# Introducing SteamOS **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 23, 2013, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-steamos/669530 "2013-09-23T18:24:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-steamos/669530/81 "2013-09-27T20:17:03Z")
Touchpad + game = ☹ Touchpad + touchpad + game = 🙂 I dunno about this one, Valve. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-steamos/669530/82 "2013-09-27T22:11:51Z")
People are saying it looks ugly… I think ti looks futuristic, if anything. And definitely different. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-steamos/669530/83 "2013-09-27T22:34:31Z")
They had some indie devs over who got to play with the gamepad. So far nothing but good things are being said, including superior for FPS over thumbsticks. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-steamos/669530/84 "2013-09-27T22:48:38Z")
Can’t say I’ve ever enjoyed using virtual “touchpad” controllers on a tablet or phone game so it’s hard to get excited here. I’ll reserve judgment for when I actually hold one though. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-steamos/669530/85 "2013-09-27T23:01:10Z")
I think it’s better than the virtual controllers you’d see on a touchscreen because you’d still be able to physically feel your place around the button. I wonder what haptic feedback means, if something other than simple vibration. I’m interested - I mean, I’d never play an FPS game that way, but maybe it’ll be an interesting replacement for my 360 gamepad on a few things. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-steamos/669530/86 "2013-09-27T23:16:03Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > I think it’s better than the virtual controllers you’d see on a touchscreen because you’d still be able to physically feel your place around the button. I wonder what haptic feedback means, if something other than simple vibration. I’m interested - I mean, I’d never play an FPS game that way, but maybe it’ll be an interesting replacement for my 360 gamepad on a few things. The indie devs describe it as a sensation of handling machinery. Something that is solid and responds to your touch, creating a sort of virtual touch landscape on the pad. It’s definitely not like the rumble stuff on traditional gamepads. ---
**Author:** ![dzeiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@dzeiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzeiger)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-steamos/669530/87 "2013-09-28T02:58:10Z")
You know, I think my Intellivision II still works. Wonder if I can plug the controller into it and play some old games? ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-steamos/669530/88 "2013-09-30T01:45:10Z")
I’m not excited about the controllers at all. They might be amazing. I’m very excited that possibly, just possibly, we have stuff going on that will end Microsoft’s stranglehold on PC gaming. _MAYBE_ ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2013, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-steamos/669530/89 "2013-10-08T11:31:00Z")
Apparently, leaked documents say that Nvidia’s new GPU architecture will feature ARM processors to handle driver overhead. Along with OpenGL/DX extensions it might allow for similar optimizations as AMD is achieving on Mantle, with no latency, which can also mean very good things for something like the Occulus Rift. Exciting times! ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2013, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-steamos/669530/90 "2013-10-08T13:19:08Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > Apparently, leaked documents say that Nvidia’s new GPU architecture will feature ARM processors to handle driver overhead. > > Along with OpenGL/DX extensions it might allow for similar optimizations as AMD is achieving on Mantle, with no latency, which can also mean very good things for something like the Occulus Rift. > > Exciting times! Does this have anything to do with SteamOS/Steambox/whatever, or are you just tossing it out in this thread for coherence? ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2013, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-steamos/669530/91 "2013-10-08T13:44:48Z")
> [@Airk](#): > > Does this have anything to do with SteamOS/Steambox/whatever, or are you just tossing it out in this thread for coherence? Pretty much the latter, not sure it warrants it’s own thread. And it is tangentially related, seeing how it looks like Valve is very much partnering with "Nvidia for these Steam Machines. The specs of the 300 beta devices were released, and they all sport Nvidia GPU’s, and apparently the streaming capabilities are being handled by Nvidia’s shadowplay technology. ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-steamos/669530/92 "2013-10-11T19:11:20Z")
Here is a video going around showing off the controller. It is significantly better than I expect it to be. Obviously it isn’t as good as straight up mouse for games designed to use a mouse, but it looks better than a laptop touchpad (which isn’t saying much, I concede.) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/eeAjkbNq4xI/hqdefault.jpg "Steam Controller Demonstration") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeAjkbNq4xI) ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-steamos/669530/93 "2013-10-17T23:47:27Z")
