The Steam Universe is Expanding in 2014 - SteamOS Announced

http://kotaku.com/valve-announces-steam-os-1371869324

Steam OS?

Wow.. thats pretty huge.. Instead of running steam on a linux os, it will be their own dedicated Steam OS with linux at its core.. If someone could get a bootloader for the new consoles working, the PS4 or Xbox One could potentially be the new steam box.. I'm sure Sony and MS will release any updates they can to prevent OS swapping or dual booting on their machines tho.

This is definitely setting the ground work for a steam box. With their own free OS, that could cut the price off a cheap computer by a couple hundred dollars by not having to bundle it with Windows 8.. and with it being their own OS, they will maintain bug fixes and fix all software issues just like how the consoles push updates.

Wow, I did not see that one coming. I want one just to try it out. I would love to see the specs on the box. Does it have a release date yet? I didn't see anything in the article, but I could of missed it.

http://kotaku.com/valve-announces-steam-machines-1386046176?utm_campaign=Socialflow_Kotaku_Facebook&utm_source=Kotaku_Facebook&utm_medium=Socialflow

Steam Machine, how to have a chance to be lucky and beta test one.

Steam Machine.. I liked Steam Box, but I'm guessing they didn't want to be confused with X Box.. Steam Station wouldn't have worked either.. so Steam Machine sounds fitting.

I just checked the beta participation, "There are currently 77,984 eligible beta candidates.."

We have better odds than winning the Mega Millions Lottery!

X'D I been playing Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon a lot on big screen today.

X'D I been playing Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon a lot on big screen today.

I just looked at the trailer for it, the game play style reminded me of "Virtual On", looks like fun.

Its really fun, but its definitely a grinder game. You can blow through the campaign in a few hours, but with each difficulty you can only level up to a certain cap until Inferno, and the offer remixes of the missions where the insects are different. Its more fun to play co-op than by yourself as well. Def one of those sit down and have mindless fun with a friend type games.

http://kotaku.com/valve-announces-the-steam-controller-a-new-way-to-cont-1411558137

This controller is a little two wild. lol I gotta have physical joy sticks to function. Dual touch pads.. after 20+ years of using variations of the same model of gamepad, I think I'm too old to adapt... this thing is for the younger generations of gamers....

*In old stereotypical old man voice* "Back in my day, we had buttons on our controllers!"

When I first looked at it, I thought wtf are they thinking... but honestly, I think the trackpads could work good.. I get thumb spasms sometimes and I'm not that great with fluid motion on a right analog stick.. I usually aim guns in jerky motions because of it, but if the trackpads are as good as the ones on laptops, then I could see it working. It would take a bit to get used to I'm sure, but I like the concept.. what I don't like is the button layout.. Unless different parts of the trackpads are going to be useable as independent buttons, then this controller might suck ass.

The problem with trackpads serving as buttons is that the buttons have to be stationary, when you have to shift your thumb back to that part of the track pad, the movement would be affected everytime you wanted to do that action. They should have stuck with bumper and triggers on top and maybe have placed more buttons along the inner parts of the grips on the back for your middle and ring fingers to access. The two big back buttons could easily be split into 4 or 6.

Impressions: http://kotaku.com/valves-controller-has-been-tested-here-are-some-impre-1415579308

Spelunky requires Whip, Jump, Bomb, and Rope buttons. We configured the controller to play like an Xbox controller. So the left circle pad was once again used for the directional buttons, and the right circle pad was used as A, B, X, Y buttons in the orientation that you find on an Xbox Controller....I played through Spelunky and the controller worked great. As I was playing I was describing to the engineers the twitch movements that go into Spelunky... The Steam controller handled this just fine.

Trackpad buttons.. so different.. I suppose if the haptic feedback is good enough to mimic the feel of buttons and the pressure sensitivity, it could work out. We've all been trained since NES to use a directional pad and buttons, but if these trackpads can function with the kind of control you could get with a mouse, RTS games could be playable on this gamepad. As it is now, theres no way I would try to play starcraft 2 with my xbox 360 controller.

