Dell Joins Steam Machine Initiative With Alienware System 110
MojoKid writes "Plenty of OEMs have lifted the veil on their planned Steam Machine products, but Dell really seems to want to break free of the pack with their Alienware-designed, small form factor machine that they unveiled at CES this week. It's surprisingly tiny, sleek and significantly smaller than the average game console, weighing only about 4 — 6 pounds fully configured. Dell had a prototype of the machine on hand that is mechanically exact, complete with IO ports and lighting accents. Dell also had a SteamOS-driven system running, though it was actually a modified Alienware system powering the action with Valve's innovative Steam Controller. In first-person shooters like Metro: Last Night that Dell was demonstrating, the left circular pad can be setup for panning and aiming in traditional AWSD fashion, while the right pad can be used for forward and back movement with triggers set up for firing and aiming down sights. You can, however, customize control bindings to your liking and share profiles and bindings with friends on the Steam network. What's notable about Dell's unveiling is that the Steam Machines initiative gained critical mass with a major OEM like Dell behind the product offering, in addition to the handful of boutique PC builders that have announced products thus far."
Um, What? (Score:1)
Dell is actually going to offer an OS that isn't from Microsoft? Yes, yes, they've offered Ubuntu and RHEL I believe, but those are hard to get from Dell and the computers are sometimes more expensive than the Windows alternatives.
This is a noteworthy break in "tradition". Let's hope that this is the first step towards more OS opportunities from major hardware vendors.
I wonder if MS had to bless the SteamOS cert for 'secure boot' to work?
Re: (Score:3)
Not to mention that Dell when they offer Linux with their server. Sometimes had a tendency to put it on hardware that Linux doesn't fully support.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
most dell servers I see run some form of linux, as they are one of the premier linux server distributors
source: I do this for a living kid.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Inspiron netbook. It came with Ubuntu. However it ever fully supported the video.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Same problem 3DO had (Score:2)
Now, if they games were $30 instead of $60 they might have a value proposition. But most big budget titles (Call of Duty, Skyrim, Assassin's Creed, etc) launch at $60.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I'm on an AMD 8320 8-core clocked at 3.7ghz and to get a decent gaming experience with modern games, I had to go with a Nvidia 770. AMD 7750 just doesn't cut it for acceptable gaming performance, it's a complete crutch.
Re: (Score:2)
This Just In (Score:1)
This just in: Alienware machines are overpriced.
Details at 11
Re: (Score:2)
That said while I was all jazzed up about Steamboxes, now? Its a big meh. i mean the STARTING price is the same as the Xbone, and that is for the LOW END bottom o' the line system? Really? When you can get the octocore PS4 for $100 cheaper? I have a feeling this will go over like a lead balloon, the PC gamers already have Win 7 and DIY, the console gamers aren't gonna pay $100 more than a PS4 for an i3 unit that frankly if it weren't for the stylish case would go for $350 at Worst Buy, and the icing on the fail cake is just how little of the Steam catalog actually runs on the thing. I mean who is gonna want to pay $500 for a machine that gives you a worse catalog than just buying a $299 i3 Worst Buy special and adding an $80 HD7750?
PS4 price is the fixed price and they will not have sales on it until 4-5 years down the road.
With Dell products they have sales, coupons, outlets, clearances, price drops and what nots. With Dell products, you have to look at 60% of the price as the price Dell will be happy selling them at.
Of course steamboxes are more expensive (Score:2)
The hardware makers have to make money on it.
Traditional game consoles are subsidized. When they launch they are sold for a very thin profit at most, and generally are sold for a loss (sometimes a fair sized one). The money is then made up on games (each game sold pays a license fee to the console maker).
That's not the case with Steam boxes. Valve isn't subsidizing it, they aren't even participating the the building. They are having others do it. Well Dell doesn't mind, they are open to sell PC hardware any
Re: (Score:2)
Oh wait, that's awesome. It an alternative to the razor cartridge/printer cartridge strategy. Spend a little more upfront, and spend less down the road. I love it!