So Nvidia did a live stream showcase today, and will finish up tomorrow. Today they talked about some of the technologies they are sharing with developers, the most impressive things to me, where the new PhysX (3.3) api, which is now fully multithreaded and can do some amazing things. And the global illumination solution they came up with, which bypasses some of the issues that made that specific lighting technique very hard on the hardware. Very impressive, and I hope a lot of devs use it because it really takes lighting to a next level. They also demoed the new Batman game and AssGrabber’s Creed + Watchdogs… kind of. Ubisoft demanded they turn off the stream while showing the last two games. :smack: No new hardware announced, but apparently there is some sort of surprise announcement coming tomorrow. Rumors are all over the place. From a a 4K panel to a competing Oculus Rift, to a 120 Hz panel with Nvidia’s ultra bright technology. ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-steamos/669530/94 "2013-10-18T05:10:40Z")
ROG Mars 3 with GK110s probably. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-steamos/669530/95 "2013-10-18T15:51:54Z")
So the big reveals today from Nvidia: Shadowplay beta on Oct 28th. Will stream directly to twitch tv, will buffer upto the last 20 minutes of footage, in case something “Awesome” happens, where you cna hit a key and all those 20 minutes are saved to hard drive. Also, of course, supports standard manual recording. Streaming and recording support webcam overlay. All with nary a hit in performance and at 1080p/60 FPS/up to 50 mpbs. G-sync hardware, incorporated into several brand monitors which allow the GPU to set the timing on the monitor. This is super exciting. No more screen tearing, no need for V-sync which introduces stutter and latency. Described as a “noticeable” improvement over a standard panel in terms of smoothness of movement and image quality by J. Carmack and others present. Definitely picking up one of those bad boys, assuming there’s an IPS 1440p panel under $1,000 with the tech. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2013, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-steamos/669530/96 "2013-11-26T21:47:08Z")
So an update: IbuyPOwer revealed their prototype Steam Machine. It sounds like a hell of a value too! Which is pretty unexpected. > **[iBuyPower’s Steam Machine prototype matches Xbox One for price, trumps it for...](https://www.pcgamesn.com/ibuypowers-steam-machine-prototype-matches-xbox-one-price-trumps-it-size)** > > You might have assumed that Valve’s own Steam Machine would be the living room box for you - the idea of having your hardware and software manufactured in the same place certainly holds a kind of tidy allure. But where Valve’s faux-console forefronts... Specs are an AMD CPU (no word on exactly what model) And an R9 270 AMD GPU. That’s hardware pretty close to what’s on a PS4. Looking forward to seeing other third parties get in on this bandwagon. ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2013, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-steamos/669530/97 "2013-11-26T22:10:13Z")
A 270 is a good choice of GPU for that price range. While I’d prefer to just build my own HTPC so I could run media stuff 'n all that, the iBuyPower Steambox thing should be half-decent. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2013, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-steamos/669530/98 "2013-11-26T23:59:58Z")
Forgot to mention the price: $499. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2013, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-steamos/669530/99 "2013-11-27T06:28:45Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > So an update: > > IbuyPOwer revealed their prototype Steam Machine. It sounds like a hell of a value too! Which is pretty unexpected. > > [iBuyPower’s Steam Machine prototype matches Xbox One for price, trumps it for size](http://www.pcgamesn.com/ibuypowers-steam-machine-prototype-matches-xbox-one-price-trumps-it-size) > > Specs are an AMD CPU (no word on exactly what model) > And an R9 270 AMD GPU. > > That’s hardware pretty close to what’s on a PS4. Looking forward to seeing other third parties get in on this bandwagon. I don’t get why everyone keeps making such a big deal about Windows games. Steam has promised an open OS. You should be able to install Windows on a Steam Machine. And since the OS is Linux based, you should also be able to run Wine. What am I missing that is making Valve think they need to do this streamplay thing, something that pretty much invalidates the entire purpose of the Steam box? ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2013, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-steamos/669530/100 "2013-11-27T12:33:14Z")
Why would it invalidate the purpose of a Steam box? Remember that a planned Steam box is just the dumb streaming terminal. I’m actually more interested in that since I’ve already got a high end PC. I don’t relaly need another one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-steamos/669530.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-steamos/669530.md?page=6)