Steam OS

Based on the Steam client - I can't say I'm confident Valve knows what they're doing when it comes to something like this. It's needlessly slow and awkward to navigate - especially given how simple the tasks you perform actually are.

Developing a fully featured OS to compete with modern alternatives is no small feat.

I prefer a monopoly when it comes to operating systems - because it means less hassle and less decision making for the consumer. Having to dual boot or figure out what OS is best for whatever game can be a bitch - and I certainly don't see any real advantage for myself. It just means some developers will meet another obstacle and they need more resources to support both platforms - or they need to ignore a piece of the action, because they don't have the necessary manpower.

Besides, I've never been a fan of Valve or Steam. I think both are given too much credit - though I concede Steam is very convenient because of its semi-monopoly status, and not because it's an impressive piece of software.

Valve as developers have always seemed overly confident and complacent - based on games that I don't think are all THAT great.

I'm not saying their games suck - they're just not that special to me - and given the amount of resources they must have available - I think they're being way too conservative when it comes to game design and technical innovation. The last truly impressive thing they did was the Source engine - and everything since then has been "meh" - from my point of view.

"Meh" isn't exactly a catastrophe, but AFAIK they have more money than anyone could ever need - so I'm surprised they're not doing more for gaming with it. It's like they don't understand or care about making great games, which is strange for a game developer.

Creating a "gamer OS" would have been great if I could trust them to actually care about and understand games. Instead, I can't help but suspect it's all about money - which is never that interesting to me.
 
Guys, the stated mission goal is to bring Steam OS and the later to be released Steambox to the living room, not desktop PCs. Of course you can run Steam OS on a desktop. You can also put your Xbox or your Playstation on your desk and pretend it's a desktop PC.
You can do lots of crazy stuff and Valve -just like Microsoft who keep preaching to PC gamers that they matter (it only doesn't exactly show now, does it?)- will not give PC gamers the finger over night. It will be a process of transition where they will try to convince people that the Steambox is sooo much better than our gaming PCs.
Just like MS, they will try to dictate how we should play our games and from where to get our games and who's our daddy and all that ;) .
Also, the Steambox will be the default hardware for anything Steam OS so Valve (and third party developers) will target the Steambox' hardware specs instead of making use of the near endless scalability of the desktop PC.

Nope. This is very bad news for us dinosaur classic desktop PC gamers. This is only good news for people who want another choice in the living room in addition to Sony and MS. For classic desktop PC gaming this is another big nail in the coffin.
 
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Well, I agree it is bad news for PC.

But it might be great news for linux gaming?

The entire idea will be kind of lost if old games only run on windows steam? but I doubt they could make old DX games run on linux? so I am really confused as to how they'll solve this if at all.
 
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Steambox sounded interesting until I noticed it costs as much as new pc. Why would I buy console that costs as much as new pc? Especially if I can allready buy all the games for that console for my current pc?

As a consumer I dont understand why I would want this steambox. Two things that would change my mind.

1. All windows steam games can be transfered to this new steamos for free or with big discount.

2. Sell steambox for 300-400e.
 
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Based on the Steam client - I can't say I'm confident Valve knows what they're doing when it comes to something like this. It's needlessly slow and awkward to navigate - especially given how simple the tasks you perform actually are.

And I assume you've only used the Windows version! :) Let's just say that the Windows Steam client compared to Mac is like comparing Mac iTunes to the Windows version!

I prefer a monopoly when it comes to operating systems - because it means less hassle and less decision making for the consumer.

... and zero innovation, price increases, monopolistic practices to encroach in other areas to continue revenue growth, and paranoid destructive practices to protect turf ...

Yeah, monopolies are great ;)


But that aside I agree - Valve doesn't have elegant clients, and it isn't clear that this will work in any way that benefits existing users. Will everything get wrapped in Wineskin? What will happen to performance? And what hardware will the box use that will run Linux, and wrapped games and offer reasonable performance?
 
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And I assume you've only used the Windows version! :) Let's just say that the Windows Steam client compared to Mac is like comparing Mac iTunes to the Windows version!

Yep, only the Windows version.

