$299 steam machine portable arriving in 2016

[TheObscureGamer]

The Steamboy might just be my favorite handheld. Friend has an early unit and GTA V, Skyrim, Fallout Rage, Metro: last light etc on the go is incredible. Because it can also run emulators, now I can finally play Resident Evil 4, Kingdom Hearts, Super Mario Sunshine,Need for speed Carbon and Okami on the go,plus it will only be $300. It has a,5 inch 720p screen,32GB built in memory with SD card slot,4GB ram,HDMI output,Configurable gamepad and upgradable..Not sure the extent of the upgradability of the device but even if it does struggle to run the demanding games say 6 years from now, as a somewhat 8th gen(as I'm sure it won't be able to play the last few demanding 8th gen games on high), 7th gen, and previous gen handheld, It's pretty good.

 

 

Thoughts?

Edited August 14, 2015 by TheObscureGamer

[Punisher5.0]

32gb isn't near enough for today's games. If you can play it without being connected to a server then I would think about it.

[cimerians]

Pretty cool but no analog sticks. I'd play a lot of non-AAA games on it that I dont have time to play on my PC. (A lot of those indie games I can never get to).

 

The emulation and HDMI out is very appealing but not sure I can spend 300 bucks on it. Would be nice to throw on a boatload of GBA\SNES and MAME games on it for some fun once in a while.

 

Anyone use SteamOS here at Atariage? Thoughts??

[BurritoBeans]

I'll just start off and say what Punisher said - 32GB isn't enough. I ran a 500GB hard drive out on Steam games within a few months. Throw all your favorite AAA titles on there and you'll be running for a huge SD card. The rest of the specs are fine I guess. Still, with the few things they do have listed, I'd imagine you could run most games on medium settings and some from a few years back on high settings.

 

Idea-wise, I like it. Being able to play games that I usually have to play on my PC on the go is a good idea, and I think it would be a good machine for indie games and small stuff that I either never bother to play. I just don't know if I would dump $300 on it.

[TheObscureGamer]

32gb isn't near enough for today's games. If you can play it without being connected to a server then I would think about it.

you can upgrade to more than 32GB and yes, you can play without internet access

[108 Stars]

Well, the Vita was offering great AAA games on the go and people didn't buy. I doubt this will be different.

 

Also the lack of real sticks and tiny buttons seem bad.

[TheObscureGamer]

Well, the Vita was offering great AAA games on the go and people didn't buy. I doubt this will be different.

 

Also the lack of real sticks and tiny buttons seem

bad.

Well the reason people didn't buy the Vita was because of it's lack of games, this has thousands of games available to play so it should sell more.It sucks that is does not have actual analog sticks but for games like Age of empires or Command and Conquer, it works well enough

[JamesD]

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/241538-portable-steam-machine-on-the-way/

[108 Stars]

Well the reason people didn't buy the Vita was because of it's lack of games, this has thousands of games available to play so it should sell more.It sucks that is does not have actual analog sticks but for games like Age of empires or Command and Conquer, it works well enough

I don't think that was the reason with the Vita. In its first year it was pretty strong and had enough games coming, second year also saw AAA releases. And those were all optimized for the controls a handheld offered, unlike straight playing PC games. It just didn't catch on, leading me to believe that most people just want more simple games on the go.

 

Anyway, I doubt the portable Steam device will be more than a niche either.

I would LOVE another AAA handheld, as I love my Vita and my PSP before that, but I lost hope for it. And with the controls this one does not look as promising, and I miss physical media.

Edited August 14, 2015 by 108 Stars

[Tickled_Pink]

TBH, I think a Steam tablet would do better than something like this. NVIDIA Shield showed what could be done. And the trick with a tablet is that it can be used for plenty of other things, whereas handheld consoles are one-trick ponies.

[Mord]

I don't think that was the reason with the Vita. In its first year it was pretty strong and had enough games coming, second year also saw AAA releases. And those were all optimized for the controls a handheld offered, unlike straight playing PC games. It just didn't catch on, leading me to believe that most people just want more simple games on the go.

 

 

 

I think with the Vita it might have had it's relatively weak reception in part because it was still primarily focused on trying to be digital. There are a LOT of Vita games that simply never got a physical release, and back then it was still close to when the PSP Go failed heavily thanks to trying to be completely digital - which people had already spoken with their wallets they didn't want anything to do with. Most people likely just browsed the stores at the small selection of Vita physical games and saw very little to inspire them to purchase a Vita. And they were probably turned off from the digital aspect thanks to Sony charging a mint for their memory cards. I know that's one of the reasons I avoided the Vita - until I had won a gift card that was large enough to afford a 16gig card - barely - at 40 dollars.

