CrackPebbles
Member
STRONG! now let me see the price.
I am interested as hell, but this is the only way they get me. $500 for something on par or slightly better than the next gen consoles is my limit. If they can't do that, then nothing will change in terms of getting more people to hop over to PC gaming. It will just be a niche PC for people who are already using Steam.
The only market I can think of is that of someone who doesn't want or is incapable of using a computer but want better graphics. It's like tricking them into getting a computer anyway.
You are now one out of 285,770 eligible beta candidates.
Yep it is going to be all about the pricing. If they can get some special bulks deals going on, they may be able to drive the price down a lot. Gotta consider the totality of the package before considering whether this is something people might want to buy into. They do seem to be going about it smart by having a lot of models out to fulfill exactly what you want. That in itself is a good strategy. All they need is to price them well.
Those products will come later. These initial products are designed to get early adopters on board. These early adopters will help Valve to shape the future of SteamOS/Steam Machines by providing feedback that will give Valve an idea of what gamers want out of SteamOS/Steam Machines. They can use this feedback to guide their development focus.
The early Steam Machines are probably going to be pretty poor overall, but every successive generation will be better than the last.
So yeah, for now, SteamOS/Steam Machines will be for a small niche of PC gamers, but that won't be the case in a few years time.
who get bulk deals? I don't think Valve have any plans to sell these themselves. The 300 protos are to hand out to the community for feedback. I even doubt it will be valuable feedback personally - its just to drive interest and get people to sign up. what difference is 300 PCs in a shiny box really going to make when they are getting feedback from thousands of people using SteamOS when it is released?
They'll just set some guideline specs and leave it to other companies to actually sell the boxes.
Steam's offline mode is designed to be able to run indefinitely. There is no set limit.So if it is the same as the Steam on PC, then there is the 30 day offline mode limit DRM,right?
Yep it is going to be all about the pricing. If they can get some special bulks deals going on, they may be able to drive the price down a lot. Gotta consider the totality of the package before considering whether this is something people might want to buy into. They do seem to be going about it smart by having a lot of models out to fulfill exactly what you want. That in itself is a good strategy. All they need is to price them well.
The CPU and GPU will be the most expensive components. Intel and NV especially have zero incentive to engage in margin dilution.
Steam's offline mode is designed to be able to run indefinitely. There is no set limit.
I guess my question is: what is Valve's role in the hardware aspect of Steam Machine? Do they HAVE a role?
That sounds good, but I'll probably go ahead and buy an Xbox One to go with my PS4 before then.
True, but I am fairly certain that intel and NV have big margins are their components when sold at retail. I am sure they could drop the price fair amount if they are given enough incentive to do so.
Do you know how much it costs to make a GPU like a titan?
Dunno why you think this is unreasonable to include in a product. It is great to give a wide variety of options.
My point is that they priced themselves out of the console market.
So, still no minimum requirements?
Then you'll probably buy a Steam Machine too when, in 2015, you'll be able to pick up a $400-500 Steam Machine that delivers significantly better performance than the PS4/Xbox One.
And then you have the people who won't own a PS4/Xbox One for whatever reasons. The more mainstream gaming audience. They'll have been playing crossgen COD/Titanfall/Battlefield/whatever, and they'll probably be looking to upgrade in 2015 when the crossgen ports start drying up. Valve could step in here with a cheap low end box that delivers good performance (maybe not as good as the PS4/Xbox One, but I doubt this market segment cares that much - they just want a place to play the latest COD/Fifa/etc.) at a good price.
The next few years will be about two things; convincing early adopters that SteamOS/Steam Machines are a good idea, and getting information/data/research about what customers want out of SteamOS/Steam Machines so that Valve knows where to put their development efforts. That way, in 2015 (or whenever), when it really counts, they'll be able to deliver an excellent product that delivers on all fronts.
I probably won't pick up a Steam Machine when they launch next year. I don't have the patience to beta test stuff anymore. I'll definitely be grabbing one once Valve iron out all the wrinkles, though.
I'm really not sure, never heard of that happening. This is right from a Valve employee: http://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/864969953572102601/#c864969953730401285This is not an attempt to argue but how come I change my Steam to offline mode, exit properly and after 31 days when I play a Steam game offline, it states no log in credentials error message.
I did that to test to see if that offline mode 30 day thing is true or not. What did I do wrong?
I'd say the controller and the case and that's pretty much it. They're using off-the-shelf PC components.
These ain't gonna be cheap.
People who buy stuff.Im having a lot of trouble figuring out who this is for.
So we're assuming that these machines will be about the same price as a similarly-spec'd Windows PC (maybe a little less since the manufacturers don't have to pay the OEM fee)?
And about the case, are you saying that Valve will design a case that manufacturers need to use?
I wouldn't really expect Valve to subsidize the price in any way. It's extremely unlikely.
Crazy specs, but lol hybrid drives
The problem with this theory is that early adopters by definition have already purchased. Their data and info will not translate into useful info and data about the potential consumers who have yet to buy a steam machine. It will only help valve improve steamOS features used by those early adopters. There could be a myriad of features that are used by later consumers that are required for later adopters who are more likely to expect a different experience from such a machine.
I see your point though. I guess it really depends on when steam machines launch, their price and specs and how they compare to ps4 and xboxone at that time. That will determine who the early adopters are.
Im having a lot of trouble figuring out who this is for.
This: Dimensions: approx. 12 x 12.4 x 2.9 in high
Combined with an i7 and Titan amazes me, frankly.