Lets see how it holds up to a few play throughs. It looks like crap though, but hey now they've got the perfect context sensitive controller for all those context sensitive games. barf.
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Lets see how it holds up to a few play throughs. It looks like crap though, but hey now they've got the perfect context sensitive controller for all those context sensitive games. barf.
I'm not sure if that thing looks more or less questionable than the previous patent drawings floating around with the 8 face buttons, analog stick, and trac ball.Quote:
Originally Posted by TrekkiesUnite118
http://www.cnet.com.au/valve-to-rele...-339332999.htm
http://www.pcauthority.com.au/News/2...ar-online.aspx
Then again, if those are nice, high quality, ergonomically sound capacitive touch pads on the new design, that might be really interesting. I'm not sure how the "lack of feel" thing might fare, or whether they'd be using them as pointers or trac pads (ie in analog stick or typical wii pointer style with centering and "joystick" style directional movement vs mouse style postion based movement -though, really, you could use either . . . the latter is just terrible for flight sim type stuff though -Wing COmmander is one of the few games to work around that by using a centered pointer based mouse flight system -X-Wing did it horribly).
OTOH, I'm not sure if the button layout is better or not . . . it might be more convenient for certain actions, more like additional mouse function buttons, but there's still some merit to the convetional console placement in banks away from directional pads/sticks. (that very separation is both a plus and minus for different situations) Also the issue of cutting 8 face buttons down to 4. (though I'm not sure what the triggers are like . . . they could easily have up to 8 triggers/houlder/underside buttons mounted farily usably)
I find it interesting that my speculative talk about what Sega could do if they ever were crazy enough to do hardware in the Orbi threads is exactly what Valve is doing. A new open controller API standard with a touch screen.
Hopefully this takes off. SteamOS being able to sling your content around locally is going to be a big deal. Sony's halfway there already with the VitaTV in Japan, though. You can remote play some of your PS4 games to VitaTV+PS3 gamepad on a second screen.
2014 is going to be crazy and expensive.
Steambox prototype specs revealed
The 300 prototype units will ship with the following components:Quote:
So for our own first prototype Steam Machine ( the one we're shipping to 300 Steam users ), we've chosen to build something special. The prototype machine is a high-end, high-performance box, built out of off-the-shelf PC parts. It is also fully upgradable, allowing any user to swap out the GPU, hard drive, CPU, even the motherboard if you really want to. Apart from the custom enclosure, anyone can go and build exactly the same machine by shopping for components and assembling it themselves. And we expect that at least a few people will do just that. (We'll also share the source CAD files for our enclosure, in case people want to replicate it as well.)
And to be clear, this design is not meant to serve the needs of all of the tens of millions of Steam users. It may, however, be the kind of machine that a significant percentage of Steam users would actually want to purchase - those who want plenty of performance in a high-end living room package. Many others would opt for machines that have been more carefully designed to cost less, or to be tiny, or super quiet, and there will be Steam Machines that fit those descriptions.
GPU: some units with NVidia Titan, some GTX780, some GTX760, and some GTX660
CPU: some boxes with Intel i7-4770, some i5-4570, and some i3
RAM: 16GB DDR3-1600 (CPU), 3GB GDDR5 (GPU)
Storage: 1TB/8GB Hybrid SSHD
Power Supply: Internal 450w 80Plus Gold
Dimensions: approx. 12 x 12.4 x 2.9 in high
http://www.gamespot.com//news/valve-...otype-6415349?
valve already digging it's own grave. yeah make everything interchangeable so it gets to be an even more confusing mess for consumers and developpers. what;'s the point. just get a pc, or better if you like gaming, a console.
The point
Quote:
Valve makes money by selling people games on Steam.
Steam is getting more and more popular, but PCs are getting squeezed more and more by other markets and by strategic incoherence on the part of Windows.
Valve's goal is to make sure Steam is able to keep getting more popular even as PCs (in a vacuum) decline.
One way to do this is to make Steam compatible with other computer OSes that already exist; that's why Valve created Steamplay and released Mac/Linux clients.
Another way to do this is to create their own gaming-oriented OS and encourage more and more ports to it; that's why Valve created SteamOS and is pushing for Linux ports from major developers.
Another way to do this is to make it easier to play games on the couch/TV so people don't feel compelled to sit at their desk when they play PC games; that's why Valve created the Steam Controller and Big Picture mode.
Yet another way to do this is to make it easier to buy PC gaming hardware at a reasonable price without having to know much about computers; that's why Valve created Steam Machines and is working with manufacturers to make them efficient and effective.
The common denominator of all these efforts is that they answer the questions of people who don't already use Steam. If someone says "well I'd get into PC gaming but it's too expensive/obnoxious to build a box," you tell them to buy a Steam Machine. If someone says "lol comfy couch," you hand them a Steam Controller. If someone wants to play indie games on a miniature HTPC streaming box, you point them to SteamOS. And so on.
PC's are in decline? I don't buy it. I think a lot of people who game on consoles and phones and such were never into PC stuff at all.
Most proprietary manufacturers don't make desktops at all anymore, and some like Dell claimed they were tapering down on Laptops as well in favor of Tablets.
that's whyQuote:
Originally Posted by old man
Depends on what you define as a PC. As a mass market item? Yes, PC's are declining that is fact.Quote:
Originally Posted by old man
For purposes of Gaming? Then no, in fact, recent trends show that this is growing rather than shrinking. Games sales are up, Nvidia, AMD(at least their GPU segment), their OEM partners, and the Boutique PC builders are all reporting healthy profits that are growing so.
PC's are in decline.
Gaming PC's and or the demand for them is not.
I still don't get it. How is this not just a PC? It seems like Valve just wants to push their own OS on people. How are things going to be helped by fracturing the market between Windows and SteamOS? You can't just say "living room, living room, living room". There's nothing stopping people from putting a PC in their living room.
I have tried to sell all of my clients on using their laptops or PCs on their televisions for years now and not one will even let me show them what that would allow them to do. I have offered to set it up for them or show them how it works at my house and they always give me the deer in the headlights look and never bring it up again. If it isn't a stupid box from the cable/satellite company it's too darned complicated.Quote:
Originally Posted by j_factor
Ok, but if people are already averse to hooking up a PC to their TV, are they really going to change their minds because it says Steam on it?Quote:
Originally Posted by sheath
How could I forget we live in a world of finger print encrusted high definition displays and lossy compressed high fidelity surround sound audio.Quote:
Originally Posted by sheath
Not if it looks like a desktop or mini-tower, I'd say no. If it looks like a set-top box maybe but it will require a ton of marketing. So no, I don't think Steamboxes are going to make it into very many households.Quote:
Originally Posted by j_factor