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Forums - Gaming Discussion - What do the Steam Machines mean for this generation?

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How much do you see the Steam Machines selling?

200 Million 4 7.27%
 
100-150 Million 1 1.82%
 
80-100 Million 1 1.82%
 
Less than 60 Million! 8 14.55%
 
Less than the Gamecube! 11 20.00%
 
Less than the Dreamcast! 14 25.45%
 
They are not an 8th generation console! 16 29.09%
 
Total:55

Exactly what my title says! Now that we know the three big announcements from Valve, I ask you guys... What do the Steam Machines mean for this generation?

Valve announced a Steam OS which is free and will come with the steam machines. The Steam machines will have different prices and specs to adjust your wallet.

Also with this machine comes a new controller that is designed to be like a keyboard and a mouse but in a controller. With this we could say that Valve oficially enters the 8th generation of consoles right?

So what level of success do you think the Steam Machines are going to have? Are they going to start a revolution in the industry? Or are they going to pass as just another console? What are your thoughts?



"I've Underestimated the Horse Power from Mario Kart 8, I'll Never Doubt the WiiU's Engine Again"

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Most PC gamers know how to (and enjoy to) build their own rigs, so the majority of current Steam users wont jump on board unless there is a great reduction in price over the standard parts. Since Steam OS is likely Linux based most gamers will want a Windows OS to enjoy their currently owned games and older games from services that arent Steam(GOG, Origin, Battle.net/Blizzard and many various F2P games). I just dont see this working at all unless they are losing a ton of money on each unit. I can see the OS being moderately successful as people can dual boot with Windows but unless the whole gaming industry is willing to get in on the OS, I think it will fail but Id like to know more about steam OS.



Getting an XBOX One for me is like being in a bad relationship but staying together because we have kids. XBone we have 20000+ achievement points, 2+ years of XBL Gold and 20000+ MS points. I think its best we stay together if only for the MS points.

Nintendo Treehouse is what happens when a publisher is confident and proud of its games and doesn't need to show CGI lies for five minutes.

-Jim Sterling

CDiablo said:

Most PC gamers know how to (and enjoy to) build their own rigs, so the majority of current Steam users wont jump on board unless there is a great reduction in price over the standard parts. Since Steam OS is likely Linux based most gamers will want a Windows OS to enjoy their currently owned games and older games from services that arent Steam(GOG, Origin, Battle.net/Blizzard and many various F2P games). I just dont see this working at all unless they are losing a ton of money on each unit. I can see the OS being moderately successful as people can dual boot with Windows but unless the whole gaming industry is willing to get in on the OS, I think it will fail but Id like to know more about steam OS.


Well that's true but what about the controller? It looks weird but it could certainly bring a revolution to the industry!



"I've Underestimated the Horse Power from Mario Kart 8, I'll Never Doubt the WiiU's Engine Again"

Anfebious said:

Well that's true but what about the controller? It looks weird but it could certainly bring a revolution to the industry!


The controller, or some things about it, may catch on and even become standard during this gen. Again current PC owners generally love K/M and I dont see that changing as the primary PC gaming controller.



Getting an XBOX One for me is like being in a bad relationship but staying together because we have kids. XBone we have 20000+ achievement points, 2+ years of XBL Gold and 20000+ MS points. I think its best we stay together if only for the MS points.

Nintendo Treehouse is what happens when a publisher is confident and proud of its games and doesn't need to show CGI lies for five minutes.

-Jim Sterling

I will wait for more info to come out before giving my final judgment. For one we don't know all the details about the Steam OS, if it will be able to play ALL games without streaming, what other features does it have, etc. 

The Steam Machines are also vague, we still don't know much about this machines other than they will be made by 3rd party companies, is easy to assume there will be different prices and specs but, will they be like PCs or more like consoles? so again we don't know much about them.

As for the controller...well it looks bad. For FPS and RTS games the thing could work very well but I fear for stuff like racing, fighting and 2D platformers, but we have to wait for hands on impressions.



Nintendo and PC gamer

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I'm just gonna copy what I've written in another thread:

 

Scisca said:

Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to make a prediction!

SteamOS will revolutionalise the gaming industry, nothing will be the same again once... Once it becomes compatible with Tegra 5 generation tablets and especially in Tegra 6 gen. Just imagine - it will no longer be PC vs. console as it is now. Imagine yourself having one Steam account and being able to play all your games on your powerful Steam PC at home and on a tablet while on the go!! You just take the Steam controller and you're set. The tablets should also work with a mouse and keyboard obviously, but that's details. Just think - you pay once and you can play all the games you have either on your PC or on the tablet with the controlls of your choice. This would be an earthquake for the market! No more half-assed games on the go, we get full-blown AAA games with PS3 or Wii U level graphics on the go and at the same time the home PC version is superior to the PS4/XO. Handhelds suddenly become obsolete, home consoles become so much less attractive, Apple products suddenly start to lack a huge function and become inferior left with just Gameloft's crap. One move and Valve kicks Sony, Nintendo, MS and Apple in the nuts.