… and zero innovation, price increases, monopolistic practices to encroach in other areas to continue revenue growth, and paranoid destructive practices to protect turf …

Yeah, monopolies are great ;)


Sounds a bit paranoid on your part, really.

I don't think it's fair to say there's no innovation - as they have to do something to get people to upgrade to their new versions.

Also, I really don't care much about my OS - beyond stability and basic functionality.

The primary reason I own a PC is for gaming - and I go where the games exist.

I'm platform neutral and I couldn't care less what my OS is called. I just want as little hassle as possible.
 
Guys, the stated mission goal is to bring Steam OS and the later to be released Steambox to the living room, not desktop PCs. Of course you can run Steam OS on a desktop. You can also put your Xbox or your Playstation on your desk and pretend it's a desktop PC.

Ahahaha!
 
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I have to agree with Mori here on one part, Steam/Valve is looking to get into your living room. Its a big, untapped market that someone else has.

Creating their own OS they can bypass the middle man (MS, Apple, Google) and require devs to work within their framework.

Companies could buy into it because it would be one less middle man to deal with. It was kind of the dream of Larry Ellison and even IBM when Big Blue scrapped OS/2 in favour of Java back in the day.

We're heading towards more and more convergence and that means embedded systems. I won't be surprised when I see Steam built into my TV in the next 5 years or something like it.
 
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I have to say that I do like the sound of cloud saves working across platforms. It would be nice seamlessly continue playing a game on the TV, desktop, laptop, some kind of Shield-like streaming handheld, etc, as convenience dictates.
 
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I'll probably throw this on the media pc I have attached to the VESA mount on the back of my TV to give it a try. If nothing else, it will be useful being able to stream my entire steam library from my gaming desktop. Right now at least that's the feature I'm most interested in since that will be available day one; whether or not there ends up being a lot of games I want with native support for it and whether it actually provides a significant performance benefit will determine whether I bother dual booting my desktop.
 
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Sounds a bit paranoid on your part, really.

I don't get the impression as if you had been "hinterfragen" how current monopolies work.

["German "hinterfragen" literally translated means "to ask behind", in the sense of "to look behind the facade".]
 
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"5. Play a game using a gamepad in Big Picture mode"

That one pretty much says it all ... Keyboard & mouse need not apply ...
 
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Bring on the Steam monopoly. Can't wait till certain games are only available for the OS also. All hail Steam. Now bow to our new overlords. :worship:

Yes it's a bright future we are all heading into.:)

Read this -(This is called satire so spare me the comments about me being serious.)
 
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"5. Play a game using a gamepad in Big Picture mode"

That one pretty much says it all … Keyboard & mouse need not apply …

Cor, there's only about 100 words on that page and you manage to still jump to the wrong conclusion?

Am I going to be using a mouse and a keyboard in the living-room?

If you want. But Steam and SteamOS work well with gamepads, too. Stay tuned, though - we have some more to say very soon on the topic of input.
 
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I saw that, don't think I have the wrong conclusion ... The market Steam is playing for here is clear. And it suggests a direction that has anti-PC conclusions.
 
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You said "mouse and keyboard need not apply" when it clearly states you can use mouse and keyboard if you want? I'd say that's the wrong conclusion.

Now, whether you think this is a push to get people to slowly move away from traditional PC inputs is another matter entirely and that I could agree with.

As for the "more to say very soon on the topic of input," I wonder if Friday's announcement may have more to do with Occulus Rift (or some similar VR tech) than HL3. I don't really have much interest in VR, but the potential for innovation excites me all the same.
 
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The market would appear to be those who don't have a desktop pc for gaming. Obviously you'll beta with those that do because they are your current install base. I don't think that they are attempting to get rid of the traditional PC market. That's like saying that Subway is trying to drive their lunch and dinner customers to only order breakfast by starting to offer a breakfast menu as well.
 
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The entire idea will be kind of lost if old games only run on windows steam? but I doubt they could make old DX games run on linux? so I am really confused as to how they'll solve this if at all.

Yep. And since most new games are crap and I play the good old ones, this is a lose lose for me.
 
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