News - Valve announces 'Steam Machines' hardware prototype

[Otherhand]

I hope they take one particular leaf from the console manufacturers' book: sell hardware at a slight loss, make it back on software.

If Valve can give me a PC that's cheaper than its retail parts, and if I can still use it like my current PC, I'll obviously be very interested.

[Platinum]

Looks like the controller that can sense your mood and adjust the game accordingly then,I hope this works on a desk as well, don't want to have to sit on the sofa and use a controller to get he best out of L4D 3..

[crossy]

I hope they take one particular leaf from the console manufacturers' book: sell hardware at a slight loss, make it back on software.If Valve can give me a PC that's cheaper than its retail parts, and if I can still use it like my current PC, I'll obviously be very interested.

Totally DISagree. One of the big pluses of the way Valve's approaching this is that you can put this on your current hardware. That being the case, then why on earth should I want to subsidise your PC by a tax on my software purchases. And while the software-tax-subsidised model works with Sony and Microsoft, it wouldn't work well with Steam Machine because (unless I missed the announcement) Valve aren't making their own machines. Unless you want Valve to also set minimum pricing too.
Lastly - comparatively speaking - PC hardware isn't that expensive these days ... unless you're looking at the top end stuff. And shopping around can yield decent discounts. Given that the OS is free, I'd assume that some of the large manufacturers will be able to get a pretty good deal on their component purchases and hence deliver a Steam Machine at an attractive price point.

Personally speaking, if you've got basic system using AMD APU then it'll be possible to ship that for around the £300 mark - which undercuts both PS4 and XBone.

I haven't paid much attention to either this, or SteamOS, because I find the entire Steam model, where I buy a game then need permission from Steam to play it, utterly unacceptable. Unless that's changed, and while I haven't checked I rather doubt it has, then I have no more interest in either of these than I do in having a Steam account, which is zero.

How about offline mode? Plus I'm sure that you're not the only one that doesn't like the "nearly always on" aspect, so you can pretty much guarantee that someone out there will figure a way around it - or at least a way to make it more acceptable.

Personally speaking, I'm not that bothered by the way it does things at the moment - at least I CAN still play my games if I've got no connection at the time. Although the retries are a pain.

[Chadders87]

Offline mode on Steam is really on suitable for drops in connection or when switching broadband supplier. They havn't made it a feasible option for an "Offline" PC.

Saying that, most Steam sales are through digital download and so most users are able to connect to the internet for that at least. Steam is on my main PC which has a constant stable connection through Wi-Fi. It's always online, therefore so is steam (unless I opt to go Offline).

On a PC, always online is less of an issue. But I hope the steam boxes / steam OS supports full offline play without the need to "authenticate" every 24 hours etc... Mainly because my steam box will likely be used like a console and placed in rooms with no internet connection most of the time. Or taken around friends / families homes for bragging rights where I won't need to connect to the web.

Fingers crossed the new "input" is a Google Glasses type "On-Person Heads Up Display". That would be wicked.

[Saracen]

....

How about offline mode? Plus I'm sure that you're not the only one that doesn't like the "nearly always on" aspect, so you can pretty much guarantee that someone out there will figure a way around it - or at least a way to make it more acceptable.

Personally speaking, I'm not that bothered by the way it does things at the moment - at least I CAN still play my games if I've got no connection at the time. Although the retries are a pain.

You're right, I don't like 'always on', not least because the machines I use for games don't have a net connection, and they're not getting one.

But that wasn't actually my point.

I buy a game from publisher A, but then it turns out it needs to be "authenticated" by Steam?? Not going to happen. I'm, perhaps, unlike many gamers in that I'm a bit of a gaming magpie .... I collect, hoard and periodically, revisit. I still have, and occasionally play, games I bought in the 70s (for Apple II, etc). Still got the hardware too, obviously.

So .... I buy a game now, and it requires Steam authentication, so what happens in 10, 20 30 years when I decide I'm in the mood for a retro session and want to play today's game? Will Steam still "authenticate"? Will Steam still even exist? Maybe they'll gave released a patch, maybe not. Maybe I'll gave grabbed the patch, and maybe I missed it. Etc.

Sorry, no. If I buy a game, I expect to be able to play it, now or in 30 years, without needing permission from Steam to play the game I've already paid for. Period.

In short, I'm not buying into this "authentication" model, requiring online authentication either at install or play time. Not now, not ever. And if that means there's a lot of games I never do play, well, c'est la vie, and my universe won't implode.

That's why I objected to always, or even periodic "on" requirements onthe XBox One .... because that online authentication process is not something I'm buying, and I stress "buying" into. I'll do without such games, and publishers can, I'm sure, cope without my money.

So, my gaming is effectively limited to DRM-free gaming, because things like CD-checks, which come in the box and are therefore under my direct control, have effectively disappeared, not least due to Steam.

Offline mode, therefore, doesn't address my objection, or at least, doesn't fully address it.

[fozan1072]

Now to wait and see what Steam is going to do with the controller and how they feel. If a gamer doesn't like it they will go back to the keyboard and mouse to play their games. We keep the PC game sales up and show that there is still need and support for this platform. I have been a PC gamer since the scroll and text D&D games.