Valve: Steam Machines "Front and Center" at GDC

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Valve says it is planning a "large presence at GDC" this year and that its Steam Machines "will be front and center."

Responding to comments from CEO of PC maker Origin PC Kevin Wasielewski saying that the term "Steam Machine" is "pretty much dead," Valve tells GameInformer that Steam Machines will be "front and center" at the Game Developers Conference in March. "We're planning a very large presence at GDC with Steam Machines being front and center," is how they responded to an inquiry.
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Yes they need to do more then just show up. Left for Dead 3 would be nice :)

I tended to agree with the comments about Steam Machines just being HTPC. I kinda thought that from the get go tbh but that is probably because I have been building them for so long.

With large monitors being so cheap and decent laptops being able to play games like DOTA as well as the HUGE push by Google to get android games on your tv, I feel like Steam Machines might be a little to niche.
 
Hopefully its more interesting than the tiny room they had last year at (???) expo.
 
"Steam Machines" are a line of computers with SteamOS preloaded and a Steam controller included in the package.

Valve themselves have repeatedly said that anyone can build their own Steam Machine.

The thing is that the "official" ones come already configured and Steam-ready with Big Picture by default. Ready for streaming any music, games or films from your current computers and network.

Steam Machines main purpose is to promote SteamOS and Steam itself.
 
The rest of the industry nearly handed Valve the ideal conditions for a Steam Machine on a silver platter. Unfortunately Valve seems completely incapable of grasping the opportunity.

Factors in Steam Machine Favor:
- Windows 8/8.1 poor reception.
- "Next-gen" consoles feel like last gen PCs.
- Digital media consumption widely accepted among consumers.
- PC games have low system requirements (maybe due to console ports), so good enough parts are cheap.
- TV industry pushing 4k TVs, but no "easy" way to get 4k content.

All Valve needed to do was have 2-3 tiers of Steam Machine with AMD/ATI, Intel and NVidia options at each tier. Lower tier (Indie) is targeted at console market and media PC. Mid tier (PC Gamer) is targeted to run the year's top games at 1080p. Top tier (4k Experience) is targeted to run many games at 4k.

Steam games could be benchmarked on each of the machines and a compatibility score would be shown beside the title in the Steam Library. If you are running the Indie 2015 Steam Box, it would show you that you could run Borderlands 2 just fine at mid settings.
 
Speaking of source hopefully they don't blow it like HL2
 
At this point all I really want to see is Half-Life 3 and even still after all these years it would have to be something really special to get me excited.

AS for Steam machines I don't know what to think anymore, Personally I Iike to play my games in front of a monitor with a keyboard and mouse..... maybe Steamos with XBMC on it might get some interest though.
 
Origin PC CEO Kevin Wasielewski said, just yesterday, that Steam Machines are kinda pretty much dead.

I think I agree.
 
tbonepat11 said:
With large monitors being so cheap and decent laptops being able to play games like DOTA as well as the HUGE push by Google to get android games on your tv, I feel like Steam Machines might be a little to niche.
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Gaming laptops are falling behind. They all overheat and lower their life experience if not flat our break. They also don't have anywhere near the performance of a desktop PC. A $1000 laptop is half the speed of a $700 desktop PC.

Android games are also a joke. I can't think of a single game I MUST have. Mostly because majority of games are for casuals and focus on touchscreen. Until they make smart phones with gamepads built into them like NGage, nobody will take gaming on Android serious.

Steam machines in this situation make perfect sense. You're not going to buy the OUYA and stick it on your TV to play Counter Strike. You're not going to play Counter Strike on your gaming laptop which gets hot enough to melt solder, literally.
 
You know damn well if these Steam machines take off that EA will release a Linux Origin client / ports. They're just still pissed that Steam is #1.
 
They will be front and center if every Steam Machine is running a demo of Half-Life 3.
 
IMHO, the market seems ripe for a HTPC and game system in a small box to replace my blu ray player, my Roku, my Chromecast, my xbox, my playstation, my slingbox, etc etc.

And rather than focus on a new controller, why not create a revolutionary new keyboard/mouse solution that I could use from my couch? Sony and MS have already designed great controllers that people are comfortable with. No point in recreating the wheel there. But a new keyboard/mouse gaming solution that I can use from my couch would be killer. This would allow me to easily launch and browse netflix, browse the web, select a movie from my NAS, or jump into a game as quickly and easily as an xbox. Dunno wtf MS, Sony, or Steam are thinking...
 
I wouldn't hope for HL3 on a steam machine or the release will be tied to a steam machine just like they've done with tying the last iterations of the half-life series to whatever platform they were promoting at the time.
 
Well, the steam controller tries to unify the controllers we are used to and the mouse/keyboard.
 
Ordeith said:
Origin PC CEO Kevin Wasielewski said, just yesterday, that Steam Machines are kinda pretty much dead.

