Steambox prototype unboxing and bootup

[AssassinDX]

Steam Machine Unboxing - YouTube
Steam Machine Booting - YouTube

That actually looks decent to me, but I still cant work out why anyone with a half decent PC would want one. Dunno what the retail price is going to be but my guess is enough to put by for a half decent PC.

Your thoughts?

[Ayen]

Is this the deal they tried releasing before that had all the problems with it or am I thinking of something else?

I heard people say that when this gets on the market it's going to mean the end of the other consoles... I think they underestimate the stronghold the other companies have as well as fanboyism.

Looks nice but I already have Steam on my PC and can hook a controller up to it if I rather not play with a keyboard so I don't have much reason to buy one.

[Slothy]

Is this the deal they tried releasing before that had all the problems with it or am I thinking of something else?

There was the Piston which the manufacturer had developed with some degree of input from Valve, but which was not an actual Steambox.

Wish I could watch the videos right now, but alas.

The thing people seem to miss is that this isn't for people with a good PC. It's for people who want a decent gaming PC with a much simpler and more streamlined interface, which is affordable, and which they don't have to build themselves or have a computer science degree to operate. It's built for the console focused living room gamer who may want to get their feet wet with PC gaming without a lot of the hassle. Hell, the existence of a Steambox means you don't even need to do research on what specs you need to buy.

Personally, I'm more looking forward to game streaming for use in the living room. I've got some games on PC it would be great for so let's get going with it already.

And while I don't think the Steambox will be the end of the console industry, I do think it represents a rather dramatic change which will almost certainly have a dramatic impact on how things unfold down the road. Even if it ends up being more of a slow burn than a dramatic hit out of the gates. A simple to use, affordable, upgradeable PC going head to head with consoles that are basically PC's, minus the upgradeable part is going to be big. Very big. Especially considering it will be the only device competing for space in the living room which is a truly open platform. And even more to the point, a Linux based contender pushing to gain ground in the market is going to have an impact on PC gaming as well.

The Steambox has the potential to be something of a game changer on a few levels, and Valve are probably the only company in the industry right now who could pull this off.