It seems that in 2011-2012 Valve had some ideas about Linux gaming in living room, in 2013 they started making a fuss about it, but then something seems to have gotten their attention and they kept only little to none people/resources/effort to develop SteamOS and Steam Machines and Steam Controller.
It has been few weeks since whole project was officially released (even after some delays and Valve-time in effect), and it doesn't seem to be taking off properly.
I major bottleneck I see is OEM variety and support. Currently there is pisspoor selection with awful price/performance ratio, half of OEMs already bailed out with some excuse and there is no sign of situation getting any better.
Should community take things in it's own hands, start actively developing and evangelising Steam Machines, or let it all sink to the bottom of history, where it can take place next to 3DO machines?
>inb4 /v/
Way more technology than usual b8 h8 masturb8 threads
>inb4 404
Enjoy listening to "linux has nogaems" argument for next 10 years then.
>>51652652
>OEMs already bailed out with some excuse
Is that "some excuse" usually one of the same things that were part of the vicious cycle which http://rbt.asia/g/post/41160055 told about long ago?
Steam machines were always doomed to failure. Valve doesn't know anything about consoles and now they have their own resting in the console graveyard
>>51652652
i mean i would love to play fallput 3, undertale and other games on linux but the
>linux has nogaems
thing is kinda true
Smach z anyone
>>51653334
Would buy once it grows past vaporware
>tfw vapor == steam
>tfw Steam Machines were vaporware since beginning
>>51652652
It's a stupid idea.
PC gaming is shrinking. And fast.
If they wanted to make this shit work they should've made STEAM STORE ANDROID ™™™ or some shit. This will never take off.
>but muh VR
As it happens the best VR headsets are for consoles. And the best VR games in developement are for consoles.
Whoop de doo, ded concept.
>>51653940
>>PC gaming is shrinking. And fast.
how about you stop pulling statistics out of your ass?
There are almost 9 million people logged into Steam at this moment
Then there are news like this:
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/steam-sets-new-record-for-concurrent-users-over-13-million-steam-users-online-simultaneously/
The vast majority of people who will want to play games on a TV wont even know what a steam machine is.
They would of been better off releasing a streaming stick with a decent controller that streams from your PC to your TV. At least then it would be cheap enough for impulse buys.
Who wants a gaming PC running Linux that literally can only play games from one source?
/g/ wasn't even interested in steam machines, just games on Linux. It was absolutely, definitely, without doubt of ANY kind going to be DOA.
>>51654063
The sad thing about Steam is that there are TONS of accounts that only have Dota 2 or maybe CS and nothing else. For a lot of people Steam is for launching Dota 2.
Sure Dota 2 earns them money but it also means Steam numbers usually don't mean shit. If 9 million people are logged in half of them are playing Dota 2, the rest are online just because it auto logs in at boot or they use it for IMing their friends. The number of people who play other games is tiny. Steam numbers shouldn't be taken seriously IMO because of this. It certainly doesn't mean that these numbers should attract console focused devs.
Another thing is that Steam has THE worst ratio of played/owned games. If you compare console game achievements of game completion or even those stupid achievements that they give you for starting the fucking game, you'll see that Steam is not that great.
>>51653940
It doesn't matter if PC gaming is shrinking. SteamOS attacks every category. It's a PC and a gaming console for your TV at the same time. You can use a game pad with it. It can look pretty enough for your living room. The only thing it needs is even more games and GPU drivers from Nvidia and AMD.
>>51654349
>Another thing is that Steam has THE worst ratio of played/owned games.
That just means people are willing to spend money.
Consoles might be the same way if they kept throwing thousands of fun sounding 5 dollar games at you constantly. People like PC gaming so much they are willing to piss money away on it for no reason.
Also your argument is PC gaming is dying when Dota 2 is one of the most popular games, and the most popular game in the world, LoL, is on PC. Seems like this would be good for PC gaming.
>>51654129
>Who wants a gaming PC running Linux that literally can only play games from one source?
SteamOS can easily be converted into a full desktop OS. Since it is debian based it is also probably extremely easy to install things from GOG and install emulators.
>>51654063
9 million people, and yet there are barely 1 million actually playing a game
>>51654545
And all of those things are precisely what the people who would buy these wouldn't know how to do.
