Report: Steam Controller is Going to Production

[-smash-]

It's almost been a year since Valve predicted a 2015 release of their Steam Controller, and it looks like they're going to hit their mark. Is this the end of Valve Time? (Hint: no)

Speaking with GameSpot today at CES, Origin PC CEO Kevin Wasielewski revealed that we can expect to see Valve's final design of the Steam Controller at GDC this March.

"At GDC, they're going to have more information," Wasielewski said. "That's the official stuff we can say. They came out with the controller, then they got some user feedback, and they had to revamp it; they got some more user feedback and had to revamp it again. So they went through that like three or four times. And now their controller is finalized. So now they're going to production and at GDC is when they're going to announce more stuff."

Wasielewski also said that the Steam Machine is "pretty much dead." He expanded by saying that, "It's like a living room PC--is now the new term. Living room PCs have been around forever. That's not anything new either. But it seems like there's a legitimate demand and push for living room PCs."

Stay tuned!

Update from GameInformer:

"Yesterday, a report emerged that the term 'Steam Machine' is dead. Valve refutes that assertion..."

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/...nce-with-steam-machines-front-and-center.aspx

 

[codyyy]

1st ez pez

 

[Aizawa]

so excited for the Steam Controller. I hope it will be easy to buy in Europe.

 

[TheWiktor]

OH I thought that's Origin the online game store not Origin the custom PC company and I was pretty damn surprised.

 

[Acurt1982]

why did you post an xbox controller?

 

[Aizawa]

why did you post an xbox controller?

a much better Xbox Controller.
People still whine about how they changed the Controller? This version is by far the best they presented us so far.

 

[Krynn72]

[Wasielewski also said that the Steam Machine is "pretty much dead." He expanded by saying that, "It's like a living room PC--is now the new term. Living room PCs have been around forever. That's not anything new either.

Yup.

Still, I wonder what this means for SteamOS. I was really hoping that Valve could make a huge push on linux to make it mainstream viable.

 

[-smash-]

Update from GameInformer:

"Yesterday, a report emerged that the term “Steam Machine” is dead. Valve refutes that assertion..."

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/...nce-with-steam-machines-front-and-center.aspx

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

looks like a 360 controller, basically garbage

 

[ríomhaire]

looks like a 360 controller, basically garbage

Where did you get a 360 controller that has two touchpads mounted on what are basically speakers on it?

 

[tomemozok]

Link is dead for the gameinformer story!

 

[Vegeta897]

Link is dead for the gameinformer story!

Not for I. VT does force links to go through a proxy php script, so maybe just try copy pasting this direct link:

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2015/01/08/valve-to-have-large-gdc-presence-with-steam-machines-front-and-center.aspx

 

[Stylo]

Yeah it looks too much like a 360 controller they should have made it like this or something to be different PS if you're wondering where the rest of the buttons are they are on the back

 

[Vegeta897]

Looks very ergonomic, Stylo. Is that center bit for chewing on?

 

[User With No Name]

Looks very ergonomic, Stylo. Is that center bit for chewing on?

It's actually another button.

 

[Lolcomputer]

Well I'm... Kind of excited... ?

I'm more anticipated, on what Valve's Steam Machine and the future of SteamOS has to offer.

 

[Stylo]

Looks very ergonomic, Stylo. Is that center bit for chewing on?

It's actually another button.

It's another button that is operated by chewing on it.

 

[Vincent Pride]

So they tried to innovate with input mechanics, but their testing groups refused to use anything but xbox controller.
This generation is doomed. D-o-o-m-e-d.

 

[Lolcomputer]

So they tried to innovate with input mechanics, but their testing groups refused to use anything but xbox controller.
This generation is doomed. D-o-o-m-e-d.

is this real? if so, source?

 

[Aizawa]

sorry but is everyone retarded? This controller IS innovative. The trackpads are what makes it special and both of them are still there, do you want the touch screen back or what?

 

[Vincent Pride]

is this real? if so, source?

