SteamBoy Aims To Be The Handheld Steam Machine - Update
- Thread starter Fanghawk
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A handheld device capable of playing AAA games?
Forgive me if I call absolute bulldust on this...
Forgive me if I call absolute bulldust on this...
If they can make this work it will out right flatten the vita outside of console exclusive titles. Anyone who has been keeping up with humble bundles will have an entire backlog of platformers and other console-like titles that they can hop into and run on the go: Limbo, Mark of the Ninja, Bastion, Spelunky, Guacamelee, etc. Heck, we'd even have skull-girls on the thing.
This isn't designed to play AAA titles like Dragon Age Origins: it's designed to play all those smaller titles we've been stockpiling for the last few years.
This isn't designed to play AAA titles like Dragon Age Origins: it's designed to play all those smaller titles we've been stockpiling for the last few years.
I don't really care about AAA games at all. But if this device would let me play stuff like Binding of Isaac and Merc Kings and all my favourite indie games, then I'm sold. I mean, it would be priced in a way I can afford, but other then that, I'd be totally on board with this.
A: The Vita really doesn't have much besides its exclusives and ports of other Playstation games, so it's not really eating that much into that marketColt47 said:
B: I would play the shit out of DA:O on this thing if it is real. And the Souls games. And Civilization. Hell, it'd be fun to play TF2 if that worked also. And a touch screen interface could work well with some RTSs if they worked with it. And I could play the first two Mass Effects. And TES games would be kind of fun too...*stares off happily*
The more I think about it, the more yes. So please Steamboy team, make it so.
I'm digging every detail, but the 32gb storage capacity, that's barely enough for 3 large games.
well that's only on board, you can always buy more storage for like 10 bucks a gig. Wait, that might just be with the Vita.Evil Smurf said:
I had a similar concern. Of which lead me to a line of questions:Evil Smurf said:
How does this thing handle going online? Is it wireless/wifi capable? If so at what speeds? Does it allow for account log-ins while on the go or does it default to offline mode? Can I play match-making games online with it? Does it allow for auto-updating? Does the SteamOS and bios auto-update? Does it take into account storage capacity when auto-updating?
And, more crucially, does it allow for game streaming? As in, something akin to what the nVidia Shield does.
If that be the case, and the thing can run most of my Steam library on it's own (save for the more resource hungry titles)....
I am sold. I'll pay new console price for one.
-edit-
Checking the article update I now see that it's proposed to support wifi and 3G networks. So there's that question answered. (maybe)
If that were the case, I would be expecting the latter versions to be called Super Steam Boy, Steam Boy SP, and Steam Boy Micro respectfully...Aerosteam said:
OT: I can't stop picturing myself playing Skullgirls Encore on that thing...
Except that this is supposed to run on SteamOS, that is, on Linux which means that over 95% of all Steam games won't be working ont. So the "huge library of games" goes away right from the start.Adam Jensen said:
Also the 3DS had a huge library right from the start. Remember it is backwards compatible with the DS which is considered to be THE handheld of all time. Yet it sold like shit until Nintendo didn't cut the price by 1/3 and tons of new games were released.
Oh oh, yeah. Lets not forget against what this would really compete. It's not the Vita or 3DS because those have a different market. It's the PC because it shares the same library. Why would I get a SteamBoy when I can play all those games on my PC with better controls, graphics and pretty much better everything else?
Why is the 3DS "winning" against the Vita? Because of the exclusives that the 3DS has and the consumer want? What are all the exclusives the SteamBoy would have? Half Life 2?
So no, I don't see this killing anything. It would more likely commit sudoku to put itself out of misery. You sound like those people who said that the SteamBox would like the consoles and PC.
It sound a lot like something I would... Yeah no, I wouldn't get it, it's a "controller" so no, yet the HDD space seems functional, since I wouldn't see people getting a heavy game on it, since you're going mostly for the "on the go" part of gaming. I could see someone playing something like Trine while on the train or something.
