OMFG. OMFG. Valve to announce Steambox - steam console

[Kamahl]

Shame that it'll no doubt have to run windows (it is a gaming pc)... Another thing to help MS with their near monopoly on the OS market... sigh.
Oh well, it's not like there's really any competition to begin with.

[sheath]

I like the idea, especially if they make the interface better than Steam is on an HTPC (way too small lettering, too many menus). I'd probably pick one up if I didn't already have an HTPC, and if I cared about more than 1% of what comes out on Steam/PC.

[GriskaGyoran]

This can work with the proper usage. There are 2 examples of this that we can look at, one a failure and one an absolute success.

Failure:
3DO
It was poorly marketed and the standard was flawed. Also 3rd party support was also garbage for the most part. One of the biggest issues though was its target audience, which was the rich media-philes that made the target audience very small and did not appeal to the common gamer. Though it was a revolutionary multi-media device it did not have the support, price or audience that could make it worth getting.

Success
MSX:
The MSX standard of computers was targeted the everyman as a computer, game machine and with proper add-ons a music machine. At the height of its power it dominated the Japanese market with excellent 3rd party support and great price compared to similar machines.

[Devil N]

The concept of a consolized PC that plays standard PC games on homogeneous hardware reminds me eerily of the Infinium Phantom. Anyone remember that?

[old man]

I'm glad someone is pursuing this concept finally. I never understood why PC manufacturers didn't try to come up with a standard. It was done for years in the Japanese PC market (GriskaGyoran beat me to it) and to a very limited extent here it the US back in the 80's. The best thing is it will bring the prices down while giving PC stuff more leverage over the console market. The more something is manufactured the cheaper it gets, so if this catches on you could have a glut of companies making cheap, high quality, xbox style, pc consoles. This is definitely a good thing, especially considering the direction console manufacturers seem to be going.

[Soulis]

I don't know if there's room in the market for this thing. PC gamers prefer their PCs, they wouldn't change it for a consolized PC that limits them compare to what they have. Console gamers have already 3 options to choose from, Nintendo, Sony and MS. Things are already too crowdy. Also, this is going to run steam games and other similar services which means that you will need to be online even if you want to play a single player adventure. That doesn't sound very attractive for a console.

[gamevet]

This genuinely appeals to me. I've also been looking into hooking up my laptop to my CRT to play some older titles that use a 4:3 res, just for shits and giggles really and see if they work, I've got a great CRT with some high-interlace resolutions on it. But back to the Steam standard, this honestly seems a really attractive prospect, perhaps controversially more so than a current or next gen console for me. I'd have to see the price of a basic spec machine however to see if I'd jump onboard.

I haven't hooked it up to a 4:3 monitor, but I did play the original Starcraft on my under-powered Dell laptop. I think the screen resolution was set to something like 800 x 600.

[Kamahl]

I don't know if there's room in the market for this thing. PC gamers prefer their PCs, they wouldn't change it for a consolized PC that limits them compare to what they have. Console gamers have already 3 options to choose from, Nintendo, Sony and MS. Things are already too crowdy. Also, this is going to run steam games and other similar services which means that you will need to be online even if you want to play a single player adventure. That doesn't sound very attractive for a console.

Well it's a SPEC, so it's nothing but good for PC gamers if it takes off, even if they don't get one (they just need to fulfill the specs with their PC and they have one).

[NeoZeedeater]

I hope the Steambox ends up making some previously PC-only games get a console version. An example would be Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, a game I try to get every ARPG fan to play. It's on sale on Steam for $5 right now.

[Phosis]

You don't live in the same nation as me. Here's the thing, You seem to think that everything you say must be true, but it's not. PC gamers spend on average, more hours a day than a person playing a Mario game on their Wii.

Eddie: this is a couple of times now you have referred to your country somehow being different, unique and alien in its practices then the United States.

Frankly, it's a load of crap.

[NeoZeedeater]

True, Canada and the US are the same market for video games. He does live in a low population/more isolated area so the availability of stuff is going to be different than a big ciity but that concept applies to both countries.

[Knuckle Duster]

I will buy this console.

Eddie: this is a couple of times now you have referred to your country somehow being different, unique and alien in its practices then the United States.

Frankly, it's a load of crap.

True, Canada and the US are the same market for video games. He does live in a low population/more isolated area so the availability of stuff is going to be different than a big ciity but that concept applies to both countries

This is a couple of times I see him arguing with TSR for no reason, and result to 'ban' talk. It's not hard to see. He probes a topic with negative points, disregards discussion of the merits of it, and then results to an "Oh, bother... I guess I'm too different and you don't get it."

I was raised on the east coast. I have family all over that rock he's from, and I know exactly where he's coming from.
To say he's being a cry-baby about the situation is putting it too nicely.


Eddiespruce is Sega-16's version of Eeyore.

[Breetai]

You don't live in the same nation as me. Here's the thing, You seem to think that everything you say must be true, but it's not. PC gamers spend on average, more hours a day than a person playing a Mario game on their Wii.

I do live in the same nation as you, and what I see more lines up with what the SonicRetard* was saying. Yeah, maybe PC games, on average, to take more time, but for sure a lot of people are playing stuff like Call of Duty and Skyrim with their 360 controllers on their PCs hooked up to TVs.

The US and Canada are more similar than almost any other pair of nations on earth.


*fitting name

[Guntz]

[Breetai]

Jump on in, you strange foreigner!