You don't get to buy your games on sale (Score:2)
You might, but then again you might on consoles too. Games cost full retail on Steam. Assassin's Creed 4 is $60, same as for the PS4 and the Xboner. It is, in fact cheaper for the PS3 and 360, only $50. Now, it was on sale for a day on Steam's winter sale for $45 (still more expensive than the Wii U version now) but only for that short sale. If you want it now, $60 it is.
What about older titles? Say, Crysis 2. Only $30 in the Steam Store now. From Amazon? $20 for the PS3/360.
Yes Steam has sales, but they ar
Re: (Score:2)
so your going to get the ease of a console, with the performance of a PC.
>octocore PS4
any performance benchmark figures to match up with marketing terms.
every intel PC has twice as many cores as stated, because of hyperthreading(AMD simply counts them as seperate cores)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
I've never purchased a brand name desktop PC in my life. I started with borrowed, stolen, donated, machines I'd upgrade, and when I made enough money, I started building them from scratch with all new parts. They started by selling the type of custom machines that people would build, rather than the more OEM ones you'd but in the store, but insanely overpriced, kinda like what custom chopper shops do with motorcycles.(again, build my ow
Re: (Score:2)
Uhhh...did everybody forget those ubuntu netbooks and laptops already? Wow, short memories here. I can't say as i blame ya though as Dell has hell with Canonical, with them even having to keep their own fork because default ubuntu kept crapping on the drivers.
That said while I was all jazzed up about Steamboxes, now? Its a big meh. i mean the STARTING price is the same as the Xbone, and that is for the LOW END bottom o' the line system? Really? When you can get the octocore PS4 for $100 cheaper? I have a feeling this will go over like a lead balloon, the PC gamers already have Win 7 and DIY, the console gamers aren't gonna pay $100 more than a PS4 for an i3 unit that frankly if it weren't for the stylish case would go for $350 at Worst Buy, and the icing on the fail cake is just how little of the Steam catalog actually runs on the thing. I mean who is gonna want to pay $500 for a machine that gives you a worse catalog than just buying a $299 i3 Worst Buy special and adding an $80 HD7750?
Hmmm, the congitive dissonance has kicked in early.
The latest generation of consoles has been lack lustre at best. I'm still betting on a mobile phone OS based console taking out the low end, but I'll now bet the high end will be slaughtered by the steamboxes.
For people on a budget, a $200 console will be more appealing than a $400 PS4, for people who want to play games the variety and massive back catalogue on Steam would be the clincher. Lets not forget that PC games are cheaper then Console games (
Re: (Score:2)
> i mean the STARTING price is the same as the Xbone, and that is for the LOW END bottom o' the line system? Really?
It's not reasonable to expect a non-subsidized, upgradeable (in the case of many of the models), open console to cost less than subsidized, locked-down hardware with a consolidated-to-be-cheap design.
The Steam Machines are only a bad deal if you are the kind of person that only buys few AAA games and don't want to take advantage the openness to do things like run services (ex. put a minecr
Re: (Score:2)
Dell serves allright -- question is: whom...
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2014/01/nsa_exploit_of.html [schneier.com]
Re:price (Score:4, Insightful)
All this news about steam machines is great, but in the end they will compete with consoles, not with standard PCs.
Higher end of the console market + lower end of the specialist gaming PC market (which is Alienware's arena) sounds like a viable target market to me.
There's probably not enough details of these third party steam machines yet, but in principle they should be more customisable and expandable, with more up-to-date hardware than consoles. Also, (unless Dell et. al. break out the footgun and lock their boxes down), they can double as Linux PCs or dual-boot Windows if you really must.
Plus, there's the potential of a "single market" for content that covers Steam on Mac, Windows and regular Linux distros, commercial Steam Machines and home-brew SteamOs boxes.
Re: (Score:3)
Not for me, thanks. Two of the things I love about consoles are never having to check "System Requirements" or upgrade to support a new game. If I wanted that, I would just go back to PC gaming and playing the never-ending videocard chase.
To me, the Steambox looks like the worst of both worlds.
