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[LakeOf9]

When Microsoft is busy trying to tell you that your PC is now an Xbox, or that your Windows 10 machine is now an obsolete security nightmare, there's a certain level of joy in knowing that PC gaming is now easily outgrowing its clutches. I wonder what Microsoft will do to Windows when it finally notices.

https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/valve-just-quietly-redefined-what-pc-gaming-can-be-all-while-an-increasingly-delusional-microsoft-desperately-tries-to-tell-everyone-their-pc-is-an-xbox-now/

Very nice piece from PC Gamer about how Microsoft failed to do its duty as the custodian of PC gaming, and how Valve has taken over that spot from them – and now Microsoft is fighting a fight on two fronts (console and PC) and losing both.

 

[//DEVIL//]

I agree with the title without reading the whole thing.

 

[RoboFu]

lets not get crazy.... they basically just made a consoled spec pc. People have been doing that for years the problem is getting it so small.

 

[Kacho]

the problem is getting it so small

Huh? Small form PCs have existed for a long time.

The real problem was needing a keyboard and mouse around for living room play. This will eliminate that.

 

[pqueue]

ridiculous. 98% (I left a little wiggle room there) of "PC gamers" will never own a non-upgradable device like this due to the ever increasing needs of games and the eventual need to upgrade hardware.

if they want a "console" they will buy an actual console.

 

[DeepEnigma]

 

[adamsapple]

 

[Zacfoldor]

FUCK I made a post because I thought the word salad in the title must be from the op. Then I see it is a real article title.

PC gamer needs some editing help I think. The title of the article, "Valve just quietly redefined what PC gaming can be all while an increasingly delusional Microsoft desperately tries to tell everyone their PC is an Xbox now" instead just call it "Microsoft's Folly" since when are late night drunk tweet sounding blurbs article titles? It even has a subtitle like they didn't fit enough in the title. The subtitle is, "Valve has been loosening a desperate Microsoft's grip on PC gaming one gnarled finger at a time."

It's like if I made an article and this was the title, "PC gamer needs some editing help I think. The title of the article, "Valve just quietly redefined what PC gaming can be all while an increasingly delusional Microsoft desperately tries to tell everyone their PC is an Xbox now" instead just call it "Microsoft's Folly" since when are late night drunk tweet sounding blurbs article titles?" Then I would add my subtitle. I have been so hung up on the title that I have not read the article yet at all.

 

[Mister Wolf]

Let's see the price for this 8GB PC.

 

[rm082e]

From the article:

With this new ecosystem launch, Valve has just pried Microsoft's last little finger off the previously vice-like grip it once had on PC gaming. No-one needs Microsoft to play PC games anymore—not you, not the devs, not the manufacturers of gaming rigs. Heck, with SteamOS coming to Arm, you may not even need x86 CPUs, either.

I'm sorry, but this is complete nonsense. What Valve is putting out looks good, but it's going to remain niche hardware just like the Steam Deck. The vast majority of PC gamers are still going to run Windows on x86 hardware. Valve just looks like they're punching above their weight because Xbox is in the process of falling down to their level. The real story here is about how bad Xbox is doing, not Valve making leaps and bounds.

That said, I'm all in favor of Valve continuing down this path they're on. I hope they can keep it going and be successful with their hardware.

 

[Punished Miku]

Just imagine the headline if MS put out an underpowered cube PC with that controller. Just imagine. Valve fans are a cult.

Oh yeah, don't forget the VR headset likely 2.5x the cost of a Quest.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

 

[Sebastian1295]

I know it's easy to pick on microsoft/xbox but the steam machine looks like a piece of junk honestly. RDNA 3 is disgusting and the specs are somewhere between a series S and series X which is eww considering they wanna price this thing as a PC. I think this thing is going to crash and burn and it'll be a novelty item that is sitting on people's shelves or in a box 2 years after launch.

 

[DeVeAn]

You got steam trying to a like a "console" and the consoles trying to be PC like LOL. What year does it hit singularity?

 

[Hari Seldon]

Anything that can get PC gaming the fuck out of PoS windows is a good thing. I can't wait for the day where I never have to own a MS anything.

