In 2013 Valve announced the Steam Machine. The idea was to create a gaming platform built on Steam OS instead of Windows. The Steam Machine would be a cross between a PC and a Console, making it possible to play PC games in your living room
Prepare yourself
Valve came well prepared. Of course they have the whole Steam thing going for them but two years prior to the release they started working on a new interface "Big Picture Mode". The interface is controller friendly and looks and feels just like something you would find on a console instead of a PC.
Talking about controllers Valve also introduced the Steam Controller, instead of two analogue thumbsticks the Steam Controller has two trackpads with haptic feedback. The highly customizable controllers are designed to be used with Big Picture mode and control PC games that normally require Keyboard and mouse.
A sheep in wolves clothing
The Steam Machine is a PC in a HTPC casing much like my own Home Theater PC (but with a much beefier CPU and GPU).
You can read more on HTPC's here
The difference however is that the Steam Machine has Steam OS instead of Windows as a operating system. Steam OS is a modified version of Linux with the Big Picture mode as a graphic user interface allowing you to play Linux supported games.
A great idea with supported hardware, interface and a flexible OS and the Steam library to back it up. Valve had done everything to make the Steam Machine a big success..... almost everything.
The Big Questions
Why did Valve choose a Linux operating system when every AAA game is on Windows?
Let me explain that I think that Linux is a better OS than Windows in most cases, PClinuxOS and Linux Mint are two of my favorite Linux distributions. But Valve made the wrong decision by using a Linux based OS for their Steam Machine solution. Even with the influence that Valve has in the world of gaming there is no way that developers are suddenly going to start porting their games to Linux or use Linux as their main platform.
The truth is the performance of Steam OS couldn't compete with Windows 10 and don't get me started on Linux driver support for Graphic cards.
Even if we take the OS out of the equation. Who exactly is the Steam Machine meant for? As I see it there are two potential target audiences, console gamers and PC gamers.
PC gamers are unlikely to give up the flexibility of the PC for a modified PC. On the other hand the console gamers are unlikely to give up their console exclusives and comfort of the Xbox or Playstation controller for the novelty of the Steam controller. Maybe it is meant to attract a new audience, a new group of gamers.
But in the end, almost 2 years after their release it looks like the Steam Machines are another failed attempt at getting PC gaming into the living room.
What do you think, Steam Machines: Fail or Too early to tell? Let me know what you think in the comment section.
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