Faiblesse Des Sens Posted October 5, 2013 Report Share Posted October 5, 2013 I'd also note that they seem to have struck a deal with Nvidia, too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted October 6, 2013 Report Share Posted October 6, 2013 They're giving away 300 computers for free, of course they're making a loss. And at 300 units you're only going to get marginal bulk buy rates. And they've equal clout on the software front. As it stands even Ouya have significantly greater hardware clout. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saturnine Tenshi Posted October 6, 2013 Report Share Posted October 6, 2013 Sounds like some other company that got into consoles two generations ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faiblesse Des Sens Posted October 6, 2013 Report Share Posted October 6, 2013 They're giving away 300 computers for free, of course they're making a loss. And at 300 units you're only going to get marginal bulk buy rates. And they've equal clout on the software front. As it stands even Ouya have significantly greater hardware clout. Seems kind of pointless to mention the cost of only these 300 units considering they're free. The rest of us are thinking in terms of if any of them actually came to market. We have no idea what they've worked with Nvidia though. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted October 6, 2013 Report Share Posted October 6, 2013 Yes, Valve have negated the wonders of market forces and created computers that are "free" containing parts that individually are hundreds of pounds each. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted October 6, 2013 Report Share Posted October 6, 2013 Free to the consumer/tester. Now you're just being difficult. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted October 6, 2013 Report Share Posted October 6, 2013 In what way am I being "difficult"? Computers are not free to put together, certainly not ones consisting of Core i7's and Nvidia Titans. These are, and I quote, "off-the-shelf PC parts". They're going to cost as much for Valve, for the consumer, for whoever, as much as off-the-shelf PC parts cost. Valve are not a hardware manufacturer, they are not building a console that is using a specific SOC, they're not ordering several million units in bulk with intention of a long term hardware plan. Steam Machines are built from regular ordinary Joe IBM compatible PC parts. The name "Steam Machine" doesn't change this. The fact it's Valve doesn't change this. The entire point of the Steam Universe is to have an Linux-based OS running on regular computer platform that folks are already using. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faiblesse Des Sens Posted October 6, 2013 Report Share Posted October 6, 2013 they're not ordering several million units in bulk with intention of a long term hardware plan Yeah, but if they did? Also, do you really think nothing of their Nvidia deal? Nvidia has plenty to gain by giving them lower prices. Also they are making their own case so arguably they are a hardware manufacturer now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saturnine Tenshi Posted October 6, 2013 Report Share Posted October 6, 2013 You must have some insider info, Dean. Let me in on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted October 6, 2013 Report Share Posted October 6, 2013 they're not ordering several million units in bulk with intention of a long term hardware plan Yeah, but if they did? Also, do you really think nothing of their Nvidia deal? Nvidia has plenty to gain by giving them lower prices. Also they are making their own case so arguably they are a hardware manufacturer now. Then it would be going against their current philosophy of an upgradable PC, it would just be a console locked down and stuck in time for nearly a decade. "Steam Machine" is a PC, same as any put out by Dell, HP, Alienware, yourself. Just they've called it "Steam Machine" cos it's better marketing. Nvidia don't actually sell anything to the end consumer though, so Nvidia lowering prices on thier chips isn't going to do much except give EVGA, MSI, Gainward etc bigger profit margins. Nvidias involvement is exactly the same as it has been with game developers; optimising the software. In this case drivers for Linux since they're usually pretty abysmal. It even says in Nvidia's announcement that that's what they're doing. NVIDIA engineers embedded at Valve collaborated on improving driver performance for OpenGL; optimizing performance on NVIDIA GPUs; and helping to port Valve’s award-winning content library to SteamOS; and tuning SteamOS to lower latency, or lag, between the controller and onscreen action. Designing thier own case puts them in the same class as SCE, Nintendo and Microsoft? Antec make their own cases, are they now a hardware manufacturer too? Pretty low bar of entry if you ask me. The specs on a case are shocking. Literally. Most of them only come with a PSU, you can't really do much with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted October 7, 2013 Report Share Posted October 7, 2013 Just to chuck in my 2p. The Valve site says: "The specific machine we're testing is designed for users who want the most control possible over their hardware. Other boxes will optimize for size, price, quietness, or other factors." I think it helps to think of the lower spec machine as an entry level, standalone, steam machine. It's got enough horsepower to run most recent titles. From the comment above, I'd suggest that a much cheaper slave machine is being contemplated that would be a pure streaming device. I could be wrong though. I happen to agree with Dean that Valve are unlikely to be jumping into the hardware market in a big way. They seem to want to produce to broad a spectrum of devices from streaming boxes up to full rigs, that means that they are not going to be ordering in the levels needed to reduce costs.Sony and MS will be producing tens of millions of machines with identical components. Even taking the soft option that Valve are building 3x standalone machines and say 2 flavours of streaming only device, that cuts their buying power dramatically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. GOH! Posted October 8, 2013 Report Share Posted October 8, 2013 (edited) Will Valve be making them or is Valve just using these as reference machines for third party builders? Edited October 8, 2013 by Mr. GOH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted October 8, 2013 Report Share Posted October 8, 2013 I reckon they will do a couple of machines themselves as vanity products, but the majority of machines with Steam OS will be third party or home built. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted October 11, 2013 Report Share Posted October 11, 2013 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted October 11, 2013 Report Share Posted October 11, 2013 Their legacy mode is a trackpad, not a mouse. It'll do as a stop gap, but there's a reason why laptops are generally not considered so great to play with. Bummer they never covered any keyboard :/ (Didn't even end his turn in Civ V) Other than that, controller based games work with controllers, and everything else seems to be Xpadder like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faiblesse Des Sens Posted October 11, 2013 Report Share Posted October 11, 2013 Yeah but this looks like a trackpad that isn't shit. You seem to be selling it far too short by a laptop comparison. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted October 11, 2013 Report Share Posted October 11, 2013 It could be a non-shit trackpad, but it's still a trackpad and still not quite the mouse replacement I'm thinking they're hoping it would be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faiblesse Des Sens Posted October 11, 2013 Report Share Posted October 11, 2013 It could be a non-shit trackpad, but it's still a trackpad "I'm not biased, but I'm still biased." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted October 11, 2013 Report Share Posted October 11, 2013 Yeah, not quite sure how that one works. I guess it could also be biased to suggest controllers don't work well for FPS titles either compared to kb/m? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faiblesse Des Sens Posted October 12, 2013 Report Share Posted October 12, 2013 You have no idea how this thing handles and you're making assumptions because "it's a trackpad." It's pre-emptive peripheral prejudice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted October 12, 2013 Report Share Posted October 12, 2013 Except we just watched a video of it in action, with how it handles, showing not only the in-game footage, but also how he's controlling it at the same time. So..errm..yeah, no idea how it handles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faiblesse Des Sens Posted October 12, 2013 Report Share Posted October 12, 2013 "I watched a video of the XBox One controller so I know exactly how it handles now!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Mr. GOH! Posted October 12, 2013 Popular Post Report Share Posted October 12, 2013 If you love the Valve controller so much, FDS, why don't you marry it? 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baconrath Posted October 25, 2013 Report Share Posted October 25, 2013 (edited) How will this handle games on Steam that require another service/drm/thing like GFWL?(I know GFWL is on its way out it's just an example) Edited October 25, 2013 by Baconrath Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted October 25, 2013 Report Share Posted October 25, 2013 I'd take a stab in the dark those games don't run on Linux anyway, so..it won't handle them except through streaming. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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