If there were such a thing as a Steam Console would you buy it?

Hypothetically speaking. If there were such a thing as a box that allowed you to play all your pc games and do most of the stuff you like about gaming on pc like run dedicated servers, lan games, etc but was still regulated by a manufacturer so it could do things like cut down on cheating and standardize hardware. Lets for arguments sake call it the "Steam Box" and for the purposes of this discussion say...

• it plays all games that would be pc games even ones that aren't on steam like starcraft 2, wow, battlefield 3, etc
• runs them at max detail at 1080p
• and you can choose whichever control scheme you prefer, mouse and keyboard, gamepad, steering wheels, flight yoke,...(groans)...kinect.
• you need to buy a new one for every 6 or so years
• retails for about $400

Would you then buy this device? Think of the benefits, your $200 investments of upgrading your pc every few months would be transfered into a lump sum. With that, comes standardization. Less time spent troubleshooting weird issues or waiting on patches for random issues that only some users experience. You can get a game and for once have it work most of the time on launch day. FPS players can have the option for precision controls with mouse and keyboards or ease of movement with a gamepad. Best of all, we can all stop listening to/reading arguments about consoles vs pc's.

Would anyone not be interested in this? If not, why?

I sure as hell would, but $400 is a little cheap.

Isn't that what OnLive is :P?

Would you buy a ferrari for 5,000 dollars???

um.........youre asking if i would buy a 400 dollar PC and not upgrade it.

@BionicRadd: i'm really just trying to nail down what it is for some people that they are so defiant of owning a console. Lack of Customization? Control Scheme? Do they like finding ways to fix things that end up breaking? Just curious,

@OldManLight said:

@BionicRadd: i'm really just trying to nail down what it is for some people that they are so defiant of owning a console. Lack of Customization? Control Scheme? Do they like finding ways to fix things that end up breaking? Just curious,

OOOOOH. I am exempt from this convo then. I own all three consoles and game on my PC extensively. I am one of those weird people that likes having the option of playing any game I want.

@BionicRadd said:

@OldManLight said:

@BionicRadd: i'm really just trying to nail down what it is for some people that they are so defiant of owning a console. Lack of Customization? Control Scheme? Do they like finding ways to fix things that end up breaking? Just curious,

OOOOOH. I am exempt from this convo then. I own all three consoles and game on my PC extensively. I am one of those weird people that likes having the option of playing any game I want.

if that's the criteria i am as well. Just always hit a wall convincing pc only friendos to come play a console game with me.

@OldManLight said:

@BionicRadd: i'm really just trying to nail down what it is for some people that they are so defiant of owning a console. Lack of Customization? Control Scheme? Do they like finding ways to fix things that end up breaking? Just curious,

They would rather have a more precise control scheme and higher resolution/graphics in every game. Seems like a simple thing to understand.

I use my pc to do everything I need to do, how and when I want to do it. I dislike adding specialized hardware that is good for only a few specific tasks, so I would not buy that console.

I wouldn't, simply because the reason I love Steam so much is that my laptop can follow me on my 30-odd flights a year.

How is this different from a Xbox ?

You still pay for a hardware that you can't upgrade. After 4 years it will have the same problem consoles have nowdays, all their games look like ass compared to PC. The only difference I see is the ability to hook up mouse and keyboard.

So NO , I would not buy a Steam box because it sounds just like another console.

No. PC gaming is about options and freedom. Steam is just a necessary evil in a nice suit that is fairly polite with it's DRM demands and offers something useful in return. Getting a link thru twitter to a 2-man russian indie dev team alpha-build direct download of a crazy 3d hex strategy-action game is what PC gaming is about to me. Of course I ran it in a VM.. PC gaming is RAW gaming. No fences, no walls, no safety nets besides the ones you build. No console can deliver that.

poo poo bum bum wee wee poop tomato.

Sorry, I was going to write something more informative, but then I realised this was a straight up troll thread (or written by someone with little to no understanding of PCs, hardware or games in general).

$400 for max settings in all games for 6 years. >_>

I don't know and I sure think it would be a fresh option in the market for a lot of people, But as a PC gamer I see no point: Why would I paid for the same service in an inferior hardware?

Let it be able to stream to any TV/monitor in the house and we have a deal.

They would announce it, and it would never come out.

No, I would not buy this console for the following reasons.

1) PC games will always look better on PC. Your hypothetical "runs them at max detail at 1080p" doesn't make sense for obvious reasons.

2) There's no reason to purchase this console over others unless it has exclusive games. Maybe Valve would only release their games on this thing and completely drop the PC/Mac format. . . but this again falls into the realm of no way in hell.

3) I would pay more to play my games in higher than 1080p and also drop the extra cash to get all my non gaming PC functionality.

