[QUOTE="hoola"]If I were Valve I would work with only a single company and market it as a Valve gaming console. The only way they are going to get away with this is if they have strict standards regarding the power of each system. The last thing that needs to happen is one company running a game fine while the other is struggling. If they have a standard that must be followed exactly then it won't be a problem, but then that kind of defeats the purpose of being"open" doesn't it?
Chances are i will buy it, whatever it is. however, if I had the option of a Valve branded box designed by Valve or some piece of junk by Samsung then I would take the Valve one every time.
gameguy6700
Since it plays PC games that's going to happen anyway. It won't be like a PS3 or X360 where you get a game and know it will run fine on your machine, you'll still have to worry about specs. Unfortunately if the hardware does become standardized, however, then it could really hurt PC gaming since devs will only start making their games with Steam Box in mind (so max settings will be something that Steam Box can max out, assuming graphics settings will even still exist), to say nothing of the horrors that making a gamepad standard in PC gaming would entail.The Bold: This isn't necessarily a bad thing (in fact, it could end up being exactly the opposite). Right now the standards for PC gaming are created by consoles. We havn't seen a game really push the boundries of the PC since 2007 with Crysis. If there is a standard PC that is miles ahead of consoles simply because it is a powerful PC, then it could actually be a great BENEFIT to graphics advancement. If the standard becomes several times more powerful than consoles like the xbox 720 and PS4 then games developed for the Steambox could actually be very visually impressive compared to what they would have been if the standard had been a weak console.
If this is true then what they are doing is making a hybrid console/PC. It will be a PC in terms of functionality (running windows, internet, and other programs that we normally use on the PC), and a console in terms of accessbility. The reason people are having problems comprehending what Valve wants done is because it isn't something that has ever been done before with PCs (it was attempted with Phantom which ended up be a scam and it was very poorly thought out which wont' be a problem for Valve). They are trying to take the best of both worlds and combine them into one. I think its risky, but it could really pay off if done properly.
Samsung, Dell, HP, Alienware all announce their Steamboxes with their own special physical designs, but a standard internal setup. Instead of buying a PC a person may choose to get a Steambox due to its easy compatibility with a tv (yes, i know, it is easy to hook a PC up to a TV, but tell that to the average person. They'd have no clue). They advertise it like a game console yet you have a full PC on your TV and it does everything your PC does, but you don't have to worry about games or other software not being compatible. And with Windows 8 right around the corner and its supposed simplistic "tablet friendly" design, it could really work well on the big screen. It will be viewed as a console and used as a PC.
Of course, this is all speculation. For all we know they could be going the Phantom route.
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