Why I think Valve's Steambox will flop

[Vivi22]

If Steam is going to get third party developers to write games with the Steambox in mind, they will need to create and sell a hardware upgrade pack every 6 months, otherwise the Steambox will end up being just like a console, stuck with the hardware from when it was first made. Sure they may be able to cut corners or optimise for the box, but it won't compare to getting the new hardware. Compare: PS3/XBox360 with current mid range PCs

Yes, because I'm sure everyone playing PC games out there upgrades their PC every six months because they can't play games otherwise.

 

[PoolCleaningRobot]

Controllers- You will be able to use a mouse and keyboard. There is no doubt about that. If you really want you can set up a tray table and put a mouse and keyboard on it. Steam is making a big push for controller support because it's easier to operate a controller from a couch playing on a TV. I never understood the neglect for TVs and the ravenous support for keyboards and mice in the whole "console VS PC" thing. That amazing graphical power you have is pretty much no different if you're playing on a 22 inch monitor. With enough dedication you can have a good setup with both, but honestly if it comes down to one or the other, I'm going to choose sitting in the more comfortable seat, using the more comfortable but slightly less efficient form of controls, and actually be able to SEE the insane amount of detail that my PC is capable of rendering. Anyways I'm getting off topic. Point is it's more about putting the experience on the TV than it is about forcing you to use a controller. Big picture can easily be navigated with a mouse as well.

THANK YOU. I get sick of this pc attitude of having your cake and eating it too. If you game on a pc and love keyboard and mouse, you usually don't have problem sitting at desk with a monitor. I have to go through a shit ton of effort to get my ps3 controller to work through my laptop's blue tooth so I can game on my bed in my room from my TV with my laptop on a desk behind me and even then the fuck tards at Microsoft didn't have the forethought to make the xbox controller operate on windows. Maybe control the mouse with the stick and make A a mouse click? Nope. gotta switch between emulating the xbox layout and emulating keyboard and mouse with the slow as fuck Internet connection required motion joy.


I'm obviously willing to put up with this for some great pc games but otherwise I might was well use my console

Oh yeah, on topic the Steam box would have appealed to me years ago when I wanted to get into pc gaming. But I already have a gaming pc now. I don't see a problem with owning a normal pc for work and stuff and a Steam box exclusively for games soon as it has gaming pc benefits like mods, running servers and all that jizz. The idea of a gaming pc being all tricked out and easy to set up would definitely appeal to new comers or just people who want to keep their "play" separate from their "work"

 

[TomWiley]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolpinchefsky/2013/03/20/xi3-is-committed-to-piston-while-valves-steam-box-remains-elusive/

Even your links seem to back up what I'm saying, yet you accuse me of making things up. Huh.

And the best you've got is some "he said, she said" nonsense from people whose best interest involves being as associated as possible, but nothing official.

Look, if you're going to accuse me of lying, I don't think a basic modicum of actual proof is too much to ask from you. This ain't it.

What are you even saying?

- I said that Xi3's Piston project was funded and even ordered by Valve, which my links confirm.

- I said that Valve and Xi3 displayed the Piston in their respective booths at E3, which my links also confirm.

- My links even confirm that Xi3, by Valves permission, displayed the Piston as a console was made to be hooked up to a PC and play Steam games in Big Picture Mode. Sounds a bit like a Steambox, don't you think?

Don't forget that you started this whole thing by saying that I was wrong to call the Piston a Steambox. Now you are saying that my links confirm what you said. That's not exactly what I'm reading:

"Piston is not the Steam Box that Valve plans to release. It?s still a Steam Box, and its design was the direct result of a commission from Valve to Xi3."

If you still don't believe that the Piston was never supposed to be a Steambox, then I don't know what more I can tell you. Either way, it's just one of the many things you decided to question in your original comment, along with Linux compatibility and whatnot, essentially forcing me to defend the accuracy of my points.

Now, I was not inaccurate about Valve's involvement in the Piston mess, I wasn't inaccurate when it comes to Linux, but if you just leave it at that, I have no reason to call you a lier either.

There is no market for it. PC gamers will use there PCs and would rather spend the cost of the Piston on parts to there PC. Console gamers have there consoles, not saying they are casual but to have fun with games isnt an expensive hobby. A Valve box will be good if its cheap an powerful enough to play the games at high quality. Unfortunately i think the tech will date quickly. I think its way to expensive for console gamers. It will fail.