God damn, this can be huge. And it all starts with this questionable controller...

 

SteamOS will be doing quite badly until it starts to give us something mindblowing. Tablet+PC integration would be mindblowing. It could potentially end all console wars.



Wii U is a GCN 2 - I called it months before the release!

My Vita to-buy list: The Walking Dead, Persona 4 Golden, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, TearAway, Ys: Memories of Celceta, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, History: Legends of War, FIFA 13, Final Fantasy HD X, X-2, Worms Revolution Extreme, The Amazing Spiderman, Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate - too many no-gaemz :/

My consoles: PS2 Slim, PS3 Slim 320 GB, PSV 32 GB, Wii, DSi.

Nothing cause PC gamers already have the PC they want and Console gamers are gonna get the console
(s) they want...

And new gamers won't get it cause the Advertising power of Nintendo, Sony and MS is higher than Valve (I could be wrong). So I think the only people that will get it is the ones that want a new/upgrade PC and know about steam box and hopefully Valve will advertise it outside of steam

Also I think the controller is a joke... The X, Y etc buttons seem harder to reach and countless games use them mainly



                  

PC Specs: CPU: 7800X3D || GPU: Strix 4090 || RAM: 32GB DDR5 6000 || Main SSD: WD 2TB SN850

Scisca said:

I'm just gonna copy what I've written in another thread:

 

 

SteamOS will be doing quite badly until it starts to give us something mindblowing. Tablet+PC integration would be mindblowing. It could potentially end all console wars.


That is quite a prediction. But I don't see it being big with tablets, I could be wrong but it looks kinda uncomfortable to bring around...



"I've Underestimated the Horse Power from Mario Kart 8, I'll Never Doubt the WiiU's Engine Again"

Anfebious said:
Scisca said:

I'm just gonna copy what I've written in another thread:

 

 

 

SteamOS will be doing quite badly until it starts to give us something mindblowing. Tablet+PC integration would be mindblowing. It could potentially end all console wars.


That is quite a prediction. But I don't see it being big with tablets, I could be wrong but it looks kinda uncomfortable to bring around...


What would be uncomfortable? Carrying a controller next to your tablet? That's what people have been saying about tablets themselves. You can always find a place in your backpack or purse. People who aren't interested in gaming would stick to their iPads, but I could easily see people interested in gaming going for a SteamOS tablet if it allowed them to play their whole Steam library on the go (apart from being a full-blown tablet obviously). I know that would be a serious argument for me considering I really miss RTS games on my consoles (my PC is too weak to handle games, it's only for work and browsing) and thinking just how cheap games are on Steam. If only it also supported Starcraft: BW and Starcraft 2... I don't think I could resist such a combo.

I really think this would be awesome and remember, this would just be the added value. The stuff you get on top of having games with the best graphics like you get nowadays. If SteamOS doesn't give us a mindblowing advantage over current PCs (so far I can't see anything of that quality), it will share the same success as nVidia Shield.



Wii U is a GCN 2 - I called it months before the release!

My Vita to-buy list: The Walking Dead, Persona 4 Golden, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, TearAway, Ys: Memories of Celceta, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, History: Legends of War, FIFA 13, Final Fantasy HD X, X-2, Worms Revolution Extreme, The Amazing Spiderman, Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate - too many no-gaemz :/

My consoles: PS2 Slim, PS3 Slim 320 GB, PSV 32 GB, Wii, DSi.

Too soon to say IMO. How it affects the console market will likely have to do with price and ease of use. Being really powerful isn't going to make a difference if it's too pricey for the masses; it can't be much higher than the $500 X1 if it wants to succeed here. Also, they need to eliminate as many of the typical PC hoops as possible so that the average Joe can easily set it up and play the games without needing to tweak stuff to make it work.

The PC market is a bit different; the cost and the set-up won't be a problem, but will PC gamers feel the need to buy new hardware and switch operating systems? How good is Steam OS in running all the other programs that PC gamers use their computers for?

Finally, the controller is a question mark for both markets. It seems like a very versatile controller, but it runs the risk of being OK at many things, but not great in any. PC gamers might like it better than Xbox controllers for playing shooters, but would they rather just stick with KB/M? And how well does it work for hack-n-slash games, or fighting games? We'll probably just need hands-on time to answer those questions.