March 3rd, 2012
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A report from The Verge states that developer Valve is considering getting into the hardware business with a “Steam Box” console. The report states that Valve plans to make Steam “the center of an open gaming universe that mirrors what Google has done with Android.”
The rumored specs have the console packing an Core i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA GPU. “Steam Box” would also reportedly ship with a controller that has interchangeable parts, and can be reconfigured based on whatever game is being played. The console would run off Valve’s hugely successful Steam service, meaning, no physical copies of a title would ever be required to purchase.
As for the controller, Valve actually filed a patent for such a device last year. Picture below.
In a recent interview with Penny Arcade, Valve’s Gabe Newell admitted ”Well, if we have to sell hardware we will” and followed up with “We’d rather hardware people that are good at manufacturing and distributing hardware do [hardware]. We think it’s important enough that if that’s what we end up having to do, then that’s what we end up having to do.”
The Verge sates that Steam Box could be unveiled at GDC, though they’re also hearing that the company may wait until E3 this year to show the console off.
What do you think? Do you believe Valve is secretly working on “Steam Box” and if so, how successful would the console be against the likes of the PlayStation 4, the next Xbox and the Wii U? Give us your thoughts below.
Source: The Verge
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If it can be of quality similar to modern (quality) pc games, I’d be all for it. I’m eager to see how it would be constructed and what the user interface would be like (aside from the regular steam components). It seems to me that it would be some kind of meld in between current PC’s and consoles, which would be cool to see if the price is right.
And with that, Head2head is over and done with.
Consoles have absolutly no reason to exist anymore. Since consoles are just super weak, pre-packaged PC’s, you console fanboys have NO excuse to keep buying underpowered, over priced prepackaged crap just for namesake.
Well. I take that back. There are still apple fans alive…
The reason why me and millions other are buying consoles instead of pc is because we don’t wanna spend a ton of money on a pc we can get the same games and even a lot more on consoles. So just shut it and stop talking down to other and let people play on whatever system they want to without to hear on a pc fanboy like you.
“The reason why me and millions other are buying consoles instead of pc is because we don’t wanna spend a ton of money on a pc ”
So your saying in your house, you do not have a home computer. You do NOT have a single computer in your entire house, because thats what your telling me.
If you DO have a computer in your house (which I am assuming you do, since your on this website) You paid for a home computer AND a console. Lets say you paid 250 for the console (standard price) and 300 for a computer (for a ‘toaster’). Congratz, you just paid 60$ more for a console/computer than the standard home PC user spends on building a new gaming rig that can play 99% of all games on max settings.
So instead of me shutting up, why dont you wise up and stop overpaying for stuff
I can shut you up as well if you want.
Are we going to have all the consoles exclusives (which are far far far more than PC ones by the way) ona PC/console machine like this Valve one?
No.
So please go to play your mmorpg/fps machine and let us play all the genres that made the history and are still making the history of videogames.
Go man, go and keep your blue screens, DRMs, Digital Delivery, drivers incompatibilities shit with you, because you know what? We just don’t need them.
We prefer to have fun.
Do you think you can live with this without killing yourself?
the reason for consoles is simple, it makes everything easier. the consumer doesn’t have to worry about paying for upgrades or tweaking to get it just right and developers can make their games work for a specific setup without having to prepare for any of the billion possible combinations PCs can be put into. in other words everyone (especially in the first half of the console’s ife cycle where everything is pretty much competitive with the PC)
xDHahaha i don’t have a computer in my apartment, I’m on my Samsung galaxy s 2, it does the same thing as a standard pc and i can make calls from it , saving a lot of money on that. get you head out of your a** and enjoy your lovely pc that is sooo much better than the ps3/xbox 360 and is much cheaper even though the computer cost more and that im gonna spend more on parts for it. Do the math…. 250$ for a console that can play more games (if you count the amazing exclusives you can get in it) or 300$ for the pc and a minimum 100$ for parts…
What the hell? 300$ PC that I bought [b]SIX FUCKING YEARS AGO[/b] can run Crysis on max settings??????? Gimme what you’re smoking LOL.
sure the pc is the graphical king but common , playing gran turismo 5 or black ops zombie mode in 2player mode is just pure fun
@ Mauro.
Actually, There are more PC exclusives per year than all 3 consoles combined. We also generate more cash per year than all 3 consoles combined. World of warcraft alone with its 10m players generates over 200m alone in just subscriptions. Thats one game (and not even its sales).
