The Steam Box: My Thoughts

So here it is, the fabled Steam Machine.  The biggest news in gaming last week was Valve's announcement of something we've all been expecting: a Steam based console. 

Here's a quick recap.  Last week, Valve announced a three pronged strategy to dominate the living room.  The same space taken over now by the big three console makers.  Valve announced:

1)  A Steam OS, which will be running games on…

2)  The Steam Machine.  Basically a console which will play games on Steam and…

3)  A brand new controller designed specifically for the Steam Machine.  Not just any controller, but something actually NEW.  And we're not talking about motion controls either.  I have no idea how it works, but can't wait to try it out.  Best you Google it if interested, though, because I won't be talking much about the controller in this blog…

So what is Valve trying to do?  Basically, they want part of the console market.  Will they do it?  My answer, in short, is… no.  The reason?  Folks like me.  I believe people such as myself SHOULD be the target market for this new machine.  I'm basically a pure console gamer, who prefers a controller to a keyboard, and a big screen to a monitor.  All this is pretty much covered by Valve and their strategy.  An OS targeted specifically for the living room?  Check.  A console like machine?  Check.  A new controller?  Double check.  Seems like all they need, right?  Not really.  They forgot one thing.  It's not something they don't have, but rather something they do.  They forgot to take the PC out of the console.

What I mean is…. Take the OS.  Please!  Okay, that's an old joke.  The thing is… in the history of console gaming, not a single manufacturer boasts about their OS.  Not Sony, not Microsoft, not anyone.  And you would expect if anyone wants to boast, it would be Microsoft.  There's got to be a reason for it and simple common sense tells us that console gamers simply don't care.  So long as the game works when we stick the disk in, it doesn't matter one iota what kind of OS it uses.  The fact that Valve makes a big deal out of it tells me that they aren't using the right message to target their audiences.  On the other hand, what kind of OS a machine uses is huge for a PC gamer.  I've known a couple in my time, and most PC gamers get a kick out of configuring their system to play games as much as they do playing the game.  Not so console gamers.  We just want the game to work, period.  With as little fudging around as possible. 

Any piece of software would be useless without hardware, and here too, I find Valve's message to be lacking.  They basically announced this a little too soon.  There's no hardware specs, or pictures of how it would look.  Quite unlike the other console reveals, which pretty much have everything finalized.  From what I've read on the actual machine itself, it appears that Valve is willing to let anyone make their own hardware specs, so long as they all use the Steam OS.  This is similar to Android, in which anyone can make a phone for it to use.  Would we see a Samsung Steam Machine?  We could.  And here's where the problem begins for a console gamer like me.  I want to be certain that the machine I buy can run all the games, all the time, for as long as the hardware cycle lasts.  Valve already went and said that the hardware for the box is customizable, and different tiers can be made by almost anyone for any purpose.  This is just like the PC market, where you have everyone from HP to Dell making anything from weaker netbooks to full on gaming rigs.  As a console gamer, why would I want that?  The biggest advantage of getting a PS3 is that I know I can play any PS3 game on it from now until forever.  Or until the system breaks.  If anyone can make a Steam Machine, then what stops manufacturers from making a new iteration of consoles every year?  So every year you have to shell out more money to keep up?  No thank you.

The only thing these announcements tell me is that the Steam Machines are nothing more than PCs desigined to be hooked up to a living room TV but I still don't really understand why people like to do this.  The technology has been around since forever which allow users connect a PC to a TV if they wish, but most PC gamers don't.  They are perfectly happy with their smaller monitors.  So I don't really understand why Valve is importing the whole PC centric culture into the living room when their own customers see little point in doing so.

P.S.  I wrote all that in the paragraphs above last week, but didn't get around to posting until this week.  Today, the theories were pretty much confirmed.  The Steam Box, or Steam Machines, are basically PCs designed first and foremost to work with your TV.  It will be manufactured by anyone who is interested, and the OS is open sourced to any one who is interested.  They also came out and said that the high end boxes can cost as much as $1000.  So basically, I still don't get it.  Who will buy this thing?  Not the diehard console gamers who prefer ease of use and not the need the have to upgrade every year.   Certainly not the price sensitive people (not unless they are willing to go with 'lower end' builds).  So who?  I have no idea.  And that's why I think this will go no where.

Of course, we've all heard of those famous Steam sales, and half off any game is a great deal.  It's just that….  If I wanted to put up with all that PC nonsense I might as well buy a new PC…