Valve: Steam Machines Will Be "Front And Center" At GDC

"Living room PC"? so basically, they are trying to pander to their steam fanbase by trying to avoid calling it a console.

What happened to wanting to bridge the gap between console and PC? To bring the communities together?

Uh-huh.

Hmm, not very encouraging for those of us who have tried to remain hopeful to the concept. Especially considering that there has been a lot in the news of late about the controller having been finalized.

So wait... I'm getting ready to purchase the Alienware Alpha because I need a new computer, but don't have the room for an entire desktop setup. Should I go ahead and invest in the i7 Alpha now or should I wait and see what Valve has to show us at GDC?

Just trying to get this straight in my head.

Gabe saw Windows 8 and how it was closed as a platform. This he saw as bad for gaming and so essentially wanted to move things over to Linux. Steam OS was conceived to essentially be a gaming orientated implementation of Linux. Knowing that existing PC gamers are already heavily dependant on Windows for compatibility with their existing library he knew that he'd have to appeal to potential console owners instead, hence Steam Machines were conceived (console footprint geared toward living room use).

However not wanting to sacrifice the open standard ideal or the upgradability of PCs, no particular standard was set, meaning that because parts to make Steam Machines cannot be bulk ordered to reduce costs and the price of the machines are not subsidised as consoles are (the initial cost to be made up in game sales later) essentially what were released were PCs with the name Steam Machine at a PC price point.

So here we are. Existing PC users don't see the point and aren't willing to switch to Steam OS because of their reliance on Windows, and potential console owners just want something a bit simpler and cheaper so will go with a console instead.

Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

I think I'll pass on paying for DRM lock-in.

Reminds me that I never got around to trying SteamOS, or even following up on it after the initial release.

Unless Valve is willing to bribe developers into making PC/Linux ports of games that would otherwise never be on PC, i will forever remain skeptical about the Steam Machine.

Aslo if this stream console don't sell lots copys it could finsh company

Well not looking good because I think could reasle half life 3 on stream box only . To make people buy stream box

Honestly, who does this product target? From what I can tell it has all the hangups of both consoles and PC's with little benefits from either. Consoles are nice in that they are a "one size fits all" thing, no need to worry about updating parts, and they are cheap. PC is nice because of the customization available. This though, sounds like it is more expensive than a console, with less room for customizing it. It just sounds like all the bad parts of both rolled into one, an expensive, complicated, underpowered machine...

Want to play my PC in the living room on a TV? Got that already... Seriously, who does this target?

"I think that's kind of pretty much dead," Pretty much sums up this potato.

A jerk move by Valve would be to release Half-Life 3, but make it a timed exclusive on the Steam Machines. No Steam, no consoles. JUST the Steam Machines.

Stop thinking about Steam Machines as the "Big Thing" when it comes to this idea. SteamOS is probably even more important than Steam Machines to Valve, having an OS similar to Android that universally is used on gaming machines, whether they be PCs you have or console like machines (Steam Machines) is what they are going for. It makes sense too, you have a game machine, you put SteamOS on it, it gives it the best possible performance out of the hardware, it gives you access to all your library and saves all synced as well as other Steam features, it's completely free and uses Linux a very stable OS with little to no viruses and tons of security.

There are over 800 games on SteamOS already, with plenty more coming, games like Witcher 3, Dying Light (engine already ported to Linux), Evolve, Alien: Isolation, Wolfenstein: New Order, Shadow Of Mordor etc. all have real chances of making it to SteamOS. The games will come, I have a feeling most developers are waiting for SteamOS to officially launch before releasing their game ports. I have a feeling that may have been why Valve delayed the SteamOS launch as well in order to wait for developers to finish their ports. Valve is a huge company and while many people think they're sitting on their money doing nothing, they actually are doing a ton behind the scenes. Most people in the Linux world know how much driver support has been pushed for graphics cards on Linux, NVIDIA releases drivers same day as Windows now for Linux with performance on par with the Windows version sometimes exceeding when it comes to OpenGL tests.

If you have a Windows machine, think about this, instead of having to boot to Windows imagine having a much faster boot time, no loading on startup, just straight to SteamOS. No viruses, no slowdowns and the max performance you can get out of your games and hardware, completely free. Works with all controllers, keyboards, mouses, etc. For many people building gaming PCs this suddenly becomes a viable option, in two or three years we may see people spending the hundred dollars they would've spent on Windows onto a better graphics card for instance. The best part is it will run on top of Linux meaning it will get all the comptaible Linux software, things that everyone know how to use. Chrome, Firefox, VLC, Skype, Thunderbird, Pidgin, GIMP etc. With things like LibreOffice for other productivity uses. Give it to time, they are pretty much challenging Windows and DirectX with this OS, it won't happen overnight especially when Windows holds 90+% of the desktop market.

3DO Round Two!!! Where's Trip Hawkins...

Why? I was seriously hyped for the "SteamBox" when it was first announced. However, as soon as a locked-down speccing system disappeared, and as delays continued, Valve's vision has become a bit pointless. This will be especially true if Microsoft announces full Windows 10 on all devices, thus allowing PC game makers to make a version that is set to the X1's specs in what, I assume, will be a large expansion to the Xbox on PC store.

I'm imagining all apps, games, programs, etc. working across all devices. Cross-buy enabled when purchased through the Xbox store, etc. It could be truly fantastic! :D

They'll hint at some huge game announcement and everyone will get hyped for Half-Life 3

Then it will turn out to be Hat Simulator 2017

Then Valve will immediately delay it out of existence