I think it's even likely Valve isn't planning for this thing to succeed. They certainly don't risk losing any substantial amounts of money on R&D, at least not that will cripple the company in anyway, so it could be that the Steambox is more like a proof-of-concept to push devs towards Linux and OpenGL and make a reference for other Steamboxes.

Either way, it's not going to replace my PC.

If Steam is going to get third party developers to write games with the Steambox in mind, they will need to create and sell a hardware upgrade pack every 6 months, otherwise the Steambox will end up being just like a console, stuck with the hardware from when it was first made. Sure they may be able to cut corners or optimise for the box, but it won't compare to getting the new hardware. Compare: PS3/XBox360 with current mid range PCs

I don't think Valve would be able to upgrade the Steambox every 6 months. It's not feasible to have two new Steamboxes per year. But I agree that I don't see how the Steambox is going to manage otherwise. The consoles have the advantage of having third party devs optimize their game design for that specific APU-set, so they don't have to upgrade often. Sreambox, on the other hand, needs to run unoptimized and demanding PC games. Regardless of the specs it comes out with, the only way the Steambox could have the same viability as a console would be if devs wrote specifically for the Steambox, but that goes against the entire concept of Steam and openness.

...simplified controls and potentially simplified gameplay.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

No, not at all. At least not all the time. But many of the game genres represented on Steam wouldn't survive the transition to controller-based interaction, simply because the way they are designed. What's going to happen to these Steam games, I wonder.

 

[Atrocious Joystick]

I could see the steambox selling very badly. Well below 10 000 copies. I'm guessing that it will only be sold in North America as I doubt Valve even has the capability to sell it on an international market. That eliminates a lot of fans right there.

Then it focuses on an already niche market. Gamers who trust Valve but:

A) Don't already own a computer for gaming.

B) Does not own an Xbox 360 or a PS3. And has no plans on buying a nextBox or PS4.

It seems like a hopeless venture aimed at people who would almost by definition have no need of the steambox. And your average family probably doesn't even know there is such a thing as a steambox. And would rather buy the safer Xbox or Playstation. They're made by the windows guys or the phone guys. You can trust them. Who are these weird "valve" people? Not to mention the name, steambox, makes it seem like a cheap cash-in while the Xbox is popular. Hoping that confused grandmothers will buy it by mistake. The console version of Transmorphers.

It seems the only reason it's even talked about seems to be because it involves two things that the gaming community has far too much faith in. Valve and Linux.

 

[Nikolaz72]

I could see the steambox selling very badly. Well below 10 000 copies. I'm guessing that it will only be sold in North America as I doubt Valve even has the capability to sell it on an international market. That eliminates a lot of fans right there.

Then it focuses on an already niche market. Gamers who trust Valve but:

A) Don't already own a computer for gaming.

B) Does not own an Xbox 360 or a PS3. And has no plans on buying a nextBox or PS4.

It seems like a hopeless venture aimed at people who would almost by definition have no need of the steambox. And your average family probably doesn't even know there is such a thing as a steambox. And would rather buy the safer Xbox or Playstation. They're made by the windows guys or the phone guys. You can trust them. Who are these weird "valve" people? Not to mention the name, steambox, makes it seem like a cheap cash-in while the Xbox is popular. Hoping that confused grandmothers will buy it by mistake. The console version of Transmorphers.

It seems the only reason it's even talked about seems to be because it involves two things that the gaming community has far too much faith in. Valve and Linux.

I imagine there's quite a few PC gamers whom want to try out console games (Which would most likely be available on Steambox) but dont want to put themself at Microsofts mercy or Sony's infamous security system. As long as the hardware checks out I don't see why I wouldn't get it.

 

[popa_qwerty]

Snip

I imagine there's quite a few PC gamers whom want to try out console games (Which would most likely be available on Steambox) but dont want to put themself at Microsofts mercy or Sony's infamous security system. As long as the hardware checks out I don't see why I wouldn't get it.

That is not happening mostly because there still limited by steam library and also Sony and Microsoft pay for there exclusive titles.

 

[Nikolaz72]

Snip

I imagine there's quite a few PC gamers whom want to try out console games (Which would most likely be available on Steambox) but dont want to put themself at Microsofts mercy or Sony's infamous security system. As long as the hardware checks out I don't see why I wouldn't get it.

That is not happening mostly because there still limited by steam library and also Sony and Microsoft pay for there exclusive titles.

Sure you say that now, but lets way with shooting the dog until the doctor actually determines if it's sick.