If you were already on the fence about the myriad of Steam Machines releasing this fall (as I was), this may make you fall off completely, at least for one of them.
Alienware, whose Steam Machine has certainly been the most talked about because of its design, has delivered the facepalm of the day by announcing that their box will release every year in new iterations. Not only that, but the existing box you purchased will not be customizable like with a PC.
“Lifecycle wise, consoles update every five, six, seven years, we will be updating our Steam Machines every year. There will be no customisation options – you can’t really update it. The platform will continue to evolve as the games become more resource intensive.”
It seems like Alienware has lost what little sense Valve was trying to instill in these boxes. Some other variations come equipped with extra video card slots for future expansion. I can not perceive why Alienware would try to annualize a game machine like this. This isn’t a $100 Ouya. It is a machine that will, most likely, come in at $500 or more. Now you are asking potential buyers to play with a non-upgradable PC for one year before charging them again.
Has this hurt the Steam Machine’s already murky future? Will it make consumers look harder at the other brands offering them or turn them off to the concept completely?
It has been a big week for Valve. They teased three big announcements for this week and have so far delivered Steam OS and that the mysterious Steam Box would be coming next year as they try to revolutionize the relationship of PC and living room TV gaming. I have not focused on these announcements because…well I am not a PC gamer and probably will never be. Just being honest.
But this is something different. Because..well…look at it!
It is the official Steam controller which features two circle trackpads as opposed to analog sticks. Valve says that they will offer unparalleled control and as Valve stated will make, “whole genres of games that were previously only playable with a keyboard and mouse” easier to play on a TV. ” The trackpads can be used as buttons also and will also have a feedback system.
There is a touchpad in the middle of the controller which can be used in many different ways including scrolling through pages of information and also can be a clickable button.
I do not play mobile games on my phone for a reason. I do not like touchscreen control pads. Now I know this is not the exact same thing, but I have to have tactile contact. I want to feel an analog stick moving in the direction I want it to. Those trackpads may be amazing, who knows. I will never get used to gaming like that though.
OK, those are the basics. I know there are some long-winded explanations of every function this controller carries, but I have to get on with the simple fact that this thing is plain, fu**ing ugly. There will some Valve lovers that will jump down my throat because everything Valve does is a revolution or whatever, but come on. Be realistic. This thing is Virtual Boy ugly.
It is like looking at a Steam controller in reverse.
Of course, there is still the Gamecube controller out there with its hanging blue balls.
And one can never forget the Jaguar controller. I know my hands never will. Long nights of Aliens vs. Predator and hands cramps…the hand cramps. Never forget.
If you are looking for another MMO to jump into and mill around in then this may hit the spot. Steam has made Age of Conan: Unchained free to play for all PC Steam users.
You can also receive the DLC packs at a discount too if you want to take your adventures in Hyboria more in depth.
There should be a “by Crom” joke in here somewhere, but it escapes me.
We’re seeing the peak of the current console generation. The franchises that have been the staple of the two heavy-hitters (360 & PS3) are either on their third (fourth) installments, or will be within the next year. Nintendo, meanwhile, finds its support in franchises that aren’t tied to stories that need an ending, and can be adapted to new hardware easily. While it’s true that this current run has a longer lifespan than previous generations – something that has only been extended by the additions of the Kinect and the Move – I think it’s time to start thinking about what kind of announcements we can be expecting as early as E3. I’ve decided to do a breakdown that examines what I think the “next big thing” will be.
1. The Idea
2. The Hardware
3. The Software
4. The Subscription Service
Finally, I’ll give what evidence – real and imaginary – I have as to how some of my predictions are already all but confirmed, as well as address some of the glaring problems with my concept.
The Idea
I’ll get straight to the point on this part.
• I think the first genuine next generation console will be completely downloading based.
• I don’t believe it will have any sort of disc-reader, and there won’t be hard copies of the games.
• Current subscribers to the older generation service will be able to move their profile over, along with any supported content.
• The initial games will also have versions available on the older console, and there will be support for cross-generation interaction.
• At launch, backwards compatibility will be limited to a few downloadable “classics.”
Just let that sink in.
Before you go into knee-jerk reaction mode, take a look at the current industry. Steam, or other services like it, have more or less eliminated the hard-copy side of PC gaming, something which was met with severe resistance at first. While it’s true that the same drawbacks still exist – no physical copy of the game to call your own, any nice paper manuals or art books, etc – these things have not kept some services from exploding over the past five years.
Current console-based online services already offer services that could be used as the groundwork for such a system: games on demand, downloadable expansions, older-generation classics with updated gameplay, etc.
Players have already been acclimated to the concept of an online profile that contains large amounts of their data, both on the front-end (XBL, PSN) and within the games themselves (all of a player’s advancement in any Call of Duty is stored on the servers).
There’s one more thing I’d like to get out of the way now: we’ve already hammered out one very specific point, which is that this would more than likely be a Microsoft console. The concept, as I see it at least, would need the specialization of a software company, and one that already had a solid foundation in online console services. To be blunt, I don’t think that PSN is worth the price – and it’s free. They have stepped up with some of the features of Playstation Plus – free games, discounted games – but in the long run I would not trust Sony to produce this sort of device and support it efficiently. Anyone who disagrees is more than welcome to Google “PSP Go” and then get back to me. The one big positive in their corner is the partnership with Steam, which would conceivably allow them to turn certain duties over to people who handle this kind of thing far, far more effectively.
