Newell to Kotaku: "our hardware will be a very controlled environment"

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Maplehamwich

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http://www.theverge.com/2012/12/8/3744314/gabe-newell-valve-console-living-room-steam-box

http://kotaku.com/5966860/gabe-newe...m_source=Kotaku_Twitter&utm_medium=Socialflow

Article & Gabe said:
Steam's Big Picture mode was just the first step: according to Valve boss Gabe Newell, you'll be able to buy a living-room-friendly PC package next year.
Speaking to me during a brief interview on the red carpet at the VGAs last night, Newell said Valve's current goal was to figure out how to make PCs work better in the living room. He said the reaction to Steam's TV-friendly Big Picture interface has been "stronger than expected," and that their next step is to get Steam Linux out of beta and to get Big Picture on that operating system, which would give Valve more flexibility when developing their own hardware.

He also expects companies to start selling PC packages for living rooms next year—setups that could consist of computers designed to be hooked up to your TV and run Steam right out of the gate. And yes, Newell said, they'd compete with next-gen consoles from companies like Microsoft and Sony.
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Gabe said:
"Well certainly our hardware will be a very controlled environment," he said. "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."
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What do you think?

-edited for more content from article for the lazy's-
 
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Without reading the article I think that a Steam gaming PC will stymy innovation in the PC market. If you were in the software business you would develop for the "universal" specification like a Steam PC if they proved to be popular. It's hard enough looking for games that push your hardware so you want to add another video card or upgrade to another motherboard / CPU combo. With a universal PC out there that would serve as a sort of "XBOX" standard, developers would just tailor their games for it as they do the consoles.

And we all know how long Valve time is when it comes to upgrading their software engines. Imagine what the life expectancy of a "Steam Machine" standard would be. On the other hand a lot of consumers could buy one and drop it in the living room without having to plan out a SFF PC on their own. It would finally get PC gaming the same exposure as the console variants. But is that worth it at the cost of more stagnation in technologies used in future PC games and hardware?

For Valve yes! For us... Not so sure yet.
 
Doesn't sound like it'll affect "us" unless we get a valve box, so I don't.... really care... not really. Interesting to see them enter the market but eh...
 
I think the benefit of it would be more of using a non-windows OS and more rigid hardware specs. Consoles have the benefit of being universal in hardware and OS spec. It would be nice if somebody went halfway and produced a gaming alternative to windows.
 
So they're saying their console will be a console. Okay?
 
Just imagine if HL3 is a console exclusive.....

i think the Internet would spontaneously combust from the sheer overwhelming amount of pent-up nerd rage.
 
I really don't understand the point of the Valvebox. I don't see a market for it. PC Gamers are going to stick to their desktops and I don't see console gamer's being swayed over by a PC-Console what have you.

Going to be a flop.
 
MightyMouse957 said:
I really don't understand the point of the Valvebox. I don't see a market for it. PC Gamers are going to stick to their desktops and I don't see console gamer's being swayed over by a PC-Console what have you.

Going to be a flop.
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When was the last time Valve released a flop? Gabe is a pretty damn smart man. I'm interested in what they have in mind.
 
With trying to put steam and their games on linux, could that mean that the valvebox runs on a linux distro that specialized for Valvebox? I could see them trying to move away from Microsoft by pushing another os, but since this will be a console it could push console developers to develop proper PC games for it that is optimized for the Valve Box, but will run on any PC. I'm pushing for that since I like linux and this will help to battle crappy PC ports.
 
If Valves releases some kind of Steam box on a version of Linux then they'd have to emulate DirectX (which a significant part of their catalogue uses, sadly). I'm far from an expert when it comes to Linux, but I know that DirectX emulation on it is no where near good enough for the market they're aiming at. With is being essentially a console things have to work out of the box - users won't tolerate having to find their own fixes. Maybe Valve can mitigate that.

I'm not even sure about the legal ramifications about using DirectX on a commercial OS/product that isn't Microsoft. Would Valve need a license to do so? If they do... why would MS grant them one?

IMO MS will throw everything they have at Valve if they attempt to make a console that's essentially a PC. MS would rather the PC gaming market die, they'd rather you buy the xbox version of the game and get their royalty fee from every game/console/accessory sold than have you buy a PC game and only have you purchase their OS every few years. Well... I guess they're trying to change that with Win8 app store
 
What I got from the statement was that if you want more flexibility, then get a PC, which I interpreted as not all games, or games that are DirectX will work on the Valve Box, though I would think that would be counterproductive because almost all games are DirectX, but they do have to start from somewhere if they were to not be reliant on Microsoft in the future.

What would make the ValveBox successful is for it to have games that gamers would want to play on there. Half Life 3 would do that. I think Valve is not trying to replace the PC, but try to get a share of that console market without alienating the PC crowd. With something like greenlight, if they were to come up with something like if you can design the game to work on PC and Valvebox it'll be put on steam that would push PC developers to develop without DirectX. And with console developers if Valvebox is a success it would get them to develop games that run fine on PCs.
 