[TheObscureGamer]

It just didn't catch on, leading me to believe that most people just want more simple games on the go.

Well the 3DS has just as many in depth games as the Vita and it is currently selling like hot cakes

 

TBH, I think a Steam tablet would do better than something like this. NVIDIA Shield showed what could be done. And the trick with a tablet is that it can be used for plenty of other things, whereas handheld consoles are one-trick ponies.

The Steam tablet can only play PC games through streaming and you need a gaming PC for that, this on the other hand can play without a PC. Also this runs windows while the Steam tablet runs android so you could use Photoshop, AutoCAD and such on the go.

Edited August 15, 2015 by TheObscureGamer

[Mord]

Well the 3DS has just as many in depth games as the Vita and it is currently selling like hot cakes

 

That's because it has pokemon and smash brothers. Vita does not.

[Tickled_Pink]

Well the 3DS has just as many in depth games as the Vita and it is currently selling like hot cakes

 

The Steam tablet can only play PC games through streaming and you need a gaming PC for that, this on the other hand can play without a PC. Also this runs windows while the Steam tablet runs android so you could use Photoshop, AutoCAD and such on the go.

 

I think you're a bit confused. You're talking about the Shield tablet, which is an Android device that plays PC games via streaming. What I'm saying is that a Steam tablet, if ever there was one, would be a better idea than a handheld console. A Steam tablet would run Steam OS (which is Linux based), hence why it's called a Steam tablet.

[108 Stars]

 

I think with the Vita it might have had it's relatively weak reception in part because it was still primarily focused on trying to be digital. There are a LOT of Vita games that simply never got a physical release, and back then it was still close to when the PSP Go failed heavily thanks to trying to be completely digital - which people had already spoken with their wallets they didn't want anything to do with. Most people likely just browsed the stores at the small selection of Vita physical games and saw very little to inspire them to purchase a Vita. And they were probably turned off from the digital aspect thanks to Sony charging a mint for their memory cards. I know that's one of the reasons I avoided the Vita - until I had won a gift card that was large enough to afford a 16gig card - barely - at 40 dollars.

 

This may have something to do with it indeed. Especially seeing the insane pricing for the memory cards.

Well the 3DS has just as many in depth games as the Vita and it is currently selling like hot cakes

No, it doesn't offer the same kind of games. Actually, even RPGs are almost always heavily streamlined on the 3DS to accomodate for the on-the-go-factor (and for Japanese devs being cheap, lol). Vita just offered flat out identical experiences to a home console. Uncharted, Killzone, or God of War and the likes are just a completely different affair from the kind of game you find on the 3DS. And that was the same thing on DS, which I bought because I love RPGs, yet DS RPGs were heavily simplified things. Had the 3DS the same kind of console experience the Vita had offered at first I'd be all over it; but it offers mostly specific handheld experiences and bores me to death with them. The few times devs tried to do that kind of thing on 3DS, like with MGS3 or Resident Evil Revelations, sales were disappointing.

 

Handhelds have huge problems attracting people with console style games. It worked in the old days, but nowadays people are used and like more simple stuff on the go; games that you can play for a couple of minutes with minimal learning curve, and just put away when the bus stops.

[Skippy B. Coyote]

I love the idea of a handheld capable of running all the most popular and graphically intensive modern games, but no physical media for games? No thanks. I'd like to still be able to play any games I buy a decade or two from now when Steam's servers are long dead and offline. Call me behind the times, but I'm just not down for paying money for any games that I can't have a physical copy of in case my system dies and needs replacing and for the time when the company who makes the device it's played on's servers eventually go offline. I love handheld game systems in general, but the lack of physical media for games on this one is just a deal breaker.

[goldenegg]

Pretty cool but no analog sticks.

 

It features trackpads, like the Steam controller uses. It provides the same type of control as an analog stick and provides and added benefit of being capable of accurate mouse cursor movement.

[Algus]

I'd be willing to predict Steam will still be around in ten years. In fact, I'll call it now. Someone necro this thread in 2025!

 

I'm not to sure about this one. I'd rather have a tablet too. Get on board with Canonical working on their mobile version of Ubuntu or just build up tablet support for SteamOS yourself. Tablets already have a wide variety of keyboard and mice available and you could easily go the Surface route and release a dock.

 

32 GB is fine for entry level. It'll fill fast but if you want a ton of a games, better to break out the piggy bank and buy higher capacity anyway. Expandable storage is a must.

 

I'm more interested in the Steambox than this but my Mac already plays all the games I want it to anyway so I guess I'm good. I jumped off the AAA train during 360/PS3 and I'm not real eager to get back on board. To much old and Indie stuff that runs fine on cheap hardware.

 

Actually, given the kinds of games I like to play, this would probably be ~just the thing~ for me, heh.