Steam's Big Picture
 

PlayStation and XBox need to step up now...

That's not a picture. That's a video.

I still don't understand how this is supposed to work. This is for people who have their computer hooked up to their TV or something? I don't assume Sony and Microsoft would put this service on their respective consoles.

It's all very vague.

I love Steam so much :(

I imagine it'll be integrated into those smart TV things, but I could be wrong.

Some people have their PC hooked up to their living room TV. Big Picture is to accommodate those people, by making Steam play nice with a controller and a big screen, while the user sits on a couch a few feet away.

That’s it, really.

I agree. When the hell are they going to step up and.....let us....start....playing games.....on our.....tv..............

We already have a thread for Steam-related discussions.

I know, right? Fuck, they just make those fucking arcade-like-things long away from home. I hate that.

EDIT:
Sorry, if someone wants to close the thread, it's fine...I guess.

He's right though, Valve is (going to be) making a strong push into the console market and this would be a first glimpse at something that might eventually be the OS for that console.

Valve has always advocated cross platform gaming and that vision is drawing closer. It wouldn't surprise me if they come up with a complete cross platform system where you can buy a game from Steam on your PC, play it on your PC but where you can also fire up Valve's future console and pick up right where you left off, from the comfort of your living room couch. I can see that becoming a very big success and Microsoft and Sony would be eating dust if they don't start doing something similar.

Essentially it'll just be a cheap PC with wifi and a simple inbuilt OS. Like a mac except not stupid.

See OANST, Havoc's has seen the BIG PICTURE of my post.

Right...

This isn't really a step up. it's just replacing the monitor with the TV and giving it a new interface. Not to say it's pretty cool. I have yet to try it out but I doubt my PC is good enough to do it anyway.

I don't see why people are making a big deal out of this. Many (if not most) Steam games are controller playable. The ones that aren't controller playable are not being affected by this at all. This is just a new Steam UI that means you can use a controller from start to finish, rather than switching between mouse and controller in between games.

I just saw this as "Hey, we know you can already hook your computer up to your tv, but this is going to make it easier, and more user friendly." And that's great, but it's a long ways from getting into the console business. That's not to say they won't. I hope they do. I would buy a Steam Box.

So would I. It's not a long way though, they are actively hiring hardware developers at the moment.

This is a very small preview. Sorry for the quality, I will try to upload a better version of it.

Beta coming next year, apparently.

They're talking about controllers.

It seems like the Oculus Rift is going to be at the centre of a new console bandwagon.

Will MS license out the Windows platform to Steambox and just let a new competitor come into the console market?

No, Steam works on iOS and Linux (almost), and Big Picture is the first steps towards them developing their own.

EDIT: I think you mean Mac OS.


It's an interesting question, though. The Windows version of Steam certainly has the most game support. I guess that if they do go ahead and build a console, they'll have to actively encourage developers to port to Linux.

I don’t know if making their own development platform would really help them.

At the moment, supporting the three main desktop OSes in some manner means they have a huge developer base to build games for Steam, and a massive market share to draw customers from; if they go it alone they risk losing huge chunks of that.

Why make their own when they can continue to add features across platforms and keep their developers and customers?

If they turn it into a comprehensive enough platform for development I imagine lots of people will migrate when Win8 releases. What better way to ensure people make games for your platform than offering the best OS for development, right?

e: That is, anyone who doesn't already use a Mac.

But if Valve decides to create the best goshdarned dev platform in the world, they must then develop, maintain and update this platform at all times, substantially increasing their workload compared to the task of maintaining a cross-platform client.

Then they need to chase licenses, then they need to get hardware on board, then they need to convince developers that their brand new platform will be sustainable long-term.

And then after all that they need to get consumers on board. The millions of Steam users who already have a PC/Mac/etc that they’re happy with – would they jump ship, do you think? Would they go and buy what would ostensibly be another competitor in the console market? Especially since most of these people would either believe PCs are superior to consoles or already own one or more existing consoles?

Given the public reaction to Windows 8 so far? Yes.

But seriously, I have no idea. I predict all they'd need are a few exclusives to convince people to start moving across to their platform. Also, indie devs will probably prefer it to XBLA.

To my understanding, the Steam Box was never supposed to be anything more than a very cheap yet fairly powerful PC. Not using Windows was just another way to keep costs down. If all their OS ever needed to do was run Steam games (and the integrated web browser), I think that would be achieveable.

And my best guess would be that it would run a version of Linux. If they make the API based on OpenGL and X, devs would be easily able to port Ubuntu/other Linux games over. And devs would do that because they'd see it as gaining two new markets for the price of one.

This seems like Apple TV, pointless and has no reason exist.

They would also lose any games that rely on DirectX or other proprietary tech. Which makes up a whole heap of the current Steam catalog.

At the risk of sounding like a fanboy, Valve rarely did anything with the Steam platform that was pointless. They've come up with some pretty good ideas trough the years that competitors are finally catching up to.

I doubt there is a plan or actual need to release the entire current catalog of Steam games on their hardware platform at first. They will probably start off with a few exclusives (Half-Life 3 being the main exclusive, I can almost guarantee that) and a good development kit. Given Steam's track record I think quite a few AAA devs might be interested.

We'll have to wait for exact details though. I'm pretty sure they thought about this long and hard already, though.

Yes, but Valve would be pushing devs to port their games over. And if the platform sells well enough, devs will make their games cross-platform from the start.

That kind of tactic might have worked a few years ago, but look at the console market nowadays – we have three separate current-gen consoles, rumors of the next-gen Xbox and Playstation, an upcoming Wii successor, phone games, tablet games, etc. Plus projects like the Ouya jumping on board.

Is a Steam console going to push past all of that with a couple of exclusives? If anything, making HL3 an exclusive to a new console that nobody owns is a quick way to piss off the existing Steam userbase.


I don’t see developers frothing at the mouth to port their back catalog to yet another console.

I think Steam’s back catalog and its pre-existing userbase are its biggest strengths in the current market – they’ve built up a commanding library and have enough customers hooked to eat the costs of any sales tenfold. Building a new platform which doesn’t draw on both of those in some way is a very risky move.

I meant exclusive to Steam in general, at least at first. It wouldn't be smart to not release it at all on the other consoles, but I can see it being Steam exclusive for the first month or so.

As a consumer we might not notice the difference much between other consoles (besides the integration of console/PC which hasn't been done before). But for developers Steam is becoming a very important platform since they are making it easier and easier for even low level developers to hop on. It's not that easy anywhere else to get your game out to the public without a lot of financial risk or horrid contracts or demands like on PSN and XBL.