Prices are insane. I’m expecting PlayStation 6 and Helix to start at $1000 easily with Microsoft having at least a few different SKU’s (tiers/specs) due to wanting to have the PC store fronts on it which is still a great decision because they can finally merge their two store fronts together so to speak while going after younger demographic with the PC side while also retaining the Xbox consumers since everything will simply carry over.
But man, next generation prices are going to be even more insane than current gen is now.
If you are only on Steam my guess is it can do the job, or you could always install Windows on it and then go full Xbox Experience.
The hardware is nice, but for the power you are getting, at current prices it is a bit of a hard sale, although even building something similar today will be expensive.
This sort of bodes well for Helix. While yes it is a bad sign of future pricing, it is ripping off the band-aid and making people come to terms with how expensive next gen will be. Xbox has a chance to look well priced even if expensive.
If/when the AI bubble bursts, hopefully the console prices will plummet.
They go over the testing numbers from Gamer Nexus and talk about the different cost between what Steam Machine offers and what a person could get with a similar price or a bit more money.
Despite the price I don’t think this will fail at all. I think there are enough dedicated Steam/Valve fans that will want it just because it’s Valve. Some people are just rich and other people will go into debt for it.
Probably, but it’s likely not going to do deck numbers and as Valve made these with the intention of getting deck users on a home PC. So I can see it sell pretty well enough, but not to Valve’s expectations.
And that’s a big problem, as unlike custom bits in this, an off the shelf PC or one you build yourself is much easier to upgrade, for example you can choose a big case to fit even the chunkier graphics cards.
The Deck was a good price for its specs and performance (especially given it included a screen) - even then, while it helped significantly expand the handhelds market by bringing more focus on it, if you ask most people how much it sold they’ll guess say 20 to 30 million given the hype around it but in reality even the most generous estimates suggest 6 million max.
Yeah, I think Valve’s real move is making SteamOS available on AMD systems, as they can get more people on Steam without needing to have them buy the hardware. That’s likely going to be a hard sell for some, but I can see people with systems that Windows just doesn’t allow for the best performance try it out (maybe Xbox mode can make a difference this could eliminate this thought process).
Yeah I do think the initial threat of Steam OS plus the Helix move made Microsoft optimise Windows more, first with Game Mode and now Xbox mode.
It’s not too bad for gaming performance now, to the point yeah probably only those with borderline PCs and enough technical knowledge to handle Linux would try it
I thought that Valves move with Steam OS was optimizing the experience to be as close to using Steam on Windows as possible, so the only things someone without a lot of Linux knowledge. Would need to worry about is reconstruction of the Steam OS and how to work do work around to play certain games.
Yep the emulation layer is good, but yes for a few too many games it requires workarounds, particularly those with anti cheat systems.
And while Linux has a great supportive community, it is generally more of a pain in the ass than Windows, so anyone who barely knows anything about computing I normally recommend to steer clear
This isn’t what Phil wanted to release? Helix has been repeatedly called a console both during Phil’s time when they were teasing it and Sharma’s when they announced it. Pricing, specs, etc, we don’t know. But Valve is a very different company that wanted to accomplish something very different with the steam machine. They repeatedly called it a PC and said that it would be priced like a PC before launch. This is like the Steam Deck in that it’s meant to just encourage more spending among their power users and super fans and encourage developers to support Linux more. It’s like a “win more” button.
It’s not like the Steam Deck actually sold gangbusters. It’s primarily popular with Steam users who are happy to stay within the Steam ecosystem and look down upon everything else in gaming. The Steam Machine will similarly do fine focusing on those people. It’s not for the general consumer.
Also however Helix manifests, no matter what it’s basically already done (past the design phase). So yes whatever “Phil wanted to release” will release.
