Valve's Steam Box

[Eraser]

an expensive beast....

[Don Carlos]

Yeah that's what I thought

[Ryoki]

Wait what? I don't get it... they're going to be selling this little beasty for over $1000 or so is what i make of it? I mean, that's some pretty serious hardware...

What is the target audience then? Not the average PC gamer surely... and also not the average console gamer. What's the deal here? Is this some sort of large scale experiment to see if there's a market for this sort of hybrid device?

Disclaimer; i've not been keeping up with this steambox thing at all

[Deathshroud]

It's a beast!

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/12/19/steam ... -16gb-ram/

Wow, a 780. Didn't see that coming, but I guess if you're going to test a new software stack you probably don't want to be limited by hardware.

[scared?]

Wait what? I don't get it... they're going to be selling this little beasty for over $1000 or so is what i make of it? I mean, that's some pretty serious hardware...

What is the target audience then? Not the average PC gamer surely... and also not the average console gamer. What's the deal here? Is this some sort of large scale experiment to see if there's a market for this sort of hybrid device?

Disclaimer; i've not been keeping up with this steambox thing at all

Google it dipshit...

[obsidian]

Valve hasn't specifically said how they plan on "selling" these machines, whether they will do it completely in-house or whether they will be outsourcing or letting complete third-party PC companies (like IBuyPower, Alienware, etc.) put them together. Regardless, the general idea is that these are just PC's (Valve's prototype machines are wrapped up in a relatively small form factor) that anyone can put together and install the free OS on. The only specialized component is the controller, which is somewhat optional since you can still plug in an Xbox controller.

Valve has been putting together these machines in different configurations to test with, I suppose most people are getting pretty high end setups to test, but these are by no means the only configuration available. You can probably install SteamOS on your computer at home for free and optionally buy just the controller. Or (not available yet with the beta) just put together a cheap bare-bones HTPC and plug that in your living room and stream your games from your pre-existing high end gaming desktop.

There's nothing extraordinary about the hardware. If you're focusing on that, then you are completely missing the point. What will be interesting is the OS and the controller.

[Ryoki]

Ah i see... very informative post, thanks

[Mogul]

Is the controller PC-compatible? I have said this since the first day images of it were released: for shooters, it has to be faster and more accurate than an analog stick. If I'm playing in Big Picture mode on my tv, which I do often, a controller is vastly preferable to mouse and keyboard. So if I have to use a gamepad, I'd love to try this specific gamepad.

[Eraser]

Of course it's PC compatible. The Steam box basically is just a PC.

[U4EA]

Provided they release Windows drivers for it.

[Don Carlos]

They would/will

[Mogul]

Of course it's PC compatible. The Steam box basically is just a PC.

More like "basically a Linux box that runs three games"

[MKJ]

oh he mad

[scared?]

The whole not running Windows games is kinda gay...

[LawL]

You can't afford one anyway.

[scared?]

Dream on pooron...I got it all...

[LawL]

And by all you mean nothing.

[scared?]

Yeah I got it all and you got nothing... Lol poor ppl... ...

[LawL]

Too bad you're referring to AIDS.