Valve working on 'Steam Box' console

[Sansha]

http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/2/2840932/exclusive-valve-steam-box-gaming-console

Recently there's been chatter that Valve ? the company behind the massively popular gaming service Steam ? has been considering getting into the hardware business. Specifically, there have been rumors that the company has been toying with the idea of creating a proper set-top console which could potentially pose a threat to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Valve co-founder Gabe Newell even recently told Penny Arcade: "Well, if we have to sell hardware we will."


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Now personally, I don't like consoles. I haven't owned one since my Xbox and PS2 eons ago, but this is something I'll most definitely invest in. If it's got a fat hard-drive and can buy and download shit from Steam on it, I'm sold.

 

[GoaThief]

I love the idea, but for me to purchase one it would have to offer something better than my PC... which I can't see happening, in the near-future at least.

So what else can they do? Intentionally gimping Steam on PCs and/or leave out key/new features isn't going to make people purchase so I guess their only market will be those who already own consoles (good luck convincing them about a new console) and those with dated PCs. I can't see it happening myself, and if it does success will be minimal. I guess that depends how deep Valve's pockets will be.

 

[Gorilla Gunk]

If they really want this to work it would have to be cheap, like around $300. If this thing is like $500-600 at launch, nobody is going to buy it.

Anyway, as a console gamer I love the idea, but I lost faith in Valve years ago.

 

[Terminate421]

I wouldn't mind the idea but I believe it'd just be much easier to integrate Steam Heavily onto the next generation of consoles. With them still in development, hooking of steam would totally work, and in essence, they could download the games to their console, kind of making a console only set for Steam kinda obsolete. Microsoft or Sony get some of the Revenue, the Developers get revenue, and Valve gets Revenue, so everybody wins.

 

[crappingpegasus]

I'm not really sure an "open-source" platform on "closed" hardware is the answer. Isn't that why most PC Gamers prefer the PC - upgradability? If Steam Box is going to run on variations of the Razer Blade or Alienware X51 then what's the real incentive for PC Gamers? Or console gamers for that matter? Certainly not hardware power. Certainly not exclusives.

Frankly, this just sounds like the Phantom Console 2.0: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_Entertainment

 

[ShindoL Shill]

*bangs head on keyboard*
No. No. No. No. No.
1. I think consoles are going to die out eventually. Probably soon.
2. Valve's main market are PC gamers, who have gaming PCs
3. We don't need more bloody consoles

 

[snagli]

I'd love to see it. Maybe not play it or buy it, but I want to see what it will look like. Maybe... and Orange Box?

 

[Xanadu84]

Interesting, but, I see a very different way to market it. Just make a glorified wireless hdmi cable that streams the image from the PC to the TV, and that sends a controller or keyboard and mouse signal back to the PC. Not only would Pc players have a reason to buy it, and be compatible with PC games, you could release it right after the new x box or playstation and call it the discless, upgradeable, $40 x box (*computer required.) That could seriously compete with consoles, especially with valves marketing genius.

 

[NathLines]

Shit. I've always been a Valve fanboy and all, but I didn't actually expect to be prepared to buy this. Ok, maybe I wouldn't, but I'd be very interested in what they have to offer.

 

[psicat]

No, now this is just wrong. One of the reasons I prefer consoles is that I don't have to deal with the crap that is Steam on them.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

I see what they'd be aiming at, but I think they've got it wrong. What I think would be a better idea is a minimalistic OS that lets PC gamers dedicate more of their resources to the games themselves. An OS with that is functions as Steam does: catalogue, library and basic browsing.

 

[Beryl77]

I already posted this in another thread but I'm too lazy to write something new.

This is big stuff and highly interesting.
The controller is very modifiable and one of the three people who have filed that patent is Mike Ambinde. He's the psychologist who was hired by Valve and has been working on biofeedback in games.
An example can be seen in this video

Spoiler

And now, leveraged from the Steamforums, has looked a bit more thoroughly at the patents that Valve has made in the last year and he found this

Spoiler

[0101]Continuing next to block 411, the state of game play is modified based on such other user inputs as joystick inputs, game controller inputs, keyboard inputs, audio inputs, mouse inputs, or the like. Processing then flows to block 412, based on a result of the query to obtain a biocharacteristic of a game player, a state of the game play may be modified.

Examples of modifying a game play state includes, but are not limited to modifying a type and/or number of opponents in a game; modifying a pace or tempo of the game; increasing/decreasing a time limit for a game event; modifying a combat, puzzle, or other challenge degree of difficulty; modifying an availability of supplies, power-up items, and or other aspects of items in the game; modifying a volume and/or type of sound, music, and/or other audio feature; modifying a color, or other aspect of the game, including a background feature of the game; modifying lighting, weather effects, and/or other environmental aspects within the game; modify a dialog of various characters within the game including possibly modifying an avatar representing the game player; providing or inhibiting game hints, suggestions, modifying an appearance or function of an application, or the like.