But how much time would one get out of the battery?
But how much time would one get out of the battery?
Um...actually, it's only about 80% of all Steam games that don't (yet) have dedicated Linux builds. And of that 80% quite a few are either community supported on Linux or have Linux builds in development.BiH-Kira said:
So, that leaves hundreds to thousands of games to pick from for Linux. Or rather, for the "SteamBoy".
BiH-Kira said:
And Rust, Garry's Mod, Counter-Strike, The Witcher, Starbound, Kerbal Space Program, Papers Please, Project Zomboid, Defcon, Natural Selection, Red Orchestra, Surgeon Simulator, Shadowrun Returns, X, Uplink...BiH-Kira said:
I can find more if you'd like, but listing them off the top of my head seemed sufficient.
And don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying these are the "killer apps" that will make this thing (if real) a wild success. I'm just saying that a hand-held gaming device with the back catalog of games from the PC platform(s) has a lot of "exclusives" the consoles and other handhelds don't have.
BiH-Kira said:
[sub]I knew what you meant, but I couldn't resist. ;D )[/sub]
How many of those are modern games, how many are games actually worth playing and not some mediocre indie game doing everything they can to get at least some cash?Vigormortis said:
How long do you actually ride a bus? Most PC and console games aren't designed around the idea that you can play them for a short while and do something worthwhile. In most of those games you need at least 30 minutes, usually even 1 hour to do any real progress.Vigormortis said:
Unless you go on a trip, I'm pretty sure you won't use your steamboy much since as I said, when you're home most of those games are better played on the PC and/or console.
Except that they aren't exclusives if you can play them on a different platform. Also is anyone seriously playing Starbound anymore? After the disastrous early alpha that they lied to be a better, I'm pretty sure everyone stopped giving a fuck about it and are waiting for Terraria 2 to come out. Also it plays with KB&M infinitely better than with 2 analog sticks.Vigormortis said:
Vigormortis said:
It's a joke.
Steambox? lololollolol no thx
...handheld, mobile, steam library..................????
OHHHHHHHHH MY GOD YES!
Sorry, very excited for this. Hopefully its not heavy. Has good battery life. Doesn't overheat easily.... *drools*
...handheld, mobile, steam library..................????
OHHHHHHHHH MY GOD YES!
Sorry, very excited for this. Hopefully its not heavy. Has good battery life. Doesn't overheat easily.... *drools*
Meh, while it would be nice to have I'm still not sold on the replacement of analog sticks. And before people go off on how KB&M is better, I use KB&M just as much as analog sticks, depending on the game.
I wouldn't toss it out though if I happened to get one somehow but I am not going to go out of my way to get one.
I wouldn't toss it out though if I happened to get one somehow but I am not going to go out of my way to get one.
You're asking an entirely subjective question. For a lot of people something like Goat Simulator is immense fun while something like Mass Effect is awful and dull.BiH-Kira said:
Regardless, the vast majority of the games in question are modern games.
This is incredibly presumptuous, as well as demonstrably wrong. There are loads of PC games that are made to be played in short spurts, and others that can be played for short stints and then saved at different points.Vigormortis said:
Any less than one might use their DS or Vita?
You're trying awfully damn hard to set a double standard here. You're criticizing the concept of a Steam handheld doing things the other handheld gaming devices were designed to do as well.
And besides, I would much rather pack my "SteamBoy" into my suitcase for my gaming desires on a long trip than I would a laptop.
I'm sorry...which of the games that I listed are available on anything that isn't PC? (save for maybe Counter-Strike)
And since this thing is meant to be a device that allows you to play your Steam PC library on the go, I honestly fail to see how anything I listed can't be considered "exclusive".
Firstly, whether people are playing it or not is inconsequential to the fact that it is an exclusive; which was the point of contention in my original post.
Secondly, this device doesn't have two analog sticks.
Perhaps you should actually read the article and the press release before you go making wild, unfounded, unsupported assertions.
I know, and I compounded it with the linked pic.