Valve announces SteamOS

Status
Not open for further replies.
If they can get a cheap set top box it would be great. Stream gaming with little input lag to any tv in the house without having to move your computer around would be great. If they add music/movies/tv on top of that like chrome cast yeah I would buy this. The last thing I need is more vms running yet a other os though.
 
Dr. Zoidberg said:
I think the game streaming sounds cool, but whenever topics like this surface my fear is thus:

I do not want anything that will eventually lead to "fragmentation" of the PC gaming market. In other words, I don't want to have to run multiple OS's just to play all the latest major games in a few years.
Click to expand...

Same for me, if SteamOS and Windows can (eventually) run all the games then great, people can choose whatever gaming OS they like. But it would be terrible to end up with 50% of games being on Steam OS and 50% of them being on Windows and PC gamers would need either dual booting or 2 systems to play all the games.
 
Anticitizen One said:
The more they get into this frivolous crap nobody is going to support the less likely it is we will get Half-Life 3, etc. How about focusing on making games Valve?
Click to expand...

"Apple is making phones now? The more they get into this frivolous crap nobody is going to support, the worse off Mac OS will be. How about focusing on making computers Apple?"

Sorry couldn't resist
 
So how close was I? =)

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=82879749&postcount=328

Prediction:

Steam Box is, in reality, a "Stream Box".

It will retail for $399 and come with a controller.

It will look like a PS4/XB1. Similar specs.

It will be Linux-based

Half-life 3 and/or Left for Dead 3 will be announced for the Box and PC as well.

You can instantly log-in with your steam account and play any linux-supported games directly from the box after downloading them.

Alternatively, you can play any PC game that you have downloaded on your PC via "streaming" tech much like the Vita TV.

The steam box will be made by only one or two hardware makers like Google does with their Nexus 7 tablet.

A yearly update to the steam box hardware will be released upping the specs, but otherwise keeping everything else the same.

Support of USB peripherals and things like Oculus Rift will be strong.

A separate wireless keyboard/mouse peripheral will be branded and sold separately for the Box.

Valve's goal is to bring steam access to more people, increase PC/Linux gaming, and to gain market/mind share over the consoles and other competition.

More indie and bigger PC developers would start to target the steam box linux specs as well as PC's when making games in the future and Valve would be the pioneer in this sort of multiplatform development just like they were the pioneers of steam at the start with their entire library of games.

Valve will have a handful of pubs/devs already on board with projects in the works when they make the announcement.

It's multimedia features will rival that of the PS4/XB1 in many ways.

Might support an onlive type service in the future

Digital only. Valve gets same steam-type royalties on every sale.

Steam Box will compete directly with PS4/XB1 and will make this gen a true 3-horse race like last gen
Click to expand...
 
MikeE21286 said:
Valve is now directly competing with the all the major consoles with this.

Seeing as how they are all using pretty standard PC components now, the main differences left are;

- Steam is completely digital (pro or con depending on who you are)
- Steam has full backwards compatibility with many more titles (pro)
- Steam does not have a standard set of hardware to develop for (con)
Click to expand...

Not even close. Your average console user is not going to bother setting up a custom 'steambox' to stream games from their PC... Not to mention, unless they're selling hardware for a dream, with that setup you're talking at least 1 mid to high end PC to run windows for streaming the Windows games, and 1 mid to high end running the steamOS. You're going to tell me that type of setup comes anywhere close to the cost of a single console?

I don't think people are being realistic about this at all.
 
StuBurns said:
Unless the SteamBox is as good as your PC why would you play Metro on it? And if it is, how much are you spending to have two equally powerful PCs?

This is like an extremely expensive HDMI cable.
Click to expand...
"Your PC is also a Steambox" - Director M. Night Shyamalan, commenting on SteamOS announcement
 
JWong said:
Why don't I just hook up my PC to the TV? Seems pretty useless until they announce a box.

It's like a console OS without the console lol
Click to expand...

Maybe they looked at Google's success with Android and think they can duplicate it. I dunno. It seems odd to me. But then again they were pretty far ahead of their time with Steam. Maybe they're just so far ahead that I can't see its value.
 
EatChildren said:
You wouldn't. SteamOS is not for people who already have high end gaming machines they're happy with. SteamOS is for integrating a gaming operating system into lounge room devices. Metro: Last Light is simply an example from Valve of a game that will support native SteamOS, and thus be purchasable without streaming for anybody running a SteamOS device.
Click to expand...

So are you saying it's aimed at people who don't use Steam now? If so, what would be the draw then over a console at that point? I guess we'll have to see what dedicated hardware is announced and at what price point, but if it's aimed at non-Steam users, that's a big mountain to climb I think.
 
