Opinions about Valve's Proposed Steam OS.

[HowIPendragon]

I know there are a bunch of threads on this subject, but I just wanted to share my opinion and see if anyone can counter what I believe might happen.

 

I really don't see how PC gamers can be very optimistic about this.

Valve is attempting to move Steam into the livingroom. While that's all well and good, making it more openly available to non-hardcore gamers means they will try as best as they can to deliver decent experiences on whatever hardware they can afford, since they likely won't be spending $1000+ on a PC or rigging it up themselves.

 

If it does catch on devs will be scrambling to deliver their games in such a way that will make it compatible to machines with as low specs as possible, possibly even delivering only a singular version of the game and not a "low-spec" & "high-spec" as options for gamers with gaming PCs, essentially creating a type of system similar to consoles, which are always blamed for holding back PC versions of games.

 

I'd still love for this to blow up though. If anything just to shake things up over at Microsoft would be good enough.

Idk, someone tell me if I'm wrong here. I'd like to be, lol.

Edited September 24, 2013 by rsoto1125

[Parker]

Personally, I really couldn't care less about it. I find Valve to be extremely overrated and nothing about this reveal has excited me. I think Steam is a fantastic service, don't get me wrong, but Valve developed games aren't anything special to me. 

 

 

Parker

[skinner49]

Although I am interested in where is will go and it's implications, I have no opinion regarding what this means for Steam or Valve. I don't use either one of their products.

Edited September 24, 2013 by Sakura4994

[antithesis]

I loathe Microsoft and it's piss-poor excuses for operating systems.

I love Valve and their superb Steam gaming platform.

I refuse to use Windows and I'm not buying another over-priced PC gaming rig just to play games on Steam.

I will buy a reasonably priced gaming-optimised, Linux-powered, mini-PC just to play games on Steam.

So that's a resounding "yes please" from me. Microsoft can eat my shorts.

[F22-Razgriz]

I for one couldn't care less either. (Sorry coach: Parker) I didn't mean to tumble on your lines.
Just my personal take on the topic.
 

Having said. I couldn't find any excitement on this path that Valve is taking. Even if, they bring along the

STEAM OS. Primarily because of the backlogs i had with my current gen-PS3 (who is still a beauty and a bunch of 'AAA' i haven't played)

and second, perhaps due to the anticipation of next-gen(PS4)

 

And if I want to bring the multimedia or mimic what STEAM OS has to offer in my living room.
I could had easily done it by hooking up my Ultrabook and open up 'BIG Screen View - option'  for STEAM.
and not to mentioned the built in capabilities of PS3 (Blu-Ray) +NETFLIX...So I'm all set with that.

 

again just throwing my two cents on the topic.   

 

 

Razgriz
 

[Legos-in-Shoes]

I loathe Microsoft and it's piss-poor excuses for operating systems.

I love Valve and their superb Steam gaming platform.

I refuse to use Windows and I'm not buying another over-priced PC gaming rig just to play games on Steam.

I will buy a reasonably priced gaming-optimised, Linux-powered, mini-PC just to play games on Steam.

So that's a resounding "yes please" from me. Microsoft can eat my shorts.

Why not just build it for a lot cheeper than the prebuilt "gaming" crap (they usually aren't as good anyway, and building is simply putting things in a slot) and throw a form of Linux on it?

[AndroidFox]

Personally, I really couldn't care less about it. I find Valve to be extremely overrated and nothing about this reveal has excited me. I think Steam is a fantastic service, don't get me wrong, but Valve developed games aren't anything special to me. 

 

 

Parker

 

Valve are making an operating system, I don't see how you disliking their games is even relevant.

Edited September 26, 2013 by AndroidFox

[TheDarkyos]

Steam OS sounds like a cool idea, I'm going to install it on my old laptop and see if it's any good.

Hopefuly it'll be out soon.

[antithesis]

Why not just build it for a lot cheeper than the prebuilt "gaming" crap (they usually aren't as good anyway, and building is simply putting things in a slot) and throw a form of Linux on it?

I've built custom PCs since the days of Windows 3.1 and have never built one for less than $3000 because of the bleeding edge specs required to keep ahead of the curve until it needs to be replaced wholesale within 3 years. My 4 year old quadcore i7, quad GPU, 16GB RAM, dual SSD PC gaming rig still works fine @ 1080p for PC gaming but is reaching the end of it's lifecycle, and Windows doesn't offer many of the games I want to play, so it's an over-investment in a platform I don't use often enough to justify the expense.

I tend to think we're going to get decent sub-$1000 SteamMachines, so I'm saving $2000 over my typical PC upgrade path. It's worth noting that Australia is the most expensive place in the world to build a PC - we pay roughly double the US for our hardware components, hence the $3K figure for high-end gaming rig specs WITHOUT keyboard, mouse, display, speakers etc. A decent CPU or GPU (the kind you want to last a few years) alone costs over a grand here! Chances are I'll buy a SteamMachine in the US and import to Oz for far less than I can build the same spec system locally and I don't have to worry about compatibility issues.

I got into console gaming to get away from the expensive PC upgrade cycle and constant battle simply to get games working in Windows (driver conflicts, legacy drivers, ini tweaks, permission tweaks etc), so I'm looking forward to a cheaper, unified specification, consolised PC tuned to run SteamOS. I don't need a PC for anything other than Steam - I ditched Windows for Mac OS X four years ago due to Doze's shithouse multitasking capabilities and frequent system crashes wasting a couple of hours of each and every day, and I haven't regretted that decision for a second. If you want a productivity workhorse capable of more than basic email, web browsing and office documents, Windows is not the weapon of choice. Just as a Mac is not optimal as a gaming rig...different horses for different courses.

