Valve with Steam Box News?

[bombatomba]

... 
Personally I don't even know how to react to it.  My initial reaction is to recoil a bit.  I am not a fan of touch-style controls at all, mostly because you just don't get that tactile feedback, so things tend to get a bit sloppy. You loose a ton of precision.  Also the modern trend is for the price of controllers is to increase upon each generation, and this looks far more advanced than what we are seeing on the 360 and the PS3.  $60USD +?  Who knows.

That being said, I am curious to see more.  How do the "trackpads" work?  How do they feel on the hands, and is the controller large or small?  Regardless, since Steam OS seems to be so open and friendly, I don't see why it wouldn't include a base group of drivers to handle generic USB controllers.

Like the rest of their announcements, there is far too little information given to do anything with except speculate.  I look forward to learning more in the near future.

[wildbil52]

I am pretty much in the same boat.  I imagine that I would stick with my 360 or One controller for most games and maybe give the Steam controller a try on something like an RTS or Turn Based Strategy game like Civ V that typically requires a mouse to play.

[Fleach]

My knee jerk reaction was "Huh?! " and "It looks like an owl!"

I guess gaming on the Steam Box will be a hoot.

My Zagnorch-ified avatar actually looks a lot like me initial reaction.

[Link41]

Interesting controller.

[bombatomba]

http://www.gamersonlinux....has-hell-frozen-over.326/

Article Title:  "Nvidia to publish Open GPU documentation. Has hell frozen over?"

This technically isn't Steam Box news, but considering that one of the main points of SteamOS' architecture has to be interaction with the GPU, I though it appropriate.

For some reason, Nvidia has decided to allow for open-source drivers for their GPUs, which opens a ton of previously closed doors with Linux and Nvidia graphical solutions.  To most of the Linux community this means the basic "Nouveau" driver will be able to be a viable alternative to the proprietary ones.

Finally, this brings us around to Steam.  With an open source alternative to (likely) having to pay to get access to the source from Nvidia, Valve won't have to pass the buck onto SteamOS and Steam users, which means SteamOS and Steam Box users will have immediate access to the full capability of their GPU.

One more point: What about AMD?  While I imagine there will be AMD/ATI alternatives for SteamOS, the fact that custom Nvidia drivers will be readily available suggests that they will be the GPU of choice for Steam Box hardware (much like the next generation of consoles).  I thought I heard that AMD were getting out of the consumer GPU arena, I cannot find any proof.  It does make one wonder, however.

[Cryptid Collector]

The issue I'm seeing with the whole thing is, what would be the benefit over just building a gaming PC and installing Steam? As it is now it's a PC with a specialized OS(even more so when there's to be multiple versions, getting rid of the major "if it's for it, it works" benefit of consoles.

I am kind of excited companies are taking more risks now though, it was kinda boring only having the major three consoles on the market.   

[The Metamorphosing Leon]

The issue I'm seeing with the whole thing is, what would be the benefit over just building a gaming PC and installing Steam? As it is now it's a PC with a specialized OS(even more so when there's to be multiple versions, getting rid of the major "if it's for it, it works" benefit of consoles.

I am kind of excited companies are taking more risks now though, it was kinda boring only having the major three consoles on the market.   

It provides the utility of a living room entertainment system with the power and custom-ability of a pc. The all-in-all streaming entertain-o-box is where the industry is going to end up and that's what this is. It's pretty perfect if they pull it off right.

[Leynos]

The issue I'm seeing with the whole thing is, what would be the benefit over just building a gaming PC and installing Steam? As it is now it's a PC with a specialized OS(even more so when there's to be multiple versions, getting rid of the major "if it's for it, it works" benefit of consoles.

I am kind of excited companies are taking more risks now though, it was kinda boring only having the major three consoles on the market.   

It provides the utility of a living room entertainment system with the power and custom-ability of a pc. The all-in-all streaming entertain-o-box is where the industry is going to end up and that's what this is. It's pretty perfect if they pull it off right.

But people who want to upgrade and all that are PC gamers. For everyone else there is consoles. Most people don't care about upgrading anything to play a game. Just that the on button works

[The Metamorphosing Leon]

The issue I'm seeing with the whole thing is, what would be the benefit over just building a gaming PC and installing Steam? As it is now it's a PC with a specialized OS(even more so when there's to be multiple versions, getting rid of the major "if it's for it, it works" benefit of consoles.

