There's no way to confirm that this was written by an actual Valve employee. Assuming it wasn't, I'm guessing this is probably just some guy re-iterating the most likely possibilities that pretty much everyone has already predicted for the next two announcements. Steambox hardware, new engine (using OpenGL) and L4D3.
I picked up a few opinions elsewhere..what makes MOST sense is
* SteamOS
* (Open) Source Engine 3
* Steam Box
Why Source Engine 3? Because they will want developers making games for the Steambox/SteamOS and Source Engine 3 would do exactly that!
The questions here is whether HL3 will be delivered as the first game using Source Engine 3 - THIS would also make sense. (I don't think it's likely that they would release a new engine without anything to show it's capabilities - that would be...VERY unlikely).
So..according to logic...I am almost 99% certain that we will see Source Engine 3, HL3 (see above why)..and of course Steam Box. It would make PERFECT sense.
Because you can build your own, silly.
I'm sure the same players like alienware that are still making high end gaming PCs will jump on board this as well.
Sadly agreed there. Microsoft had Xboxs in millions of homes and couldn't touch the living room TV as a main source of content until netflix came along. When netflix DID come along, MS was in a better spot than anyone else (aside from WII or PS3) because their console was already there.
Will Valve succeed next to the big 3? I don't know. I would say no, but then again, when Steam first came out no one thought it would succeed.
The big three consoles are definitely the gorillas in the market, but what happens when some kid wants a game system for his birthday to play Call of Duty and his parents say "Hmm, look at that. This steam thing looks like it will work and all of the games are cheaper on it. We'll get him that".
Its not a guaranteed key to success, but its not a bad shot if you're valve.
I can build my own PC and you know access thousands of games immediately with no porting and with top tier driver support across the board. No worrying about whether or not the latest games will run well or even be available.
If you were going to build your own box for gaming there is absolutely no reason to use an OS that is this limited.
No they'll go to the store and see xbox or Playstation, know the name and reputation and buy one of those. Why does Apple sell stuff so easily? Brand recognition. That's the whole problem that Valve will never ever shake. Only PC gamers know who valve is and maybe a couple people who liked portal or L4D on Xbox, but when it comes to game systems people are going to ask 3 things.
1) Who are they? 2) What does this do better than everyone else? and 3) Why should I bother and not just buy a PS4 or Xbox One?
When it comes to question one you may say "well Microsoft was new to gaming and Sony too at one point." The difference is everyone and their brother had a walkman, everyone knew who Sony was. It was the biggest consumer electronics company in the world at the time. Microsoft was one of the most profitable and richest companies ever, people knew who they were. They had stature. For 2, people will want to know what it does better and what will there be? There will be less games and without singular locked hardware it will have the same PC issues. For 3 people likely won't even get that far, based on one and two they'll just buy an Xbox and let the kids play with the Kinect or get a Playstation.
The appeal to consumers should be obvious - a mature digital distribution platform that's been driving down prices for years (while consoles fight tooth and nail to keep them high). Hardware of every size, shape and performance, while the consoles can only offer a least common denominator, one size fits all box. Games that improve in performance and looks over the years as you upgrade, and a top end performance consoles will never be able to touch.
I know the common wisdom is that PC gamers don't want to use a controller on a couch, and console gamers don't care about performance, moddability or upgradability...but no ones ever offered a hassle free, upgradable console before. There could be a legion of PC gamers glad to finally be free of being shackled to a desk and/or keyboard, and console gamers willing to throw money at their system to upgrade performance, just lying in wait for someone to actually make a platform that's the best of both worlds.
Something that I still don't get about this "bringing the pc to the living room" thing: A lot of pc games aren't made to be played in a couch. How are you ever supposed to play EU, total war, starcraft without mouse/kb? How is anyone playing an FPS from their couch going to compete against people using mouse/kb? Playing MMOs without keyboard shortcuts? etc.
Sure, we all play some games with a gamepad, but the games that define PC gaming are mostly made for mouse/kb.
They have no place on a console, so Valve can't even use PC exclusives as a selling point. It's pretty ridiculous that the announcement page for SteamOS has screenshots of Europa Universalis, Total War and Football Manager, all unplayable from the living room.
