Source 1 Video game maker Valve is working on a PC that will allow users to play Steam games on their big-screen televisions.
Source 2 Speaking to me during a brief interview on the red carpet at the VGAs last night, Newell said Valve’s current goal was to figure out how to make PCs work better in the living room. He said the reaction to Steam’s TV-friendly Big Picture interface has been “stronger than expected,” and that their next step is to get Steam Linux out of beta and to get Big Picture on that operating system, which would give Valve more flexibility when developing their own hardware.
I am not sure this fits the exact definition of a console. The best way I can describe this is that is likely to be a Linux PC tweaked to behave like a console and display on Television screens. So this is a device that spans several gadget descriptions.
A Steam PCTV in short?
Well tv companies are already feeling the crunch and trying to incorporate computer-like elements such as widgets to compete… and it seems the likes of Apple are now heading in this direction to try to combine a tv with a computer. Also with the likes of the Ouya (?) android console targetting tv’s with a wider software audience, it seems like the tv screen is going to soon start getting a lot more attention in terms of software, apps and games which might take some of the zing out of the mobile market ,as the next big thing.
True. Add to that list Google TV as well. All part of the ‘Convergence’ Theme at work http://www.google.com/tv/
Also, there is now a trend of pushing, the internet, social networking etc into as many devices as possible, the latest being the samsung android camera
In this particular case of Steam though, I suspect valve’s apprehension about the direction Windows OS future is taking might also have played a part
Steam recently updated their client/store with a Big Screen mode that seems incredibly inspired in XBox Live and Metro. I would not be shocked if they are working on some console of sort.
The biggest issue for them to “make the PC work in the living room” is that it’s out of their power. Try out the Big Screen mode in a pc and you will see it’s all nice until you launch a game. Unless they force all game makers to submit updates that make 100% sure the games launch seamlessly, they will never get the PC working in the living room.
They also will be facing some resistance from Microsoft, since they will likely want to use either expensive Windows licenses in their consoles or they will be forced to use Linux, which also requires them to license Microsoft patents. Thats not to mention EA and their competing Origin system, where they seem to be holding some titles hostage (or atleast from Steam’s reach.) I see a hard future ahead for Steam.
Indie Developers in General should be rooting for Steam. Being as it is an almost purely games portal, if something like ‘Steam TV/Console’ takes off that could prove to be another important publishing avenue for indies. Steam’s Greenlight feature also helps a lot
Speaking of which, this sort of prompted me to take a quick look at whats happening on Steam Greenlight. If I am reading this correctly it appears that Folk Tale(A game made with Unity) has been Greenlit. Congrats to them!
Don’t understand the negativity regarding the living room thing. It will act just like xbox live, it won’t be a “pc” any more than xbox is a “pc”. It’s a console, regardless of underlying OS due to how it will behave and the compliance required in the hardware and software.
Everything depends on who’s version of “what he said” you take. So far my understanding is that Valve wants “to make PC work in the living room” but “wont make a console”, that leads me to think they just want to make your desktop work in the living room. Problem is simply the way games are done, at least legacy games. As noted above, I gave their Big Screen mode (their first steps into this direction) and it was all nice and dandy until I launched a few games.
First I launched Oblivion, it kicked me out of the nice GUI into the desktop where I needed a mouse to select to Play from a small windows dialog box that also offers the only way to change a few settings. Had to grab the mouse for that. Then I attempted Champions Online, again, similar story. A dialog box comes up and I’m forced to wait.
There are just too many games that bring up dialog boxes before actually tossing you into the full screen experience. That may change going forward, with Win8 also pushing a full screen experience, but that would turn the Living Room Gaming PC into one that is not compatible (or intuitive) with the huge library of existing games out there. I also doubt many devs will go back and update their old games to support pure full screen experiences just so they can sell a few extra copies to the geeks that will set up a PC to the TV.
If the living room PC happens, I think MS will be the one leading it. It’s not what I want, but it can be soemthing that may come ready out of the box. Windows “RT-ish TVs” that will run all WinRT marketplace games and apps with the use of an XBox controller and maybe even Kinect.
obviously these will need to be upgraded to be accepted on the platform, i can’t see valve being stupid enough to not enforce a quality control. That would imply valve lack intelligence.
The steam sdk isn’t fully enforced but its strongly encouraged. I would imagine this would turn into something thats not optional at some point.
To pick up “Google”: It seems Microsoft only sues companies they don’t fear being rejected, Google itself is still unoffended. It’s still not sure wether their linux patents are still legit or already count as common property. I believe Valve has the guts to refuse linux patent payments, so an eventual linux court battle is still a better choice than windows licenses.
Not speaking in my own intrest of watching the shitstorm on Microsoft in case they (MS) win
Perhaps. But what about the back catalog? Sure they may start filtering while in Big Screen Mode, but they have never done so before. I still can buy PC only games from my Mac if I happen to miss the Windows Only icon. I also recall issues with certain games (Stubs The Zombie comes to mind) that only got removed from their catalog after a LONG time being sold, despite the game only running under Windows XP. They may do checks on new games and demand certain “platform” requirements, but I doubt they will remove all the back catalog if it is not updated.
I also doubt companies like EA will be very happy with a mandatory Steam SDK use. I think that was precisely the reason they pulled some big shot titles from Steam.
At the end they may be forced to set a hard barrier between Steam for PC and Steam for TV, at that point they may as well package the thing in a box and call it a console.
Don’t take me wrong: I LOVE steam, but I’m very skeptic about this direction for them.
Some large name GPS maker was already in that battle and either lost or the case got too expensive and settled to license the patents. Not sure now if it was Tomtom or Navigon…
Interesting, that thing about the controller measuring heart rate. Perhaps they could also setup a a camera to detect drips of cold sweat and involuntary dilation of the iris.
I would guess this is going to be really expensive console if it’s going to have the performance to run everything in Steam.
They should at least try stuff like that IMHO. Even if they don’t get everything right in the first try, it could at least be a start.
Plus, IF they got it right, that could make a compelling reason to buy the steam console. With the PS4 and the the latest version of xbox around the corner, people would need good justification to cough up money for another console