I am kind of excited companies are taking more risks now though, it was kinda boring only having the major three consoles on the market.   

It provides the utility of a living room entertainment system with the power and custom-ability of a pc. The all-in-all streaming entertain-o-box is where the industry is going to end up and that's what this is. It's pretty perfect if they pull it off right.

But people who want to upgrade and all that are PC gamers. For everyone else there is consoles. Most people don't care about upgrading anything to play a game. Just that the on button works

This IS steam delivering a ready to go console to your door. There's no reason it shouldn't appeal to console gamers if marketed correctly. Upgrading it is an option, it doesn't mean everyone will need to do it. If they outfit them right they shouldn't need upgrading for 4-5 years anyhow.

[bombatomba]

But people who want to upgrade and all that are PC gamers. For everyone else there is consoles. Most people don't care about upgrading anything to play a game. Just that the on button works

Taking into account what we know, the new consoles are PCs, they are just not upgradable.  Now let us consider for a moment that Valve and its hardware partners will be marketing the Steam Box as a console (something that, for this moment, is speculation).  You spend some money on it, set it up, and turn it on.  You sign up for a Steam account and start downloading games.  Then you play them.  Acknowledging the difference in media, how is this different than a modern console?  Just because you can upgrade does it man you have to?  We know that the PS3's hard drive can be upgraded, but how many have actually done so?

While I agree with that Leon is saying, I really think that initially this will be marketed toward PC gamers looking for an upgrade, which will likely coincide with the release of the next-gen GeForce videocards next year.  But it will only be a matter of time before Valve makes their move into console territory.  The Big Three would do well to check their ground over the next five years.

[Cryptid Collector]

The issue I'm seeing with the whole thing is, what would be the benefit over just building a gaming PC and installing Steam? As it is now it's a PC with a specialized OS(even more so when there's to be multiple versions, getting rid of the major "if it's for it, it works" benefit of consoles.

I am kind of excited companies are taking more risks now though, it was kinda boring only having the major three consoles on the market.   

It provides the utility of a living room entertainment system with the power and custom-ability of a pc. The all-in-all streaming entertain-o-box is where the industry is going to end up and that's what this is. It's pretty perfect if they pull it off right.

But people who want to upgrade and all that are PC gamers. For everyone else there is consoles. Most people don't care about upgrading anything to play a game. Just that the on button works

That's what I've been saying, you remove the one major advantage of consoles(if it's for it, it works) and you come to a point where you might as well get a gaming PC.

[The Metamorphosing Leon]

How is the inability to upgrade a console an advantage? If I had the option between buying a non-upgrade-able XBone with overpriced games and a paying online service versus an upgradeable Steambox with steamstore prices I'll take the Steambox. If Steam can market their product as such and get the hype ball rolling there's no reason in the world people should shy from it just because it offers the option to upgrade.

I would say if they're priced reasonably and offer impressive enough specs they'll garner business from the PC gaming crowd, I'm certainly interested, but as I've said, their real aim should be at ripping out the soft underbellies of the big three from the Cawadoody crowds.

[Cryptid Collector]

How is the inability to upgrade a console an advantage? If I had the option between buying a non-upgrade-able XBone with overpriced games and a paying online service versus an upgradeable Steambox with steamstore prices I'll take the Steambox. If Steam can market their product as such and get the hype ball rolling there's no reason in the world people should shy from it just because it offers the option to upgrade.

I would say if they're priced reasonably and offer impressive enough specs they'll garner business from the PC gaming crowd, I'm certainly interested, but as I've said, their real aim should be at ripping out the soft underbellies of the big three from the Cawadoody crowds.

I didn't say it was, I said the fact games are optimized for them so you don't have to is. I know that when I buy a Xbox360 game, it's going to work in any Xbox360 I put it in.

[Leynos]

Also a very very large portion of console gamers are not tech savvy. Plus another large amount of console gamers are just a family who owns one because the kids.

[Cryptid Collector]

Also a very very large portion of console gamers are not tech savvy. Plus another large amount of console gamers are just a family who owns one because the kids.

Then way not just buy a conventional console?