Valve/nVidia & Square-Enix(?!) Making Consoles

[Segata Sanshiro Jr.]

If I could get more stuff DRM free I would. Ys OiF and Origins should have come out on GOG or something too. Even CyberPunk, I'll likely buy that day 1, on GoG.

It would also be worth mentioning that anything can be oversimplified. A brain only reacts to electrical signals, yet the personalities and feelings that come as a result are unique. It only suppresses creativity to try and create a homogenized environment. Eve micro consoles are in fact consoles, they're seeking the same benefits.

[Sonikku]

Ryudo knows what he's talking about. I bought the Orange box back in the day thinking I couldn't lose with so much value, yet I had numerous problems with Steam. Once I tried booting up one of the games to beat it as I was in the home stretch, yet Steam dictated that I not play until I downloaded some big nvidia update for my AMD system. On dial up at the time, that basically meant I was out for days trying to get an update I had absolutely no use for. I tried enabling offline mode, but by that point, it was too late. It was dead set on downloading patches and would not allow me to start up the game I owned until it got it's way. I don't need Valve telling me when I can and can not play the games I paid for.

[MiTT3NZ]

Only thing I've used it for is Football Manager 2012. Never had any problems with Steam, but the thing's always riddled with bugs every release, which they blame on the player's set up of course. I mean, why should they have to make it playable on PCs that aren't backed up and serviced every fortnight?

[Henry Spencer]

Gabe Newell speaks - TV gaming and PC gaming are the same in his view:

"We thought the distinction between living rooms and PCs was artificial," Newell explained. "That's why we did 10-foot [Big Picture Mode], and why we're putting 10-foot into our games onto Linux. We don't think there's any reasons why these are islands. We don't think you have a different set of friends when you go into your living room... We think you can extend the PC totally to be in the living room."
Quote:
"Why doesn't my game experience continue whether I'm on mobile, in the living room, at work or on an airplane," Newell asked. "It's not because it isn't technically feasible, and it's not because it isn't the right thing to do. It's because the people who control mobile right now, Apple, have zero interest in interoperating well with the people who currently are controlling the living room, and they're completely interested in creating this silo separate from what you're doing on your laptop or your desktop."

Newell also explained the company's own forays into new areas, specifically the hardware market. He said that after achieving the level of success Valve has, the company has shifted its focus to "trying to be interestingly innovative." That meant looking at other huge successes in recent years--like the iPad and Wii--and realizing that what separated Apple and Nintendo from Valve is that those other companies had been thinking about the entire user experience, top to bottom. For the controller, that means something with "the control and preciseness that you're used to with a mouse and a keyboard, except [done] in a mobile-friendly, living room friendly way."

"At this point, we think that all of the margin, all of the profitability has been stolen out of [hardware]. Dell has terrible margins. Razer has terrible margins. And we're super profitable, so we need to start taking some of that and feeding it back into more speculative investments, like [Valve R&D man Michael Abrash's] project or the controllers. So that's the big picture version of it."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2 ... g-the-same

Them's fighting words. He thinks he can compete with both Apple and the games consoles.

[MiTT3NZ]

Unlikely as it may be, don't write the idea off. I remember people saying that Microsoft wouldn't be able to compete.

[Bluecast]

Unlikely as it may be, don't write the idea off. I remember people saying that Microsoft wouldn't be able to compete.

Only because they had 60 billion to fall on and pushed it despite lost billions on it. Sony made it because of Nintendo's arrogance and idiocy.
But it's true circumstantial or the right time Piston may make it it may not. Most have failed few have succeeded for various reasons.

Steam box biggest hurdle similar to Xbox Original is why buy a OEM box when they can build their own PC. At the same time these things are reported to cost 1000$ which at that price a PC gamer will already have the parts to build one and hook up to a big monitor or TV with HDMI. It sounds on Paper like a tough sell. Paper does not always tell real world results

[Riku Rose]

I'd be interested in something like the Piston. I thought about buying a PC and just hooking it up to my TV and using it solely for games with a 360 controller awhile back but PC gaming can be a hassle. I see stuff like the Sleeping Dogs hi res pack and it looks amazing but it's so much easier to just buy it on the 360 or PS3.

If Valve can make something I just plug into my TV and Steam starts up I'll jump on board.

[KiBa]

Oh, for cripes sake, if they make it stylish, the kiddies will buy.

[ShenmueTree]

If the Steambox encourages more Linux games, I am not going to complain.

[St. Elmo's Fire]

$1000 is FAR from budget though, surely you could build a shit-hot PC including the graphics card and fully legal latest version of operating system for less than that?
My interest in the Ouya was only because it was touted as £/$99, which is (IMO) not inconsiderable, but not "expensive" either. Android development made even more open to anyone and upscaled to console/TV scale could garner some interesting shit, along with some interesting new message boards which would undoubtedly quickly spring up and be heavily used...

[Bluecast]

My only issue with Ouya is it's Android mobile games on TV. I have a tablet and many have smart phones. The only upside I see personally is physical controls. I don't think at least for now even if both of these do well that major consoles have much to worry about. I feel the Ouya is a different market and Piston seems more of a bridge gap for those who are console gamers only (like me) but want a PC experience in gaming without all the hassle.We don't know for sure it's 1000$ just been reports it is but nothing confirmed. One thing most do not talk about in the steam box is like a PC you can use any control you wish. 360,Keyboard. That's pretty cool.

[St. Elmo's Fire]

Physical controls is exactly what makes the difference for me. Being "sort of" a console, and without the obstacle of a touchscreen being in the input, I think cool things could be possible. IF Android is up to the job of running apps on that sort of scale/speed. But hopefully they wouldn't release it if it wasn't up to the job?
I don't see it as a competitor to "proper" consoles, if I did, I'd probably have no interest since I'd probably think it was doomed straight away. I see it as how that article described it, one for the geeks, built by and programmed by the geeks, selling into an open app market place (though hopefully not TOO open that just any shite can end up there) to other geeks. Outside of the comparative iron fists of Sony, MS and Nintendo in the hardware hierarchy, I'm interested to see how such a world could develop.
It could just bomb and suck, though.
Good point on the Steambox "no hassle", I forgot that it is now a such a plug and play and want it now society that this thing even at a high price will make a lot of sense to an awful lot of people.

[Segata Sanshiro Jr.]

Everything about it is open source even the hardware. Since theres no caps at all there will be some somplete shite on the console. but it will also have a version of Jet Set Radio and sonic 4 episode 2 that are better then their Ps3 counterparts.

[Bluecast]

To be fair a better Sonic 4 still doesn't fix how lame it is

[Segata Sanshiro Jr.]

Shut up sonic 4 is awesome