Valve literally only cares about funneling you into using their ecosystem only. And Linux only limits what you can play, there isn't one benefit to using it.
>>51654511
I didn't say PC gaming is dying.
Also people buying games that they won't play only means that valve is good at marketing. Making people buy things that they don't need
>>51654569
>And all of those things are precisely what the people who would buy these wouldn't know how to do.
So who cares that stupid people can't play other games, anyone with an average IQ can easily google how to get the thing they want to work to work if they care.
>No benefits for linux
No viruses? No license fee? No invasive microsoft shit? Debloated from everything you don't need on a couch gaming PC?
Honestly people would have more trouble navigating windows on a couch than steam big picture mode.
>>51654618
If you have an average IQ you don't need to buy some dumb prebuilt in the first place. And don't bother trying to fit in with your MUH BLOAT MUH NSA shit because I won't play along.
As a 'gaming' machine goes, there are no benefits, enter the real world and put your linux shill hat on the side for a little while.
Didn't Valvefags say we could modify and make our own Steam Controller? Show me the blueprint, fuckers. Where are CAD files?
>>51652652
I visited valve earlier this year. Seems they have invested a lot of resources into the vive, and developing games (at least demos) for the vive. Also TF2 matchmaking is being worked on.
Something else to consider. Remember 2014 when all those mini pcs came out? Gigabyte brix, zotac en760, etc... Those were supposed to be steam machines. Manufacturers were hype over it, but then valve delayed the OS and all those companies have lost profits and resources. Unless the companies release new more powerful machines, little reporting is going to go to steam OS.
>>51654647
>If you have an average IQ you don't need to buy some dumb prebuilt in the first place.
True, but if you talk to most average IQ people they will disagree.
>As a 'gaming' machine goes, there are no benefits
You just repeated your opinion without saying anything about what I said. Fuck you.
Besides, Gabes real reason for wanting Steam machines to run Windows is because Windows is fucking shit, and if more games were on linux then things would be better for everyone.
The only advantage windows has is the number of programs that supports it.
Also how come every time a new console comes out nobody says
>Hurr durr nobody will buy it because the old one has more games!
>>51654741
Stop trying to act like valve cares about you, they don't. You read into their dumb PR statements and act like a fucking drone.
It isn't an opinion, its a fucking fact, there are no benefits. Complaining about bloat and viruses makes no sense if you want to talk about a pure gaming system, because if you don't try to pirate nonsense or whatever you don't have those problems. Using those arguments are fucking opinions in themselves because that shit isn't much of an issue anymore especially outside the circlejerk of /g/.
Nobody will buy it because it is fucking useless
>>51653473
They're just waiting for kickstarter to validate the campaign, could be tomorrow
>>51654819
K, will keep my eyes on that.
>>51654799
>Stop trying to act like valve cares about you, they don't. You read into their dumb PR statements and act like a fucking drone.
Stop being a fucking accusatory nigger and realize that Steam being stuck on Windows isn't good for Valves business because Windows has reached its end, the desktop PC as we know if for consumers is dying.
Windows in the home will literally be just be for gamers if valve doesn't push linux gaming.
>>51654879
You are literally pandering to /g/. Windows isn't at its fucking end, and it literally has nothing to do with their business.
Well I take it back, the only reason it has the potential to negatively impact them is because competitors exist.
>>51654879
>Windows has reached its end
While I agree with your prediction, we both have to deal with the sad fact that this prediction is for 10+ years in the future
>>51654548
That's interesting. We all know WoW hit 13 mil, did they ever tell us how many users they logged in at once? Would be cool to compare it to that steam ratio.
>>51655027
>WoW hit 13 mil
>WoW is now dying slowly
Did Warlords of Dsomething spark some growth again?
I hope this doesn't happen to PC gaming as a whole.
In case it does, SteamOS could be Valve's way out.
Good thing that Linux (Android) won the mobile race, since mobile is becoming more and more relevant every day and is replacing PC as the "devices that majority of normies use daily for majority of tasks"
>>51655189
Warlords was supposed to be good, then they keked us with Selfie Cameras, doublekeked us when they announced 6.2 was gonna be last (and only) content patch for Warlords, and that they cut the other content they originally announced for it.
Basically it shot up, everyone realised Garrisons are just Farmville and everyone stopped again.
