looks pretty cool, but gives me 'plays like console' vibes. I'm skeptical it'll be fun for me but I'll give it a try.

I mean it would be a directly horizontal move in a huge market they don't yet exist in. So it would make market sense.

They have been building out incredible hardware teams, so they probably have the expertise.

I think I'm talking myself into hope. Lol

I'd do it just to see what games in my Steam library run decently on my Pixel.

Would you run a Valve SteamOS Linux phone that also runs Android apps flawlessly? I know I would. I'm sure that's not it, but I totally would. Lol

Imagine if Valve actually fully rolled out running Android stuff on SteamOS as a whole via the compatibility layer Proton, and not just for the Steam Frame. That would be very interesting, and perhaps already in their plans.

Honestly I'm shocked they haven't done this already. With the latest Epic case coming to a close they'd be fools not to...

Consoles have existed for decades. I dont understand the headline either.

Appreciate that, linked website has had the 'internet hug of death'.

Take home message looks to be that it'll be capable of running 'nearly every PC game', albeit with a lot of help from FSR if you're wanting to run the latest games at 4K, and should be a beast for emulation, quite capable of running RPCS3. So a small box that you can hide behind the TV that can run 99% of all games ever released on any platform in the history of computing.

Plus, with a specific target in mind, developers can tune their releases for it - we've seen that already with Steam Deck. Sounds good.

Might come down to the price, then. Our man reckons $500, but notes that the price of RAM is crazy just now, so who knows? Steam ought to be able to get a deal buying slightly-outdated products in bulk, though.

If this device can handle PS3 emulation pretty well, it would absolutely be something I'd love. Obviously the steam deck can handle PS3 but I would love to have something more powerful that can handle it without overheating.

The video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg99bsQT3_E

Valve’s Steam Machine is still months away from launch

Oooh. This gives me shivers.

They announced 3 new products, I think they're evolving....

This makes me wonder whether indie devs will aim for SteamDeck/Machines as their reference, in much the same way that devs build for PlayStation/Xbox/Switch, making the majority of games run perfectly, and having the effect of kinda leveling out the power arms race for a short while. I mean, if Steam is where the majority of developers sell their games, then it makes sense to target the hardware that's built for Steam.

I game on a high end PC most of the time (As high end as I can get without using an Nvidia card that is) and I'm still really excited for the steam machine. I want to be able to play party games in the living room without moving my PC. I want to play VR from my living room instead of my cramped office. Most games I'd choose to play on the couch don't require much, but I'd still prefer a bit of a performance boost over a docked steam deck. I also just like supporting the only company dedicated to gaming on Linux, something that I feel very strongly about.

Valve? 3? I doubt that

For Zen 4? I guess it could be, but then it would be the same situation (laptop ram tends not to be bought in bulk or used in AI/Workstation workloads, so is cheap and available).

The most messed up part is Anticheat has major problems. Cheating is rampant on all these games.

You can't play our games because it requires an Anticheat that doesn't even work! How ridiculous.

Surely that's a DDR5 machine?

And thats the big divider. A fundamental schism between people who use video games as a vehicle for socializing with friends vs people who play videogames for the love of the art form and enjoyment of the genre.

The "want to play with my friends" types follow the hype train. They consume games as a social product. They go from one AAA multiplayer to the next as their social groups collective interest waxes and wanes. They buy game consoles based purely off what their other friends have. They aren't that deeply invested in the 50 years of history, industry practices, or current culture trends of games. They dont care about nerd shit like privacy and dont care about always online requirements or optimization. AAA shooters, mobas, and sports games appeal to these types.

The "art form enjoyer" types are the people who grew up with this stuff and have an intrinsic interest in game industry practices. People who played hundreds of single player games to experience a story or beat a challenge. The people who care enough to notice the constant corporate commodification ofthe art into slop and the never ending plays for control over the game you paid to own or shoving microtransactions everywhere. Its the people who will put their foot down and vote with their wallet just because of shit anticheat or always online or being unoptimized UE5 garbage. Also the type of people who will give indie games made by small developers who treat the community well while providing the opportunity to run community servers.

Theres overlap but to me it seems lot of the industries anti-consumer practices are born and bread in the triple AAA " want to play with my friends" honeytraps. Those kinds of players are the most apathetic, most willing to chase hype trains, buy the newest consoles, consume the same reheated product, willing to put aside personal philosophy and bend over backwards to take the corporate cock to play a game with friends.

But like I was a teenager once during the 360/ps3 games so I have empathy. The socialite tribal monkey instincts for connection and communication are a big driver very hard to resist. Theres nothing wrong with playing games with friends but I wish it would stop being used as an put for enabling shitty products and practices. "Sorry nerds I'm a real person who wants to play with my friends normal people ain't got time to care about voting with their wallet or having an invested interest in making sure I can play the product I paid for 10 years from now with hardware I already own" is such a common undertone justifying the apathy.

PC gaming is an expensive hobby. I've bought vehicles for less than a lot of people's gaming PCs cost.

It's upgradeable, at least, and DDR4 SODIMM is cheap as chips (even with the recent spikes, since laptop memory is a common but niche commodity).

You just have to make it expensive / hard enough to cheat that most people don't bother.

I understand peoples distrust in kernel level anti-cheats and why they suck, that being said, back when I still played multiplayer games Valorant (that has a kernel level anti cheat) was so much ahead of CSGO that it was not even a comparison. I don't know whether it was due to CSGO's anti cheat being bad or Valorants being good.

When you have to spend 50 eur / month to cheat most people don't and that's good enough for the casual player base. Not sure what the case now is with CS2 and other online games in general.

It's essentially a SteamConsole, which was the logical step after the deck. If this goes ok, expect a Proton-based SteamOS getting pushed.

Wish they didn't skimp on RAM. 16 GiB is barely adequate.

While enjoying building overpowered rigs for myself, I plan to get a Steam Machine for my teenage son. He's already running bazzite on his aging gaming laptop, so it'll be a smooth transition software wise. The hardware looks beautiful and portability is a good thing for when he meets up with his friends for in person gaming sessions. If it were available today I'd immediately get it.

I somehow doubt it, theres still no good solution to anticheat on Linux