 

[Guilty_AI]

ridiculous. 98% (I left a little wiggle room there) of "PC gamers" will never own a non-upgradable device like this due to the ever increasing needs of games and the eventual need to upgrade hardware.

if they want a "console" they will buy an actual console.

I'd buy this GabeCube before i'd buy an actual console

 

[DeepEnigma]

Valve fans are a cult.

 

[rodrigolfp]

The real problem was needing a keyboard and mouse around for living room play. This will eliminate that.

You don't need keyboard and mouse for living room for a long time.

 

[Judge Magister]

This is Apple levels of b*.

 

[Hero_Select]

What did they redefine exactly? :|

 

[Kacho]

Just imagine the headline if MS put out an underpowered cube PC with that controller. Just imagine. Valve fans are a cult.

Oh yeah, don't forget the VR headset likely 2.5x the cost of a Quest.

Plenty of people are shitting on the Steam Box for being weak.

If Valve announced a $1000 monster instead people would have complained it is too expensive.

That's just the internet being the internet.

 

[Proelite]

Curated list of games the Steam Machines will never play out of the box.

• Fortnite
• Call of Duty/Warzone multiplayer
• Roblox
• Apex Legends
• EA Sports multiplayer
• GTA Online
• MLB The Show
• NBA 2K multiplayer
• Destiny 2
• Minecraft

 

[DarkShadowXI]

Huh? Small form PCs have existed for a long time.

The real problem was needing a keyboard and mouse around for living room play. This will eliminate that.

As someone that has a powerful gaming PC connected to my TV and is using Windows: the graphics are excellent, but the experience is a real pain in the ass.

I always enjoy playing on my consoles, even though the graphics aren't as good. Hell, it's close enough.

Can't beat picking up a controller and playing within a minute.

If Valve eventually releases a Steam Machine Pro to compete, I probably won't mess around with building a PC ever again. I just don't have the time, or motivation, anymore to mess around with this stuff.

 

[lastmessiah]

No one redefined shit. Article is retarded and written by retards.

 

[Kacho]

You don't need keyboard and mouse for living room for a long time.

Cool story.

I never need to use the mouse pointer on my Steam Deck

 

[rodrigolfp]

Cool story.

I never need to use the mouse pointer on my Steam Deck

mouse pointer = mouse?? since when??

 

[nikos]

Big announcement.

"Quietly."

 

[lastmessiah]

As someone that has a powerful gaming PC connected to my TV and is using Windows: the graphics are excellent, but the experience is a real pain in the ass.

I always enjoy playing on my consoles, even though the graphics aren't as good. Hell, it's close enough.

Can't beat picking up a controller and playing within a minute.

If Valve eventually releases a Steam Machine Pro to compete, I probably won't mess around with building a PC ever again. I just don't have the time, or motivation, anymore to mess around with this stuff.

No one is buying this shit dude. All you have to do is click the button that says "launch" or double click the icon that represents the game you want to launch. Even the lowest of IQs can handle it.

 

[Mister Wolf]

Plenty of people are shitting on the Steam Box for being weak.

If Valve announced a $1000 monster instead people would have complained it is too expensive.

That's just the internet being the internet.

Maybe making it PS5 Pro price and using RDNA4 would have been the right move. Not having access to FSR4 natively is big.

 

[Hawk The Slayer]

Lost any hype for it after seeing the specs

2TB SSD is great but 16gb of system ram and 8gb of vram are both absolutely shit.

My current PC which is nearly a decade old is gtx 1070 with a 8gb of vram, 1TB HDD, 16gb of system ram.

It's barely that much better and it'll be a decade as of 2026 so it's a complete waste.

8GB of VRAM and 16GB of system ram is complete shit now and even more so in 2026, at min it needs 32gb of system ram and 16gb of vram even for 1080p to prepare for the more demanding games coming and even a lot of the current games already requires more than 8gb of vram even on 1080p.

The other thing is will this steam console even allow me to mod or get mods for Warcraft Reforged, and my Fallout, and Elder Scrolls games as easily as my current PC. And will this console allow me to play World of Warcraft/using the Battle.Net launcher. Cause that would be another deal breaker.

 

[bender]

The race to 10m lifetime sales starts now.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

With those meager specs they redefined nothing. The conversation is hollow without the price and I firmly believe that Gaben fans are waiting for a rude awakening here.

