV is my driving seat rig, bolted up with steering wheel and pedals and all manner of cables, and a keyboard, with a joystick nearby if I want to do a flight sim. I would call it semi mobile. But it stays there all the time. If I want to watch a movie I sit in the rig. It's a bit like a drive in movie then I suppose!
You can stereotype console gaming, but it might not be a true image on a case by case basis.

 

[Shishakli]

I can see how a secondary device that let me plug in a wireless controller and stream from my current PC would be nice. Something I'd expect to pay £100 for. There's no way I'd duplicate my gaming PC hardware in the living room though, especially on a Steam Machine, as I don't expect Elite to release to Linux/SteamOS for quite some time. The cost is too high, and the benefits too low.

I don't know many people that would. They'd already have a ps4.

But re-commissioning an old pc by adding a cheap gfx card. Should get some life out of that old box yet!

 

[Alpha Protocol]

I don't know many people that would. They'd already have a ps4.

But re-commissioning an old pc by adding a cheap gfx card. Should get some life out of that old box yet!

A Steam release wouldn't be a bad idea at some point. It would open Elite up to a much larger player base.

Yep. I have an Asus Formula IV that's never been used (bought it, then bought the Formula V instead), and old AMD Phenom II X6 1090T, an old GTX 560ti, an old case and some ram. I'm just not sure if I want to buy a different case or not. Plus I'm not in a big hurry, I'll get around to it one of these days