It's obvious from the overall progress of controller development. It started as a buttonless controller with haptic feedback, praised for its bold and innovative design. The team was proud of its accomplishment. Then focus groups gathered in, and it all ended as a classic xbox thing with secondary touch pads, i.e. the safest bet. One can only imagine what sort of data-driven development hell the poor thing was dragged through in the process.

 

[Lolcomputer]

i.e. the safest bet.

Although it is, I don't think it's a bad move. It looks like the controller is now more suitable for both PC focused games and controller focused games now. Since console games depend heavily on the use of buttons and analog sticks, so now it should be more versatile if anything. But I do agree, it's sad that this controller has to sacrafice space for another analog stick.

 

[MFL]

Outside this particular discussion, but not too far outside it, I'm just gonna have to say, **** focus groups. **** them straight to hell.

 

[Fatikis]

Steam Controller looks nice, but Valve already missed their opportunity for successful sales of Steam Boxes. The announcement of Windows 10 makes the Steambox idea obsolete. It will just be a far too expensive machine that runs on a half baked OS.

Like always Valve took too long and missed their opportunity. They did manage to put enough fear into Microsoft that they pressured them into changing their operating system to be more user and developer friendly. So I guess it wasn't a total waste.

 

[Lolcomputer]

Steam Controller looks nice, but Valve already missed their opportunity for successful sales of Steam Boxes. The announcement of Windows 10 makes the Steambox idea obsolete. It will just be a far too expensive machine that runs on a half baked OS.

Like always Valve took too long and missed their opportunity. They did manage to put enough fear into Microsoft that they pressured them into changing their operating system to be more user and developer friendly. So I guess it wasn't a total waste.

I disagree. Their idea of the Steam Box, is a machine that can play nowadays PC games in 60 fps at an affordable price and making it 'mainstream'. It will make PC gaming a lot more friendly and inclusive, in comparison to how it is right now. It's basically a mid-range desktop PC, which will propably be more versatile than the desktop PCs Acer and Dell makes.

 

[Fatikis]

I disagree. Their idea of the Steam Box, is a machine that can play nowadays PC games in 60 fps at an affordable price and making it 'mainstream'. It will make PC gaming a lot more friendly and inclusive, in comparison to how it is right now. It's basically a mid-range desktop PC, which will propably be more versatile than the desktop PCs Acer and Dell makes.

Unfortunately, unless Valve is willing to subsidies prices for Steam Machines, which I don't believe they will the price will be higher than any console. It will also have a severely limited game library on an OS most developers ignore.

 

[Aizawa]

Unfortunately, unless Valve is willing to subsidies prices for Steam Machines, which I don't believe they will the price will be higher than any console. It will also have a severely limited game library on an OS most developers ignore.

windows 10 doesnt change anything. I can now stream from my Xbox to my PC, wow. Directx12 is the only good thing but that has nothing to do with Steam Machines.

 

[Fatikis]

windows 10 doesnt change anything. I can now stream from my Xbox to my PC, wow. Directx12 is the only good thing but that has nothing to do with Steam Machines.

It has everything to do with Steam Machines. Steam Machines were designed to fight the oppressive nature of OSX and Windows 8. With Windows10 Microsoft switched back around to allowing an open developer friendly system.

 

[Aizawa]

It has everything to do with Steam Machines. Steam Machines were designed to fight the oppressive nature of OSX and Windows 8. With Windows10 Microsoft switched back around to allowing an open developer friendly system.

no. Steam Machines is designed to bring the PC gaming experience to the living room. SteamOS is meant to be what you think.

 

[-smash-]

They did manage to put enough fear into Microsoft that they pressured them into changing their operating system to be more user and developer friendly. So I guess it wasn't a total waste.

Which means Valve has more of an obligation to release their OS to keep Microsoft in check and to make sure that MS doesn't go back to their original plan. Competition is still going to be super important moving forward.

