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Valve is about to win the console generation

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Re: Valve is about to win the console generation

#541

Post by doofkoof »

pbronez wrote: post #365
ethmarks wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's possible that 'adding Linux support' would take the form of just making the anticheat optional. Maybe playing with the anticheat enabled makes you immune to being reported for cheating (because they can verify down to the kernel level that you aren't), but you can still play without it (but without the immunity from being reported). Obviously they wouldn't do this in today's market because there's no incentive t…

Optional anti-cheat could be really interesting. Make it a matchmaking option; let the players decide who they want to play with. This effectively makes "PC without Anti-cheat" a new platform in cross-platform match making. I can imagine a whole scene popping up where everyone cheats to the max, creating whole new game modes.

This already existed in CS:GO, it was called Hack vs Hack. Private servers could choose whether to run anticheat or not. You'd see some with names like HvH and join to find people spinning in circles and comparing which aimbot was the most dominant.

Re: Valve is about to win the console generation

#542

Post by Fire-Dragon-DoL »

AceJohnny2 wrote: post #71

I don't really understand the early enthusiasm about the Steam Machine, and I happily own a Steam Deck. "It's on par with a PS5!" You mean the thing that was launched over 5 years ago (exactly!) ? We don't know its price yet, which is the most crucial detail.

I have a family of 4 (and both me and my wife are gamers) and a pc is expensive. A steam machine is a great compromise.

I'm also in the market for a new secondary pc, since the other one is old: the steam machine is exactly what I want with gaming primary and also do general computing.

I use the nvidia shield to stream games, but it has issues at times depending on the game being streamed.

Re: Valve is about to win the console generation

#543

Post by pjmlp »

spooky_deep wrote: post #428
testdelacc1 wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Current OS split of Steam users - 94.84% windows, 2.11% mac, 3.05% Linux. Valve has fought tooth and nail for a decade to make that 3.05% a reality. Linux means they control their own destiny, instead of being at the mercy of Microsoft. Valve has their eyes on this prize and they’re willing to play the long game. Everyone’s going to talk about “winning” the console generation, but winning could mean an increase of Li…

I’d bet that most PC Windows gamers care a lot more about Steam than they do about Windows. If Microsoft did anything drastic - like blocking Steam like Apple do on iOS - it would hurt Windows severely.

Steam without content loses its value, that content is produced via Windows development tools.

Re: Valve is about to win the console generation

#544

Post by Fire-Dragon-DoL »

noobermin wrote: post #169
echelon wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't play games much anymore, so maybe I'm not the right person to respond. Why would anyone ever buy a console again? This thing has the ultimate library and works on all platforms. Steam seems to have played the best game of chess in the industry. Sony and Microsoft were battling over exclusives and acquisitions and ways to screw over customers. This came out of left field and looks a million times better than X…

In the era of mobile games, hardware really isn't a thing anymore. Even AAA titles are niche IMO given the cost to play them at full settings. All that matters now are the exclusive titles. You refer to this derisively but really that's what made the nintendo switch, clearly the weakest compared to the PS5 and even the steam deck in the last generation the clear winner.

You can't compare mobile and console players.

They are literally two different markets.

I know they get put together because of "videogames", but a gamer that plays on a console is not going to play mobile games, except those that are ports of console games onto phone.

There are exceptions of course.

Re: Valve is about to win the console generation

#545

Post by Fire-Dragon-DoL »

evo_9 wrote: post #58

One other semi-unrecognized advantage Valve has over consoles is their generous return policy. I’ve bought many games on a whim knowing if I don’t jive with it I can safely get a full refund. Contrast that with my Ps5 where my 2 year old managed to smash buttons while I was tied up on a work call and bought COD for $69 bucks… no way to refund it and I’m not a fan of shooters. Basically Fd on that one.

What about backward compatibility?

