Valve's 'Steam Box' Console Is Real, Says Gabe Newell 298
symbolset writes "The Verge is reporting that the Steam Console we discussed in November is a real thing. Gabe Newell said it will be a locked down platform for the living room. The source is a Kotaku interview with Newell at the Video Game Awards. Newell said, 'Well certainly our hardware will be a very controlled environment. If you want more flexibility, you can always buy a more general-purpose PC. For people who want a more turnkey solution, that's what some people are really gonna want for their living room. The nice thing about a PC is a lot of different people can try out different solutions, and customers can find the ones that work best for them.'"
What I'd like to see... (Score:5, Interesting)
Microsoft's Biggest Mistake (Score:5, Interesting)
The countdown begins... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Microsoft's Biggest Mistake (Score:2, Interesting)
The game it'll be changing is Windows dominance of PC gaming.
Already big publishers and new games under development are starting to look closer at Linux support because of the Steam beta. They don't like what they see in Win8 any more than Gabe Newell does.
My prediction is Valve will get behind Linux in a big, big way and this will be looked back upon as a turning point in history.
Start with a Steam box, then certify higher-end hardware Steam-ready with curated, updated, solid OSS drivers available for the build-your-own crowd, once that's done major vendors start taking some of that hardware, rebranding it, and adding a Steam-ready sticker. For cheaper than Win8 at equivalent specs. Remember, the reason companies that offer Linux consumer hardware usually have it more expensive due to drivers & support; if Valve takes a big chunk of that off of their hands, Linux can compete with Windows on an even playing field.
Suddenly Linux becomes EASY for Joe sixpack, he can buy it in a store, it's exposing an interface he's more familiar with (more Windows-like than Windows), comes with loads of free software, games, and the sticker price is lower. This is a potential nightmare scenario for Microsoft, and I think this is Valve's endgame.
I certainly hope it is.
Xbox 360's Insane Failure Rate (Score:0, Interesting)
The Xbox 360 has maybe a 30-35 million installed base - not 70 million by most tracking firms I've seen with most Xbox 360 owners having gone through 5-6 repurchases of newer model consoles hoping to finally get a console that works properly. And those 5-6 duplicate consoles don't count the Microsoft supplied replacement units from the RRoD fiasco and other various hardware problems that plague the Xbox 360.
It is kind funny in a pathetic sort of way that the only real bright spot for the Xbox 360 is the RRoD fiasco that helped inflate their apparent marketshare and kept them out of last place for a extra couple of years.
How humiliating for Microsoft to have rushed the shoddy and defective Xbox 360 hardware out the door a year early, sell tens of millions of duplicated consoles, and still end up in last place this gen.
Ouch.
You do know those numbers arn't comparable. (Score:5, Interesting)
70 million xbox sold, 5.6 million simulatenous users on steam tonight(presumably more total)
Yup, microsoft wouldn't even notice.
A more comparable figures would be Steam is 54 million active user accounts [concurrent peak users did peak at 6 million]. The numbers seem surprisingly close to seriously threaten Microsofts console gaming platform with Steam Cross-Multi-Platform
As for Microsoft not even noticing, they would be incredibly foolish not to, Microsoft has very little benefit over other platforms right now, even installations will be overtaken by android as soon as next year. Its gaming...and its control of the Graphics API lock-in are essential to if remaining relevant to the consumer market, which is being increasingly challenged.
Microsoft ALWAYS notice the competition they will be out with their chequebooks and lawyers banking on steams door.
Re:Microsoft's Biggest Mistake (Score:4, Interesting)
5.6 million concurrent Steam users.
Google "concurrent xbox live users", and it looks like they set a record of 2 million a few years back. That's all users, not just the paying Gold users. I'm sure they've grown since then, but tripled?
Now, the obvious caveat is that it's more common to play on an Xbox without an internet connection than it is to play in Steam's offline mode. But Steam's user base is definitely at least comparable to Xbox's.
Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)