"Steam Box" and TPA: Perfect match?

Hopefully we have information about the long-rumoured "Steam Box" Linux/SteamOS console tomorrow. Could be a perfect platform for TPA when TPA is released on Steam. One question is the price, otherwise I'm very hopefull.

Only problem is the Steambox will only support OpenGL whereas TPA uses DirectX for rendering.

Well, PS3/PS4/Android uses "Linux/OpenGL" so it shouldn't take long to convert TPA to OpenGL on Steam..

SteamOS will be an utter and complete failure and such a very bad investment for anything.

I can't see any market for it and the only reason why Valve is pushing for it is because Windows dominance is starting to be a threat for them. Microsoft is planning something Steam like for Windows Market and that directly competes against Steam and doesn't offer any benefit for Valve. It is in Valve's best interest to promote Linux for the next gen platform since they would be the top dog on that platform.

For a gamer this would be useless move and doesn't bring anything extra. It is just handicaping yourself with a inferior platform.

I don't put much faith in steambox. From what it sounds like steambox doesn't actually play games it just streams them from your pc. So basically your just running your computer and this box at the same time using up a bunch of electricity and both devices. And no matter what they do with the steaming it's never ever going to look as smooth as playing the game right on your pc. so far with every streaming device small blocky artifacts (espeshially in low lit black areas) ruin the crispness, and compression is apparent. If you need both a computer and a steambox you might as well just plug your pc into your hdtv and just use that without buying a middle man. no price or actual specs have been mentioned yet but from what ive read it focuses on streaming, which would probably be a nightmare for pinball timing.

Pete said:

I don't put much faith in steambox. From what it sounds like steambox doesn't actually play games it just streams them from your pc. So basically your just running your computer and this box at the same time using up a bunch of electricity and both devices. And no matter what they do with the steaming it's never ever going to look as smooth as playing the game right on your pc. so far with every streaming device small blocky artifacts (espeshially in low lit black areas) ruin the crispness, and compression is apparent. If you need both a computer and a steambox you might as well just plug your pc into your hdtv and just use that without buying a middle man. no price or actual specs have been mentioned yet but from what ive read it focuses on streaming, which would probably be a nightmare for pinball timing.

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It doesn't just do streaming. Games will be written to run natively on SteamOS just like any other flavor of linux. The streaming is there for "backwards compatibility" with games that run on Windows or Mac. I would assume Farsight will be writing a native SteamOS version of TPA in addition to Windows. That may be why it is taking longer for the Steam release, who knows?

The game has to come out for PC first.

Roope said:

I can't see any market for it and the only reason why Valve is pushing for it is because Windows dominance is starting to be a threat for them.

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I read an article in which the author suggested it was because the PC market in general is declining.

Yay another platform to release TPA on!

Jan Duin said:

Yay another platform to release TPA on!

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I bet the table quality will go right up!

Steam Machines = A PC with SteamOS.
Several companies will sell standardized Steam Machines starting 2014.
Also if you install SteamOS on a PC you have a Steam Machine.
I'm not so excited now... Steam Machines must have better price, better performance or some unique features to be able to compete in a big way with Windows PC:s

smbhax said:

I read an article in which the author suggested it was because the PC market in general is declining.

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Care to link to that article? To me that sounds contradicting to any other news or statistics I've seen. Most studies to this direction are pointing to the sales of the physical copies on PC. This is a clear trend since on PC digital distribution has really picked up and there is little reason to buy any boxed copies. To be honest I personally (I know, always a stupid argument) don't know anyone who has bought any boxed copies for PC in a long time (excluding special editions).
And even if this would be the case I really don't see how SteamOS would make any difference. Basically it's a Linux OS with some Valve flavor. Linux ha snot picked up in any way in the past and there is not much arguments to think it would in a future.

Then again Gabe has said in the past how he thinks Windows 8 is bad and how he doesn't like the market place on it and how that might have an negative effect on the digital distribution platform for PCs (meaning Steam).

Mobile markets and mobile games are not something that compete with PC titles (unless games made for PC are mobile games in disguise, Godus I'm looking at you). I don't think that anyone who is playing games on PC is going to switch to play Angry Birds on phones or tablets.
If Valve is trying to make SteamOS to SteamBox type of livingroom gaming platform the price needs to be a lot lower than PC is. That means bad performance and person missing out a lot of PC benefits. There already is a a Steam Big Picture for living room TV gaming on PC so having SteamOS livingroom "console" has no room. It is purely a Valve trying to make some play out from Windows dominated platform when Microsoft have plans for their own marketplace that competes against Steam.

Just for clarification, you don't have to buy a new Steam Box.
You just need a free copy of Steam OS, that runs on your gaming or living room PC.

http://store.steampowered.com/livingroom/SteamOS/

"Downloadable soon. Free forever!"

smbhax said:

I read an article in which the author suggested it was because the PC market in general is declining.

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I've been reading that article for 13 years now.

Pete said:

I don't put much faith in steambox. From what it sounds like steambox doesn't actually play games it just streams them from your pc. So basically your just running your computer and this box at the same time using up a bunch of electricity and both devices. And no matter what they do with the steaming it's never ever going to look as smooth as playing the game right on your pc. so far with every streaming device small blocky artifacts (espeshially in low lit black areas) ruin the crispness, and compression is apparent. If you need both a computer and a steambox you might as well just plug your pc into your hdtv and just use that without buying a middle man. no price or actual specs have been mentioned yet but from what ive read it focuses on streaming, which would probably be a nightmare for pinball timing.