Try to run the original mario 64 on the switch without having to buy it again

Re: Valve is about to win the console generation

#546

Post by pjmlp »

josephg wrote: post #460
TiredOfLife wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Switch 2 plays all* switch 1 games. Xbox series plays all xbox one and even a bunch of xbox 360 games Ps5 plays all* ps4 games Every console has moved to essentially off the shelf soc so backwards compatiblity comes as a side effect

Once burned, twice shy. It’s going to take a few more generations to see how long they actually maintain that compatibility for going forward. I suspect consoles will move to arm chips at some point. When they do, will Sony and Nintendo bother making a Rosetta type layer for backwards compatibility to play the games they’re selling now? I doubt it. We’ll see.

It wouldn't be the first time.

Re: Valve is about to win the console generation

#547

Post by tombert »

Fnoord wrote: post #531
tombert wrote: post #530

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm afraid I don't know what an STB is.

Set top box [1], like an Nvidia Shield TV [2], to play (digital) TV and other programs. My point being, would you be able to have this machine function as such (not so much portable, rather standalone with a remote control). Because that way, you take the hardware STB out of the equation, saving you (on the Nvidia Shield TV Pro) a good 200 EUR. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set-top_box [2] https://en.wikipedia.or…

Ah, sorry, didn't know the acronym.

I tried making it my main media center, but I couldn't figure out a way to get good quality streaming from the main services, since they limit the quality and bitrate pretty heavily for the browsers. I thought I could just live with it, but it was bad enough to really bother me. After a lot of effort to try and get things working with different emulators and user agent settings, I was unsuccessful getting the quality tolerable.

I haven't fully given up on that dream, but right now I'm just using an Nvidia Shield TV that I already had.

Re: Valve is about to win the console generation

#548

Post by JackSlateur »

tinybear1 wrote: post #111
bryanlarsen wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very few consoles were sold at a loss. Some certainly were, like the fat PS3. But that was the exception, not the rule. More relevantly, none of the current generation (ps5, xbox series, switch 2) are sold at a loss. They don't have large margins, but they are sold above cost. The Taiwanese computer manufacturers won't be phased by thin margins; that's their modus operandi.

Microsoft testified under oath in court that they lost money on every Xbox sold prior to the current generation. Sega lost money on every console prior to exiting the market. Nintendo sold various consoles at a loss (Wii U). The PlayStation 1 through 4 sold either at a loss or break even.

It means the cost of hardware+dev was higher than the cost of sold consoles

It does not mean that a device was sold cheaper than its own hardware

Basically, you have r&d but that is out of the topic

Re: Valve is about to win the console generation

#549

Post by reanimated »

ninetyninenine wrote: post #509
StopDisinfo910 wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is something vaguely amusing to me about complaining that Valve of Half-Life , Counter Strike , Portal , Team Fortress and Dota fame doesn’t have IP and giving as an alternative what I view as a minor IP, God of War . Apparently, people have forgotten that what launched Steam is it being required to play game of the decade Half-Life 2 . I think I’m old.

Those ips are dying. They aren’t maintained. The steam platform doesn’t have any exclusives. While it doesn’t need exclusives it certainly doesn’t hurt in a competitive fight. An IP that rivals Pokémon, Mario and Zelda exclusive to steam.

CS 2 is dying IP? Really? https://store.steampowered.com/charts/mostplayed

Re: Valve is about to win the console generation

#550

Post by reanimated »

theshrike79 wrote: post #229
crote wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think they could possibly make it cheap enough for that - especially once you consider all the money being wasted on RGB/Bluetooth/a GPU you won't use. Messing around with weird consumer hardware in a datacenter context isn't exactly attractive. If all you need is some x86 cores, an off-the-shelf blade server approach gets you far more compute in the same space with far less hassle. Even if the purchase cost…

The RGB costs maybe 2€ to add, the bluetooth chip is maybe 50c.

There are already small PCs without a GPU for around $200–300, and this will cost at least 2-3 times that. Valve already comfirmed, that the pricing will not be 'console like' and would match entry level PC. And PS5 is $500.
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