For example, in one embodiment a user interface may be modified based on various biocharacteristics. Similarly, tutorials, instructions, or the like, may also be modified by skipping, slowing down/speeding up a rate of presentation, or the like. It should be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art, that other ways of modifying a game state may be employed based on the resulting biocharacteristics from the query. Processing then continues to decision block 416, where a determination is made whether to continue game play, as described above.

Spoiler

[0133]As can be seen from the above game examples, biofeedback measures may be used in a variety of ways to modify a state of a game play. However, the variations are not limited to those described above.

For example, in variation to the above games, the biofeedback measures may be used to control an input to the game. For instance, if a large creature is hunting the game player's character, then the player might be expected to maintain or reduce their stress level to avoid alerting the creature of their positions.

In a similar game, the player might be required to demonstrate sharp physiological arousal to break out of handcuffs or other restraints or break through a locked door to escape a threat.

Spoiler

[0134]In another game scenario, little elf characters that give cookies to the user might only appear when the player is calm, and stay away if the user is not determined to be calm. A player desiring the cookies (or other reward) must achieve a state of calmness to attract the characters.

In still another game scenario, in a forest adventure, it may be sunny with lush, green trees, when the player is determined to be in a particular physiological state of arousal. As the player deviates from that state, the sky might darken, the trees may wither and/or blacken, and/or various colors, music, and/or other sounds may change. Thus, various background aspects within the game may be dynamically modified based on the biofeedback measures of the player.

Here [http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2579358] is his original post.

I can't wait to see what Valve will do in the future. Maybe they won't be able to implement all this things in the way they want but it's incredible nonetheless.
Hopefully they'll show us something at GDC next week. They've often presented new Steam features there so it's possible. Of course, this year they're attending E3, so they might show something there.

 

[Worgen]

If they made a console it wouldn't be a real console, chances are it would be more of a laptop pc. Just with less pc functionality.

 

[teh_Canape]

*bangs head on keyboard*
No. No. No. No. No.
1. I think consoles are going to die out eventually. Probably soon.
2. Valve's main market are PC gamers, who have gaming PCs
3. We don't need more bloody consoles

1) indifferent to this
2) agree
3) disagree
variety is the spice of life you know =P

but seriously now, sounds interesting to me, I might even buy Valve's console if it actually is made, after all my PC is starting to be left in the dust (well it's been in the dust for about 4 years now, funny since I got it 2 years ago new)
especially considering how good Steam is, overall

also, I kinda get the feel that their console will be the Dreamcast 2

 

[michael87cn]

I love the idea, but for me to purchase one it would have to offer something better than my PC... which I can't see happening, in the near-future at least.

So what else can they do? Intentionally gimping Steam on PCs and/or leave out key/new features isn't going to make people purchase so I guess their only market will be those who already own consoles (good luck convincing them about a new console) and those with dated PCs. I can't see it happening myself, and if it does success will be minimal. I guess that depends how deep Valve's pockets will be.

Something better than your PC, huh? How about a system that you can plug a mouse and keyboard into - and play PC games - without having to process a resource hogging operating system in the background?

Fuck yeah!

The Xbox 360 already supports USB mice and keyboards, just not for gaming - which is an intentional effort to keep people buying personal computers for gaming - because simply put, a console that does ONLY games would kill all the purcahses of gaming PCs, period. Double the performance, half the price... all the playstyles you can dream of. Strategy games on a console? pop in your mouse and keyboard. Playing an MMORPG like WoW on your big screen tv? Bam, done.

Win/Win.

You'd only need a PC for work or facebook.

 

[GiantRaven]

1. I think consoles are going to die out eventually. Probably soon.

I....what? How? Why? That's an utterly ridiculous thing to suggest.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

It would be interesting to see. Imagine; the first all-digital console being made by Valve. If they do make a digital-only console there's no way I'd touch it but it's still interesting and it would be cool if they got something like that off the ground. Kind of like OnLive only with a great pedigree.

 

[tzimize]

http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/2/2840932/exclusive-valve-steam-box-gaming-console

Recently there's been chatter that Valve ? the company behind the massively popular gaming service Steam ? has been considering getting into the hardware business. Specifically, there have been rumors that the company has been toying with the idea of creating a proper set-top console which could potentially pose a threat to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Valve co-founder Gabe Newell even recently told Penny Arcade: "Well, if we have to sell hardware we will."


---

Now personally, I don't like consoles. I haven't owned one since my Xbox and PS2 eons ago, but this is something I'll most definitely invest in. If it's got a fat hard-drive and can buy and download shit from Steam on it, I'm sold.

Its called a PC.

We dont need this. Why would we need it? PS3 is already starting to integrate steam a bit, right? Who wants another platform to relate to? What would they do that xboxes ps3s and pcs arent already doing?

Pointless. Isnt steam doing well enough?