Something that I still don't get about this "bringing the pc to the living room" thing: A lot of pc games aren't made to be played in a couch. How are you ever supposed to play EU, total war, starcraft without mouse/kb? How is anyone playing an FPS from their couch going to compete against people using mouse/kb? Playing MMOs without keyboard shortcuts? etc.
Sure, we all play some games with a gamepad, but the games that define PC gaming are mostly made for mouse/kb.
They have no place on a console, so Valve can't even use PC exclusives as a selling point. It's pretty ridiculous that the announcement page for SteamOS has screenshots of Europa Universalis, Total War and Football Manager, all unplayable from the living room.
Interesting points, but I'm still not on board with you. The console's biggest strength for Devs is the set HW specs. They know exactly what everyone has and doesn't have to worry about supporting odd configurations. Most consumers don't really care about how many frames per second the game is pushing as long as it works and is fun. How do I know that? If they did consoles wouldn't sell anywhere near as well as they do. Having an upgradeable console, while on one hand sounds interesting is a support nightmare. You'd be back to people trying to figure out if their console could run the game, and most non-tech people don't want that.
The fighting to keep prices down thing I have a hard time getting in line with.. yeah Steam sales are awesome, but it's not like console sales are unheard of. You go to any retailer and you'll see them on sale, or price dropped as the sell through drops down. Even the digital sides on both major platforms have sales. MS just finished it's summer sale last month. Hell, both platforms are giving away games to it's subscribers (before it's asked.. yes Xbox is doing it for Live subscribers http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/games-with-gold ).
My point is, while I find the idea of a upgradeable console interesting, I don't think most non-tech people will. Can you imagine explaining to some guy that he needs to keep throwing money into his console vs the competitors? Yeah the game might look a bit better, but it'll still most likely play the same and in the end that's all that guy will care about..
Yes I know but that's just awkward and that's not how Valve is marketing this. From all the info we have now it's designed for a controller.
here is the original text in it's entirety:
Wait, so Valve is going to use AMD for the CPU, but then turnaround and annouce NVidia as the GPU on the same day that AMD is releasing their new video card? Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, and makes those posts highly suspicious.
Something that I still don't get about this "bringing the pc to the living room" thing: A lot of pc games aren't made to be played in a couch. How are you ever supposed to play EU, total war, starcraft without mouse/kb? How is anyone playing an FPS from their couch going to compete against people using mouse/kb? Playing MMOs without keyboard shortcuts? etc.
Sure, we all play some games with a gamepad, but the games that define PC gaming are mostly made for mouse/kb.
They have no place on a console, so Valve can't even use PC exclusives as a selling point. It's pretty ridiculous that the announcement page for SteamOS has screenshots of Europa Universalis, Total War and Football Manager, all unplayable from the living room.
Something that I still don't get about this "bringing the pc to the living room" thing: A lot of pc games aren't made to be played in a couch. How are you ever supposed to play EU, total war, starcraft without mouse/kb? How is anyone playing an FPS from their couch going to compete against people using mouse/kb? Playing MMOs without keyboard shortcuts? etc.
Sure, we all play some games with a gamepad, but the games that define PC gaming are mostly made for mouse/kb.
They have no place on a console, so Valve can't even use PC exclusives as a selling point. It's pretty ridiculous that the announcement page for SteamOS has screenshots of Europa Universalis, Total War and Football Manager, all unplayable from the living room.
Something that I still don't get about this "bringing the pc to the living room" thing: A lot of pc games aren't made to be played in a couch. How are you ever supposed to play EU, total war, starcraft without mouse/kb? How is anyone playing an FPS from their couch going to compete against people using mouse/kb? Playing MMOs without keyboard shortcuts? etc.
Sure, we all play some games with a gamepad, but the games that define PC gaming are mostly made for mouse/kb.
They have no place on a console, so Valve can't even use PC exclusives as a selling point. It's pretty ridiculous that the announcement page for SteamOS has screenshots of Europa Universalis, Total War and Football Manager, all unplayable from the living room.
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.
The second announcement is weak. No hardware specs or pics. They should have at least had a pic of a prototype in a companion cube case or something.