Forum Home > SpawnPoint General > General Games Discussion > Steam Planning a Console?
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cpnichol
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Posts: 5930
Steam Planning a Console?
Posted: Apr 15, 2012, 09:53:03
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This week's most interesting gaming rumour is about the possibility that Steam/Valve are planning to launch a console.

It's not the first time there has been a rumour about this, some pictures emerged of a custom PC a while but they were dismissed as being of a testing device. The new rumours come from a job advert for an electronics engineer to develop new hardware, the advert goes on to say:


Quote:
Join our highly motivated team that’s doing hardware design, prototyping, testing, and production across a wide range of platforms. We’re not talking about me-too mice and gamepads here – help us invent whole new gaming experiences.


http://www.metro.co.uk/tech/games/896037-job-ad-reignites-valve-steam-box-rumours

Obviously it's just a rumour but I kind of hope it's true, it'd be nice to have a choice of something other than Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony. Valve have been very keen on introducing cross platform gaming between Macs, PCs and consoles, but they do have issues with Microsoft and Sony about updating games. The latest casuality of this has been the proposed cross platform capability of CS Global Offensive. So maybe they've decided to do something about it.

It would be difficult to take a significant portion of the console market, especially against such established competition that have the support of the big publishers. But if Steam were able to provide all, or a big chunk, of the games available for PC on their console that could give them a big advantage. One obstacle to that is that most of those games only run on Windows and I can't imagine Microsoft letting a competitor use their software.
Last Edited: Apr 15, 2012, 09:53:46

sulli456
Board Admin
Posts: 879
Re: Steam Planning a Console?
Posted: Apr 15, 2012, 15:30:14
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There have been quite a few rumours circulating about the "Steambox" that i have been reading about this, but from what i have read they aren't making a console. Well according to Doug Lombardi they aren't. He denied all the rumours and put it down to people mis-interpreting what Valve meant when they talked about development boxes that they make for testing software saying that people thought that when job ads came up about making hardware boxes and stuff they meant they were developing some form of console.

Join our highly motivated team that’s doing hardware design, prototyping, testing, and production across a wide range of platforms. We’re not talking about me-too mice and gamepads here – help us invent whole new gaming experiences.

What it could be that i have read about is that they are working on "Wearable Computing" something like Google's "Project Glass" - ProjectGlass

Quote:

Abrash explains: "By 'wearable computing' I mean mobile computing where both computer-generated graphics and the real world are seamlessly overlaid in your view; there is no separate display that you hold in your hands

Abrash a tech guy at Valve had this idea and he figured it was "the most valuable thing he could do at Valve" So they may be hiring for that project. What strengthens the reasonings for me is that in the job ad they say "Not talking about me-too mice and gamepads here" I don't know there are a lot of rumours going around about Valve and development at the minute, what with apple boss going there for undisclosed reasons. I expect some big announcements of future development coming from valve soon. Maybe we will hear from them soon what with E3 coming up. But then again,


Quote:

Abrash - "To be clear, this is R&D - it doesn't in any way involve a product at this point, and won't for a long while, if ever - so please, no rumors about Steam glasses being announced at E3,"

If they were to make a console, i just find it hard to see what they would bring to the table, would it just be steam on a console connected to your TV? I have been thinking about it and i don't know what makes a console, and why a steam console would be any different. Thinking about it kind of makes my head hurt.

cpnichol
Board Admin
Posts: 5930
Re: Steam Planning a Console?
Posted: Apr 16, 2012, 11:26:42
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More rumours:

http://www.metro.co.uk/tech/games/896256-valve-working-with-apple-on-video-game-console

Steam have denied they are working on a console, which calmed the rumours down but then the CEO of Apple turned up at Valve HQ which sent them into overdrive again.

enomooshiki
Member
Posts: 87
Re: Steam Planning a Console?
Posted: Apr 17, 2012, 21:47:21
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hmmmm this would be quite interesting

they are alraedy talking about CS:GO being cross platform

Jigza
Member
Posts: 14
Re: Steam Planning a Console?
Posted: Jun 25, 2012, 15:29:01
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They are just rumours at the moment - but they are heavily backed up. If you look a lot at Gamesutra, and gamesindurty.biz and sites as such - there is a lot of chatter about it. But them again - there has been about so much that has not come to be :(

/Mark

garrett123
Member
Posts: 12
Re: Steam Planning a Console?
Posted: Jul 16, 2012, 20:21:24
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that would be so awesome. it would be the best of ever game in one consol. it could be bigger than xbox or play staion!
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