Will we find out more about the elusive Steam Box next week? Valve boss Gabe Newell teased his company’s second-most-anticipated announcement while speaking at LinuxCon today, as reported by Ars Technica.
“Next week we’re going to be rolling out more information about how we get there and what are the hardware opportunities we see for bringing Linux into the living room,” he said.
Linux in the living room? That sure sounds like the Steam Box — Valve’s semi-announced plan for releasing locked PCs that you buy and use like consoles, running Steam Big Picture mode to play PC games on your television.
Last December, Newell told me that Valve planned to release their own living-room-centric PCs this fall, to compete with next-gen consoles, but we haven’t heard much about their plans since. Seems like next week may be the big week.
Comments
42 responses to “Gabe Newell Teases Steam Box Announcement For Next Week”
Too late! Most of us have dropped a bomb on PS4 and/or Xbone pre-orders. Why did they take so long to get to this point? I for one expected to see something long before the consoles were ready to drop.
Most of us? Really? Can we have a show of hands?
I know that sounds douschy, but I’m genuinely curious, as no one I know has pre-ordered either.
I already have a decent PC and have preordered a PS4 for Infamous and Killzone. I dont know many who have preordered an xbox though. Do I want a SteamBox? Just connect my PC to my TV, Set Windows to boot straight into Steam Big Picture mode and use my PS3 controller with a Bluetooth dongle and Motioninjoy (I prefer the PS controller IDK why, just grew up with it I guess). Insta -Steambox! Woop.
A lot of people I know both IRL and on the net have preordered. Like outatime said those are mostly PS4 orders.
erm. i bought a 360 and its been sitting in my closet for the past 5 years, i have no interest in purchasing closed platforms.
i see an interest in purchasing a semi open platform that already has a large lineup of games.
the only thing that is lacking is media/organisation features in big picture, which i hope will be covered in this announcement
Being able to switch to XBMC is a much better option than having steam try to run media imo.
Its just a tiny pc -_-. Not saying i wont get it but my pc is doing the exact same thing at the moment.
steambox will just be flagship hardware
its not about the hardware, its about the software
Yeah but i have a alienware running linux on big picture hooked up to ky 32 inch tv. Its just a bit bigger.
Second most anticipated announcement? What was the first?
Half-life 3, of course!
I’m hoping they’ll announce that HL3 will ship with the steambox.
HL3 Steam box exclusive.
lol. Won’t happen Steambox is just a pc with a linux OS instead of a windows OS. oh and as if HL3 exists 😛
I’m still waiting for their second bi-monthly comic. It was supposed to be out last week!
…unless bimonthly means 2 months instead of twice a month. God help us if that’s the case.
Bi-monthly means every 2 months…
Bimonthly means every two weeks.
*months
Apparently bi-monthly does mean every 2 months, in the world of comics.
I feel your pain though. The TF2 comics are amazing.
Well fuck me. Bimonthly can mean either or and I just
do you KNOW what that means
We’re looking at 10 months until the end of those comics! TEN. THAT’S A LOT OF TIME.
steambox better have a windows version as there is only like 5 linux games on steam. if not it will flop
Because new consoles without backward compatibility never succeed?
And have you actually looked at how many games on Steam work on Linux? It is a lot less than Windows, but it is far more than five.
There is almost 175 out of a catalog of 2128
So yes there is far more than 5 but it is still only a minor amount
And if I do a search for “full controller support” games on Steam (presumably these are the only ones that’d work on a Steam console anyway), I find only 189 results.
Whatever operating system runs on the system, it’ll probably require some level of support from the games to run properly in the new environment. Claiming that sticking Windows on the box would be enough to enable everything on Steam to play on the box is a bit of a stretch.
And do you really expect the number of Linux games on Steam to stay that small if they do release a console running Steam on Linux?
Good point, I hadn’t looked at the controller support. Although I’m not sure how accurate that is considering things like rayman legends doesn’t have even partial controller support listed. Of course the the other thing to consider is there is only 26 linux games with full controller support so unless that changes the whole concept is pointless.
As for the number of linux games, I think it will remain in the minority if the release a windows based steam box. I know if I had a choice between the two I would go the windows version, although I suppose pricing could come into it.
Right, so whatever OS is running on the device, many game developers will need to update things on Steam to get it playing on this theoretical console. Is it really worth picking the option that adds $100 in software costs to the device? (or whatever the Windows license cost is).
For cross platform games, Linux isn’t that bad a choice. You’ve got OpenGL (as found on MacOS X, iOS, Android, PS3, PS4, Wii U, etc), and offers a UNIX-like kernel interface and semantics (as found on MacOS X, iOS, Android, PS4, etc). It’s not Windows, but many of the not-Windows systems have a lot of similarities these days.
Again it will depend on how many devs choose to do the minimum and only get it to work on the windows version (if there is even one). I really don’t care what OS the thing runs, the only thing I would consider is which games it runs.
I’m interested to see what is actually announced. I think it isn’t going to be for me, I could always build a PC to plug into the TV if I wanted that, so it is more out of curiosity.
175 turds are still turds
this thing wont have a proper gpu, so you can imagine what kind of “games” it will be able to run
probably better off connecting your phone to your tv instead
Gosh. Gabe hasn’t even announced the hardware, and already you’ve dissed the gpu. Premature conclusion perhaps?
Have you ever played Portal, Psychonauts, Super Hexagon, Stealth Bastard, Frozen Synapse, Fez, Bastion, Aquaria, FTL, Hotline Miami, Brütal Legend, or Mark of the Ninja? Because you just wrote them all off as turds.
yes i have
its called a hyperbole
that being said, i imagine the steambox is going to be like the one that MSI released last week.
Otherwise, it will have to be one of two scenarios:
1) custom fab gpu chips to fit into a small formfactor. Like new Mac Pro with low profile cards like Asus GTX670mini
2) HTPC – in which case, why bother
Wayyyy more rhe 5 linux games. Go look and be amazed. Quality ovr quantity.
Ohhhhhh boy.
If it’s comparable to PS4 etc, then I’m going with this simply because games are gonna be way cheaper.
Exciting!
Games will be nonexistant, because Linux 😛
It’ll be like an expensive Ouya, if it doesn’t pick up any steam. (pun may or may not be intended :P)
That’d be madness if they did that!
MADNESS!!!
Not true. Linux has improved a lot, most likely driven by Valve in preparation for Steambox.
Check here for game support: http://steamdb.info/linux/
Yes, there are almost 200 Linux games on Seam according to their website. However that’s made up almost exclusively by indie games, with only the odd AAA title. Like I said, it’s going to be like an expensive Ouya, mainly for Indie games. And with the next gen consoles focusing heavily on Indies, it’ll make it a bit obsolete. Should I spend $500 on this box that plays *all* the AAA games and these cool indie games, or the one that plays the cool indie games and only some old AAA titles?
As great as this is… just buy a small form factor PC and stick it next to your TV. BAM instant steam box.
You can set it to boot straight into big picture mode.
While I applaud Valve getting into the console market, I for one already have a steam box.
Pretty much what I did a year ago, except I use a full size case because I like giving the insides some air flow. It still blends in well with my entertainment setup.
Yeah i got a silverstone case that looks like home theatre equipment. nice stylish front.
I have an i5 3570K HTPC just waiting for a GPU to be popped in.
I’m using on board graphics right now but when I upgrade my gaming rig at the end of the year, i’ll pop my current GFX card into the HTPC.
Wait, Steam Box is still a thing?
Meh, whatever. I have no desire to play PC games on a TV. I have a PC for that.