ReviewTechUSA dissapointed in Steam Machines Presentation

[Lolcomputer]

Some of the things he says is a tad misinformed, but tbh, I agree with him on a general aspect.

Toughts?

 

[-smash-]

Valve just needs to brand one Steam Machine as the "official" Steam Machine. Sell it for around $500 and sell the Steam Link - and they're golden.

The "Official" Steam Machine would be for those that aren't as enthusiastic with PC gaming or doing custom builds, and the Steam Link would be for the rest of us enthusiasts.

Otherwise, they definitely are going to miss the mark with the crazy spread between all of these machines.

 

[HeadClot]

Warning Long rant!

ReviewTechUSA is bad.

Why I say that - Unless it is a major well established company that is not either Amazon or Sony.

You are going to get a bad "Review" with Review tech USA.

I am going to get some flak for this but

VS.

Now lets compare - OUYA Specs to the Fire TV

OUYA Reference

Spoiler: OUYA Tech specs

Ouya
Price:US$99 or US$129
SoC:Nvidia Tegra 3 T33-P-A3[32]
CPU:Quad-core 1.7 GHz ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore (ARMv7-A architecture)
NEON Advanced SIMD extensions and VFPv3 floating point unit

GPU:Nvidia GeForce ULP @ 520 MHz (12.48 GFLOPS)
Hardware 1080p MPEG-4 AVC/h.264 40 Mbit/s High-Profile, VC1-AP, and DivX 5/6 video decode

Memory (RAM):1 GiB DDR3-1600 SDRAM[32][33] (shared for CPU and GPU)
USB ports:1 USB 2.0, 1 microUSB
Video output:HDMI 1.4; 1080p or 720p resolution. Stereoscopic 3D support.
Audio output:HDMI (ARC), 2.0 channel
Internal storage:8 or 16 GB eMMC flash memory
Networking and Wireless:10/100 Ethernet (8P8C),[32][37] 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth LE 4.0
Power consumption:4.5 watt (gaming), 1 watt (standby)
Power source:12 volt DC, 1.5 ampere max via Coaxial power connector (OD 5.50 mm, ID 2.10 mm, center positive)
Size:75×75×82 mm (2.95×2.95×3.23 in)
Weight:300 g (11 oz)
Operating system:Android 4.1 (Jellybean) with custom Ouya launcher.

VS.

FireTV reference

Spoiler: Fire TV Tech Specs

DeveloperAmazon.com
ManufacturerAmazon.com
TypeDigital media player, microconsole
Release dateApril 2, 2014 (United States)
Introductory priceUS$99
Operating systemFire OS 3.0 "Mojito"[2]
System-on-chip usedQualcomm Snapdragon 600APQ8064T[3]
CPUQualcomm Krait 300, quad-core to 1.7 Ghz[3]
Memory2 GB LPDDR2 RAM[3]
Storage8 GB internal[3]
Display1080p[3]
GraphicsQualcomm Adreno 320[3]
SoundDolby Digital Plus 5.1 surround sound[3]
ConnectivityHDMI, Bluetooth 4.0, USB 2.0, Wi-Fi(802.11a/b/g/n), 10/100 Ethernet,Optical audio, Fire game controller[3]
Power5.5 mm DC[3] (6.25 V 2.5 A power adapter[4])
Dimensions115 × 115 × 17.5 mm (4.53 × 4.53 × 0.69 in)[3]
Weight281 g (9.9 oz)

These two products are nearly identical the Fire TV has more RAM but the same CPU power. That is the only thing that the Fire TV has ever so slightly ahead of the OUYA spec wise. The only reason it is slightly ahead of the OUYA is that the ram is slower.

That said - He is going to do what ever he can to keep himself in the picture a little bit longer. Here is why - Clicks on TechReviewUSA Videos = Ad revenue which he gets a large cut of.

Plain and simple.

I personally do not trust TechReviewUSA as he is biased a frak towards various companies like Amazon and Sony. Those Companies have gone out and tried to bribe people such as Total Biscuit and others. I personally think that TechReviewUSA is a sockpuppet at this point for his corporate overlords.

That said TechReviewUSA was not there for the unveiling. So yeah it would be underwhelming for him as he was not there...

Gabe Newel doubles could have done a meatspin in VR and everyone there would have been blinded and become mute as a form of DRM to prevent them from speaking for the next 180 days about steam VR project and what they saw. Tech review USA would still be underwhelmed by valves steam machine presence.

Just saying. / Rant

TL;DR

As for my thoughts - These are not just "Consoles" They are platforms to ensure that Steam and VR are the way forward into the future.

 

[Lolcomputer]

As for my thoughts - These are not just "Consoles" They are platforms to ensure that Steam and VR are the way forward into the future.

ReviewTechUSA's point was, that Valve is targeting a console demographic, and console buyers are usually not used to choosing a large variety of products, and it may seem a bit intimidating, potentially scaring customers off and sticking to what they already know. If Valve creates an official Steam Machine to be much more popular and simple, they could most likely pull it off. The problem with that, is that it's unhealthy business, since their Steam Machine will most likely crush the other SteamOS participants.

But, let's see what happens in the near future. I bet Valve is not done with Steam Machine news.

