Steam box

The Xi3/Piston machines are not Steambox.

Steambox specs have not yet been released, but Gabe has confirmed that they are trying to make it run Linux.

Given that only a fraction of Steam games run on Linux, that makes it dead in the water as far as I'm concerned.
 
Anyone else think like most things Valve related, that this has decended into a farce ?

The Xi3 may not be an official steambox but it sure looks like one and Valve did work with Xi3 on the design and invested money in them in order to bring the box to market.

Valve must have known Xi3 were planning an announcement and yet, have released a weird statement distancing themselves from the box which, apart from its price-tag, looks very tidy.

All Valve have done so far is confuse everyone.
 
Besty said:
All Valve have done so far is confuse everyone.
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How so? They invested some money in a company, now they've evidently pulled out and are working on their own project. They never claimed the Xi3 was going to be the official Steambox. If people choose to jump to conclusions, that's their problem.
 
I guess the media haven't helped by labelling everything that's small form factor which will display games in Steams big picture mode a 'Steam Box'

I don't really blame Valve for that. Be interesting to see what they come up with though. I can't help the feeling that if they do want to compete with the next gen of consoles they are going to have a difficult time keeping the price down. At a guess I imagine that Linux is less demanding on resources than Windows but even so it's going to have to go some to match what we now know is inside a PS4.

Maybe I'm just confused as to which market they're aiming this at. Perhaps there is a market for it. Hugley dependant on price though. Only time will tell.
 
TheVoice said:
How so? They invested some money in a company, now they've evidently pulled out and are working on their own project. They never claimed the Xi3 was going to be the official Steambox. If people choose to jump to conclusions, that's their problem.
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That's not strictly true.

Xi3 and Valve were both sending out the wrong messages at CES just this past January. If this is not the steambox then someone from Valve could have said something then, they did not, what did Valve do, did they state that this is not the droid you are looking for?

....nope, the demoed this very Xi3 box at the Valve booth at CES, and then the Xi3 Press release went out:

"Xi3 also announced today it has received an investment from Valve Corporation. Xi3’s new development stage computer game system is also being showcased in Valve’s booth (#25730) at CES 2013. No additional details about Xi3’s new system or Valve’s investment in Xi3 will be released at this time."

And then today we get this:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...steam-box-issues-stark-message-to-gabe-newell

So, questions remain but the main ones that needs answering are, if Xi3 are not building the steambox, then who is and when will it be released ?
 
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Ninja_Ferret said:
Xi3 is now believed to have windows preinstalled
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Posted by Fogheart on Eurogamer:

"I believe that early in the planning phase of Steam Box Valve wanted it to be a Windows box for obvious reasons (more game support, library transfer) but it all hinged on the question: could Microsoft torpedo us through changes to Windows, or what they do in future releases. So they hedged their bets by looking into Linux as an alternative OS. (you can find Gabe saying as much on BBC News website). I think Valve came down on 'Yes' - a Windows-based Steambox would be beholden to MS who could make life very difficult for Valve, continually patching the OS in ways to stop Steam working correctly.

The situation we have, where you need Windows to do any serious gaming on X86 PC architecture, is wrong. It's a monopoly. It's got to change, and I hope it's not too late. In the console market we can choose between platforms for our games with perceived advantages to each, with the desktop OS there's just no perceivable advantage to Linux gaming right now. Yes, it runs a bit faster, but the library size is dwarfed by that available for Windows. So, we're forced to stick with Windows and follow it down whatever route it takes in future, whether we find it unpleasant or not.

In creating an alternative gaming platform based on PC architecture Valve are not making themselves into a nemesis of MS. Just as Sony Vaio laptops run Windows and that's no problem for MS or Sony, Valve games will still see release on Windows and probably XBox platforms. But there could be maneuvres to stifle the success of the Steambox. Carrots and sticks to prevent major publishers releasing games that work on Linux architecture, for example. Renewed litigation by MS claiming that portions of Linux infringe MS copyrights. And so on.

As for this particular ersatz steambox, Xi3 and Valve are in clear disagreement: Valve want nothing claiming to be a steambox to be running Windows. This, I think, is where they split apart."
 
Why do I get the feeling there's a touch of the Amazon Phone/Half Life 3 thing with the Steam Box (i.e. it will be rumoured for frigging ages, constantly be 'just around the corner', yet not show until who knows when)?

I was surprised it wasn't announced at E3 - I kinda figured they would aim to put it up against the One/4 launch.
 
Valve’s Steam Box Still Happening, Showing Next Week

More details here:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/09/17/valves-steam-box-still-happening-first-showing-next-week/

Now it’s time for PCs to supplant walled garden living room boxes, but via a form factor that’s maybe a bit less, er, monolithic than the towering monster machines we’re used to. “The next step in our contribution to this is to release some work we’ve done on the hardware side,” said Newell. “Next week we’re going to be rolling out more information about how we get there and what are the hardware opportunities that we see for bringing Linux into the living room and getting it even more unified with [other devices].”
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Funny to see Valve whining about a monopoly for PC gaming whilst, err, trying to build a monopoly for PC gaming..:rolleyes:;)

Gabe sulked when Windows 8 came out with a digital store in a panic that publishers might have a widespread alternative digital distribution method for games as opposed to Steams near monopoly so threw his toys out of the pram decided Linux is the best thing ever and has moaned about W8 and Microsoft ever since. Silly man. How many people are going to spend a couple of hundred quid on a low power Linux PC to go under the TV locked into Steam with 8 games available rather than a Xbox/PS4 (360 or ps3 even) Wii U or let's face it a Windows PC running steam with a 360 controller if they really wanted to.
 
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I can't see this being successful, to run games at decent graphics comparable to consoles it is going to need some decent hardware due to the inefficiencies of the PC platform compared to consoles which is just going to make it too expensive. Unless they make it cheaper in which case it can't run anything.
 
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