Steam’s Big Week of Announcements

Last week Valve promised that a trio of announcements were on the way.  It’s actually a pretty good idea because instead of just announcing everything at once and dominating the news for a day or two, Valve has effectively become the most talked about thing in gaming for the entire week.

First, on Monday, Valve announced SteamOS.  For people who have been keeping up with the company and those who have read our articles on the matter this came as no surprise.  It is a custom designed operating system built on the Linux kernel.  This is not some fork of Ubuntu but rather something built from the ground up.  Though it can be put on any normal PC hardware, the focus is on a PC hooked up to your television for a living room sort of gaming experience.  It will be free to download.

The immediate and most significant issue with this is that finding AAA games on Linux is next to impossible.  Valve tackles this from two angles.  The announcement site states “Watch for announcements in the coming weeks about all the AAA titles coming natively to SteamOS in 2014.”  Steam has a lot of users and if even a fraction of them put up some sort of SteamBox it suddenly becomes worthwhile for developers to get their games on Linux.

Also, a streaming option was announced detailing how a Windows game could run on your regular PC and stream through your SteamBox.  This would effectively allow you to play any game you own through SteamOS.  Valve also brought up friendlier family sharing options on how you can let family members play your Steam games and vice versa.  Lastly, mention of various media options was brought up as Valve undoubtedly is working on getting big players like Netflix and Hulu available on their OS.

Then, on Wednesday, Valve announced Steam Machines.  Valve is not getting in the hardware business and is not selling some type of PC/Console.  Instead, Valve is opening this up to third-party vendors who will be able to make and sell Steam Boxes.  So this was less an official announcement of some product, but rather a tacit acknowledgement that this is all official and how things will work.

The beauty of the platform is that people won’t be locked into a specific hardware box.  The contrast to this are regular consoles.  For many people, spending $400-$500 on a new console this holiday season is too expensive.  For others, they would gladly by twice that amount if it would enable them to get more powerful hardware inside.

Steam Machines is the answer.  Though no official Steam Machines have been announced by third-party vendors, you will likely see systems that range from multi-GPU powerhouses all the way to smaller systems with APU’s designed more for streaming and light gaming.  Valve also announced a beta and you can enter to win a prototype Steam Machine.

Friday brought Valve’s final announcement: the Steam Controller.  Input is a tricky thing because while some games (like FPS) play well on traditional console-like controllers, other types of games (say RTS) really require more sensitive controls.  Enter the Steam Controller.

It has the shape of regular console controllers and still has some trigger buttons on the backside but that’s about where the similarities end.  The controller features two circular trackpads which are billed as being able to provide a much finer amount of detail in regards to input.  Between the trackpads is a small touchscreen – nothing gargantuan like the Wii U, but still a touchscreen.  There are also some other ancillary buttons spread out on the controller.  Valve also talks up the super-precise haptic feedback capabilities of the controller which will supposedly bring responsiveness to a new level.

Unless you get into the beta, nothing will really be happening until 2014.  I would expect to see a lot of Steam Machines made by various third-party vendors at CES in January.

It will be interesting to see where this all goes.  Personally, I prefer the more powerful and customizable PC platform but over the years I have grown to favor laying on the couch to play games.  I am probably exactly who Valve is targeting.