@Bigburito
The only reason the consoles are even close to on par with PC is because the consoles hold us back in terms of technology every cycle. Its been like this since about 2002. Because of the limit on console hardware, The devs have to make the games/engine run on machines who are running 2-3 year old tech when they launch (and even then, its bare minimum specs). So when its released on multiplat, the game looks like its old on the PC. Perfect example is crysis on PC. The game came out in 2007 and its still considered graphics king, besides BF3, which, as with crysis, the console counterparts cant even hold a candle to both in terms of graphics and framerate. The reason for this is they are made for the PC then ported to the consoles. It has long been standard practice since the PS2 to have the dev kit made for the weakest system then ported up to the more powerful ones.
@Swahilikongen
The Samsung Galaxy s2 is 600$ without contract. With contract, you pay more over the 2 years than the 600$. Sorry for you wasting money.
@Deviltry.
As I said in my post, I take into account (price wise) for people having both a PC and a single console. here ya go.
4gb of ram – $19.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145322&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-NA-_-NA
600w Power Suply – 52.25
http://www.pcrush.com/product/Power-Supplies/726287/Corsair-Memory-600W-BUILDER-SERIES-CX600-ATX-POWER-SUPPLY-80PLUS-CERT-3YR-WARR?refid=1238
Nvidia GTX 550 TI – 129.99
AMD 6core 3.3GHz and Asus Mobo 219.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.835430
Computer case (mid)- 19.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811233067
Sata HDD 160g – 44.2
http://accessories.eracks.com/product/wd1600bpvt/
486$
Average price of a crap computer from bestbuy or w/e is about 250-300. The average price of a console (non wii) is 250. It is generally accepted that almost everyone uses/has a home computer. If you buy a console ontop of that, its extra. So put together, the average price of a crappy home computer is 500$. I have beaten that and this computer can run any game on the market maxed out.
Not to hard to look. these prices wernt even looked into that hard. you could easily find better deals if you looked, lowering the final price even further.
@Bunny no you wrong again i’m paying 50$ (200dkk) a month for a 6 month contract, and then 90$ (399dkk) a month with. 10gb data 6 hours talk free sms/mms at a company named “3″ 3.dk go check it for yourself. Just got it a couple of weeks ago. Sorry for YOU that your wrong again. And it can the same things as a standard pc, only complain is it takes a ridiculous amount of time too write all this.
@Swahilikongen
By your own numbers, you paid 590$ for your 6 month contract + phone.
Still gotcha beat price wise and mine does more =/
@Bunny I’m paying 300$ for the phone, the data package i was paying before i got the phone. and if i had a pc and a phone it would be 600-900 with the phone and console its 550 and i can do just the same as you (except you have better graphics when you play) so in which other ways can yours do more than mine.
And this is a waste of time now, you are gonna look at it from one point of view and I’m from another, we will never find a agreement. and you can twist and turn it the ways you want im still gonna pay less.
Sunny, I don’t know if you noticed, but Valve is planning to make a console, not yet another PC. Using just PC components. The HW war soon will be over. It is already over after all. What really makes the difference between a platform or another, PC included, are the games for it. The list of *great* PS3/console exclusives is so long that only a dumbtard who pretends to call himself a gamer would play on PC only. Half of my games are not for PC (D* Souls, Final Fantasy, Red Dead Redemption, Uncharted just to mention a few). To invest into an expensive number crunching piece of junk like you suggest would be a third useless expense, since I want to play my console games and I own a laptop already which are notorious for not being great at playing games.
BTW one could post in this site from the PS3 if you’re not yet aware of it… No need (again) for an ugly PC.
@bunny
the reason that it “holds back” technology every cycle is simple, so we don’t have to shell out another few hundred dollars every year to keep up with it. you remember those “psyx” cards from a few years back that let you do incredibly high end physics engines with only the card? yeah an extra $300 that is now obsolete. trying to keep up with current technology is a pain sure that $500 PC you mentioned will max out most games out right now RIGHT NOW but they probably won’t be able to for the games coming out in the next few months. fact is that not many people can actually afford to replace a computer every couple of years (my computers usually have a 5-7 year life cycle.) so having a game system that won’t need upgrades or to be replaced every couple years just to stay current is great!
PHUCKING SOLD.
I LOVE steam, and valve’s console would be a game changer. Imagine a console with all the freedom of a pc and none of the bs constraints that sony and ms impose. No wonky networks that get hacked, and no crappy ms points bs with which to purchase items, (ie spending real life money to buy fake money to buy content).
STEAM WORKSHOP FOR MODS MODS MODS baby!
My only concern is the controller. I’m quite fond of the xbox controller, so valve would need to come up with something similar or better.
