SteamOS

[Cube]

 

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

 

Looks like Valve are ready to take on Windows and home consoles at the same time, while also cashing in on the streaming-to-a-second-device. The Steambox console hasn't been announced yet, but it will likely be in 48 hours.

 

In-home Streaming

 

You can play all your Windows and Mac games on your SteamOS machine, too. Just turn on your existing computer and run Steam as you always have - then your SteamOS machine can stream those games over your home network straight to your TV!

 

Music, TV, Movies

 

We’re working with many of the media services you know and love. Soon we will begin bringing them online, allowing you to access your favorite music and video with Steam and SteamOS.

 

Family Sharing

 

In the past, sharing Steam games with your family members was hard. Now you can share the games you love with the people you love. Family Sharing allows you to take turns playing one another’s games while earning your own Steam achievements and saving your individual game progress to the Steam cloud.

 

Family Options

 

The living-room is family territory. That’s great, but you don’t want to see your parents’ games in your library. Soon, families will have more control over what titles get seen by whom, and more features to allow everyone in the house to get the most out of their Steam libraries.

 

It will be interesting to see if this increases the number of Linux ports - I imagine Valve are in a good position to provide some very good incentives.

[Oxigen_Waste]

First PS4 and now this... Linus is having a great year! oO

[The Bard]

I'm intrigued about the idea that running Steam OS will result in improved gaming performance. Which would make sense; it's an OS optimised for gaming, and if it's true, it has me really fucking excited.

[Nolan]

I'm intrigued about the idea that running Steam OS will result in improved gaming performance. Which would make sense; it's an OS optimised for gaming, and if it's true, it has me really fucking excited.

 

Valve has already demonstrated that when porting some of their games to Linux they gained quite a performance boost. Seeing that Steam OS is linux based it makes sense that it would be the same way. The fact that it will be optimized as a gaming OS is icing on the cake.

 

I'm in, I'll try it as a Dual-boot in my second PC first and if all goes well it might just become a single boot Steam OS.

[Ike]

So this will run games natively, right? Not just streaming? And the games need to be ported to Linux?

 

I'm really bad at playing PC games - just because they are on a PC. If I can emulate a console I might actually be able to play my Steam library properly.

[CoolFunkMan]

I'm intrigued by this myself, it certainly has potential to be huge, but there's still a few factors that are unclear. The most pressing issue is that PC games are optimised for Direct X, which is not supported by Linux. That's unless DX is emulated by Wine, which I think is slightly illegal (now there's an understatement.) The streaming feature is a bit unclear too, do we need a separate system just to run Steam via PC, so it works on SteamOS?

 

If Valve can pull it off (and I do have faith, they normally seem to know what they're doing), then fair play.

 

I guess all will become clear as the week progresses, they still have two more announcements to make, the next one being tomorrow at 6PM (UK time); http://store.steampowered.com/livingroom/

 

The other icons are a bit interesting too, and I've heard a theory which makes sense;

 

1 - The first one is already known; SteamOS

 

2 - The second one has the same circle symbol as the SteamOS icon in the first reveal, so it could be just that. The square brackets indicate a box, so it could be the fabled 'Steam Box' with SteamOS built in? Finally there's a space, perhaps suggesting that it can be upgraded, for future proofing purposes? If this is the Steam Box, then I can actually see it being similar to Sony's PS Vita TV, which would explain the streaming concept.

 

3 - Another circle symbol appears, with the plus symbol in-between. Being as the one circle indicates SteamOS, a piece of software, I'm guessing the other is also some sort of software. It definitely points to some sort of connectivity. That, or it's titles that are being developed/optimised for Steam/SteamOS.

 

Either way, it's an exciting week!

[Charlie]

Just waiting for them to announce all the same things as Microsoft did regarding DRM (but then took back) and for fans to love it and it to be the next generation of gaming etc etc.

[Jonnas]

It took me forever to get a Steam account, and I expect it will take me another forever to consider this.

 

Anyway, things are changing in the gaming landscape again, and that's always exciting.

[CoolFunkMan]

Just waiting for them to announce all the same things as Microsoft did regarding DRM (but then took back) and for fans to love it and it to be the next generation of gaming etc etc.

 

Thing is, if there is DRM, which is highly likely, then it's more understandable.

 

Steam has been DRM from day one, and it's an already established platform, so people should know what they're signing up for by now. On the other hand, Microsoft's consoles never had DRM included as a feature until XBox One (before the concept was canned), so the idea was a lot harder for people to grasp.

 

Plus, if this leads to the Steam Box, then it'll no doubt work alongside the Steam PC platform, so it makes more sense. I think that regular sales help to sweeten deals too.

[david.dakota]

I doubt that this is just a streaming box - that would top the nonsense-o-meter. Assuming this is a SteamBox it has to be capable of being a standalone console, otherwise whats the benefit to Valve (who clearly have issues with the way Windows is headed)? Valve is clearly future-proofing their business against the closing in of Windows.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing a new player in the 'core' console market - a SteamBox might just put me off buying a PS4 too!

[dazzybee]

Same here Dakota, this could be perfect for me, I have loads of games as is that I've literally never played one of (thanks humble bundle) so it could be a way of playing these and taking advantage of steam bargains and all the multiplatform games the wii u won't get. If it fulfils it's potential then I aint getting a ps4 for Uncharted!

