Valve Plans to bring PCs to the living room

Discussion in 'Frontpage news' started by Hilbert Hagedoorn, Dec 10, 2012.

  1. Hilbert Hagedoorn

    Hilbert Hagedoorn Don Vito Corleone Staff Member

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    In an interview with Kotaku, Valve boss Gabe Newell revealed Valve's current goal is to figure out how to make PCs work better in the living room. The company's TV-friendly ...

    Valve Plans to bring PCs to the living room
     
  2. Ghosty

    Ghosty Ancient Guru

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    Valve appear to be doing more for the PC market than Microsoft have. All be it on a Linux platform. Interesting idea, it could work well. Low cost, better flexibility than consoles.
     
  3. schmidtbag

    schmidtbag Ancient Guru

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    I'm sure linux is chosen due to how valve hates the windows marketplace and because you can easily customize linux to work as a console and not just as a PC. You can eliminate a lot of PC related features to give games extra performance.
     
  4. mw8t

    mw8t Guest

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    My system that I'm building at the moment is going to go under the tv and is focused on big screen gaming and media playback with a separate screen/mouse and kb elsewhere for normal pc stuff.

    The days of being slumped in front of a crummy old desk while looking at a massive ugly tower case is on it's way out :D
     

  5. PhazeDelta1

    PhazeDelta1 Guest

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    Sorry Valve, but I already have a PC in the living room.
     
  6. Nchinmay

    Nchinmay Guest

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    Please support KB+M on all the games that come out on the console. I dont care if it supports other controllers and joysticks and what not alongside the KB+M.
     
  7. mw8t

    mw8t Guest

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    KB & mouse not really suited to social gaming in the living room which I think is what Valve is aiming for here.
     
  8. kanej2007

    kanej2007 Guest

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    As long as they are customizable with regards to hardware then why not!
     
  9. chalky

    chalky Guest

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    The day they give up on mouse/keyboard is the day i give up gaming and upgrading
     
    Last edited: Dec 11, 2012
  10. Speed Weed

    Speed Weed Guest

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    If my current monitor gives up the ghost, I will be sorely tempted to replace it with a HDMI-type tv as monitor.
    But that's all it would be used for ---- a monitor.
    Certainly won't be allowing Steam, or any of its subsidiaries near the rig.
    That's probably why the only new game I've bought this year is Witcher 2.
     

  11. kanej2007

    kanej2007 Guest

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    Well said! :thumbup:
     
  12. Redemption80

    Redemption80 Guest

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    Even though i'm a living room gamer, and only use mouse/kb on about 10% of my games i still don't think this is a good idea.

    While using Linux would keep costs down, it would also essentially be restarting PC gaming, which i think would just create a huge mess in PC gaming.

    Say they do build it using Windows and alot of dev's are keen on the idea, that would mean good support for those who own this SteamBox/SteamStation PC, but the controller centric side of it would mean that mouse/kb support in games would now be even less of a priority.

    Then there is the hardware side of things, dev's would likely optimise games very well for Valve's hardware, but not so much for those who have their own custom built PC's.

    Which GPU vendor would Valve pick, initially i thought AMD due to lower costs, but with them struggling, i'm sure Nvidia could reduce costs to also get such a lucrative contract.
    Either way this will be bad news for many people.

    None of this is particularly bad news for me personally, but i was raised on desktop gaming, mouse/kb controls and upgrade-ability, so it would be sad to see all that pushed even further down the priority list.
     
  13. Denial

    Denial Ancient Guru

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    What you're saying would be true if this happened like 6-8 years ago. But because of, believe it or not, Microsoft, standards on pretty much everything you're referring to is much more strict. Take graphics cards for example, you talk about optimization of hardware, but since DX10, AMD and Nvidia graphics cards are basically the same when it comes to a developer perspective. They are very limited in what they can differ on when it comes to the core of their cards. Like now it's still a cluster**** because it's essentially a requirement that DX9 is used due to consoles, but once those are out of the picture all that goes away. And it will be by the time this launches.

