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Valve's SteamBox Gets a Name and an Early Demo at CES
xynopsis writes "Looks like the final version of the Linux based Steam Gaming Console has been made public at CES. The result of combined efforts of small-form-factor maker Xi3 and Valve, the gaming box named 'Piston' is a potential game changer in transforming the Linux desktop and gaming market. The pretty device looks like a shrunk Tezro from Silicon Graphics when SGI used to be cool." Looks like Gabe Newell wasn't kidding.
offer modular component updates, including the option to upgrade the PC's CPU and RAM.
I will *not* get back into that chase again, thank you very much. The whole reason I left PC gaming years ago was because I got tired of the specs chase. Consoles meant never having to look on the box and see if I needed yet another upgrade to play a game. I've even still got the stack of old video cards and MB's to remind me of how much money I wasted back then.
Not going back to that. And if I was, I would just build my own PC and connect it to my TV (why bother with Valve's box?). After all, if I'm going back to the chase, may as well get the freedom of a PC too.
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
Word from Redmond is that Microsoft is going to attempt to clone Steam now.
They're working on a competitor called "Shaft."
CEO Steve Ballmer even said he "can't wait to Shaft his customers, it's going to be the biggest thing since squirting on the Zune. It's going to totally fucking kill Steam and Linux off."
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
Parent: Missing the point of Steam entirely.
Steam itself is not DRM. My library contains lots of DRM free games. On the other hand it also contains certain games which come with the same DRM as the boxed version. If you want to make a point buy the DRM free indie games on Steam and and don't buy the DRM ridden ones.
Don't dismiss something just because it can do more than what you need. Nobody forces you to pirate with bittorrent or murder your wife with a kitchen knife either.
This is just *a* steam-box, just a few days ago Ben Krasnow (Valve hardware designer) said that steambox would appear at GDC.
Linux is an operating system, not a belief system. It lets me use my computer how I want to, and the day it gets in the way of that I will swap to something else. If I want to install DRM laden software onto Linux, who are you to judge?
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
If you think linux's only purpose is to create DRM free games, or anything else for that matter, you're kinda missing the point. The purpose of linux afaik is to create freedom....to do whatever you want with the OS. If I want to play DRM games on my linux install, then its doing its job because its what I want to do with the OS.
Steam is a delivery platform with optional DRM. No game is required to use the DRM, and many indie games and older games do not. Once you purchase those games, you can move them wherever you wish and even delete Steam and still have usable games.
Isn't SGI one of those companies that has achieved eternal coolness by (like any self-respecting rock star) dying horribly before it could really ruin its reputation with a string of pathetic comeback attempts at 3rd string clubs?
My sense is that SGI's last gasp of genuine relevance was over a decade ago; but that they are forever enshrined in the datacenters of Valhalla(and every system today that uses OpenGL gives them praise)