Who is the Steambox for?

[jdogtwodolla]

I could be apart of Steambox demographic. I prefer my gaming in the living room but I buy all my games on Steam. It just feels too easy to sit in front of the computer. Also, given the choice of playing games or just watching videos, I'm choosing videos.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

I have no idea who Valve is trying to sell the Steambox to. From what we know about it so far, it's really just a gaming PC in console's clothing.

That's precisely what it is, and it's aimed at whoever wishes to game in their living room, on the TV with a controller.

has access to only a fraction of all PC games, and comes with a weird controller. It has no advantage over PC gaming that I can see, and every advantage it has over consoles is something the PC can do even better.

True on the first, though I'm hoping this initiative goes some way to fixing that. If I could legitimately game on Linux, I'd ditch windows in a heartbeat. It has many advantages...price (assuming one buys around the same price of a console, since any more than that and I'd agree that they should just install Windows), interface/controller designed for playing on the Big Screen, ease of use and more.

I can't see any reason for PC or console gamers to buy it at the moment unless Valve announces something big.

Over consoles is where it shines. One can watch any media one might wish to, run software outside of MS/Sony's "walled garden" networks, game online without additional charges, play from a range of PC games, likely there will be emulators forthcoming, SteamOS can run on many different hardware configs and more. Making a "console" version of the PC is a step in the right direction I think, and should have MS/Sony at least quite worried. They've effectively built PCs, with a uniform spec and with no option to upgrade, run unapproved software, pick whatever peripherals you like, etc. Opening the "console" experience up is a very good thing. Obviously Triple-AAA isn't going to be interested unless it takes off but is missing out on the micro-transaction filled Forza 5 and Ryse bollocks such a big loss?

 

[PoolCleaningRobot]

Join the chorus of threads exactly like this one we get every time any kind of news about it appears.

snip

Wow, my thoughts whenever I browse the comments section of a Steam Machine/OS article. I honestly do not understand what's not to get. "Valves trying to rip uninformed people off". With what? They're free open source operating system? Its just a computer that runs Linux. You don't like it? Then buy Windows. Its included in the price of any prebuilt pc anyway. You think the boxes are over priced? One was $1500 and came with a $600 SSD, a $500 graphics card, and a $200 processor.

As the owner of a Windows 8 computer, holy fuck, Microsoft just wants to make only shit now. And no, I'm butt hurt about the interface, My netbook has a touch screen I never use because Windows 8's touch integration is also shit. I'm more butt hurt about the forced "Microsoft account" integration that pops up at every step and the useful tools they took out. Do you like being able to restore your Windows pc in case of some kind of problem? That got taken out in Windows 8.1. Don't worry though, just get all your content from the Windows app store and it'll be automatically restored when you do a complete factory reset. What? You have 900 gigs of games and programs you bought through other sources? Just reinstall all of it. And the hypocrisy is getting ridiculous. People want to cling to Windows because its where the games are at, oh but consoles are "holding our games hostage"

Steam Boxes interest people like me who
A) like to play on a tv with a controller at the same time without having to flop back in forth between a keyboard and mouse and adjust settings so the display is usable
B) want to hop aboard the Linux train
C) want a computer with small form factor and don't want to do a lot of upgrading later
D) don't feel like bargain hunting to put together a pc

 

[TheSteeleStrap]

It's probably for people who can't afford a gaming PC. They do get quite pricey.

i dunno, i bought and assembled mine for around... £1300 i think. not top top top end, but i've not found a game i can't run maxed out at 60fps yet. i just needed monitor and speakers after that, but as the steam box won't come with those, that's kinda irrelevant =\ the point is, some of these steam machines are $2000 and upwards, i think the top being $6000. that's an insanely high price point, and one i have difficulty seeing the market for.

that said, valve said it's lots of different machines at lots of different price points, so it has a lot more versatility and its hard to generalize and say "that group! steam machines are designed at them, that's all"

Wow I honestly didn't think they'd be that much.