Thanks to Khell I now have 10 friends. According to the Badge page there are 237,895 eligible for the beta. And there is still a month left for people to reach eligibility. Sheesh. I might buy TMNT and play single player just to have something new to play in big picture mode.

haha.. Shoot.. I need 2 more friends on Steam. I'll have to send out some random friend requests.

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/10/04/valve-unveils-prototype-steam-box-specs/
 

The 300 prototype units will ship with the following components:
GPU: some units with NVidia Titan, some GTX780, some GTX760, and some GTX660
CPU: some boxes with Intel: i7-4770, some i5-4570, and some i3
RAM: 16GB DDR3-1600 (CPU), 3GB DDR5 (GPU)
Storage: 1TB/8GB Hybrid SSHD
Power Supply: Internal 450w 80Plus Gold
Dimensions: approx. 12 x 12.4 x 2.9 in high

 
I understand the variety thing, but an i3 processor? c'mon! If I was lucky enough to get one. I'd probably go buy an i7. Seeing as a single processor alone costs as much as a PS4, AMD must have given Sony a sweet deal on their massively bulk purchase of their product. AMD components are generally cheaper, but still... Steam Machines are going to be expensive without some type of deal. I'd probably be a bit disappointed with the low end model because an i3 just doesn't cut it.

My PC
GPU: nVidia GTX 560 Ti

CPU: Intel Core i7-2600 3.4ghz 4 cores 8 logical processors

RAM: 8GB DDR3-1333 (CPU)

Storage: 1TB/6GB

Power Supply: 350w EnergyStar

I like that the steam machine prototype will be the same dimensions of a laptop with a folded over screen. Compact and low profile. I bet it will run ridiculously hot. i3 systems seem pointless because of the lack of power, but it could still run probably 50% of the games on steam. SSHD.. nice.. but expensive. The load times on SSHDs is insanely fast. With no CD/DVD/Blu ray drives and everything being digital.. the only load times we'd ever see on this machine would be caused by whatever server a multiplayer game would be hosted on.

I don't see how this could be a cheap piece of hardware. With a PC gaming laptop's specs, minus the expensive operating system and minus the monitor, my guess is that it'll probably have a starting price around $500.

http://kotaku.com/we-know-more-about-valves-steam-machines-than-you-may-1442101512

Ah, so the 300 they're gonna send out are the premium versions... now I really want one.

Those premium machines sound damn good.. I think I'm more interested in one of those than the next gen consoles.. but the price will be huge.

If I could get a beta test machine, I wouldn't mind spending $300 on a new video card every 4-5 years to upgrade it.

They say the machines will be upgradable, but I wonder if they'll need specialty hardware.. I've never seen an upgradable video card for a laptop and this machine will be the same size.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/148909/maxlap.html

You could upgrade your laptop, but it would be a pain in the ass. I never understood why they've never made an upgradable laptop instead of sealing up the damn thing. Probably because there is more money to be made in selling units when customers feel their hardware is outdated. I could see nVidia making specialty cards that plug in a slot for steam machines, but it virtually already does that in the first place on a PC. From the specs it seems like these machines are using normal desktop cards. There has to be some pretty good design specs to where you can open it up and pop it right in.

I've looked into it before and as far as I can tell, Sony Vaio's can't get upgraded.. the graphics are fully integrated and there is no piece to take out to replace or upgrade. What I'd like to see is a graphics card thats a USB.. With the newest USB drives out there and the speeds that they operate on, it might work one of these days. Imagine if upgrading your graphics was a simple as a quick plug and play. That would be so much easier.

I am now eligible for the steam beta hardware..

"You are now one out of 333,002 eligible beta candidates."

These odds are looking pretty good for us.

Tech is going to have to improve a vast amount unless you care about a loud ass bulky thing sticking out the side of your laptop.

Thats basically what my card looks like minus the graphics. The heat these things produce is pretty crazy, Every time I play games like BF my PC gets pretty loud with both fans running.

lmao. I wouldn't care if it was the size of a shoe sticking out the side of my laptop as long as it works.

http://kotaku.com/valve-has-confirmed-to-maximum-pc-that-their-steam-mach-1443688450

Compatible with all brands of graphics cards... this is good.