MrNyarlathotep
Banned
I'm already a PC gamer, but would totally jump on a well designed gaming HTPC (which is what I see the steambox being - effectively a more open console) at the right price.
Amazon and Hulu+ both work, but Netflix uses Silverlight, so that doesn't work.
We have already established that it isn't targeting PC owners. If it is targeting console owners, then why would a customer buy the Steambox over the WiiU, PS4, or Xbox720? It won't have as many premier exclusives, less marketing/branding, and Valve is already known for having shitty customer support, so I could imagine the box would have a hard time competing for the console customer (or the PC customer for that matter).
So who is this next hardware DRM targeting?
It won't have as many premier exclusives
Because multiplatform development is king and there are very few third-party exclusives in this day and age.What makes you so sure?
What makes you so sure?
Online infrastructure? Steam is OK for the PC market compared to other solutions, but it will need a huge overhaul if it wants to compete with Live or even PSN.
We have already established that it isn't targeting PC owners. If it is targeting console owners, then why would a customer buy the Steambox over the WiiU, PS4, or Xbox720? It won't have as many premier exclusives, less marketing/branding, and Valve is already known for having shitty customer support, so I could imagine the box would have a hard time competing for the console customer (or the PC customer for that matter).
So who is this next hardware DRM targeting?
If Valve is compared to Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, I think there's a very high probability that the 3 latter companies will all have more exclusive first party titles than Valve would be able to muster.
Half life, portal, L4D, team fortress, counterstrike and Dota 2 are some pretty fucking big exclusives though.
If they can get a way to make playing mouse+keyboard games on the couch work, then this would be very big.So you guys wouldn't see PC exclusives that - due to its nature - run on the steambox as Steambox exclusives?
And all of them are available on other platforms.
Online infrastructure? Steam is OK for the PC market compared to other solutions, but it will need a huge overhaul if it wants to compete with Live or even PSN.
I just finished up a game of DOTA2 on my WiiU. Man, denying is tricky on that touchpad.
rofl
Sorry, I'm still laughing about this
Online infrastructure? Steam is OK for the PC market compared to other solutions, but it will need a huge overhaul if it wants to compete with Live or even PSN.
voice chat, party, jumping straight into a game from a friends profile. Not to mention the other non-gaming services.
It has that the same way the PS3 has it. Quite a few games implement it but certainly not all.You mean all the shit Steam currently has, not to mention dedicated servers and an actual web browser making those non-gaming services redundant?
You mean all the shit Steam currently has, not to mention dedicated servers and an actual web browser making those non-gaming services redundant?
Yep, still laughing
Can I join a multiplayer game of Far Cry 3 from the Steam Friends List?
So that means Ubisoft and EA are not going to provide third-party support for the Steambox?Is it a steamworks title, as I would imagine everything on a steambox would have to be?
So that means Ubisoft and EA are not going to provide third-party support for the Steambox?
That's two huge publishers out of the race already. This thing is doomed.
No, not any, because some of EA's games have been shut down like FIFA 07.So, just to be clear, you're suggesting that I can jump into any EA games a friend might be playing on a console?
Think very carefully about that answer...
No, not any, because some of EA's games have been shut down like FIFA 07.
Any currently popular EA game on 360 you can jump into, provided you also have that game.
Can you join any old game on Steam that is using dedicated server but has no community any more that runs a dedicated server? Using the "Join friend's game" in Steam?
Edit: Think carefully about that answer.
Yes, I'm fully aware that EA regularly shut down their servers, making that whole 'console wide being able to jump into any friends game' a myth.
FIFA 11 for example gets shut down this friday.
I said ANY, not any Valve game. I'm still not seeing how my comparison to the PS3 model of opting into that feature set has been disputed.Yes, I haven't looked, but Richochet should be fairly devoid of players because it is fucking shit.
I can start a game, host a server, and then anyone on my friends list can join me, but they won't because it is shit.
I said ANY, not any Valve game. I'm still not seeing how my comparison to the PS3 model of opting into that feature set has been disputed.
I honestly don't think that this thing has any chance to be a success.
It's like buying a gaming PC tested to only run a certain amount of games with defined settings.
It has no place in the market.
That raises my point with EA and Ubisoft. Do you think they would release their multi-plat titles on the Steambox using Steamworks for the Steambox version of the game, but not for the PC version.Because this isn't a random "why PC gaming online is better than on console" thread, this is about the steambox, so I picked a very old title that I know uses steamworks, as I imagine titles to be released on the steambox would.
Exactly. We both have no idea.For the same reason you can't jump into a friends game of Crimson Skies on the 360, or of SOCOM 2 on a 60Gb BC PS3; OS level features have to be available on a target platform, and realistically you can't expect those features to be present on legacy software - which anything released before the steambox is available inherently is.
Does that mean the steambox can't play those games? No.
Does it mean that it can't do that when its released? I have no idea. If Valve are willing to support other developers and publishers with porting games to Linux to run on the steambox, it would seem only sensible to add steamworks support as part of that to allow for exactly that functionality.
In this thread: console gamers complain that consoles are a stupid idea.Do consoles have no place in the market, then? Because that's exactly what they are.
They don't all support Steamworks and I don't think they are going to backport this just to get some sales at $5. But that part I don't know. I doubt it however.
If they can get a way to make playing mouse+keyboard games on the couch work, then this would be very big.
I think GOG is going a more valuable service. They are making games that are often very hard to run on modern Windows systems run on modern Windows systems.GOG have made their business model doing exactly this, though.
I'm not convinced that a conversion to Linux is so painless.If the steambox becomes a de facto PC gaming standard - and I'm not saying it will, but I will say that it has potential to be if done right - and adding steamworks support to titles is an easy and painless step that can be done during the conversion to linux, then why wouldn't publishers support it?
Yeah, Bethesda also has no issue. I was specifically talking about Ubisoft and EA.They already support the OS level hooks for PSN and XBL.
Publishers like THQ and Paradox have no problems selling steamworks titles through their own DD stores, despite being nominally in competition.
I would be very much into that. And I think all control methods have stagnated. Just look at when the Dual Shock was created and we're still using strong derivatives of that.I don't know if they can, but they will try. Someone from Valve (can't remember who) said that controllers will go out of beta in 2013. Remember the job ad proclaiming their dissatisfaction at the lack of innovation in PC control methods?
If it was so painless, wouldn't we have seen Left 4 Dead 2 be a Steam Linux Beta launch game?
Interestingly enough, most of the times they are just wrapping these old games with DosBox.I think GOG is going a more valuable service. They are making games that are often very hard to run on modern Windows systems run on modern Windows systems.
Netflix on PS3/Wii and other devices runs on html5 not silverlight and netflix seems to like that option over silverlight.