Re:price (Score:5, Insightful)
Two of the things I love about consoles are never having to check "System Requirements" or upgrade to support a new game.
Offset by 10 of the things I hate about consoles:
1) completely locked down
2) loaded with ads
3) games that are substantially more expensive
4) charge premiums for access basic features (e.g xbox gold)
5) artificial roadblocks to indie developers
6) artificial roadblocks to mods
7) demanding I have the disc in the drive, despite installing it to the hard drive
8) locking my online purchases to single physical console
9) arbitrary limitations on what controllers are available
10) 5 years out of date hardware on launch day
So, yeah, I can live with checking the box for requirements. To each their own, but I think that's the worst reason going to choose consoles.
For what its worth, I -do- have a Wii and WiiU, and I like them. For the last several generations now, Nintendo has had the least idiotic restrictions, and its relatively unique games library, and local multiplayer options have won me over my complaints. But the last playstation I owned was the PS1, and I've yet to have any interest in an xbox.
PC gaming had a rough batch of years for a while after the collapse of the retail market for games (when eb / gamestop etc all reduced their PC offering to one tiny shelf with some overpriced obsolete PC titles in beat up boxes).
But now, between Steam, GoG, Desura, Humble bundles, and the levelling off of the pc performance curve enabling gaming rigs to go for years without needing hardware to play ... the selection of games is enormous, and the prices are stupidly low.
Add in the maturity and ease of use of voice chat, readily available game servers etc. PC Multiplayer still lags behind consoles in terms of user friendly ... but its no longer anywhere near the chore it once was to setup.
Right now we are in a new golden age of PC games!
Now just give me a good joystick Space Sim in the vein of Privateer!
Re: (Score:2)
Agree with everything... Though, who actually checks system requirements these days unless you know your machine is so marginal that it isn't even funny. I'll grant maybe I'm not the average, maybe I'm blinded by my own experiences and resources, but unless you're wanting to play Crysis at won't most people's normal machines handle the vast vast majority of games without even blinking?
Am I wrong here?
Re: (Score:2)
Agree with everything... Though, who actually checks system requirements these days unless you know your machine is so marginal that it isn't even funny. I'll grant maybe I'm not the average, maybe I'm blinded by my own experiences and resources, but unless you're wanting to play Crysis at won't most people's normal machines handle the vast vast majority of games without even blinking?
Am I wrong here?
Considering Crysis came out in 2007... OK I'm being pedantic :)
I agree with your point, the only problem you have is people who dont play games, buying games. Little Johnny's dad buys him Call Of Repetition 46, Dickwolf Ops on PC, he doesn't know or care if it would work in the ancestral family computer. Consoles do eliminate this problem, but introduce dozens more as the GGP pointed out.
The solution is for the people wanting to play the game, becoming involved in buying them (system requirements are
Indie roadblocks are there for a reason (Score:2)
games that are substantially more expensive
In my experience, one copy of a console game that allows up to four players in one household is cheaper than two to four copies of a PC game that requires a separate PC per player [cracked.com].
artificial roadblocks to indie developers
The roadblocks were put in place because in 1983, a flood of me-too titles from startup developers was causing the median quality of Atari 2600 games to become unacceptable. Retailers were discontinuing video games in their stores citing end user dissatisfaction. Nintendo couldn't even get its console into stores in 1985 without f
Re: Indie roadblocks are there for a reason (Score:2)
In co-op you want screen peeking (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
7) demanding I have the disc in the drive, despite installing it to the hard drive
8) locking my online purchases to single physical console
Other than by using the disc or the console as the root of trust, how would you propose instead to verify that a single purchased copy of a computer program isn't being used on more offline machines than for which it is licensed?
You don't. You treat customers like you want their business.
10) 5 years out of date hardware on launch day
The hardware in the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS was 10 years out of date, being roughly equivalent to a Super NES or Nintendo 64 respectively. They won on battery life.
Those aren't consoles.
Rent, install, return (Score:2)
You treat customers like you want their business.
