Computer firm Valve is pushing out of its PC safe zone into the console business.
And it's brought on board a series of manufacturers to create it's first Steam Machines, powerful PC-based consoles for gaming in your living room. The first 14 designs were unveiled today (TUES) as the annual CES gadget show in Las Vegas.
You’re not having deja vu. Six years after launching a line of Linux game consoles that went down as one of the biggest tech flops of the past decade, Valve is trying once again. Only this time, its Steam Machine dreams and unusual touchpads have been rolled into a 7-inch handheld PC that looks and works like a Nintendo Switch.
Here are six reasons why this isn’t Steam Machines all over again — and, a few brand-new reasons to be skeptical.
Steam Deck comes from a company with a mixed reputation for hardware.
Valve may very well have a hit on its hands — but many fans thought the same thing back in 2014.
At least they're trying. They could just keep pulling an EGS. I think this is Valve's answer to cloud gaming, though. I don't think they want gamers streaming from the cloud, they want them on their storefront. So, if that's their reason, they'll likely support this more than they have past endeavors.
Yea, this is a weird article.
It's an impressive piece of technology watching IGN's coverage on it. I want to say that the build quality is similar to Vita with the horsepower of an Xbox Series S and that's very impressive.
The only downside is the battery power. It's not very good and mostly meant to be played to fill in some gaps, but I like the idea of taking your "PC" to a friend's house for some side co-op.
I feel they want to start the new era of portable PC gaming. They said they would offer the customized steam os for free to any companies that want to make their own portable machine.
Somebody had to get the ball rolling is what I took from that statement lol excited for the future with handhelds since I'm a primarily handheld gamer.
While I applaud them for letting SteamOS be free for anyone else to make similar machines, its honestly not even remotely possible to get anywhere close to the pricing of the Steam Deck, which was the same problem that they had with Steam machines.
No other hardware creator has a digital storefront making billions of $ to allow them to sell hardware at a loss and just recoup the money elsewhere, or work directly with AMD to make the APU as custom as necessary.
So yeah, maybe we might see a couple of alternatives from other companies, but they will be even more expensive
The hype around this thing is wild to me. It screams “new toy to use for a few months but then go play steam on my pc”
That's the thing right? As a PC gamer, you have your desk set up to compliment your experience - high end monitors, sound system/headphones, gaming chair, keyboard, mouse, etc. Once I give that part up it's missing a lot of the apeal.
For sure, and to people that will get their money's worth - thats awesome. I look at my steam library, and to ditch mouse/KB and play on a small screen... I would much rather go to a cheaper gaming laptop before this type of mobile setup personally
No because my alienware PC is quite old and isn't really capable any more, I don't want the expense of getting a new PC for gaming but I also don't want to lose access to my Steam library so the Deck is the perfect solution to that.
I can make a lot of use of this, personally.
My work has me traveling often, so just even those plane rides justify my grabbing one of these.
We will see. The market is unpredictable. You cannot rule out the power of a platform with good exclusive games and even when I don't support Nintendo anymore there is no denying the power of its exclusive games.
Valve, the company behind the Steam platform, spoke boldly about its SteamOS plans in the past. It was all about creating an operating system designed from the ground-up for gaming and adding this operating system to hardware known as Steam Machines.
Nope
xb1 and ps4 are not confusing and come in one specification ...consoles main priorities were always ease of use
Too many varieties. I think they will sell, but in a much more "niche" sense.
I have a decent gaming PC that I can connect to my TV via HDMI and then use the Steam Big Picture mode. So I'm less likely to want to buy one of these machines..
nope! SteamBox does not offer the same hardware for the same price. SteamBox should be a base model with additional upgrade options. But developer kit should always be based on the base model. Then SteamBox could probably set a foot into console gaming world or be a better contender in the PC vs Console war.
It's like comparing android phones to an iphone. Sure, android may be more powerful and you can do more things, but developers want to go to the platform that is most consistent and doesn't have 10,000 variations and OS versions.
No!
Consoles are still easier to decide between. Each console still has a strong brand, as opposed to Steam. Lastly...the game exclusivity.
Why would I buy a steam box if I own an xb1 and ps4?