Generic Linux distros like Ubuntu suck balls as a desktop OS and lack drivers for most hardware components. Linux isn't designed to run client-side consumer-grade apps, it's designed to run server software with minimal GUI interaction. SteamOS is a free gaming-optimised Linux OS...why would I want to install another distro? Valve has been working with companies like Nvidia to create video drivers for SteamOS, optimised for specific hardware built into SteamMachines. Having a smaller array of optimal hardware means less dicking around to get game working. SteamOS on Valve-recommended hardware will run games faster than the same system specifications running Windows. There's also no guarantee those drivers will work in other Linux distros or support third-party cards, so I'll happily fork over a few extra bucks for peace of mind.

I don't want to nor care about tinkering under the hood of the OS, even though Valve will leave the source open for customisation. I'll be happy with the SteamOS shell, just as I'm happy with the XMB shell sitting over the top of the PS3 GameOS, which is also built on a Linux core. I'm at the point where I just want to put a disc in to fire up a game and know that it'll work 100 times out of 100. In over 20 years of PC gaming, I never had that guarantee. I'd often spend as much time getting a game to boot as I ended up playing it because Windows bloatware just plain sucks. It's not until you broaden your horizons that you realise just how much of a handbrake Microsoft has put on your hardware.

Edited September 26, 2013 by ant1th3s1s

[Legos-in-Shoes]

It's worth noting that Australia is the most expensive place in the world to build a PC - we pay roughly double the US for our hardware components.

That throws practically any argument out the window, outside of initial burning of money vs long term burning of money (but it's still a burning of money), and since Valve follows 1 Euro = 1 Dollar on Steam, all prices are roughly .35 cents cheaper (currently, it will change at some point) compared to US prices, after conversion.

[antithesis]

That throws practically any argument out the window, outside of initial burning of money vs long term burning of money (but it's still a burning of money), and since Valve follows 1 Euro = 1 Dollar on Steam, all prices are roughly .35 cents cheaper (currently, it will change at some point) compared to US prices, after conversion.

Sphincter says what now? Australia is not in Europe, we don't use the Euro, so that made zero fucking sense. Australia is located in the southern hemisphere. World's largest island. World's smallest continent. Here's a map.

In US dollars, Australians pay twice as much for computer hardware as the USA, even though our currencies are on relative parity.

To exemplify that statement, let's work with some local exchange rates - $1000 AUD = $934 USD as of today.

To purchase a computer worth $1500 USD in the USA costs us roughly $2804 USD in Australia for the same build. It should cost us roughly $1604 USD.

How that throws any argument for SteamOS or for SteamMachines out the window is completely beyond my comprehension.

My point was that if you want a good PC in Oz (a colloquialism for the country Australia), expect to pay around $3000 AUD / $2800 USD for something you'd pay $1500 USD to purchase. A SteamMachine, at a guess, should cost around $1000 AUD / $934 USD, based on the details of the Piston released to date, plus a $100 or so to import to Oz. Ergo, we'll get more bang-for-buck by importing a pre-configured SteamMachine "console" for want of a better word, than building a same-spec PC from scratch using locally purchased components.

Make sense now?

Edited September 27, 2013 by ant1th3s1s

[Mio]

 
It's not like there is much you can complain about... 
 
E: oh yeah Sauce for those so inclined 

Edited September 27, 2013 by Mio

[Dr_Mayus]

Sphincter says what now? Australia is not in Europe, we don't use the Euro, so that made zero fucking sense.

In US dollars, we price twice as much as the USA, even though our currencies are on relative parity.

 

Don't  you know Ant that Austria and Australia are the same thing

[antithesis]

Don't  you know Ant that Austria and Australia are the same thing

Not to mention we speak very good English here, it being our Mother tongue and all. Yodelaheehoo!

[Legos-in-Shoes]

Sphincter says what now? Australia is not in Europe, we don't use the Euro, so that made zero fucking sense. Australia is located in the southern hemisphere. World's largest island. World's smallest continent. Here's a map.

In US dollars, Australians pay twice as much for computer hardware as the USA, even though our currencies are on relative parity.

To exemplify that statement, let's work with some local exchange rates - $1000 AUD = $934 USD as of today.

To purchase a computer worth $1500 USD in the USA costs us roughly $2804 USD in Australia for the same build. It should cost us roughly $1604 USD.

How that throws any argument for SteamOS or for SteamMachines out the window is completely beyond my comprehension.

My point was that if you want a good PC in Oz (a colloquialism for the country Australia), expect to pay around $3000 AUD / $2800 USD for something you'd pay $1500 USD to purchase. A SteamMachine, at a guess, should cost around $1000 AUD / $934 USD, based on the details of the Piston released to date, plus a $100 or so to import to Oz. Ergo, we'll get more bang-for-buck by importing a pre-configured SteamMachine "console" for want of a better word, than building a same-spec PC from scratch using locally purchased components.

Make sense now?

I was trying to say in relative terms that AUS isn't the only place getting shafted through prices, since it's 1.35 Euro to 1 USD, and over in the UK is about 162.55 USD more than what I would have to pay, verses 104.4 USD lower than what I'd pay for Euros. Basically, the only place to get things cheep at this point, it's Central Europe and/or parts of SE Asia.

[Venocide]

Here's the Steam controller

 

 

I'm not liking the design.