So how should a publisher treat its customers like the publisher wants its customers' business but doesn't want the customers to compete with the publisher itself? If console games could be installed to a hard drive with no digital restrictions management, then the publisher could sell only one copy of the game in an entire city because everyone would be installing off the same disc and returning it to the store.
[Dedicated handheld video game systems] aren't consoles.
They are unlike consoles in some ways (being battery-powered and pocket-sized with an internal d
Re: (Score:3)
In my experience, one copy of a console game that allows up to four players in one household is cheaper than two to four copies of a PC game that requires a separate PC per player.
a) I routinely buy PC games for less than 1/2 or 1/4 what a single console game costs... often for the same title.
b) Tons of xbox games do not support split screen play
c) All that said, that's precisely one of the reasons why I have the Wii and Wii U. It is better for local coop.
The roadblocks were put in place because in 1983, a
Re: (Score:2)
Tons of xbox games do not support split screen play
And tons do.
Its not to sell more copies, its because at present very few people are setup to even play PC games multiplayer locally.
So apart from the Steam Machine, which platform is best for indie games designed around local multiplayer?
Microsoft in fact requires games to be XInput-only if they're made for Windows RT
The beauty of PC gaming is that there are other stores than the one store store with stupid rules that the vendor wants to push.
The only store compatible with Windows RT is Microsoft's own.
Re: (Score:2)
And tons do.
And I've already said that was an area the consoles have the advantage. That its the reason I own a Nintendo etc. I'm not sure what your argument here is.
If you are buying a console for local multiplayer right now today, then that makes perfect sense.
So apart from the Steam Machine, which platform is best for indie games designed around local multiplayer?
Which platform is best in terms of availability right now today of indie games designed around local multiplayer?
Or which platform is the best
Microsoft deluded itself into thinking RT is PC (Score:2)
Or which platform is the best in terms of supporting indie developers creating games designed around local multiplayer? [...] PC with or without steam is probably the best.
This is what I meant. So as I understand it, the route to market is to start on PC without Steam, then submit games to Greenlight once they gain traction, then try consoles. Am I right? But several Slashdot users have repeatedly told me [slashdot.org] that nobody other than a hardcore geek wants to connect a PC to a TV to play local multiplayer games. To me, the Steam Machine (a Linux PC designed for set-top use) appears to be the most viable way to turn this around.
And windows RT isn't a PC.
Someone should tell that to whoever manages Microsoft's
Re: (Score:2)
To me, the Steam Machine (a Linux PC designed for set-top use) appears to be the most viable way to turn this around.
I think we are in agreement here; as I agree with everything in your post.
Someone should tell that to whoever manages Microsoft's web site. I too was surprised when Microsoft described RT tablets as Windows RT PCs.
Way to go microsoft! Because calling it Windows didn't confuse enough people.
Multiplayer (Score:2)
I would add Multiplayer as a big thing. First off it is more and more a primary component to a game. Second consoles are moving in the always online direction. Consoles generally speaking do not do MMO's at all really. Finally the games that are out there, you are limited at best to about 16, usually 8-10 (with a few exceptions). Compare that with PC, and it is no contest. I was playing in 64 player games well over a decade ago.
Even with the new "cutting edge" consoles I have heard of nothing that addresses
Re:price (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
Maybe.... but only if you spend >$500 on the video card.
According to Tom's Hardware guide in 2006 [tomshardware.com] they were recommending the Radeon X1950 XT in the $270 range. For the $340 range they suggested dual X1950 PROs or dual GeForce 7900 GS. For $460 they recommended the Geforce 8800 GTS.
The 8800 GTS is the minimum requirement for Assassin's Creed Liberation and is below the requirement for Batman Arkham Origins. So, maybe a dual 8800 at $920 would do okay.
Requirements from one platform to next (Score:2)
Two of the things I love about consoles are never having to check "System Requirements" or upgrade to support a new game.
