The Steam Box

Darth Marsden

Hey, remember that console Steam was looking into making?

Well one of them, the Piston, went up for pre-order today.

At $1,000. ($900 if you actually pre-order)

As a PC gamer, I'm just pointing and laughing. A grand for a PC? With those specs? Piss off.

Rather Dashing

With people buying Surfaces and iPads, you'd better bet that for some people form factor and ease of use are worth the extra....I'd say $3-500? Also, "gamer" pre-made manufacturers have done a great job convincing the general poublic that it costs $1,000+ to get a gaming-ready PC. Why do you THINK people who slam PC gaming as expensive act like you NEED to buy a $1,300 graphics card every year?

Darth Marsden

The point is, the most expensive console in recent years, the PS3, cost $600 on launch and even THAT was considered way too much. I don't care if it's Steam or a PC, a grand is just absurdly expensive.

I mean, why pay that much when you can just get a console? For half the price, no less?

FitzoliverJ

Well, I wasn't *expecting* to be able to afford one anyway....

Chyron8472

Darth Marsden wrote: »

The point is, the most expensive console in recent years, the PS3, cost $600 on launch and even THAT was considered way too much. I don't care if it's Steam or a PC, a grand is just absurdly expensive.

I mean, why pay that much when you can just get a console?

or a decent desktop PC for the same amount as said console. (minus the cost of the monitor, I suppose.)

Vainamoinen

Rather Dashing wrote: »

Why do you THINK people who slam PC gaming as expensive act like you NEED to buy a $1,300 graphics card every year?

I don't know who these people are, but tell them the 90s called and they can come home now.

The century I'm living in, PC components aren't at all evolving as much as they did in the 90s because games are primarily programmed for a fixed and dated set of hardware - consoles. That's why Moore's law has been absolutely smashed in this last decade. That's why the sales of PC hardware are in steep decline, people are absolutely satisfied with four year old hardware.

My PC will be more than five years old when Dreamfall Chapters comes out. And unless something ugly happens to it, that will still suffice completely.

Friar

$1000 renders the steambox pointless. My understanding was that it was essentially supposed to be an upgradable home console that plays the majority of steam games. For that to be the case, it has to be in a similar price range as the PS4/Nextbox/WiiU, as that is what people will compare them too when they are looking to buy one. The PC gamers will stick to their PCs.

Vainamoinen

Friar wrote: »

The PC gamers will stick to their PCs.

Now that kickstarter even gets them games, I don't see a reason why they shouldn't.

Darth Marsden

I should point out that this isn't THE Steambox, just one made with Valve's support.

But even so... it's still way too expensive, especially when compared to the consoles it's supposed to compete with.

Friar

I think it can be safe to assume that the actual steambox will be of a similar price though. Afterall, who would buy a third party steambox when you could get the actual one for less?

der_ketzer

There is no actual Steam Box. It's a concept and there will be multiple different Steamboxes.

Darth Marsden

Oh, looks like it doesn't even have Valve's support. No idea why.

corruptbiggins

Isn't a steam box essentially a sauna? Or something like this:

mosfet

Friar wrote: »

I think it can be safe to assume that the actual steambox will be of a similar price though.

I doubt it. The $1000 version is apparently the size of a grapefruit. I assume the small size is the reason it's so expensive. There's no reason for the official Steambox to be that small.

Xi3 is crazy to think they can sell this thing.

Rather Dashing

mosfet wrote: »

Xi3 is crazy to think they can sell this thing.

Not really. They've been selling "that thing" more or less for awhile now, and "Steambox/Piston" branding can only help.