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I don’t need a Steam Machine

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Re: I don’t need a Steam Machine

#101

Post by gary_0 »

torginus wrote: post #27

When I first saw the Arduino I didn't see the point - after all there were boards that cost less, did more, and the Arduino IDE seemed very barebones compared to what you could do with GCC and a custom toolchain. Then eventually I saw how much community support, ready made hardware emerged around it, to the point that after a while, not going the Arduino route was a decision you needed to justify heavily. Same thing…

Another nice thing about the Pi is that you know for sure there won't be any major Linux issues; the official distro is tested for that hardware and that hardware alone. I'm assuming the same will apply for Linux on the Steam Machine, whereas most of the time when I install Linux on a random PC, I have to debug some issue with audio/networking/video (which is less common these days, but I guess I'm unlucky).

Speaking of which, I recently bought a Ryzen Framework laptop assuming the recommended Linux distro would run smoothly, but unfortunately I hit a few glitches, including a really annoying amdgpu bug that keeps making the screen flicker. I might have to mess with kernel boot parameters. Disappointing.

Since the Steam Machine is meant as a consumer product, hopefully it will run Linux solidly, and that's a big plus for me. I wouldn't touch Windows with a 10 foot pole these days.

Re: I don’t need a Steam Machine

#102

Post by kokada »

input_sh wrote: post #97
cubefox wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You wouldn't like Valve so much if you explicitly saw the 30% Steam tax, I mean fee, declared every time you bought a PC game on Steam. Imagine if Microsoft did that. +30% for every Windows software. Like iOS. Then Steam games would be +60% rather than +30%.

You don't have to imagine anything, Microsoft also takes 30% of every purchase made via Microsoft Store.

Yes, AFAIK this is an industry standard, both Sony and Nintendo also takes a similar approach.

Re: I don’t need a Steam Machine

#103

Post by ivanjermakov »

> With The Steam Machine, you might be able to finally properly run DOOM Eternal and all of the Assassin’s Creed games. That you don’t like playing.

In my experience, relation of game's hardware requirements to the amount of fun it provides is inversely proportional. Best games of all time (opinionated, of course) run well on integrated graphics.

Re: I don’t need a Steam Machine

#106

Post by christophilus »

CalRobert wrote: post #38
mariopt wrote: post #12

Steam Machines can become an existencial crisis for PlayStation and Xbox. A “console” that I can use as a PC? I am in 100%. You’ll get the world biggest game library at a discount, this is why I sold my PlayStation after spending 200 euros and watching it becoming useless. I also suspect a lot of game devs will optimize for steam machine and finally we’ll get a console like experience on PC. Don’t let the “low specs”…

Man, I got a free ps5 from my isp and was excited to have friends over for games. Come to find out that playing games with your friends apparently isn’t a thing anymore (I guess there’s fighting and racing games). What a lame-ass boring system.

It is on the Nintendo Switch. My kids play loads of Mario Party, Minecraft and Mario Cart.

Re: I don’t need a Steam Machine

#108

Post by kokada »

I am kind having a similar dilemma as the author of the blog post. Gabe Cube is the least interesting announcement that Valve did for me if I look at an objective level since I just built a PC that runs Jovian-NixOS (basically SteamOS, but running with NixOS as a base). My PC is way more powerful than the Gabe Cube too (at least in GPU, a Radeon 9070), and it is already connect to my TV since SteamOS makes this easy even if you're running the software in a unsupported configuration like I do.

But the Gabe Cube just lives rent free in my head. It looks sleek. I know that the software experience is going to be top-notch since I have a Steam Deck. I know that it is only going to get better with time (when the Steam Deck was released I barely touched it since lots of things didn't work well, but this year the Steam Deck is by far my most played machine).

Also I am finding gaming fun again since on Steam I can play lots of good and cheap games, since they're almost always on sale and there are lots of indie games that never get released in console.

I want to sell all my other consoles and just invest in the Steam ecosystem, especially nowadays that almost all games will eventually be multi-platform (even the ones from Xbox and PlayStation). It is not like I like to play lots of AAA games anyway, and at least the ones I am interested are already available or will be available in PC eventually (like Final Fantasy VII Remake, MGS3: Remake, etc). I also don't care about online multiplayer for the lack of kernel anti-cheat on SteamOS/Linux to be a problem.

I am seriously considering buying another TV (we only have one in our home right now) just to justify buying a Gabe Cube.

Re: I don’t need a Steam Machine

#109

Post by kokada »

ivanjermakov wrote: post #105

> You can’t buy this without buying the Steam Controller. Oh, this is ugly! Haven't noticed this being mentioned anywhere.

AFAIK one Steam Controller is included in the purchase of a Steam Machine already. Also, I find it unlikely that the Steam Machine is not going to work with other controllers, since the SteamOS works with pretty much any controller out there (Xbox, PS4/PS5, Switch, 8-bit Do, you name it).

Not sure what the author meant here. Maybe they're referring for the fact that you can't purchase a cheaper version of Steam Machine without the Steam Controller.

Re: I don’t need a Steam Machine

#110

Post by Arch-TK »

mariopt wrote: post #12

Steam Machines can become an existencial crisis for PlayStation and Xbox. A “console” that I can use as a PC? I am in 100%. You’ll get the world biggest game library at a discount, this is why I sold my PlayStation after spending 200 euros and watching it becoming useless. I also suspect a lot of game devs will optimize for steam machine and finally we’ll get a console like experience on PC. Don’t let the “low specs”…

Valve isn't likely to make SteamOS the kind of platform that facilitates intrusive* anti-cheat** or which is locked down in a way to prevent cheating at the client side. This means that a number of competitive multiplayer games will never run on it. I think in this regard, consoles still have an advantage*** if you're into those kinds of games.

* I don't care what the intention is, they are _objectively_ intrusive.

** Last time I argued this, someone seemed to assume that I was claiming that writing Linux kernel drivers is harder than Windows kernel drivers. I am not arguing that, you need some kind of trusted party enforcing signed kernel drivers and a signed kernel in order to make KLA sufficiently hard to bypass.

*** In terms of the average Joe just wanting their game to run rather than having to think about the ethical implications of buying hardware you don't actually own or running an OS which gives control of your hardware to various corporations (but not you).

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