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I found this super exclusive preview shot of steambox2

Wow, the people in here with the strongest and lengthiest opinions on the Steam OS seem to have no idea how it works. It kind of makes me not want to read any of the forums here anymore. How hard is it to read a page of text about something before writing a short essay on how much it sucks?

Rooter said:

Wow, the people in here with the strongest and lengthiest opinions on the Steam OS seem to have no idea how it works. It kind of makes me not want to read any of the forums here anymore. How hard is it to read a page of text about something before writing a short essay on how much it sucks?

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Please enlighten me what is so wrong in my post? Assuming you referred me since my text was the longest.

or maybe he was talking about me because i didn't really know how steambox works and ranted a bit... let's all fight! pinball nerd war!!! hehe

Roope said:

Please enlighten me what is so wrong in my post? Assuming you referred me since my text was the longest.

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Yours was long, but you barely talked about Steam, so I wasn't really referring to you. However, yes, Steam OS is meant for the living room. That's why it can be linux, people aren't worried about running applications on it (Office, Adobe apps, etc). I have no idea why you assume that the price needs to be lower than other consoles, but people will definitely have that option. Some people will build a $99 machine for streaming media and playing Pinball Arcade. Others will spend thousands of dollars to play an insane version of Half Life 3 or Counter Strike. If you think that people aren't interested in having an open console in their living room, then you obviously never saw the Ouya kickstarter. True, the Ouya is pretty much a failure (I have one), but Steam OS is learning from their mistakes, has more resources behind it, and an existing huge fan base.

Pete said:

or maybe he was talking about me because i didn't really know how steambox works and ranted a bit... let's all fight! pinball nerd war!!! hehe

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Yes, you were one of the offenders that bothered me the most. The ability to stream your Windows games is just an awesome bonus option that the developers will provide. It's not the main way that games are meant to be played. Games will be ported or specifically created for Linux. Tons of them already exist and Valve's games, which have millions of diehard fans already, will run better under Linux than Windows. The PS4 supposedly runs Orbis OS, a modified version of FreeBSD that’s similar to Linux. So, in theory, porting games from PS4 to Steam OS shouldn't be a huge effort. It may be possible to have a box in your living room that can play any Windows game, has native games that outperform their Windows counterparts, can play a version of pretty much any PS4 game, can be upgraded at anytime without waiting for the next generation of the system, and can install any custom software you can image on it. If Steam OS can be what Valve claims, I don't really see how it can fail.

The controller looks pretty awesome too. Of course, it will work on any PC, so you don't need Steam OS, but I thought I would mention it.

Roope said:

SteamOS will be an utter and complete failure and such a very bad investment for anything.

I can't see any market for it and the only reason why Valve is pushing for it is because Windows dominance is starting to be a threat for them. Microsoft is planning something Steam like for Windows Market and that directly competes against Steam and doesn't offer any benefit for Valve. It is in Valve's best interest to promote Linux for the next gen platform since they would be the top dog on that platform.

For a gamer this would be useless move and doesn't bring anything extra. It is just handicaping yourself with a inferior platform.

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How is it inferior exactly? All the reports I have seen suggest that when porting games to Linux/OpenGL they actually see a performance boost over Windows/DirectX. Plus there is nothing to stop them switching ALL support over to OpenGL on Windows too seeing as OpenGL is fully supported there. Then there is mobile which sooner rather than later will also make the switch from the cut-down mobile OpenGL to the full fat version.

Overall it makes a LOT of sense for games to move over to OpenGL because the ONLY benefit to DirectX is if you are porting "only" to Xbox One and not taking advantage of the lower layer API. AAA games are always optimised closer to the metal anyway so its going to be equally tricky no matter which API you start with.

I switched to Linux as my main OS several years ago when I decided not to bother with PC gaming so much and concentrate on console instead. Since Steam has been supported on Linux I have bought a lot more games, even ones I still have to boot into Windows to play. The ones that work on both Windows and Linux however, I have not seen any difference between them except they load quicker on Linux. They even retain full Xbox 360 controller support, I was shocked even the wireless controllers work these days. So the ONLY thing holding it back is convincing developers to support it and quite a few indies have done.

Right now its the ones with their own DRM stores that are reluctant such as EA and Ubisoft, but Windows Store poses a threat to them too so they may very well come over.

Not to throw gas on a dying fire but I'm personally keeping a close eye on this project, I think it COULD get legs and run... time will tell

Linux has had a hard time getting main stream support for years, that will not change even with it's own box BUT if you look at Google and Android, if a company takes the time and money to give it the insanely long development cycle a truly new O/S takes, it does create at the very least more competition from the existing players in the market and will slowly build support and acceptance over time.

In perspective, this could turn out to be another console-level platform and offer a lot of people a nice middle ground. If SteamOS runs okay in Windows and allows the casual user to finally give Linux a spin, it will push more dollars into the now-starving Linux markets and Steam already has a pretty slick delivery mechanism.

Steam also has about as much experience second-hand with game development as anyone can, if anyone can truly build a good game-centric O/S, it would be Valve.

My hopes are high, I think this might give Apple something to think about and since all non-Microsoft O/S's seem to be Linux in one flavor or another, it will also help push towards better dependency unification and a more world-wide Linux understanding in general.

Or it can run like crud...screw up my PC...and make me sorry I ever read this thread ;P Time will tell