I don't get this at all. I mean it makes sense as a baby step for Valve to move away from Windows, but the use case is so niche for consumers. Just seems really odd.
 
EatChildren said:
You wouldn't. SteamOS is not for people who already have high end gaming machines they're happy with. SteamOS is for integrating a gaming operating system into lounge room devices. Metro: Last Light is simply an example from Valve of a game that will support native SteamOS, and thus be purchasable without streaming for anybody running a SteamOS device.
Click to expand...
This is such a terrible idea.

It's either for people who don't already PC game, and would sooner buy a console if they wanted to dip their toe in, or it's for Valve fans who don't need it, and would never choose what is basically a console with a gamepad over a new PC.

Who is this box for? Not non-gamers, not PC gamers, not console gamers. There's no one else left.
 
Can't say I have much confidence in Valves ability to support an OS, heh.

Super pointless for my needs, and I'd much rather have windows on a htpc if I was in the market for one.
 
This will suit me PERFECTLY. I have always been kinda annoyed that I've had to keep my PC in the living room if I wanted to play console style games on the TV. Now I'll just be able to stream them, and have the PC and desk in a more suitable spot.
Yay!
 
There's tons of gamers out there who have Windows primarily because of games. Web browsing can be done reliably in any OS, and you can do pretty much all office-type stuff in linux easily.

The two things you can't use linux for that are popular: high-level Excel stuff and Adobe products. If you don't use these things, why the hell would you pay $100 for Windows on your next build when you can get Steam for free?
 
Gaming OS for PC is huge, people who doesn't get it will get it pretty soon. It will depend on proper execution of course but this is where I have faith in Valve. Steam started slow and look where we are now. I'm sure that this announce is just the top of the iceberg. Anyone thinking that Valve won't apply the same rapid updates style to SteamOS as they've had going for Steam is delusional. Possibilities are endless.
 
pixlexic said:
Think of it this way..as a console player... Say this year you buy a $200 asus steam box that plays games at settings that consoles are getting . In three years Samsung puts out another steam box that triples the specs you currently have for $200 that is not only backwards compatible but now allows you to up the settings on those games you couldn't before.
Click to expand...

That's...not happening. There is absolutely no way a PS4/XBO level machine will be sold for $200.
 
I came all over myself when I realized this was real, passed out, woke up, realized it wasn't a dream and repeated that process two more times.

This is the last gen of Xbox if this thing takes off.
 
Madrugador said:
As a PC Gamer, this sounds great.

Time to get Microsoft out of the equation.
Click to expand...

I think some of my friends will give this a try too assuming most of the games they care about is steamos compatible. They really don't care about anything other than games and browsing the net >_>
 
sn00zer said:
Doesnt this cut out a lot of games because it is Linux based?
Click to expand...

Don't worry I'm sure the thousands of games currently out that stretch back across 20 years will get patched. Devs will just stop what they're doing and patch in Linux support.

If not don't worry you can stream them from your current PC and risk lag issues instead of just...playing them on your current PC.
 
The reason I'm excited about it.. it's like my Roku.

I have my PC hooked to my tv downstairs... and now I can have a steambox upstairs on my bedroom tv. So if I feel like laying in bed and playing something I can without lugging my computer around.
 
Guevara said:
I don't get this at all. I mean it makes sense as a baby step for Valve to move away from Windows, but the use case is so niche for consumers. Just seems really odd.
Click to expand...

It ONLY makes sense, for now, if the Steambox simply uses it, and if, down the road, users want to install SteamOS on their own boxes, that's cool too.
 
keyrat said:
There's tons of gamers out there who have Windows primarily because of games. Web browsing can be done reliably in any OS, and you can do pretty much all office-type stuff in linux easily.

The two things you can't use linux for that are popular: high-level Excel stuff and Adobe products. If you don't use these things, why the hell would you pay $100 for Windows on your next build when you can get Steam for free?
Click to expand...

Because it is the dominant product, because it delivers the least headaches for most people, plenty of reasons.
 
elementalsin said:
Not even close. Your average console user is not going to bother setting up a custom 'steambox' to stream games from their PC... Not to mention, unless they're selling hardware for a dream, with that setup you're talking at least 1 mid to high end PC to run windows for streaming the Windows games, and 1 mid to high end running the steamOS. You're going to tell me that type of setup comes anywhere close to the cost of a single console?

I don't think people are being realistic about this at all.
Click to expand...