[Charlie]

I'm actually pretty interested as well. I'm assuming its going to be cheaper than the Xbox One and PS4, will be tailored for online play and that COD will be released on it every single year...

 

Edit - And assuming it is a standalone 'console' that you can download games directly onto and doesn't just stream them.

Edited September 24, 2013 by Charlie

[Cube]

Physical PC games have always have some kind of DRM, starting with serial codes. It was established pretty much straight away due to the system being open (and therefore much more prone to piracy).

 

For the Xbox One there was no decent reason for it.

[Rummy]

If I can emulate a console

 

zomg man no emulation talk jeez.

 

Honestly wouldn't have expected those words in such a legitimate sense! It's an intriguing idea - I have a feeling the whole streaming aspect might be for them to provide a cheap option to have in the living room, and the processing be done by your other/main PC etc. Of course that's tech I'm not very familiar with, but I can only presume from a business sense that that would be the point in it.

 

Because as...

 

I doubt that this is just a streaming box - that would top the nonsense-o-meter. Assuming this is a SteamBox it has to be capable of being a standalone console, otherwise whats the benefit to Valve (who clearly have issues with the way Windows is headed)? Valve is clearly future-proofing their business against the closing in of Windows.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing a new player in the 'core' console market - a SteamBox might just put me off buying a PS4 too!

 

...quite rightly points out - what's the benefit for them otherwise? Tbh, the price of stuff on steam, the ability to maybe get a setup like this...damn. Could it blow the home gaming/console market wide open? There's so much stuff I've got on PC/steam, and constant bargains etc, but like Ike I just suck at actually playing games on PC atm.

 

Anyhow, I'm excited to see what comes of this. Not neccessarily to buy and get involved with - but it's fresh and new, and kinda where I could see the future going. Re: Linux, I've loved the idea of it since I ever learnt about it - the things that have been followed simply from that one man and his kernel is mindblowing.

Edited September 24, 2013 by Rummy

[Cube]

Interestingly, if Gaikai works really well for Sony and expands how they want (PCs, tablets, etc), this could potentially be a great device for streaming PS4 games.

[Nolan]

If you were to actually read the press release....

 

The Steam OS is an OS that runs games natively (other OS features that a standard PC would have are still in the air) the streaming is merely for the games that are not yet ported to SteamOS/Linux (which are likely very similar) Streaming your games means that you in fact have another PC in your house on your home network that you turn on to run the game. Your PC with SteamOS is merely hooked up in the living room so you can play on the big screen etc.

 

Just as PC gaming has always been you will still need the appropriate hardware to push your games. The streaming is not like Gaikai where it's a paid service from out of your home.

 

The DRM will obviously be Steam, for games acquired on Steam. Being an OS (based on Linux) it's reasonable to expect other services and non-Steam games to run, so Origin Uplay and GoG will likely have their own places.

 

Games being optimized for DirectX is neither here nor there. Xbone will use DirectX but typically Sony consoles (and Nintendo?) have used OpenGL to achieve great graphics. Games already ported to Linux (with better performance than before) are also using OpenGL.

 

SteamOS is also free to users and to Manufacturers. So I think we may see something similar to the Android Phone/Tablet market. One friend of mine even had the thought of "Steam ready TVs" with the OS ready built in to just stream from your PC. It'll be an interesting time.

[CoolFunkMan]

Physical PC games have always have some kind of DRM, starting with serial codes. It was established pretty much straight away due to the system being open (and therefore much more prone to piracy).

 

For the Xbox One there was no decent reason for it.

 

Agree 100% here.

 

Thanks for clearing that up @Nolan, sounds interesting to me. Hopefully most Steam games will get ported to SteamOS.

[Helmsly]

I am very interested in this, as I recently hooked my PC's second monitor output to my tv with a long HDMI cable and I set Steam into BigPicture mode. So right now I pretty much use my PC like a console when it comes to games. Its amazing and the idea of that being more fleshed out or that I can stream it to other tvs in my home such as the living room is something I would definitely use.

[CoolFunkMan]

The rumor mill is churning: http://www.vg247.com/2013/09/25/valve-to-reveal-steam-box-reference-design-this-afternoon-source-2-on-friday-rumor/

 

Either way, we'll know in a couple of hours. Still interesting though...

[david.dakota]

I'm kind of hoping that it is some kind of certification programme; i'd happily build my own SteamBox (making it nice and quiet). I'd build yours too @dazzybee I know you can't do that much with those fat thumbs of yours :p

[Cube]

I'm kind of hoping that it is some kind of certification programme; i'd happily build my own SteamBox (making it nice and quiet). I'd build yours too @dazzybee I know you can't do that much with those fat thumbs of yours :p

 

SteamOS is free for anyone - people who want to install it on their own PC, and manufacturers who wish to use it.

 

So you can build your own SteamBox.

[Happenstance]

Got my badge to be entered into the beta anyway, fingers crossed.

[CoolFunkMan]

Still too many uncertainties, but this is shaping up to be awesome! Too bad I can't get the badge right now, I've just moved and won't have internet at my flat for a few weeks. Not that I'd get picked anyway. :P

[Shorty]

If you get a friend request from soap_box today, that's me. If you've posted in this thread and you didn't get one, that's because you don't appear when I put the Steam ID under your avatar into Steam

[Happenstance]

Oops, I just clicked ignored on that lol