Let's say you own a PS3. You see a game, but the front of the box says "System Requirements: PS4". Too bad. Requirements creep in PCs is more gradual than in consoles, where some console makers were quick to drop their previous platforms. For example, good luck finding new games for the original Xbox in 2006 after the Xbox 360 had just come out. And just as many Game Boy Color games could fall back to the slower CPU and monochrome screen of the original Game Boy, many PC games can fall back to lower detail
Re:price (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
each level will speciy video card, ram, cpu, etc..., like kind windows 7 does. lowest rating is overall rating.
So if you have a level 3 game, you need a level 3 or better machine. fucking simple.
Re: (Score:2)
" but in principle they should be more customisable and expandable, with more up-to-date hardware than consoles. Also, (unless Dell et. al. break out the footgun and lock their boxes down), they can double as Linux PCs or dual-boot Windows if you really must. "
No. being all identical is what makes consoles perfect for gaming (I'm saying that as a PC gamer, the only two consoles I ever had are a NES and PS2). That means a game made today (FIFA 2014 for PS2) *WILL* run perfectly on my console, launched in Mar
Re: (Score:1)
Actually I thought we were already past the age of steam machines, and all those steam punk stories were science fiction. ;-)
Hmm (Score:5, Insightful)
Can we stop putting unnecessary lights on everything, it's gotten tiresome.
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Informative)
LED's are the new clock-on-everything. You know it's true.
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Interesting)
Funnily, when I got rid of my cable box, I realized that I lost my only way to quickly tell time in my living room. I took my old Android phone and cradled it on my stack to have a clock that's easily readable. Sure, I could get a clock for the wall or whatever, but that seems like more of a pain.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
I guess, it strikes more as "The punters like shiny things".
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Kids these days.
When I was a kid one of the guys at the PDP-11 lab had written low priority tasks just to strobe the front panel lights like something was jumping into the machines smart peripherals (when a higher priority task swapped it out). The low priority tasks were full of 'data' that made it look like the higher priority task was jumping into the device based on all the front panel LEDs strobing.
Why am I skeptical ? (Score:3)
Prolly because Dell - estimate is all mine, YMMV - gets > 98% of its revenue stream from selling grey / black boxes to enterprises with deep pockets, NOT from peddling Alienware stuff.
True, I had an Alienware laptop once, and it was awesome. But still. I never met someone else with an Alienware box. And these are simply *too e x p e n s i v e * for being considered for anything resembling daily prodution use. So this is, quite probably, just muscle-flexing. The future will quite quickly tell us what this is really worth.
Re: (Score:3)
However, Dell does have the money due to its humongous other operations to push this market a little nwith the steam box and see where it goes. I have a fee
Re: (Score:2)
My employer did buy a top-of-the-range Alienware desktop once because it was the fastest available machine for single threaded performance (at least, out of off-the-shelf options) due to its being factory overclocked. I imagine if we'd gone for a more boutique vendor we might have got faster but I suppose it was still good to have the support.
FWIW we weren't just playing games, we actually had long running single threaded simulations that we wanted to get out of the way as fast as possible! It's now my de
Off topic, but why WASD? (Score:1)
the left circular pad can be setup for panning and aiming in traditional AWSD fashion
I'll probably get (rightfully) down-modded for this being off-topic, but it doesn't usually get mentioned at all - WASD is just assumed to be the standard - so I'm using its mention as an excuse to ask: why did WASD "win"? Games used to default to ESDF, and for a while some had a choice of default configurations for ESDF and WASD. I've wondered why this shift happened.
While it's mostly an arbitrary choice either way, ESDF makes more sense to me because you keep your hands on the home row, so it doesn't i
Re: (Score:3)
I don't know why WASD "won" (people say "AWSD"? Really?), but I've never played a game which had ESDF as the default. I've never even *heard* of a game which had a pre-configured option to use those keys. Not that I disagree with the advantages, however.
But back in my day, ZX*? was the standard.
Re: (Score:3)
ESDF was standard in Tribes and tribes 2, iirc.
Re: (Score:1)
I remember the days of QAOP-Space.
But I've never seen nor played a game with ESDF default (and especially not Quake 2 as another poster suggests.