More like one mid-to-high end PC to run your entire library, and one shitty spec netbook with HDMI out to run all of that on your TV.
 
kingslunk said:
Not sure if serious...
Click to expand...
More than serious. Every major linux project has been a failure; just look at its main two office programs, they are nearly 10 years behind Microsoft Office, and one was abandoned for quite a few years; no major smartphone producer makes devices supporting them; Gnome and KDE desktop haven't seen any major change in nearly a decade; the kernel barely has started working with hybrid graphics which are so common on laptops; it's still buggy as hell and a pain to troubleshoot.
 
keyrat said:
There's tons of gamers out there who have Windows primarily because of games. Web browsing can be done reliably in any OS, and you can do pretty much all office-type stuff in linux easily.

The two things you can't use linux for that are popular: high-level Excel stuff and Adobe products. If you don't use these things, why the hell would you pay $100 for Windows on your next build when you can get Steam for free?
Click to expand...

I have a library of non-Steam games? Unless Steam OS will somehow support all games made for Windows ever.
 
elementalsin said:
Not even close. Your average console user is not going to bother setting up a custom 'steambox' to stream games from their PC... Not to mention, unless they're selling hardware for a dream, with that setup you're talking at least 1 mid to high end PC to run windows for streaming the Windows games, and 1 mid to high end running the steamOS. You're going to tell me that type of setup comes anywhere close to the cost of a single console?

I don't think people are being realistic about this at all.
Click to expand...

The openness that makes this great is also what's going to kill it for the mass market. Once you start having to explain to people which games their steam box can and cannot run, the vast majority of non-core gamers will drop out. The advantage with consoles is the simplicity of knowing when you put a game in the disk drive, it's going to run no matter what.

I love the idea of a steam box, especially for the streaming solutions. I just don't see the appeal to people not already involved in PC gaming.
 
Guevara said:
I don't get this at all. I mean it makes sense as a baby step for Valve to move away from Windows, but the use case is so niche for consumers. Just seems really odd.
Click to expand...

Its existing niche (linux gamers with htpcs?) is niche. The potential amount of people willing to get boxes for entertainment in their living rooms is much broader.
 
I really don't get what's so confusing about any of this. It seems fairly obvious to me.

It's a Linux distribution that
1) Will run on Steambox (Or Steamboxes)
2) Can be used by manufacturers of HTPCs (which will also incidentally make their products ~80 USD cheaper than were they running Windows)
3) Can be integrated into future consumer electronics, e.g. TVs.
4) Can be installed by anyone on their PC, if they want to.

It serves to broaden the Steam userbase, and is complementary to the PC (Windows, OSX, Linux) Steam client.

As someone with a PC connected to all his display devices I'm not particularly interested, but I'm also not "confused".
 
FyreWulff said:
It's a repackaged Ubuntu Linux.

The real question is how much it's going to cost to get a Steam-approved label as a reseller. Not using Windows means they avoid paying MS a per-box fee, but will you actually be able to say your box is Steam-compatible without forking over cash to Valve?
Click to expand...

Where is it srared that it's ubuntu based?
 
I don't understand why this is so fantastic.

my PC is hooked up to my TV already. I can sit on my couch or in front of my monitor and play my games/watch movies/browse the net, do whatever I want.

Why would I ever need this? Why is this so amazing if any normal PC does everything this does?
 
DidntKnowJack said:
I'm not a PC gamer, so feel free to completely dismiss this, but this feels like a misstep to me.

But hell, they can probably afford to take a gamble every now and then without taking too big a hit. I just don't know how big a splash all this Steam Box stuff is going to have.
Click to expand...

Hardly a misstep. They're taking any and all precautions to secure their revenue stream for the foreseeable future. Already MS has made attempts to make their OS, the majority OS on PC and the largest chunk of Steam's userbase, a much more closed OS, as well an arguably worse OS in terms of interface. SteamBox may bring more benefits with a more stable HW target akin to iPhone refreshes, and distributing HW means distributing an OS along with it. And rather than leave it up to a specific Linux distro properly support that HW, they made their own.

All of it makes sense if you just look at it from Valve's perspective of "How do we make it rain money forever?"
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

  • Locked
The return of Steam Machines? Valve rolls out new “Powered by SteamOS” branding.
4
568
Orpheus replied
Valve introducing Steam branding guidelines for 3rd party hardware products with Steam features (SteamOS, SteamVR, Steam Link etc)
2 3
108
5K
Miyazaki’s Slave replied
Arch Linux announces direct collaboration with Valve
2
51
3K
TrebleShot replied
PCWorld: Microsoft should be terrified of SteamOS.
2 3 4 5
233
13K
kentkouh replied
Valve announces limited edition white Steam Deck OLED (launches Nov 18)
News  2
53
5K
XXL replied
Top Bottom