I actually think that, while it’s maybe a fun topic for idle conversation…it doesn’t have a huge impact in the way traditional console pricing normally does.
With a traditional console, what the console vendor chooses to do on hardware is what you get. Maybe, as with Microsoft on the Xbox Series X/Series S, you get a high and low end model, but that’s as much choice as you get. All the games are made for that hardware, and whether the platform lives and dies depends on it.
But…that’s not really true of the Steam Machine. It’s just another PC, albeit preconfigured for Steam and HTPC-oriented. If you want to get a lower-end PC or a higher-end PC, you have the option of getting one and plugging it into a TV and running the same games on it and save some money or with a bit more visual bling. The games for PCs are already more or less written to scale up and down with hardware.
And it’s not like Valve’s platform is gonna live or die based on the Steam Machine the way a traditional console generation is, where success of a hardware console is high-stakes for the manufacturer and the players in successfully getting a game library going. I’d guess that it might help Valve make strategic inroads into gaming in the living room. But even if it completely bombs, Valve is gonna keep right on selling games to people to run on PCs (and the Deck) and their huge game library isn’t going anywhere.
I think comparing it to a console is the wrong mindset. It’s a computer first that can also be a console. It’s also a pre built Linux based computer you can have a higher degree of confidence that things just work even after updates. It’s a legitimate competitor for a new windows PC as much as it is a console competitor.
Steam’s business model does prevent it from pricing its consoles like Sony, Xbox, Nintendo, etc. since they need the console itself to be profitable, not just a means of bringing in games sales.
It’s plausible that they’re taking into account an uptick in overall game sales from this console - at least for me, I’ve been purchasing new games mostly off of steam rather than playstation/nintendo ever since I got a steamdeck - but you’re right that they aren’t going to sell at a loss.
Regardless of the price (and whether or not I even buy one), I think it’s healthy to have another “big” player in the console market.
Yeah they said they are pricing the Steam Machine at PC market prices, but they do having to contend with reality. There are consoles on the market that are more powerful at a lower price point, it will dampen their sales for sure. I mean most pcgamers probably have more powerful hardware already, what is the incentive? Sure small form factor, but is it worth a premium price to the average pcgamer? Console peasants will turn their noses up at it, so who are they marketing to?
I can see the Steam Frames selling better due to it being a fully untethered VRPC headset that can play more than just VR games. Not to mention you can stream from a more powerful PC to the frames making the battery last much longer and better gfx fidelity.
The Steam Controller has to contend with a flooded market of users used to using one type of controller, so a little bit of an uphill battle there too.
I just started playing on Turtle WoW a few days ago and never had as much fun in WoW before. Just amazing classic+ experience and a really nice community. Also free, is pretty nice.
Turtle WoW is just amazing. This is how you release new content without power creep or losing meaning from the existing content. I never enjoyed WoW more than with Turtle.
These modern day sequences are gorgeous this one you posted about the under construction skyscraper also the one that takes place in Brazil, it’s just spectacular, epic and action filled missions
The Skyscraper and Brazil ones are the most memorable ones too me. I briefly remember the final one too but only really a section where you’re climbing around in rafters.
As big of a fan of the franchise as i am, i’m a bit embarrassed to admit the only game of the first 4 i had played is Revelations and the first half of 1, so i suppose i don’t have much to base it on
Don’t be embarrassed at all when I first played the series I began from the first game, if you know the community they praise the Ezio trilogy, you didn’t complete AC 1, I believe that it’s an easy if you get used to it’s mechanics, because Altair is important character since you have played revelations you know how important he is
As far as I know. There’s the modern day bit in Black Flag/Rogue, but as much as I liked those I can’t really say they’re Gameplay Segments. More so walking Sims with a few collectibles.
I briefly remember getting to climb around in the modern day in AC Origins but it was really brief
I’ll first admit I predicted Valve wasn’t bothering with a Steam Machine again. I was proven wrong.
But I still absolutely don’t see it being more popular than the Steam Deck. They don’t have the production scale to make them at the Xbox / PlayStation hardware-per-dollar values, so they’ll still be an enthusiast item for people aware they’re buying a prebuilt PC.
So yes, you do already see this; indies target the Steam Deck as a supreme metric for Linux compatibility (and if someone complains HDR doesn’t work on his desktop Mint install, well, whatever). Valve even promotes some store presence to indies that do a bit of work to certify this. We’ve seen lots of games get patches mentioning Steam Deck related fixes - even when the game is a windows build using Proton.
I personally hope you’re wrong again. I think the level of hype should provide a huge stack of orders early on, and I think SteamOS is now SO good that this could go to the moon after the honeymoon period.
Time will tell where between you and I it winds up.
I wish this was a likely outcome but realistically steam hardware is too small a userbase. They are most likely to get performance profiles for their hardware due to the standardization and free steam marketing of compatibility, but windows users are still a supermajority.
Steam hardware has so far been pretty niche, though. If the user experience is smooth enough, a SM could replace many people’s xbox/playstation.
We’re like 5y into the PS5/XBSX, new games are jumping up to $70-100 each, and hardly any are platform exclusives. Msft have all but canceled the next Xbox, and if Sony tries to push the PS6 in a few years, I think there’s a world where a good chunk of people say nah.
And with the amount of attention Linux is getting from the win10 eol, we could be at the beginning of an historic inflection point in gaming.
Why would you rank those two as better platformers? I reckon FLUDD introduced a lot of fun ways to solve the level puzzles and the hub world is the best designed next to Mario 64.
FLUDD is pretty well done but, pun unintended, they still hadn’t nailed the fluidity of movement that the later titles have. (The existence of a hub world is pretty neutral for me, they mostly serve as a way to soft tutorial the controls.)
I think you’re right with odyssey, that game played beautifully but galaxy (the first one at least) felt as jank if not more jank than sunshine. The wiimote never felt good for platforming and the switch adaptation also struggles with awkward camera angles.
Totally fair! Personally I found the gravity stuff more interesting than the FLUDD mechanics but they definitely feel different and I can’t dispute the camera struggle.
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