WASD just makes more sense in terms of hands - it's extreme left to be in the most shoulder-comfortable position when your other hand is on a right-handed mouse, but without hitting stupid / odd keys like Caps Lock etc.
Re: (Score:1)
With WASD my pinky rests on ctrl which I use for crouch, and then I use left shift to run. With EDSL my pinky rests on the windows key which can cause all sorts of issues. Its bad enough that the console key ` on BF4/BF3 is right next to 1 which means that sometimes when I switch to my main weapon I accidentally press ` and find myself unable to move, and very quickly dead.
Oh and going back to the old old days I and most others I knew used QAOP Space on the Spectrum 48/128k.
Re: (Score:3)
I don't know why WASD "won"
My sense is that it was momentum from the earliest PC days when you had 2 player multiplayer off a single PC.
Player 1 used the arrow keys/number pad. Player 2 used WASD.
WASD was the closest thing to the inverted-T on the furthest left. (Because with 2 players on one keyboard things were cramped.
ESDF fails both criteria... its not as close to the inverted T shape, and its not as far left. WASD was the natural choice.
Then as things went on, most games had default single player keym
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
None as far as I know. Most people (not just tanks) that weren't utterly clueless knew how to rebind keys, and vast majority of people I know used A and D for strafing, just like in FPS games.
Default button assignments in WoW were almost as bad as default interface in WoW was.
(Formerly DPS/Offtank in WoW)
Re: (Score:2)
As other people point out, wasd and esdf are the exact same layout, but wasd are right next to the tab, caps and shift keys which are often used as well. And without any extra keys in between it's easier to hit them accurately. Also, as pointed out, in two-player games it'd give you more room for two players to use the same keyboard.
Me, I always preferred mapping my Wico joystick to whatever buttons I needed in any game. Never had any input device work as well as one of those, and I used one of their trackb
Re: (Score:2)
Split keyboard (Score:2)
Re: Off topic, but why WASD? (Score:2)
I distinctly remember playing Tribes/Tribes 2 and having to reach over to hit 1 and it being a bit risky with either tilde/Q being in close proximity and the key being too far over for me to have an intuition about where it was. I forget what it did though, I thought it was mapped to kit for kit swap rather than to a weapon.
Will Dell take care of the Steam support too ? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Please say yes ! It can't be worse than the copy-paste support robots at Steam.
Dell Support: So, if I am to understand you, you have steam coming from your OS? ...
Customer: No, no, no! Just no!
Dell Support: OK. No steam. That is good. What version of Windows are you running? Dell recommends Windows 8.1, now with Start Button!
Customer: I don't have Windows! I have SteamOS!
Dell Support: Have you tried rebooting it? When you reboot it you will see a Windows logo
Troubles of the PC vendors (Score:3)
Big noisy tower (Score:2)
a regular PC for the same price is just better in every way than most of these
I don't see how. For one thing, "a regular PC" likely comes in a big noisy tower that doesn't look good in a living room because it's even more XBOX HUEG than the original Xbox. For another, the maker has to skimp on GPU to pay for the Windows license. Switching to SteamOS, which Valve offers for zero royalty, diverts money away from Microsoft and toward a GPU and industrial design.
Paid story (Score:1)
This is a paid story. Everyone knows that and Dell was the only company which did *not* reveal its hardware specs. This is ridiculous. Please talk about the other 13 Steam boxes.
Metro: Last Night (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3)
If a tree falls in the woods and no one knows what kernel it's running, does it make a sound?
Re: (Score:3)
If a tree falls in the woods and no one knows what kernel it's running, does it make a sound?
Since there are cross-cutting concerns between the platforms, the answer is yes. People know that this runs Linux, more people will spend time developing for Linux, some of those developments might have a positive impact on the desktop or people maybe more likely to install it as their desktop.
Re:2014: YEAR OF LINUX ON THE DESKTOP (Score:4, Funny)
If a tree falls in the woods and no one knows what kernel it's running, does it make a sound?
Not if it's running pulseaudio.