Anyhow, I could see a lot of third party devs supporting valve’s console. Bring it on. The gaming industry needs a revolution.
true, only thing i can say is if the specs are true and it really is packing Core i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA GPU. sony and MS are really going to have to step their game up with their next consoles.
especially if this thing is priced cheaper than PC’s and more around the PS4 and Next Box
Yeah, if you accept digital delivery as the only mean for getting games, if you accept that you have to be constantly connected to Steam (which means to the internet of course) otherwise you won’t be able to play games…
…yeah.
No.
And not to talk about all the games that run on consoles only.
Games sell the machine and not vice versa.
Sounds like a great idea”Let the games begin;]
If it allows CPU/GPU upgrades, then they may have something here.
But this seems more like an alternative for a PC gamer than an average console gamer.
I actually dont think this would much of a problem for current console companies unless Valve manages to garner exclusives and huge 3rd party support.
It would be an uphill battle for Valve to directly compete with the likes of Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft.
naaaah we dont need another.. so what then games will have to be ported onto 3-4 consoles now?? developers wont bother, if they cant be bothered giving the ps3 a decent port how are they meant to give steambox one? flag steambox and GIVE US HALF LIFE 3!!!
But it won’t have games like MLB The Show, God of War, etc. etc. ?
No.
believe me , half life 3 as a launch title would pwn all this games
Any way the future of gaming as it seems to be would be cloud-gaming, that’s why Onlive gets more and more popular. Personally I’m really enjoying it for the game’s cost (around 10 $ for most of them). But I would looking forward to getting this console whenever it would be made.
sorry to burst your bubble valve, but massive online video game marketplaces and large community networks already exist on consoles and will surely evolve even further next gen
unless you have some great exclusives under your belt, there is no reason for you to enter the console market.
sorry to burst your bubble valve, but massive online video game marketplaces and large community networks already exist on consoles and will surely evolve even further next gen
if this is true, and the consoles is packing specs like Core i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA GPU. unless microsoft and sony pull a rabbit out their ass they dont stand a chance
That is a cool idea, but I’d still rather have my PS3 as my main console, and my gaming PC for all my steam/MMO/up-gradable/max graphics needs….not another home console.
It will be interesting to see if they go through with it and where it goes.
It could also be an alternative (**if it’s priced right**) for people who don’t have a gaming PC and don’t want to spend the cash on one.
PS3 for PS3 exclusives
Xbox360 for Xbox360 exclusives
PC for everything else
But $hitbox has no exclusives
this sounds awesome, here’s why:
1. this is valve so it’s going to be high quality goods (no red rings or any of that crap) so it’s something that will last a while.
2. This is valve so your steam library will probably transfer over perfectly with no fees for doing so (sort of like how if you had portal 2 for the PS3 you got it for the PC) it just how they opperate.
3. This is valve we’re talking about so it will probably be open source (valve is big on the mod community and always releases a way to make your own games with their code, even hiring some mod teams for exceptional work) so not only will you be able to use it for games but more than likely you’ll probably be able to install other OS and use it like a normal computer (in other words you’d have computer mode and you’d have steam mode where the OS uses less processing/ram so that the games themselves have more to work with)
4. the biggest thing of interest for me is this customizable controller, now all we have to go on is that picture up there but since this is valve we’re talking about I’d definetly expect 3rd party controller parts to be available and even additional bases to build off of (if this is all true vlalve probably is already in talks with razr gaming and other big computer brands) just think of being able to switch the right thumbstick (the “lookin’ around stick” as I like to call it) with a trackball (once you go trackball you never go…anyways) or even just put a usb attachment so that you can just plug your favoirte mouse in for viewing stuff (I know this sounds ridiculous but this is valve we’re talking about, they pull this stuff all the time)
So it’s a PC! Point of presenting a PC as a console is?.. And with i7 CPU and a better GPU than next gen consoles, because on consoles you develop on hardware, not on Direct-X, so to keep up with performance… It’s going to cost more.
Steam will fail.
So it’s a PC. With changable parts. With Windows. With Direct-X.
LOL
Core i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM already doesn’t seems like it will be US$299…
plus other parts of the hardware doesn’t seems like it will be US$399 too…
more like a PC not console
http://kotaku.com/5890275/is-this-a-photo-of-valves-rumored-console
The specs sound exactly like the top model Alienware X51 that looks like a console.
Intel Core I7-2600
Nvidia GTX555
8GB ddr3 1333 memory
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Dell-Alienware-Mini-ITX-PC-Gaming-X51,14511.html