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Gabe wants valve to be the apple of gaming. The more "sophisticated" simpletons will be on the Valvebox, and the unwashed masses will be console it the Microsoft way. Just go to the steam app store and one click a game for you to play. Valvebox will be more 'simple and elegant' against the evil empire. Can't forget that Gabe isn't excited about windows 8. <tinfoil hat>Maybe it's time to pull away from the windows PC</tinfoil hat>
 
I wouldn't worry about it holding back gaming. Valve has already been holding back gaming by continuing to release games on the Source engine that has barely changed since 2004. Valve will release the next iteration of the Source engine and their console will be designed to handle it; they'll continue to release games on the same engine for the next 8-10 years.

Valve's console will essentially be a PC running Linux. My guess is that the appeal will be the ability to play PC games at your couch with a gamepad but I wouldn't doubt that a mouse and keyboard would be compatible. Everything makes sense as far as Steam's Big Picture mode goes. When Big Picture mode starts there's a Steam logo splash screen, which is probably what you'll see when booting the console.

RedSh1rt said:
If Valves releases some kind of Steam box on a version of Linux then they'd have to emulate DirectX (which a significant part of their catalogue uses, sadly). I'm far from an expert when it comes to Linux, but I know that DirectX emulation on it is no where near good enough for the market they're aiming at. With is being essentially a console things have to work out of the box - users won't tolerate having to find their own fixes. Maybe Valve can mitigate that.
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They already have a Steam Linux client in beta and Team Fortress 2 running on Linux natively. It uses OpenGL for graphics and Miles/OpenAL for audio so it's void of DirectX. Once they get TF2 fully operational (mostly works, has some tiny issues) then that's it, they'll implement what they've built from TF2 on Linux and every other Source engine game will be fully Linux native.
 
why not?

im interested ... if it can do what most HTPC can do.
 
hfk said:
So they're saying their console will be a console. Okay?
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Q-BZ said:
Sounds like a console.
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That's all I hear...

This sounds like a really unattractive proposition in my mind - how would buying a PC based console in a "very controlled environment" (flashbacks to Gabe's criticism about the Windows 8 store..) be a leg up for PC gamers? Why would someone buy a 'steam-box' instead of an already established console brand?

Valve obviously has a bunch of smart people working over there, so imagine there is something we haven't been told.
 
So they are planning on a Linux based console... Okay then... At least if it's just low end indie games and Valve titles the hardware wont have to be updated ever. :p
 
quadnad said:
That's all I hear...

This sounds like a really unattractive proposition in my mind - how would buying a PC based console in a "very controlled environment" (flashbacks to Gabe's criticism about the Windows 8 store..) be a leg up for PC gamers? Why would someone buy a 'steam-box' instead of an already established console brand?

Valve obviously has a bunch of smart people working over there, so imagine there is something we haven't been told.
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I can only hope otherwise there's nothing here for me.
 
I see it as an addition to your gaming PC in the living room for most of US at least. For the casual console it might garner its own following, but instead of moving your water cooled game rig into the living room on your big screen tv, you already have your library of games and you can plunk this box on your big screen for some casual gaming. Cloud based saves and stuff can follow you into another room when you don't feel like holing up where your game rig is. This is of course justification for this device for deadicated game rigs.

What it would need IMO...

Access to streaming services like Amazon and Netflix

Blu Ray - a must.

Relatively cheap.

Allowance for multiple steam logins or 'family accounts' (think of the 'multi pack' deals something along these lines could capture revenue wise if you them real cheap?).

Down the road, maybe Steam can muster up support enough to generate their own streaming service for movies, tv shows and music...maybe even game rentals?

The idea is not without merit so long as you aren't closed minded about it. Lots of potential here to make lots of cash, business wise...
 
Jellylesg said:
Prepare for a steambox exclusive. And prepare for everyone to roll around on the floor cooing and giggling and begging to eat even more of his jizz, buying it happily and in droves.
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Bad things become good when Valve does them.
 
I think it'll be interesting to see how this develops. I have trust that valve will do things in such a way that PC gamers will be happy. Everyone hated Steam when it was first launched, now it's seen as one of the saving graces of PC gaming. That's due to Valve's response to the community and interest in serving it's market.

I'm thinking this valve box and the mentioned licensed valve boxes may initially miss the mark, but Valve will compensate in such a way that PC gamers embrace it.

Also, given Gabe's comments in the interview, I highly doubt the goal is to ex-communicate the PC platform and develop a console separate from the PC. I'm thinking they want to introduce STEAM to the casual crowd. That means introducing hardware that will entice the casual crowd. However, as his comments suggest, the PC is an open and maleable platform where any user can develop the PC they need and Steam/Valve will be there to provide services to that user.