4) If this Console has all that PC functionality, it's as much a console as my Dell or my HP. And with that being the case, it'll be just as hackable as any other PC.

What you're describing is basically a console that plays PC games. And there is absolutely no reason for any developers who are producing PC games to standardize their PC releases to fit the specs for this console as much as they standardize for any other. Pretty much, PC games will always look best on the newest hardware available on PC but will be able to run with lowered settings on this Steam console. The only downside would be that all Steam games would be built to the specs of this console and so the PC versions of those games would suffer. Pretty much, what you're selling is top of the line hardware for an impossible price (unless they take huge losses like Sony did with the PS3 launch) to play steam games and gimped PC games.

No thanks.

no, why would they take a risk in the hardware development  that is really crowded with other console competitors on the market when it's alot more lucrative to be a digital distribution front and game software company.

It's called a PC you bought for 400 bucks from a thief.

For whatever reason, I give PC's a pass for being 1000 dollar behemoths, mostly because you can do anything you damn well please. A 360/PS3 does cost only 300 dollars (now), but you're still limited to whatever they allow you to play/do. And that can change at any time.

@Fobwashed said:

No, I would not buy this console for the following reasons.

1) PC games will always look better on PC. Your hypothetical "runs them at max detail at 1080p" doesn't make sense for obvious reasons.

2) There's no reason to purchase this console over others unless it has exclusive games. Maybe Valve would only release their games on this thing and completely drop the PC/Mac format. . . but this again falls into the realm of no way in hell.

3) I would pay more to play my games in higher than 1080p and also drop the extra cash to get all my non gaming PC functionality.

4) If this Console has all that PC functionality, it's as much a console as my Dell or my HP. And with that being the case, it'll be just as hackable as any other PC.

What you're describing is basically a console that plays PC games. And there is absolutely no reason for any developers who are producing PC games to standardize their PC releases to fit the specs for this console as much as they standardize for any other. Pretty much, PC games will always look best on the newest hardware available on PC but will be able to run with lowered settings on this Steam console. The only downside would be that all Steam games would be built to the specs of this console and so the PC versions of those games would suffer. Pretty much, what you're selling is top of the line hardware for an impossible price (unless they take huge losses like Sony did with the PS3 launch) to play steam games and gimped PC games.

+1 this

and I will throw in this

I love consoles and always will, but PCs also double as work machine for me and are a better value for me.

A Steam-branded PC, I could possibly get behind... something similar to Alienware maybe. A Steam console... totally unnecessary. Consoles are basically stripped-down PCs that have limited functionality outside of games and the handful of applications that are supported.

Steambox... hm. Iffy.

A Steamstation however!

Nope.

Why would anyone do that?

We could very well have this in the Wii U whenever it's released... but nothing's for certain yet.

This sounds like a console...and I already have an 360 and a PS3.

Yes

@OldManLight: To begin with people don't spend $200 every few months upgrading their PC. If you work that out over 3 years being the typical time between GPU and CPU upgrades for most users that works out to be $2,400. Following your budget you could buy a completely new absolutely mind blowing computer for those payments.

In reality people will probably upgrade GPU first after a couple of years and CPU/Mobo maybe a year and a half after that upgrade costing about $500ish each if you get really nice components. The rest of your rig (ram, HDD, monitor, case...) only needs upgrading when things break or when you want some shiny new gadget.

You've vastly overestimated both the costs of PC gaming and the time spent troubleshooting. If you run a single GPU setup and play games through steam most of the time games "just work" on release these days. Sure you might need the occasional bug fix for some games but it's no more troublesome than the day one patches which plague almost every console release. Not only that but you lose all the customisation of controls and the visual experience plus the modding community for games like Skyrim or GTA will often breathe new life into old games.

Nah. I also do work on my PC.

@BeachThunder said:

poo poo bum bum wee wee poop tomato.

Sorry, I was going to write something more informative, but then I realised this was a straight up troll thread (or written by someone with little to no understanding of PCs, hardware or games in general).

I was going to try to write a well-rationed response as well but it looks like we both came the the same conclusion.

I already have a Steam console. It comes with a keyboard, mouse, 30" 2560x1600 monitor and whatever speakers, video card, sound card, memory capacity, and CPU combination I like. Indeed, it's very versatile!

I have a great, so someone'd have to pay me to buy it.

So it's a $400 PC? 
 
Yeah. I'd buy that.

Without a shadow of a fucking doubt.

first, it would not be able to be 400.

and.. maybe. Still like to have a machien where i can do everything on so. Gonna have a pc regardless so.

Yes because I think steam has done really good for their user base and I would trust them to make a quality product

$400 for max settings in all games for 6 years. >_>