Arguably some of the cut content is being pushed into Legion (next exp) but still.
i really want to see some steam controller exclusives soon or i'll regret buying one. it has so much potential.
steam machines are set for failure, though.
>>51655306
I don't know, if the competition is tough and prices come down they might be cool. People can choose how much they want to pay for their console and they get a cool looking device which is probably upgradeable. If you compare it to Playstation and Xbox it's quite interesting.
>>51655393
i don't see console users switching unless there are some serious steam machine exclusives. it's the only thing that kept alive consoles, anyway.
also needs EA and Ubisoft support
>>51654731
the hardware doesn't need to be more powerful, what they need to do is make clearly defined tiers and benchmark games on those tiers.
a tier 1 steam machine will play games, but dont expect newest over 30fps if at all
a tier 2 would be it will play the newest at at 30, possibly more
tier 3 would play it 1080p 30
tier 4 would get up to 1080p 60 in some games
tier 5 would get 1080p 60 in all games
than make new tier baselines every year or so. make it stupid easy for normal people to understand what their shit is capable of.
also integrate game settings into steam, take gameworks games with their retarded tessellation, ini edits or gpu limits fix this shit, but most people wont be able to do that (remember, normal people are fucking stupid as shit)
---------------------
on a side note, i got a steam controller to replace an xbox controller, and i have to say, im loving the d pad on it, setting it to only touch and not click feels great... still haven't used the touch pads as analog sticks yet, but the gryo on racing games...
lets put it this way, sony has been sitting on quite possibly the best innovation in gaming for how long and they haven't dont dick with it why?
it makes fps and racing games SO much better than just analogue... when i found this out i just got pissed.
is sony that fucking retarded?
>>51652652
The problem is valve wanted to lure in console peeps but then have them far too many options. If you're someone who just wants to walk into a store and get an xbone or ps4, having 40 different hardware variants from different oems is far too confusing. This literally could only have worked if they picked a hardware partner with a set configuration or two tops.
I think the problem is that these aren't marketed as consoles. They are obviously meant to be consoles, and what little marketing they did do on their own site confirms that, but nobody outside of the Valve ecosystem knows about them. There's been literally zero marketing outside of Steam and OEM's shitty ads. I think this is intentional, and they're using early adopters as extended testers. There were loads of people complaining about SteamOS, and I imagine they've improved it since, but I like to think it could be a full-fledged console after a year or two.
>>51655507
>is sony that fucking retarded?
They were probably focus testing with bunch of braindead normies who were not impressed and therefore all potential was thrown into a rubbish bin.
>im loving the d pad on it
confirmed superior taste
normies don't like how Dpad work on steam controller
>remember, normal people are fucking stupid as shit
This should be written on /g/ headline
And I also agree with you that tiers would be good way to decrease consumer confusion.
>>51654955
consumer desktop is dying though, because most normal people only need a tablet anyway, if anyone was smart they would make a virtual desktop pc base station and dumb terminal tablets for home use, something that is worlds more powerful than ios or android, a longer battery as its a dumb terminal and only powers a display and transceiver, and there you go, it may not be an on the go tablet but most people dont take tablets everywhere, they dick around at home with them. want to make it go anywhere, put in some cheap as fuck android shit that can sync up with the base station at home and resume what you were doing but in a more powerful environment
pcs, once quad cores came out, largely have no need to upgrade on regular basis, especially for normal people, and barely a reason for gamers, as few games 100% a first run 3.0ghz quad core cpu for 60fps gaming. you get more overhead and stability at 60fps if you got a newer one, but even than, if you got a 2600 or 2700 or a 8150 you have next to no reason to upgrade at all... so at the very least, on paper, pc's are dieing, though i doubt they would ever die, as there is no way in fucking hell a tablet will ever become a workstation
as for linux and gaming, if steam makes a prolonged push, you could easily see the dependance on windows for gaming die, if vulkan gets used more than dx12 you could see a shift in what gamers play games on.
personally, i needs windows for software reasons outside of gaming, but i would dual boot linux just to remove the overhead for gaming
>>51655651
just want to add onto the dpad, i got it originally because i could not get my soul caliber 2 fight stick (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002BRVNKQ?tag=cheap.buy.sinus.rinse-20) to work on the pc, even tough i got a ps2 to pc interface, i didn't want to spend money on a gamecube or xbox one that probably wouldn't work either so i went with what i thought would have a good dpad that wouldn't piss me off, need to play a fighting game soon
>>51654548
PC gaming will always have a market regardless of how many people own consoles. A lot of adults simply don't want to buy consoles.