In the end, this may have initial negatives, but I believe Valve will work to iron out the issues as they did with Steam.
 
So basically it's a halfway-line between a console and a PC, leaning towards the former.

I'm no expert on this, but you know, if I was AMD right now and I knew this proposal was serious then I would push as hard as possible for Valve use their gear. Steam, and by that extension Valve these days has so much market power that whatever company is behind this type of product would have a serious leg up in terms of audience and especially developer mindshare, so if you're the kind of underdog that AMD unfortunately is when it comes to CPU and GPU(even though they're more than competitive at the latter in practically all ways but sales), then this would be the kind of thing you would want to do. Besides, they're an all-in-one in-house solution and have the kind of expertise from their console work to make it happen.
 
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If it's built using a controlled hardware environment but an open-source software environment I think that will be a good thing. If games become "Steambox" exclusive or something along those lines I will be massively disappointed in Valve.
 
I do not care if it's HL3 if it's a "steam box" exclusive, Gabe can cram it up his fat ass and choke. I won't be dipping into my wallet for that shit, another nail in the pc gaming coffin.
 
So basically is going to be a walled garden experience .. aka a console. I wonder how many people here on PC forum are going to all of a sudden be in favor of a console lol
 
theNoid said:
So basically is going to be a walled garden experience .. aka a console. I wonder how many people here on PC forum are going to all of a sudden be in favor of a console lol
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Does it count if I'm in favor of it releasing solely to see how it turns out and exactly what they do?
 
Lots of people are looking for a media device to replace XBMC and console boxes. Face it, Xbox live, PSN and so forth have really terrible interfaces, not to mention layers of bullshit not really needed.

If you don't think there is a market for a Valve device, you probably shouldn't be running a company.

That said; would I buy one? Eh, probably not. I have a good network with 2 media streaming PC's, a couple gaming PC's and a capable htpc. Does the general public have those things? Not anything near as handy.
 
Nasty_Savage said:
Blu Ray - a must.
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No. BD-ROM + AACS licensing fee for playback baked into unit price would be seen as unnecessary bloat for a lot of potential buyers, and if you look at stats of optical disc uptake at a macro level its dying anyway, streaming is slowly overtaking everything. And when factoring its going to be based on Steam - a digital distribution (download) service, no way on god's green earth they roll a BD-R.
 
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It's an interesting project. It might not be the next PS2 of hardware, but I would have thought it would have a fair market of people who want that console experience of games that "just work" without having to tinker or worry about specs. And if it's fully linux, that will do interesting things for gaming on linux.
And it could be the first box to really move away from physical media and fully embrace digital downloads (which may or may not be a good thing depending on your point of view, or your internet connection).
 
So, Gabe trolls the entire Internet about how Windows 8 is a closed system and is trying to kill PC gaming (which, of course, isn't true), and then he goes out to extol the virtues of a completely closed system he is making? :rolleyes:
 
odditory said:
No. BD-ROM + AACS licensing fee for playback baked into unit price would be seen as unnecessary bloat for a lot of potential buyers, and if you look at stats of optical disc uptake at a macro level its dying anyway, streaming is slowly overtaking everything. And when factoring its going to be based on Steam - a digital distribution (download) service, no way on god's green earth they roll a BD-R.
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There is plenty of disk based steam games. There is also a large percentage of people who like buying physical games for other people (consoles). The fact that installing a Steam game from a disk is always an experience (because for some reason it always always tries to download the game instead of using the disk and you have to use special techniques to make it work properly :D) aside, it would be missing out on a large portion of people. Added to that ISP caps and the bandwidth it would save Valve (can see it as load balancing).

Though a blu ray drive would be a little excessive in the base model. Even giant games come stuffed on multiple DVDs, and they would be incompatible with lots of other older computers. It would probably need a drive of some kind to be compatible with that market and steam disks, and could have an optional Blu Ray upgrade.
 
master noran said:
I just want HL3 fatman
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I know right?

The thing people want most from Valve: HL3
The thing Valve keep not doing: HL3

Seriously though, Steam is nice but going the whole console route is just a waste of time, any attempt to do so is just going to result in another console, these days the architecture of consoles has trended towards PC and so they've inherited a lot of the traits of the PC anyway, except their proprietary devices locked down for specific uses, which is bad.
 
Doubt Valve is building just another console like what many want to believe.

And you can't make any games exclusive to Valvebox if it runs on Linux.
 
If it supports keyboard and mouse, and can replace my gaming PC when it will be outdated, I could be interested. The only reason I keep anything else than apple computers is for gaming. I hate controller-based consoles.
 
I get the impression that all this will sit happily alongside steam for PC.

Why destroy that market?

Everyone seems to assume that Valve want to move to this new platform exclusively. Show me where Gabe said that.


Personally I see this as the first step towards eliminating Microsoft (Windows) from PC gaming, allowing open standards and more hardware choice.
 
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