It’s a pretty nice custom designed PC that is guaranteed to work well with Linux. The only downside, really, is that you can’t upgrade it beyond storage and RAM.
It’s DoA unless they have an absurdly low price. Give me a steam deck 2.
Price!
We can argue about it all we want, but basically everything hinges on its street price.
If it’s cheap, all those critiques are irrelevant.
Expensive? “It’s cute, I like Steam, I like how it mostly works OOTB,” gets real niche, real quick.
I downvote all these memes because they want to shit over a product that isn’t released yet with no price tag, all so they can feel smug superiority
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Regardless of the box cost, there’s no arguing with the price of games in a Steam sale!
I don’t think I’ve paid more than £15 for a game in years and years.
People always argue about the price of the machine, but hardly anyone mentions that console people pay to play online. Which is something i can’t even really comprehend
Good point. Steam provides a lot of the same multiplayer services and match making and they’ve never cost me a penny.
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For a lot of games, yes. They provide the infrastructure for communication and connection.
Its why you can, for example, send an invite in AOE via the in-game system or the steam system.
Its why so many games show your steam name and avatar in the multiplayer menus.
You surprised to hear this?
Unfortunately, not everyone has the cash to spend up front. Paying more over time is easier.
Or they just get lured in by a cheap sticker price.
And again, price is still relevant. If this is well over $1K, it starts to negate the Steam storefront cost savings.
Other than “not seeing the use case” I think the meme is right on. People hate Windows but don’t want to deal with Linux, people hate being trapped in the walled gardens of Microsoft or Sony consoles, but don’t want to deal with a full-on gaming PC. Kinda like how when iPads came out people where like, this is worse than a phone and worse than a laptop, who are these things even for?
People want a console but also:
- A wider game library (Missing on Playstation and Xbox)
- No subscription (missing Playstation and Xbox)
- a working 10 foot UI (missing in windows)
- controller os navigation (missing in windows)
- no bimonthly fullscreen nags to use edge, office365, onedrive, etc. (missing in windows)
- Working ACPI sleep states. (Missing on most cheap mini PCs)
- Backwards compatibility for older titles and not needing to rebuy games when upgrading (Missing on PlayStation)
Microsoft could probably build an XBox that fixes the first problem but would probably fill it with nag screens.
People with technical skills can probably run Bazzite on a minipc but might hit issues with sleep depending on luck while purchasing.
People without technical skills just want a package that works
Exactly, I would add the emulation part. Steam deck and I bet the box, too, are great for emulation of older games.
People WITH technical skills just wany a package that works. I don’t want to fix every single fucking piece of technology I own, constantly - even if I am capable.
Well said, I think the library is the biggest point but also a harder sell for someone used to losing a large percentage of their games every generation. They see it as “having to buy their games again” in the short term.
I mean yes, jack of all trades master of none. But then again a mass produced hardware which will run all modern AAA games (Meaning cheaper), running on Linux (Linux being used mainstream in a user friendly sense is better than not Linux) and still being user friendly is overall a company doing something I like, and adding competition to the console marketplace.
I bought Helldivers and BG3 on PS4 for in total like $150 and I sold my PS5 and now I can’t even play those games anymore. With it being linked to a steam account, this isn’t a problem anymore they can access there paid games on any device, which I like.
It’s for the people who can’t afford to build their own PCs these days. Graphics cards went up in price, hard drives went up and now RAM.
When was this in the office
One of the two terrible seasons after Steve Carell left the show
The Lizard King was a pretty enjoyable character to watch though. Mostly because Spader.
I want them to build a top of the line gaming pc put into a small box and sell it to me at a huge loss. Why can’t they do that?
Arch with KDE is for people who don’t like Linux?
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Maybe you weren’t aware, but SteamOS is Arch based and uses the KDE Plasma desktop.
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Even with all the tweaking time in the world I don’t believe you can get a pc set up so that it can reliably and intuitively be operated with just a controller 100% of the time.
If you want to be technical about it, you pretty much just described any modern video game console. The OS is the only thing actually differentiating modern consoles from PCs (or tablets in Nintendo’s case).
It’s a PC for people who are too afraid or possibly can’t afford (depending on price when announced) to build their own.
can’t afford … to build their own
Soon to be: Everyone
I hope Valve can still afford to build it…
Maybe Valve predicted this would happen… 🤔
Gabe is a billionaire yacht owner, at the end of the day. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a game of good cop/bad cop where Valve is playing off the general hatred of other large game companies with some inside knowledge of what’s coming.
Can people tell me why focus is on the one piece of hardware in the set of three that had already seen a failed attempt in 2015? I thought more people would be talking about the Steam Frame and Controller?
The Steam Controller also had a failed attempt in 2015 so I guess that’s also out of the question then?
The Frame is the only one I care about. I was debating on getting a Quest 3 since my Quest 1 is having issues, but this would be a great alternative depending on the price.
It’s a console for people who like PCs
Exactly. I have a PC and a Steam Deck but I’ll buy it if the price isn’t completely off-putting. It’s just perfect for the living room.
And a PC for people who like consoles
You’d think those people would already have a PC…
My computer is at least 12 years old by now and according to the Steam hardware survey the majority of people on Steam has a PC that is worse than the Steam Machine. I might get one as my new desktop if the price is now too high.