Gonna be pretty funny when Steam Machine just ends up being a product test for gen 9 consoles that are pcs running windows.
>>51655507
posts like this with the epic normie meme only shows you people have no fucking idea what you are talking about
fuck off back to /r/pcmasterrace
>>51652652
You sound as dumb as the people who made fun of the Wright brothers
They didnt spend 70% of their budget on marketing, which is why it's not taking off. Most people never even heard of it, let alone the kids who would ask it for christmas.
I do want a steam controller though.
>>51656886
>Valve trying to force people to use Steam and only Steam is the same as the Wright Brothers.
>>51656742
shit isnt a meme, normal people do not give one fuck about what is in the computer, cant tell you what parts they have, and even take their shit to shops that charge out the ass for simple shit just because they know not one fucking thing about computers.
when your computer breaks what do you do? if you answer anything besides "lol idk, take it to a shop" or "time to get a new one i guess" you are not normal.
>>51656886
>>51657107
i think they mean go to a gaming only os, and buy a tv based pc gaming machine... by all rights this should fail hard, as linux has very few games, and very few AAA games...
if valve is willing to take a loss pushing this for a few years, they could change that, but the question is right now, will they do what needs to be done to push gaming off windows?
will they un fuck the linux drivers for both amd and nvidia (remember they both suck dick, nvidias just sucks a bit less)
i wouldn't bet on it.
its more likely that steam machines become just a class of computer with windows on them in a few years, possibly the ability to dual boot linux out of the box, but i sincerely doubt that as it stands now they will take off.
>>51653293
It isn't a console
make steam machine
include free games
i3/750ti
$200
wins console war in a month.
>>51657089
im >>51655507 and >>51655728
as of right now, i can't recommend a steam controller if you have anything else. though i'm having a good experience with it, this shit doesn't work miracles, and the fact you are required to use big picture mode is almost a deal breaker in and of itself.
the software for the controller is horrible, but the hardware is amazing... give 3-6 months and if they take it from bpm only to normal steam, it may be good, but right now, i would say xbox controller with xpadder gives you far more control and options.
with that said though, i could honestly see this being a workable controller for an mmo considering you can have upwards 100~ buttons mapped to the controller itself, all fairly easy to hit... though the touch menu on the right pad may be harder to use considering there's no texture to give you an idea where your finger is exactly.
tldr
unless you need a controller, hold off for now.
>>51657259
Go bankrupt in a month more like
>>51657259
He's right you know
>>51657314
No, hes not you dumb shit. Enter the real world.
At least they made a decent somewhat innovative controller, that many people say is decent. It gives PC users another option instead of just going for ds3/4 or 360/xbone
>>51657259
you still need windows on it though, just for compatibility reasons.
if you did make it in volume, you could get an overall discount on parts, drive the price of decent hardware down, and put out a machine AT COST and probably get close to the consoles price while being more powerful.
get devs to dev for that system, apposed to consoles, and you would get better game performance... but you would be taking a fairly big risk... something valve won't do.
>>51657329
you likely would win it though, especially if you certify games to "guaranteed to work on X system"
you also have steam sales, a parent looking at the consoles may pick a steam machine just based on the plethora of cheaper games, or just by virtue of being valve, you put your name out there for this consoles cycle, like xbox did, and next consoles cycle is when you go big.
>>51657351
obviously you just create an umbrella corp, take out large loans find investors, the umbrella corp gets "licensed" from valve to make steam machines, if console goes belly up declare bankruptcy and try again.
Valve isn't even affected by it.
you don't need devs to do any developing since it supports windows, just need to make an easy to use interface for steam that auto-detects the hardware and optimizes the graphics settings for the steam machine.
>>51657406
no, the best way is to make steam os, it takes out almost all of the overhead a normal os would have, takes out the bullshit people install on computers that slow them down and makes it dedicated to gaming, hardware wise this would make the system last the longest, but you need devs to get behind it.
vulkan has the best shot of making steam os a hit, and considering i dont want windows 10 for many reasons, its the best option for me as well.
