I must admit the doom and gloom for PC's was lookinga bit stronger a few years ago, but gaming has actually picked up int he last few years despit the "it cost 2 bilion to make, so we cant make our money back fromt he PC' guys. Much of the demise statments where from companies like EA who have all but moved from PC to console. And the fact the big players have sorta become out of touch with the games people want (id). Gaming drives hardware, the business side is still going strong.. now that APPLE uses the same components all Win boxes do.. but.. now I do see a major problem Sna Fran Game confrenc is next week and the romours are STEAM is going to release a PC /hybred:
"We're told that the basic specs of the Steam Box include a Core i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA GPU. The devices will be able to run any standard PC titles, and will also allow for rival gaming services (like EA's Origin) to be loaded up." They note a couple of possibilities that may make this more distinctive than a hardware specification, speculating about this may include a proprietary controller, a biometric feedback device, and could take better advantage of Steam's "big picture mode"
The set top PC has been hammered to death with no success, so why now? As i have said many times, timing is almost more important then the tech. STEAM has a UGE following, a built in user base.. and if you read forums.. us die hard pac users are the minority, most complaine about game pad support etc.. Video card drivers.. CONSOLE USERS... VALVE could bridge this gap.. all the sudden teh BIGGEST GAME SELLECTION is availible in your living room. And talk is it will be at abotu the same silly price the consoles release at.. $4-500.. so price wont be much differnece... built in user base, gamepad support (and sounds like some motion control or feedback also)..
I for one dont see this as good and feel its the first mistep VALVE will make.. further consoleizing the PC game market is going to drive us old guys out.. In the big pircture it probebly pretty wise as us "old guys" are the minority.. better to pull the current console generation to PC gaming then to work on us old guard who are smaller and smaller numbers every day. I could see this as a real breakthoruhg.. MOD SUPPORT, now more 'sony/MS/Nintendo" just one platform for one priece that plays most games.. sure the console specific stuff will still be that, but there is no denying teh PC is the best overall platform.. and if the user base is there the GAME makers will follow. At lunch it will have 1000's of games all at price points that beat the crap out of cosnole prices.
only time will tell, may be to soon for anther attempt at a setbox PC.. but if done right, i can see this one succeding where the others have failed..
I must admit the doom and gloom for PC's was lookinga bit stronger a few years ago, but gaming has actually picked up int he last few years despit the "it cost 2 bilion to make, so we cant make our money back fromt he PC' guys. Much of the demise statments where from companies like EA who have all but moved from PC to console. And the fact the big players have sorta become out of touch with the games people want (id). Gaming drives hardware, the business side is still going strong.. now that APPLE uses the same components all Win boxes do.. but.. now I do see a major problem Sna Fran Game confrenc is next week and the romours are STEAM is going to release a PC /hybred:
"We're told that the basic specs of the Steam Box include a Core i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA GPU. The devices will be able to run any standard PC titles, and will also allow for rival gaming services (like EA's Origin) to be loaded up." They note a couple of possibilities that may make this more distinctive than a hardware specification, speculating about this may include a proprietary controller, a biometric feedback device, and could take better advantage of Steam's "big picture mode"
The set top PC has been hammered to death with no success, so why now? As i have said many times, timing is almost more important then the tech. STEAM has a UGE following, a built in user base.. and if you read forums.. us die hard pac users are the minority, most complaine about game pad support etc.. Video card drivers.. CONSOLE USERS... VALVE could bridge this gap.. all the sudden teh BIGGEST GAME SELLECTION is availible in your living room. And talk is it will be at abotu the same silly price the consoles release at.. $4-500.. so price wont be much differnece... built in user base, gamepad support (and sounds like some motion control or feedback also)..
I for one dont see this as good and feel its the first mistep VALVE will make.. further consoleizing the PC game market is going to drive us old guys out.. In the big pircture it probebly pretty wise as us "old guys" are the minority.. better to pull the current console generation to PC gaming then to work on us old guard who are smaller and smaller numbers every day. I could see this as a real breakthoruhg.. MOD SUPPORT, now more 'sony/MS/Nintendo" just one platform for one priece that plays most games.. sure the console specific stuff will still be that, but there is no denying teh PC is the best overall platform.. and if the user base is there the GAME makers will follow. At lunch it will have 1000's of games all at price points that beat the crap out of cosnole prices.
only time will tell, may be to soon for anther attempt at a setbox PC.. but if done right, i can see this one succeding where the others have failed..