Not one hooked up to their TV
Ever heard of an HDMI cable?
Obligatory fuck HDMI, but yeah
May I introduce you to Sunshine and Moonlight.
No, I’m not asking you to open your curtains. Long as you have a good connection between your PC and TV, and some small TV device, you can play a lot that way.
This is cool, how do controls work? Do you use a Bluetooth kbm/controller connected to the main PC?
This concern exists regardless of what device is running on the TV.
If you have a wireless keyboard that’s comfortable on the couch, use that. Otherwise, just use a controller and launch in Steam Big Picture mode (now basically looks like Steam Deck’s main screen).
Good launchers (not all of them) also take controller input.
EDIT: But I think to reinterpret your question, yes, the device on the TV generally should have the input connected directly. That can be done with Android TV and I think Apple TVs.
What I’m wondering is whether controls have to be still directly connected to the main PC (ie moonlight is casting the display only), or if moonlight also handles controller communication to the PC.
Assuming its the former, I would imagine using a Bluetooth controller connected to the main PC, which would probably limit the physical range that I could leverage this solution.
EDIT: Rereading your comment, perhaps the remote device can handle controls. I will look into this more later when I can research it better. Thanks for sharing!
Yeah but its a pita sometimes with controls and stuff.
Why don’t they hook it to their TV then?
It’s in the other room
Why don’t they just merge the rooms then?
That’s a load bearing wall.
Why doesn’t the larger room just eat the smaller room?
You can pretty easily just build an itx system and install linux on it. It might be a bit bigger, yes, but it’d also be easier to fix and upgrade. I believe the only thing you can change in the steam machine is the storage.
it’s smaller and comes with a touchpad controller for running desktop/waydroid apps, and it has hdmi cec
Not to mention the OS is way better and easier to use as an HTPC than anything else out there. That won’t be fully out until the steam machines release anyways.
Unlike your itx system, the steammachine is going to be reference hardware, much like how games got a Steamdeck profile, there will be games with a Steammachine profile.
That’s literally not a selling point imo. Also, I’ve literally never used a “steamdeck” preset on my steam deck.
You don’t think games optimized for a Steam Machine isn’t going to be a selling point?
And just because you haven’t manually used a Steamdeck preset, I’m willing to bet that the game did it for you.The settings are optimized, not the game itself. There’s quite a big difference between those two. Why are you assuming that there would be special versions of games for the steam machine if there aren’t any for the steam deck?
And no, if I tell you that I’ve never used a steam deck preset, it’s because I haven’t. I always tweak the settings myself or at the very least check them.
More developers will specifically test on your setup if you have a Steam Machine.
Most developers don’t test on my setup and games have always worked fine. Adjusting game settings is not rocket science. Worst case scenario, you use the low/medium/high presets.
You’re lucky if changing graphics presets is the worst case scenario. Maybe check out the recent Gamers Nexus video on Linux GPU benchmarking to see a variety of performance issues on different cards for different games e.g., frame delay spikes, super low 1% rates and sometimes just overall bad performance.
Sorry but you can easily do that. The average person cannot. Most people would have to do multiple weeks of research into what different parts of a computer even are to have any hope of building a PC. Lemmy is one of the most out of touch places I’ve ever seen as far as tech literacy goes. The average person likely couldn’t even tell you what an operating system is, let alone know what Linux is.
If you don’t want to build it just buy a prebuilt. It’s not that hard.
Ah, maybe they could make some cool prebuilt with Linux already built in. Hmm and make it small enough to fit under a TV in a small shelf 🤔
And if only that machine could use OEM parts so that people could upgrade and fix it 🤔
I don’t think you could get OEM parts that would actually fit in that space tbh. Also the guaranteed software support from valve, and set spec list allowing devs to optimize for it are some pretty huge bonuses over other prebuilts. I’m not saying building your own comp is a bad idea, but for the average user who just wants to be able to game at medium settings in most games, this has some pretty major advantages.
It’s a PC Console for people who DON’T like PCs.
I want one because I don’t have a modern PC that can run games. I have a PS5, Switch 2, and a MacBook. I hate windows, I don’t want to deal with Linux or assembling a PC from components. I’m missing out on a lot of Steam games that I want to play. I don’t want to sit in my office and play games, I want to relax on my couch in my living room and play them.
This is for people like me. There’s a lot of us. We’re the ones that find piracy too much effort so we keep giving money to streaming services.
The Steam Machine is the new Commodore 64 or Apple IIe. For one price, it’s going to do almost everything just good enough.
If the price isn’t ludicrous, it will likely be my default recommendation to anyone asking what PC to get for grandma.
Can she check her email?
Yes.
Can we just hook it to her TV?
Yes.
Can it play some kind of cooking simulation party game with the kids?
Yes.
Okay send me a parts list.
No parts list, just buy one and hook it up.
Okay. How often do I have to buy an OS upgrade?
Those are free.
Which game controllers work with it?
Pretty much all of them, but it probably also comes with one.
This is going to be the stupidly easy answer for casual gamers and casual PC users, as long as it doesn’t cost double what either of those would.
Ngl price part mainly depends on how much chatbot girlfriend technology is hoarding up everything.
Hopefully it all will crash by then.