I think I agree.
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I was waiting for someone to come on here and say something bottom-of-the-barrel like this. Truth is, Origin has no room to talk, as no one even uses that platform, and anyone backing this play is equally inept.
 
so Half Life 3 will be officially unveiled in March?...looking forward to it :cool:
 
FYI: the quote in the OP is from PC maker (as it says clearly exactly that) Origin PC and not from someone representing EA's Origin.
 
So Valve pretty much just gave up developing games and is just providing a service now and boxes. At least hand of your I.P.'s to somebody that can make us HL3 and L4D 3.
 
Having launch titles is, IMO, somewhat critical to developing hype for the whole Steam Machines concept. And they need to do something with Source 2 before it's obsolete.

On the other hand, I have a hard time believing that they could develop games like HL3 or L4D3 in such a short amount of time. And also keep them so tightly under wraps from any serious leaks.
 
Would half-life 3 even be a good game anymore? Or would it just be so advanced since the last one it would just suck and feel like a different game altogether.

/endtroll
 
Dunnlang said:
The rest of the industry nearly handed Valve the ideal conditions for a Steam Machine on a silver platter. Unfortunately Valve seems completely incapable of grasping the opportunity.

Factors in Steam Machine Favor:
- Windows 8/8.1 poor reception.
- "Next-gen" consoles feel like last gen PCs.
- Digital media consumption widely accepted among consumers.
- PC games have low system requirements (maybe due to console ports), so good enough parts are cheap.
- TV industry pushing 4k TVs, but no "easy" way to get 4k content.

All Valve needed to do was have 2-3 tiers of Steam Machine with AMD/ATI, Intel and NVidia options at each tier. Lower tier (Indie) is targeted at console market and media PC. Mid tier (PC Gamer) is targeted to run the year's top games at 1080p. Top tier (4k Experience) is targeted to run many games at 4k.

Steam games could be benchmarked on each of the machines and a compatibility score would be shown beside the title in the Steam Library. If you are running the Indie 2015 Steam Box, it would show you that you could run Borderlands 2 just fine at mid settings.
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Opportunity for what? Have you compared Linux titles to the Windows titles? Most PC gamers wouldn't move from Windows 7 and for good reason. Plus the plethora of back titles from the past decade and longer. Linux's library is still certainly growing but it's going to take a while and the list of triple A games back when W8 was released was certainly pathetic. No I think waiting was the best thing they could have done.

A windows based SteamOS is as simple as setting to boot into big screen mode and disabling explorer.exe if one wished to do so. Windows 8 literally can boot into steam exactly the same as SteamOS does, some reports faster. Having a dedicated linux distro just for gaming is only as good as the selection of titles. Which is certainly better now and hopefully will be much more comparable in 2015 to warrant even bothering with SteamOS....but since the experience is the same on either OS, I think Windows will still have it for quite some time.
 
ondaedg said:
IMHO, the market seems ripe for a HTPC and game system in a small box to replace my blu ray player, my Roku, my Chromecast, my xbox, my playstation, my slingbox, etc etc.

And rather than focus on a new controller, why not create a revolutionary new keyboard/mouse solution that I could use from my couch? Sony and MS have already designed great controllers that people are comfortable with. No point in recreating the wheel there. But a new keyboard/mouse gaming solution that I can use from my couch would be killer. This would allow me to easily launch and browse netflix, browse the web, select a movie from my NAS, or jump into a game as quickly and easily as an xbox. Dunno wtf MS, Sony, or Steam are thinking...
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Honestly I doubt you can replace your blu ray player. Blu Ray playback on PCs sucks, it is loaded down with crippling DRM. HDCP errors galore and there are currently only like 2 major companies that release blu ray playback software that is supposed to be plug and play. Valve or someone would have to make a concerted effort to address this and my guess is SONY would try to block them every step of the way.
 
We all hashed this out the first time this was announced.

It was dead then, it is dead now, and it is dead in the future.

Pretty much only diehard Windows haters are going to choose Linux as a gaming OS, when there are 100 times more games on Windows.

This is little more than an angry desperation move on Gabes part, overreacting to the potential of the Windows store cutting into his Steam Cash cow.
 
Snowdog said:
We all hashed this out the first time this was announced.

It was dead then, it is dead now, and it is dead in the future.

Pretty much only diehard Windows haters are going to choose Linux as a gaming OS, when there are 100 times more games on Windows.

This is little more than an angry desperation move on Gabes part, overreacting to the potential of the Windows store cutting into his Steam Cash cow.
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I hope you are wrong.
I also hope Half Life 3 happens before I hit the nursing home.
 
Well, the current trends are indie games and those are available on all platforms.
AAA games are scarce and can be streamed from another computer or you can even virtualize windows and assign the dGPU to it while the iGPU is used by the host OS, SteamOS.
You dont even need to dual boot and still get the powerful gnu/linux combo for your everyday tasks and available games. And as time passes it will only get better.
 