    Keyboard and mouse are the same thing, the developer tools for controls are getting to the point where it's easy enough to implement control schemes for all different form factors and just have it work. It requires attention to detail and design decisions in the game too, like FOV impacts on gameplay and whatnot, but it's all simple **** that most of the good studios have been doing since day one anyway. I mean play any Valve game with a controller then switch to the keyboard, it feels good on both. There is nothing stopping any other dev from doing this.

    I dunno, I only see this as a good thing. Someone needs to push boundries in the console space, Microsoft and Sony really haven't done much lately. A fourth competitor, especially one with a completely different distribution system will shake stuff up. May actually get me to hook something up to my TV again too.
     
  14. Redemption80

    Redemption80 Guest

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    Valve games might be fine, but I still see a lot of complaints about games that while the it supports mouse/kb controls the UI and gameplay are built around a controller, and this will only get worse if there are now PC’s built around controller use as the market for mouse/kb will just keep getting smaller and smaller.

    Nvidia/AMD might not be a million miles apart from a hardware point of view, but there is a difference, and you could argue even moreso when it comes to drivers etc...

    I also think this is a good thing, due to the fact that the older I get the less time I get to mess about with games, so need something more plug and play, working on a mouse/kb all day means I have zero wishes to game on these, and my dedicated PC room is now a gym, so gaming is living room or not at all.

    Not convinced everyone will feel the same though.
     
  15. schmidtbag

    schmidtbag Ancient Guru

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    @redemption

    I completely get what you're saying but i think you're also looking at this from the wrong perspective. I don't think valve is trying to restart PC gaming but rather create a new gaming platform as a whole. Basically a console with freedom of choice. You don't get the complete freedom with windows. Linux joining the gaming industry like this is basically the same idea as when MS created Xbox around the same time GameCube came out.
     

  16. Nchinmay

    Nchinmay Guest

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    KB+M can be used for that as much as a controller is for any sort of gaming. I dont care about social games stuff and what they do for them but Valve, being Valve, will try to get games like TF2, CS, HL 2/3 to their console. Also since they mention that users can use custom PCs instead of their box, I am sure they wont be limited to social games only

    I will have to step outside and appreciate nature n stuff. Possibly also start talking to girls.
     
  17. WindtalkerCS

    WindtalkerCS Master Guru

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    Let's not get too crazy. :pc1:
     
  18. bryonhowley

    bryonhowley Member Guru

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    My main rig is already connected to my Panasonic 50" 3D Plasma so I do not need Valve to do it for me. And as far as controllers all games should support the Xbox 360 controller and kb+m if they want but the Xbox 360 controller should be the default for Big Picture Mode.

    As for Steam on Linux we will have to see but Valve is not the first gaming company that has tried to do gaming on Linux and I do not think they will be the last.

    The one thing we will have to see is how many game dev's are willing to let people get the games on linux for free if they already own the Windows version. I have a feeling that most of the top dev's will not be doing that and will force people to rebuy them on Linux.

    The other problem I see is atleast the people I know only run Linux because they do not what to pay for software and infact they will warez anything they what if it is not free. While I am sure this is not the norm for Linux users I think the amount of people that will is higher that anyone thinks. So I guess the real question will be is there enough out there that are willing to pay for closed source proprietary games on Linux to make it worth it. Time will tell.

    And do not get me wrong I like Linux and I do not have anything against it. I just have grown out of Linux really it was need to play around with a few years ago but for me that is all it really was. And I remember a few years ago buying games in Linux versions heck Best Buy even used sell them and then one day they just went the way of the dodo. I know a lot of people are to young to remember but gaming on Linux has come and gone a few times over the years but maybe Valve can make it stick around this time.

    But I see the amount of games done with OpenGL has really shrunk over the years also. A few years ago OpenGL was all the rage now it is mostly Direct X so direct ports are going to be harder and cost more and that may put some dev's off of doing them. Unless Valve gets the majority of developers to come on board it is not going to go very far.
     
  19. Aura89

    Aura89 Ancient Guru

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    that makes no sense...and considering the fact that all PC games to my knowledge, except maybe a very select few, accept keyboard and mouse, they'd have to go out of their way to not supposed keyboard and mouse
     

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