The Prices Valve put out were $500-$1500 low to high end they expect but they aren't building the machines they are licensing out the option to third parties who can then brand their custom PC with the steam logo and name.
The companies can't Subsidise hardware costs like Microsoft and Sony with software sales (unless valve starts doing that but they haven't said they will) so you are getting a custom built gaming PC at the same price it would cost to get one from any company just with slightly more standardised hardware….
That works if you don't intend on any serious upgrading and don't mind paying more for the build and case design.
Otherwise you could easily get exactly the same spec PC for less money by doing it yourself and just buying the controller then downloading the free steamOS.
I think theres a lot of misinformation floating about at the moment about the Steamboxes.
Mostly they fought over how much land they had or what religion they were part of or who had the bigger club…
Actually come to think of it we still do all those. Its unfortunate human nature that we are perfectly capable of sorting out but continue to act like a holes to each other instead because thats easier.
The ONLY reason to own one of the consoles and not both is not being able to justify the cost of spending that much money on entertainment.
It is however an extremely valid reason. Unfortunately a small percentage of those people tend to sit on the forums trolling the other choices as they feel insecure about their decisions. Certainly not representative of the larger population by any means but vocal minorities like that have one key distinguishing feature… they are annoyingly Vocal and don't listen to anyone but themselves.
Ouch dude you are going to need a new TV before getting the PS4 it only has HDMI out.. same with the XB1.
Theres really not much point using an old 4:3 CRT on those consoles they will look like garbage… I would have said the same thing about the last generation tbh.
I got the PS4 first… which I'm absolutely loving btw :). I'm planning to pick up the Xbox next year… Although the WiiU is tempting me…
I have a Mac Mini plugged into my TV that I use for all my media stuff and I don't watch cable tv or have any interest in sports so its a case of waiting for the Exclusives that will tempt me… In my living room its a race between Nintendo and Microsoft to see who gets me most excited about their games. Titanfall looks awesome… but I can't get experiences anything quite like Nintendo first party games anywhere but a Nintendo console.
Its all pretty arbitrary as I will get them all eventually but the PS4 looks the clear winner on the multi platform front for me with the graphics being a bit nicer and omg I LOVE that controller, which I was actually concerned about I hated the PS3 controller to the point it ruined the console for me. The PS4 has been a joy to use.
Actually Killzone really surprised me. Its absolutely stunning visually and apart from some later sections of the game falling into the usual shooter trap of becoming a little tedious in parts its a delight to play from beginning to end. The story is pretty popcorn scifi but with some nice interesting Ideas and some slightly silly moments. Personally I really liked it.
The multiplayer is great and really feature filled.. Genuinely surprised when I rented it, I was expecting a Perfect Dark Zero style launch game… pretty graphics not much else etc etc… I got a pretty long mostly really good campaign with some spectacular stand out moments and stacks of Multiplayer content. Ended up buying it after a couple of hours.
I really don't get why it scored so low on some sites… IGN's review is more in line with the experience I had personally.
Yeah there are a few comments on this section that seem to be contradicting themselves a bit or just applying a logic I'm really not getting.
" Ive read they maybe fully upgradeable with off the shelf parts"
So a PC then? Which is exactly what the Steambox is. Why not just get a gaming PC? More power and flexibility for less money. You could build one yourself right now and buy the controller then dual Boot Steam OS and Windows giving you everything the steam box does and more for less of a financial investment.
"depends on whos rolling out the best exclusives"
Since Valve have already promised the Steambox won't be getting any exclusives… Um.. whats peaking your interest?
I'm genuinely interested, people seem to be saying they want either a gaming PC or a console then looking at the Steambox which is neither, is it just the allure of the branding?
Edit: actually scratch that I'm wrong… a steam box IS a gaming PC just costing a little more with a Steam logo. Valve aren't even manufacturing the hardware so its just a Steam branded gaming PC. The main benefit is for people interested in PC gaming who don't want to worry about upgrading. Essentially approaching the PC games space from a more Apple disposable product angle a little.
I wouldn't discount Nintendo like that… however all signs do point to the WiiU being another Gamecube for nintendo. Don't get me wrong I actually loved my Gamecube but it only sold 20 million units.
Its hardly going to make nintendo irrelevant. They just aren't doing the same things the other two big platform holders are.. which is fine. Somebody has to push out in different directions and test the waters… last time Nintendo hit gold this time they didn't. They still have the very successful 3DS to support the company as they decide where to go from here.
Just point at the attach rates if you want something to illustrate the problem with the Wii… for the main audience it was a novelty toy that ran Wii sports.
Realistically nobody won last generation by any margins worth talking about. As consumers that leaves us with a more competitive market… So I guess we won in the end.
Manatassix's comments