To me I want the steam machine to succeed, the difference is I don't care if its windows or Linux. I personally wont be touching the Linux version I have no use for it. And nothing really bothers me one way or the other unless valve purposely gimps the windows version or excludes us from buying whatever new title will be used to push this system. IMO the worst case scenario is a lot of people ignorantly buy the Linux steam machines and then are unhappy, but even in that worst case scenario many of them should be able to find people who tell them hey, you can just install windows, steam and these drivers and be in good shape.
 
Snowdog said:
We all hashed this out the first time this was announced.

It was dead then, it is dead now, and it is dead in the future.

Pretty much only diehard Windows haters are going to choose Linux as a gaming OS, when there are 100 times more games on Windows.

This is little more than an angry desperation move on Gabes part, overreacting to the potential of the Windows store cutting into his Steam Cash cow.
Click to expand...

You'll pardon my lack of confidence in your prognostications. I suspect Gabe has a bit more industry experience than you and can better gauge the future of gaming systems.
 
Predaking said:
A windows based SteamOS is as simple as setting to boot into big screen mode and disabling explorer.exe if one wished to do so. Windows 8 literally can boot into steam exactly the same as SteamOS does, some reports faster. Having a dedicated linux distro just for gaming is only as good as the selection of titles. Which is certainly better now and hopefully will be much more comparable in 2015 to warrant even bothering with SteamOS....but since the experience is the same on either OS, I think Windows will still have it for quite some time.
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The reason SteamOS exists is because Valve can't compete against consoles when their SteamBoxs have to include an expensive Windows OS. Also Valve isn't a big fan of Microsoft and their Windows 8. So for you, yes you can go ahead and use Windows and have a better experience. But JoeSixPack is looking to spend no more than $500 for a game machine, and Windows would be the tipping point that would exceed the price beyond that of console prices.
 
No open tech can ever compete with consoles because consoles are sold as loss leaders. The minor price of windows on top of that is not the reason, how much is windows for any OEM $40?. Gabe being pissed because windows includes a store which might overtake his own is the reason. Basic gaming machines are already claimed and sold by many companies for $500 and less with windows. For comparison sakes many console companies will spend money and time which is probably similar in order to put in backwards compatibility to help move more consoles. If all gabe had to do was pony up $40 and maybe even eat the cost of that to increase is library of games by 6000 why the heck wouldn't he do that? The answer is because he doesn't want to compete with the windows store.
 
On top of that its not just the library number its the quality most of the best and biggest AAA titles are windows only.
 
rudy said:
No open tech can ever compete with consoles because consoles are sold as loss leaders.
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Not the Xbox One or PS4. Google it. They don't profit however but no loss.
The minor price of windows on top of that is not the reason, how much is windows for any OEM $40?.
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$40 isn't minor when the whole machine has to reach a price point. Though more expensive Steam Machines are likely to dual boot Windows with SteamOS.
Gabe being pissed because windows includes a store which might overtake his own is the reason.
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That's definitely one of the reasons, but Windows is also a constant changing environment. A Windows update with driver update and virus's can turn a gaming machine into a brick. Linux is far more stable of a platform compared to Windows. Another reason Valve went with SteamOS is that they have total control over those things. They won't update the driver unless they feel the driver won't cause issues, including OS updates. Where with WIndows if you update the OS it may not boot next time. If you don't update the OS it may get infected and things really get out of control.
If all gabe had to do was pony up $40 and maybe even eat the cost of that to increase is library of games by 6000 why the heck wouldn't he do that? The answer is because he doesn't want to compete with the windows store.
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Why spend money for an OS that isn't very friendly towards Steam? They probably have to put just as much effort into Windows without Microsoft being very cooperative. And if Xbox One does fail, Microsoft could turn around and bring Xbox gaming to Windows. For whatever reason Microsoft hasn't, and thank god. Let them think Xbox One has a chance at succeeding.

Can you imagine the technical support nightmare that comes with Windows. With 14 year old boys using their SteamBox to surf to porn that suddenly infects their machine with pop ups and malware. Be fun having to play a game and suddenly a pop up message appears reminding you that your PC is running slow and should download more speed or ram. Better yet Windows update downloads a bunch of stuff and reminds you to reboot the machine constantly. God help you, anti-virus software that decided to scan just as you start the game which slows everything down.

For you and me, we don't worry about those things. But 14 year old Billy who thinks he's smart and found out the SteamBox can also be used as a PornBox, has been surfing away and infecting his machine. It wouldn't take long before Steam just didn't work at all. You wouldn't have those problem with SteamOS.
 
Ashbringer said:
That's definitely one of the reasons, but Windows is also a constant changing environment. ... Linux is far more stable of a platform compared to Windows.
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On what planet? I have installed linux 7 or 8 times at home, and used it my desktop at work for a couple of years. No way in hell is desktop Linux more stable than Windows in either case.
 
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