Steam Box and XIVFollow

Well, and their now previewed controller...

Anyone thinking they might use that instead of PS3/4? The controller sounds interesting and the Boxes should run better than the laptop I've been playing with, it should be a very viable option.

What do you think?

*EDIT* Bleah, I clicked post too soon.

Me personally, I'm very likely going to add one to my living room I'm just hoping the controller ends up being a very interesting hybrid between mouse and gamepad. I played 1.0 all on controller and I do kinda use controller on my PS3 with ARR, but I can't seem to do it on my laptop and PC with ARR/Controller.

Edited, Sep 27th 2013 10:29pm by Perrin

The Steam Box's will supposedly run everything in the Steam library, so Linux shouldn't be an issue. Additionally I believe (and I could be wrong) that any media center PC can be used with the system, the factory boxes will just be a min spec all in one deal? So XIV could in theory run on one.

Can't say I'm really interested in a steam box from what I've seen. My PC already hooks up to my television and the living room TV has an HTPC that's wirelessly connected to my home network. So the idea of buying a steam box which does pretty much what I can currently do isn't really appealing. I've been planning on purchasing a PS4 all along so I'll eventually play FFXIV on that also. I imagine the better hardware will alleviate a lot of issues that the PS3 goes through.

It's going to run some games natively others will be streamed from a PC. Remains to be seen how the streaming works but I expect there'll be a level of latency there.

I may get one just because I like the idea of playing my massive never played library of controller friendly steam games on my couch and I'm an idiot who will pay hundreds of dollars to play games on my TV, that I could easily do by moving my PC into the other room and play for free, rather than play them in my very comfortable computer chair simply because my wife will have to stop saying "you're always on the damn computer" in reference to the 5-6 hours a week I manage to play games.

Prototype specs are out in the wild, will EASILY handle ARR even the lower builds

Steam OS currently has no use for a moderately capable PC user, its creation is a preventative measure.

If Microsoft continues it's current trend* towards an app store model and subscription model for Windows it will be very bad for High-end PC gaming in general, and Steam in particular.

Steam is basically equivalent to an app store, and the one thing app stores don't carry is... other app stores, so you end up with a distribution issue.

Microsoft REALLY wants to be able to tell people that they can get everything they need for their PCs through the Windows App Store(and only through the Windows App Store), where they take either a cut of initial sale price, or a percentage of any in-application transactions, so they should want Steam in the store, but Valve very much doesn't want to split its profits with Microsoft.

Valve is worried about being shut out of future versions of Windows due to that desire to be a stand-alone marketplace, and Steam OS is how they're hedging their bets. BUT, building an OS from scratch is a non-trivial undertaking... so they base it on an established operating system, Linux.

The SteamBoxes are really more of a marketing tool than anything else, something has to be done to encourage Linux game development/ports. So Valve basically says: "Port to Linux via Steam OS and we'll put massive financial support into opening up a new potential market for your product - Gamers scared away from PC gaming due to its high cost of entry** and/or high knowledge requirements"


The fact that you'd even consider dual-booting, hell the fact you know what a dual-boot IS, means you're not really the target market for a Steambox, but you are the reason SteamOS will be available stand-alone. You're also the reason SteamBoxes are required to be able to stream current library titles, but that's a separate topic.

*Given the ongoing leadership changeover/controversies, I'm a bit hesitant to make any long predictions as to Microsofts plans.

**PC gaming is roughly the same financial cost in terms of price for performance as a console... once you have the initial machine. Its getting that first machine that keeps people out of the market. PC gaming is cheap enough to maintain, but a bear to start from scratch compared to console gaming

Edited, Oct 4th 2013 11:11pm by sscearcev