If anything, this box made potential powerful Xbox PC at least more interesting.

 

[PauloRoberto]

Good lord, it loks ike the only requirement to try to form an opinion on the Internet is to be an idiot with those hyperboles...

 

[lastmessiah]

Curated list of games the Steam Machines will never play out of the box.

• Fortnite
• Call of Duty/Warzone multiplayer
• Roblox
• Apex Legends
• EA Sports multiplayer
• GTA Online
• MLB The Show
• NBA 2K multiplayer
• Destiny 2
• Minecraft

And those are like the biggest games on PC too. But "Windows is dead" I guess .

 

[kpopSuperstar]

Let's see the price for this 8GB PC.

If it's PS5 price then it's just gonna be a toy for Steamdeck people while real gamers play on PC.

 

[Kilau]

I only care about the OS and the controller, the little PC is fine if priced right but not what I need.

 

[RoboFu]

Huh? Small form PCs have existed for a long time.

The real problem was needing a keyboard and mouse around for living room play. This will eliminate that.

not 6 x 6 x 6 small. and they have sucked or been way too expensive.

 

[DarkShadowXI]

No one is buying this shit dude. All you have to do is click the button that says "launch" or double click the icon that represents the game you want to launch. Even the lowest of IQs can handle it.

Hmm, that's rage bait. No thanks.

 

[Bkdk]

MS is lost but valve really need to let steam users to have an option to just not update the game, the current workaround like making the steam appmanifest to read only only works for games that support launching with a modded launcher like skyrim script extender. More and more devs are suddenly updating games that are years old and breaking mods completely.

 

[Kacho]

Maybe making it PS5 Pro price and using RDNA4 would have been the right move. Not having access to FSR4 natively is big.

FWIW DF said Valve was looking to partner with other companies to put out Steam Boxes with different specs, presumably on the higher side.

Patience, brother. I'm sure we'll get a monster in due time.

 

[GHG]

Just imagine the headline if MS put out an underpowered cube PC with that controller. Just imagine. Valve fans are a cult.

Oh yeah, don't forget the VR headset likely 2.5x the cost of a Quest.

You say all this, yet you spent the first 3/4 years of this console generation defending the Series S with your life.

So respectfully...

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

Let's see the price for this 8GB PC.

Lets see it run anything demanding

 

[Luipadre]

Sure lol. They are releasing a vr headset no one gives a fuck about, an ugly controller and a low tier console like pc.

 

[onQ123]

Post in thread 'Xbox Twitter/X Just Confirmed Their Biggest Games Will Be Multiplatform' https://www.neogaf.com/threads/xbox...-will-be-multiplatform.1667540/post-268945389

 

[PeteBull]

PC Gamer with another of their stupid takes, we had underpowered non upgradeable steam mashine before, and it fucking sold close to nothing

Steam Machine (computer) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

By June 2016, seven months after the official release, fewer than half a million units had been sold. In response to the sales figures, Ars Technica described the unit as dead on arrival. Many vendors discontinued selling Steam Machines by the end of 2016; however, as of 2017, some were still offering them for sale, alongside configurations that could be installed with SteamOS.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Just imagine the headline if MS put out an underpowered cube PC with that controller. Just imagine. Valve fans are a cult.

Oh yeah, don't forget the VR headset likely 2.5x the cost of a Quest.

You mean an underpowered cube PC with windows?

 

[Mownoc]

The race to 10m lifetime sales starts now.

I think it'll be tough for them to sell twice as much as the steam deck. But who knows?

 

[bender]

I think it'll be tough for them to sell twice as much as the steam deck. But who knows?

Xbox or Steam Cube?

A: Both

It will be interesting to see how Steam's offering is priced.

 

[Guilty_AI]

PC Gamer with another of their stupid takes, we had underpowered non upgradeable steam mashine before, and it fucking sold close to nothing

Steam Machine (computer) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

2016 linux gaming was in a veeeery different spot, that was one of the main causes of failure. There's also a defacto market for form-factor PCs nowadays.

 

[Mister Wolf]

Lets see it run anything demanding

Only portable devices can get away with being underpowered. We have no grace for weak desktops.