You didn’t come here to listen to me whine about Sony, though; otherwise you would have clicked the link to my article “Why Sony Smells Bad and Is Icky Too.” You came to read an overly long list of bullet points about the future of console tech from someone who has never worked in the industry, and dang it, I’m going to oblige:
The Hardware
No optical drive
500 gig + hard drive
Required high-speed internet connection
Optional motion controls
Wireless peripherals
Support for at least eight players
Very portable
The Software
Three game categories: Full Retail, Arcade, Indie
Apps: Streaming video / music, full web browsing
Integration with other devices (computers, phones, tablets)
Eventual move to streaming of some game content
No disc manufacturing should mean lower starting prices
Older game prices will drop at more consistent rates after release
Games can be bundled and sold in series / developer sets
Greatest Hits / GOTY Editions will simply replace existing SKUs
The Subscription Service
Standard Features
Continue to store account on server and locally
Licenses stored on server, content stored locally
Unlimited downloads of content
Accounts on “Home” console will have unlimited access to local content
Direct monetary transactions (No more “points” or “wallets”)
Basic Account
Access to marketplace
Delayed access to certain demos / add-ons
Friends list
Chat ability
Limited cloud storage
Premium Account
Expanded cloud storage
Multiplayer access
Early content access
Free/ discounted items
Free/ discounted access to partnered services
Tiered loyalty pricing
Content rental
Content “lending” to friends’ accounts
Direct streaming of supported content
Family discount bundles
Evidence That I’m a Psychic Genius
Not to toot my horn, but I’ve been chipping away at this idea for a while, and with each passing day the industry does more and more things that support my theory. For triple-A titles, the time between retail launch and availability for downloading is getting shorter and shorter. More and more mid-range developers are turning to Arcade / PSN titles to generate revenue; some developers like Double Fine and Twisted Pixel have risen to prominence almost exclusively through downloadable titles. Going direct-download would eliminate manufacturing costs for publishers, which would theoretically mean lower prices and the potential for games that are a risky investment to see the light of day.
On the internet-connectivity front, while initial reaction to digital rights management (DRM) systems that require internet connection was harsh, it hasn’t stopped games that utilize them from being exceptionally successful. Nor has the need for internet slowed the progress of paid and free-to-play MMOs and strategy games. And while I have met a few people in passing who own consoles but have no internet, I can’t say I personally have any gamer friends who aren’t connected any time they play. The availability concerns of five years ago are almost a moot point, as the spread of fiber optic and advancements in broadband technology mean all but the most rural areas can get high-speed connections.
Reasons I’m a Drivel-Spewing Crackpot
While all of this hyper-connected-instant-download talk sounds fun, there are more than a few reasons this would never work. For starters, gaming is a retail industry, and you know when retail makes the most money: Holidays. You take away the ability of girlfriends, brothers, aunts, and parents to put games under a tree or in a birthday bag, and you can almost hear the slam of doors as studios shut down. Speaking of parents, they’re going to have to start learning how these systems work in case something goes wrong with one of the accounts; they’ll need to be familiar enough with the system to purchase games, at the very least. Games which will need to be paid for with a credit or debit card, or monetary value cards like the ones current sold for Steam and PSN.
Of course, those same parents – or even adult gamers – might be stymied from buying anything when they realize that maybe they should have listened to what the guy at GameStop Was saying about “internet only” something-or-other. I couldn’t even begin to give you an exact figure on how many systems / titles (PSP Go, MAG, Starcraft II, World of Warcraft) I sold to people who looked me in the eye and said they understood, only to try and return the items a few hours later. Not to mention that even the most tech-savvy buyer is helpless in the face of a service outage; Comcast issues keeping you from playing online are one thing, but to have your console rendered completely unusable might be a deal breaker for consumers.
Photo courtesy techradar.com
The Middle Ground
In all likelihood, this concept may be a little too radical for consoles that will conceivably be announced and launched this year. That being said, devices like Valve’s “Piston” and the Ouya are paving the way, and I do think we’ll see an increase in titles that have launch-day on demand availability. There might even be room in publishers’ plans for smaller projects that get used as test dummies for digital-only distribution; who knows, some games might even be offered on a direct-streaming service. We’ll also see an increase in cloud storage limits, and better streamlining when using one profile on multiple devices.
Whatever is (or isn’t) coming down the pipes, it’s definitely an exciting time to be a gamer. What are some of your hopes, fears, wants, needs, and dreams for the future of consoles?
Hey, remember how the rumor mill has been talking about Valve developing a supposed “Steam Box” for like three years? Here you go.
Guess we can chalk one up for the rumor mill.
Hardware maker Xi3 teamed with Valve and showed off a very early version of the Piston to CES. It will come with up to 1TB of storage and will be able to upgrade the CPU and RAM as well as have component updates. It will perform beyond the upcoming next generation consoles and is only about the size of a grapefruit.
No pricing was revealed but this is most likely where the differences with home consoles will be seen. Valve could just want this to be an extension of their PC market but if this is competitively priced, could they take a small chunk out of the Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo pie?
In an interview with Destructoid Bethesda’s Pete Hines said that the game’s sales were above what the company had projected and it now appears they have a new franchise on their hands.
“I can tell you that Dishonored is far exceeding our sales expectations, which is especially cool considering it’s new IP facing a host of well-established franchises this quarter.We did terrific numbers again this past weekend, both in stores and on Steam, where Dishonored was listed as the #1 selling title over the holiday weekend. And Dishonored has really sold well overseas. So, we’re very pleased and appreciate all the fans that have supported Dishonored and Arkane. We clearly have a new franchise.”
Have you played Dishonored yet? If so, are you excited that the title appears to be getting sequels in the future?
Check out our review of Dishonored here to see what we thought of the game.
If you were already on the fence about the myriad of Steam Machines releasing this fall (as I was), this may make you fall off completely, at least for one of them.