 

[Lolcomputer]

Sorry for double posting, but this is quite interesting actually. I recently saw a lot of comments on ReviewTechUSA's videos and from himself, saying that Valve should have created their own primary console. Well, I'm going to show you guys something.

Spoiler

This is the Steam Machine Valve sent out in 2013 to 300 users for testing:

I looked at the list of the currently available Steam Machines, and to my suprise, I didn't find this one. This was send out in 2013 personally by Valve, so I have strong suspicion that this one is Valves own primary Steam Machine, currently being polished and fiddled around with. After 3-2 years of supposed development, its still have not shown it's official face to the public, so either their hiding it to some big convention, or their really working their ass of to maximise it's potential.

Heres a quote from PcWorld's article about this Steam Machine:

The box we touched was already surprisingly cool and quiet, but Valve's still tweaking the design: we saw Valve printing a couple of the shrouds as we walked through its rapid prototyping lab.

This hints that this particular Steam Machine is created by Valve, since they have their own personal design complex for the Steam Machine, both production of the prototype and design.

But, maybe Valve just laid it off, maybe it was too risky to create their own Steam Machine?

Well no, it's stil existing, and heres why. Back in 2013 where a row of hardware specified employees got 'fired', which ironically should have linked to a failure in designing a Steam Machine, Gabe Newell said this:

We don't usually talk about personnel matters for a number of reasons. There seems to be an unusual amount of speculation about some recent changes here, so I thought I'd take the unusual step of addressing them. No, we aren't canceling any projects. No, we aren't changing any priorities or projects we've been discussing. No, this isn't about Steam or Linux or hardware or [insert game name here]. We're not going to discuss why anyone in particular is or isn't working here.

This hints even more, that this Steam Machine is still in Valves priorities.

Even though all of that, there are still a lot of hardware folks working in Valve, most likely working on the Steam Link and Steam Machine. This Steam Machine will most likely be their primary source of income, and hopefully they will advertise and marketise their products correctly to the public, so it doesn't just flop like the Ouya. But to be honest, Valves marketing have always been very good, so I don't have a lot of worries there.

The only thing we don't really know, is the price of the Steam Machine and if it has been upgraded in terms of specs. Talking about specs, if anyone is wondering what the prototypes specs were, here they are.

GPU: some units with NVidia Titan, some GTX780, some GTX760, and some GTX660

CPU: some boxes with Intel : i7-4770, some i5-4570, and some i3

RAM: 16GB DDR3-1600 (CPU), 3GB DDR5 (GPU)

Storage: 1TB/8GB Hybrid SSHD

Power Supply: Internal 450w 80Plus Gold

Dimensions: approx. 12 x 12.4 x 2.9 in high

The GTX660 is alone enough to run most games at high or maximum, and with the added benefit of the new Vulkan API, I don't see the hardware to be any of the future problems.

 

[Alienmoge]

At this point I've stopped taking RTU seriously, he always tries to say he isn't clickbait and then talks about the "clickbaitiest" tech related stories you'll ever hear. On top of that, many stories that he's covered that are pretty significant were quite misinforming, probably not intentionally, it was probably more due to him receiving misinformation.

 

[HeadClot]

At this point I've stopped taking RTU seriously, he always tries to say he isn't clickbait and then talks about the "clickbaitiest" tech related stories you'll ever hear. On top of that, many stories that he's covered that are pretty significant were quite misinforming, probably not intentionally, it was probably more due to him receiving misinformation.

Pretty much sums up my entire ramble post. Thank you

 

[Lolcomputer]

TotalBiscuit just uploaded another episode of Content Patch, talking about the Steam Universe presentation. He seems to be rather dissapointed in what Valve has shown, although he shows signs of optimism, and excitement for future news. And in contrast to RTU, he comes up with tangible recommendations and feedback, and talks about all of the four modules equally.

TB is, well, just as misinformed as RTU, but since Valve have not communicated with their community very well on the latest, I can't really blame him.

 

[Vi-Pe]

Didn't Valve say back in the day that they wont be releasing their own steam machine?

 

[Lolcomputer]

Didn't Valve say back in the day that they wont be releasing their own steam machine?

They did, http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/01/08/valve-has-no-plans-to-release-its-own-steam-machine

Alhough with the criticism they have recieved, I think their highly prone to distribute their own, or else Steam Machines may not be as successfull as Valve wanted them be. Also, it would be very weird to dump an entire prototype, that has been both tested and designed very carefully, plus they still have hardware folks working at Valve.

But we don't know. All we can do now, is to sit and wait.

 

[Vi-Pe]

For me there should be 3 official Steam Machines.
Level 1 cheapest and least powerful (price/power under PS4 and XBONE),
Level 2 more powerful and price/power would be around PS4 and XBONE,
Level 3 most powerful and most expensive one (more expensive and powerful than PS4 and XBONE).

Those levels would be printed on the machine and explained what they mean.
Also in every game in the store it should tell you if your machine can run it, so you don't accidentally buy game that you cant play.

 

[Lolcomputer]

Those levels would be printed on the machine and explained what they mean.
Also in every game in the store it should tell you if your machine can run it, so you don't accidentally buy game that you cant play.

Indeed!

These things need to be implemented as soon as possible, since then the consumer won't be confused.

 

[Pikminiman]

Now if only Valve could figure out a way to issue downloadable hardware patches, then everyone would be happy.