 

[Lolcomputer]

Unfortunately, unless Valve is willing to subsidies prices for Steam Machines, which I don't believe they will the price will be higher than any console. It will also have a severely limited game library on an OS most developers ignore.

I disagree again! There have been hints from Valve that Steam Machine would have a general price around 300$, but then again, those have only been hints. But to price the Steam Machine over 500 dollars or more, would be career suicide, and I think that Valve is quite aware of that. Theres no way that Valve can miss such an opportunity, especially since they have had this much time to think about it.

And I am 100% certain that developers will have more interest in porting games to linux in the future, and if Steam Machines actually become a success, then there would be a large profit for developers to port games to Linux. There are already 1706 titles on Steam that supports Linux and Steam OS, so it's not because Linux is a dead horse waiting to be beaten. There is a clear growing interest in broadening your market, and I think thats what Valve wants to push.

 

[Aizawa]

I disagree again! There have been hints from Valve that Steam Machine would have a general price around 300$, but then again, those have only been hints. But to price the Steam Machine over 500 dollars or more, would be career suicide

isnt it already confirmed that the Gigabyte Steam Machine will cost 500$ and that machine has average specs. Its impossible to sell Steam Machines cheaper than a self-made pc.

 

[Lolcomputer]

isnt it already confirmed that the Gigabyte Steam Machine will cost 500$ and that machine has average specs. Its impossible to sell Steam Machines cheaper than a self-made pc.

There are multiple versions of the Steam Machine that already has an official price, however Valves own version have yet not been priced officially.

 

[Aizawa]

There are multiple versions of the Steam Machine that already has an official price, however Valves own version have yet not been priced officially.

I thought Valves own version is just a prototype and wont be selled

 

[Fatikis]

The SteamOS will be less versatile than Windows 10. It is a simple fact. The majority of PC users will not switch. Anyone with very minimal knowledge already knows how to connect their PC to their TV and game.

Other console prices are very heavily subsidized. In order to compete with the console market they would need to subsidize just as heavily. Seeing as Valve is working with multiple companies making Steam Machines I can't imagine Valve would undercut them all by selling powerful cheap machines. That would be poor business practice screwing over companies that worked with you.

The lack of DX support is also going to be a huge kick.

Unless Valve has some big secret weapon they have yet to reveal I can't imagine this succeeding. They already announced they would not make exclusive titles for the Steam OS. So we won't see that.

 

[Lolcomputer]

SteamOS is not only supposed to support PC gamers, it's also supposed to be a friendly and inclusive environment for people who just wants to play games. Wether that will be succeeded or not, once it is out, is not up to my judgement. I believe anything could be intepretated right now, because there just hasn't been enough information out yet.

Yes, it's Linux, so it will have less support from lazy developers and Windows, but more moddability and optimisation. OpenGL runs faster than DirectX, and if Windows doesn't optimise their latest version DirectX, there would be no reason for Valve to even have support from it, other than that a lot of big developers doesn't like spending time on porting and optimising their games to OpenGL versions. Which I said before, might change, since broadening your market is a good thing, just not a lot of interest in it right now.

They are indirectly competing with the console market, yes, but they also compete with the PC market equally. The Steam Machine can be used as a desktop computer, and it will most likely be cheaper than most of the other pre-built desktops that Acer and Dell makes, because Windows costs money. Once that information reaches out, I think people will consider getting a Steam Machine over a desktop PC next time they buy one.

Their choice of SteamOS running on Linux, was quite smart actually, since it runs better than Windows; Valve just need to get the attention and interest of other companies turned towards Linux instead of Windows. But I won't lie, it is a huge task to change the whole industry as it is, and Valve is taking rather a big risk entering the hardware market. They may not succeed, but we should not leave out the possibilty of it happening.

tl;dr - OpenGL runs faster than DirectX, SteamOS has more moddability, 'freedom', security and optimisation, Hopes that there will be a sufficient interest in broadening your market in the future, hard to intepretate what will happen in the future.

God, sorry for essay.