The interactive entertainment industry is a funny thing. It’s long since moved past the birthing pangs, or the necessity of justifying its legitimacy to larger entertainment – having eclipsed both Hollywood and professional sports in gross dollars per annum – and it’s a rare youth indeed that wasn’t all different kinds of atwitter about the console war of late 2013. It’s a multi-million dollar industry that can bank on the fact that every single one of its core customers will display a virtually unlimited appetite and little in the way of restraint.
Late 2013 was a very exciting time for the interactive entertainment industry – the annual heavy-hitters like Call of Duty, NBA 2k, and FIFA released to boringly predictable record sales, accompanied by less-annual-but-no-less-predictable Battlefields and Need For Speeds. Real genius reared its nigh-unto-unheard-of head in titles like The Last of Us, Metro: Last Light, and Gone Home.
Then the Next-Gen consoles released … but as the dust (and plastic baggies and shredded cardboard) cleared, the excitement dwindled and the shine worn off, we are left to wonder the same thing we always wonder this time of year: “Where are all the games I just paid $500 to play?”
Well, kid, they’re not out yet – you knew that was going to happen, and so did I. We all knew that was going to happen, but still we dropped close to half a thousand on that big, shiny Blue-or-Green box. And there’s nothing new till February.
No matter how many times you check, no matter how hard you look or wish or hope, nothing till February. Furthermore, both systems have a relatively lackluster year ahead, with some exceptional standouts like Thief, Titanfall and (maybe, just maybe, hope against hope maybe) Destiny.
So, at home, bored, staring at a shiny new Next-Gen console? Don’t have anything to look forward to? Thankfully the industry you’ve chosen as your very own opiate to the masses has a tailor-made solution: The SteamBox!
The SteamBox is one of the most misunderstood and confusing pieces of hardware in the history of the industry – and understandably so, as its announcement was shrouded in mystery and the vast majority of the details released since have been patchy at best. As such, recent details from CES 2014 providing actual, pertinent details on the specifications, capabilities, and perhaps most importantly, the price-points of the SteamBox(es) are a veritable breeze in the doldrums to detail-starved gamers.
To be as clear as possible: A SteamBox is defined as any device licensed by Valve running the SteamOS – an open-source Linux-based free OS developed and released by Valve with specific optimization for PC gaming. As it stands now, there are 13 distinct devices that have earned Valve’s approval, ranging in price from $499 to $1499 with comparably relative performance.
But that’s a little simplistic – provided you possess the requisite skills and means to construct a device that meets the minimum system requirements, you can create a SteamBox of your own. The SteamOS currently has deceptively low system requirements: A 64-bit processor (Intel or AMD), 4GB of ram, an nVidia GPU (ATI to be supported quite soon here) with UEFI-support and at least one USB port – in simple terms, your mom’s dusty laptop could run it. Well, my mom’s dusty laptop could run it.
I am a firm believer in taking a studied, critical eye to technology before accepting it – and as excited as I am about the SteamBox, and what it means for the industry, there are still many questions to ask and concerns to raise. The system requirements of the SteamOS are far from the major concern, indeed the major concern would naturally be the system requirements of the gaming software itself.
In that regard, the SteamBox has no major advantage over a store-bought or home-built PC – so why buy one?
First and foremost, the SteamOS is supposedly better optimized for gaming. Assuming that is so – and we have no reason not to do so – can we not neutralize that advantage by installing the SteamOS on our existing device? Yes, we can – if we have a comparably capable preexisting device – and most consumers do not.
Past that, there is perhaps the more living-room friendly form-factor that all of the SteamBox devices seem to share? That may well be the case. Even a micro-ATX creates a significantly larger footprint than even the largest of home consoles. Rare indeed is the entertainment center that can accommodate even the smallest of PC towers.
So, barring either of the previous factors, what is the real draw of the SteamBox? It seems to sit in the middle of two worlds, and that was really the ultimate goal.
First, with Big Picture, Steam created a friendlier environment for living room PCs. The SteamOS/SteamBox combination certainly seems another step across the line into the war for the living room and the devices offer something that the rest of the PC market lacks – simplicity.
The SteamOS is a STrEAM-lined (hah) experience, and the devices are game-ready out of the box – what’s more, you know precisely which games you can and can’t play with certainty. The SteamBox concept also offers a simpler set-up experience, and one perhaps better suited to the traditionally less-technically savvy living room market.
That said, at this point it’s hard to argue the SteamBox over other living-room friendly form-factor PCs. While Steam is certainly the largest PC service, both EA and Ubisoft have some major proprietary titles that wouldn’t be available on the SteamOS. So unless you’re able to partition the devices – and there’s no reason to think you won’t be able to – the SteamBox is simply that. So solutions like the Xi3 Piston have some major advantages – smaller form-factor, PC performance, and you have the option to install your own OS. The Windows OS, for all the recent wailing and lamentation, is still the home for the vast majority of PC gamers, and solely buying in to the SteamOS means giving up huge titles like Battlefield, The Sims, Assassin’s Creed, and fantastic-looking upcoming titles like Watch_Dogs.
Doubtless this has occurred to the powers that be at Valve HQ, but in the meantime, it is the single strongest argument against the SteamBox.
So, long story short, the SteamBox is a remarkably exciting piece of tech, but the SteamOS is the real showcase of Valve’s work, and it’s super-appealing price of free is definitely it’s strongest selling point.
We, at PixelatedGeek.com, are always interested in contrary, differing, disputing, or even possibly assenting opinions in regard to the industry, and we would love to hear your input! As always, feel free to drop us a line in the comments section.