• Cethin@lemmy.zip
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        16
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        6 months ago

        So a Linux computer that looks like a console? I can see how it’d sell, but it’s already available to anyone who isn’t oblivious. You can even install the SteamOS if you want that particular flavor of Arch.

        • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          23
          ·
          6 months ago

          the point is that you don’t have to fiddle with anything, you can trust the product sold by valve to be good, you have everything preinstalled and configured, and because thousands and thousands of people have the same device it’s easy for developers to target it.

          • VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            9
            ·
            6 months ago

            And with the way Xbox has been going, a solid Steam Machine could theoretically replace it in the market. Sure, your old discs wouldn’t work, but it would have all the Microsoft exclusives anyway. Even Sony exclusives are making it to Steam now.

            • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              6 months ago

              have old xbox discs really not been cracked? would feel very odd if people hadn’t figured out how to run them from regular old CD readers and emulators…

              • VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                6 months ago

                Original Xbox, probably. 360 emulation is still pretty rough. I doubt anyone has a functioning One emulator and definitely not a Series X emulator. Not much interest since almost all of it is on Windows anyway. The only reason I’ve been watching 360 emulation is for Fable 2.

                Also, it’s fairly unlikely that Valve would include an optical drive unless they want to license blu ray stuff from Sony.

        • 0x1C3B00DA@fedia.io
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          17
          ·
          6 months ago

          that looks like a console

          Not just looks, but provides the UX of a console. So you buy it, plug it up, log in, and immediately start playing. Even consoles don’t provide that streamlined UX anymore, but ppl want all the benefits console used to provide with all the benefits PC gaming provides now. But the key part is the PC benefits don’t get in the way of the ease of it. You don’t have to install or administer a linux distro, you don’t have to twiddle settings for every game (unless you want to), etc

          • nul9o9@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            8
            ·
            edit-2
            6 months ago

            That’s the big thing. After my postive experience with the Steam Deck, I switched my gaming PC to Linux. There were settings I had to tinker with to get my games running as optimally as they would on the deck, that I assume are set by default on the SteamOS.

            • vividspecter@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              6 months ago

              I don’t think they have yet, which is a bit of a sore point. Third party alternatives like Bazzite may do the job, though.

        • zalgotext@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          6 months ago

          an evo212 cooler

          So I only bring this up because I had my world shattered like 3 months ago when I built a new PC - the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo cooler is really expensive these days, like, $80-$90 (there are some models that use the same name but have different heat pipe configurations that drop down into the $50-$60 range, but aren’t the ol tried and true 212 that we all bought in the 2010s), and a complete ripoff, and it’s really sad.

          You can get some Noctua coolers for a few more bucks, or pay a third of that price for a Peerless Assassin, or pay about half again that price for something from ID-cooling, all for similar or better performance to the 212. It’s no longer the automatic choice it once was. The king has been dethroned.

          • SynopsisTantilize@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            6 months ago

            Dude what!? I bought my 212 for like 35 bucks back in 2014. As far as I know my nephew is still rocking that setup every day since 2019. That’s wild they’re selling them for 80ish…smh my head.

      • Blackmist@feddit.uk
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        6 months ago

        An Xbox Series S (or even X) but not locked down and able to run Steam games would be great. But that’s the kind of price you’d be looking for. Price of a PS5 would be the absolute maximum. Any higher, and mainstream people won’t be interested because they can just buy a PS5 for that.

        I think it’s achievable at scale (millions of units like the PS5), but it’d be a huge gamble.

        • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          6 months ago

          So a PC in a cool case?

          The problem with going proprietary is that then, well, it’s proprietary. So either they use off the shelf components in which case it’s basically a PC, or they use custom stuff which might improve performance depending on what they do, but will make it difficult to repair and upgrade. Then you rely on Valve producing hardware components, and they’re not really a hardware company, although in fairness they’re also not doing badly at it.

          • Pheonixdown@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            7
            ·
            6 months ago

            It’s more about the hardware/firmware/software uniformity and reliability for some people. My friend is in this camp, he doesn’t want to need to manage a PC, he just wants a box he can reliably turn on and use.

            • BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              6 months ago

              And to expand a little on your point, uniformity means devs can target specific optimizations/performance. I.e. this will run like this on a Steam medium system.

          • Schadrach@lemmy.sdf.org
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            6 months ago

            Internally, yes, basically a PC in a smallish form factor case.

            If you’re aiming at the console crowd, upgrades and end-user repairs aren’t a primary concern. But you’re thinking of it like a desktop aimed at the desktop market where those things are more important, and you could hypothetically just do the same thing on the PC you already have, so what’s the point?

            For a console the high priority items are being quiet, able to fit in most TV stands and the like without standing out too much, and having the smoothest possible UX - if it’s more involved than unpacking it, plugging it into power, plugging it into the TV, connecting a controller, turning it on and logging into an account to go from sitting in a box on the floor to ready to play (or at least install) a game then you’ve already lost. If installing a game is more complicated than clicking the install button once and waiting for the process to finish, you’ve already lost. If you are required to fiddle with drivers, settings, tweaks or config files to be able to play, you’ve already lost. If you are required to think about package managers, libraries, or any kind of usual PC management stuff, you’ve already lost.

          • Blackmist@feddit.uk
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            6 months ago

            Not really a PC is it? You can’t even buy an APU of the spec in a PS5/XSX and you certainly can’t run it all from one set of unified GDDR6 (and I know people say you can’t run a CPU from that, but you demonstrably can run it well enough to run modern games).

            Even just buying a GPU on the level of a PS5 (and that’s somewhere on the level of a RX 6700) is going to take nearly all your budget, leaving you maybe £100 to build the rest of the PC.

            I don’t think it’s an impossible problem to solve, but you can’t do it if you’re selling a couple of thousand units.

      • Toribor@corndog.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        6 months ago

        Bazzite is basically this with bring-your-own hardware. A first party Valve version doesn’t make as much sense compared to a handheld like the Steam Deck but it would be pretty cool.