A

I dont deserve it though.

Personally I just want a modern take on home computers to come out and unsettle the industry, but that's neither here nor there.

Steambox failed because not enough good third party games made first or exclusively for SteamOS
Also no standards means everyone makes something different, nightmare to optimize for just like the PC
Finally consoles are supposed to simple, plug in play devices

if it fails in any of these, its doomed but theres a chance it can carve large chunk of the console market if done right

I wish actual console makers would remember that little tidbit.

Yeah, I guess that anything that hurts microsoft's monopoly is good
Doesn't mean I have to like contributing to fucking Valve's monopoly

I think the price tag had more to do with it than anything. I seem to recall the first steam boxes going for over $1000 with shit specs compared to what you can build.

What we needed was a single, standardized

In other words, Steam Box should have been competing as if it were a console, but without any of the lockdowns imposed by the big console manufacturers. An open console where the console tards wouldn't even realize they were playing "PC" but anyone who knew what they were doing could use it just like any real PC.

For 350-400 dollars i would snatch one up fast.

Keep in mind we are still talking console-tier specs, maybe even Nintendo-console-tier.

I just want a thing with a graphics card so i can play the 3 or 4 games i cant right now.

LOLL!!!! EPIC THREAD MY FRIEND XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Uninstall your existence.

"I think the price of steambox should be console priced"

Except consoles unless you're nintendo never make a profit off their sales, they undercut their production price by several hundred dollars because they make it up in game licenses

If you buy at least (With the 360 at least) 10 games and not bought any XBOX LIVE they've covered the cost of the systems production, which is why Microsoft/Sony have paid online which is there to recoup costs

Sure it fucking stabs them in the heart for every person who only buys 1-2 games and no online, but that's only like 2 out of every 100 consoles sold

This is why consoles are "Cheap" in comparison to laptop specs etc, they make up the cost with licenses/subscription fees later on

But Valve our our guys. They always look out for the consumer and protect PC gaming from a complete microsoft monopoly.

Also buy CSGO crates you entitled pricks. Valve needs your support to survive and eventually roll out Half-Life 3.

I want to punch Gaban in the fucking stomach until he coughs blood

Your arm won't be coming out of the event horizon of Gabe's belly anytime soon.

Yes, Valve should hold the monopoly on console vidya as well as PC vidya!

We're gonna go ahead with the Cleveland Steambox

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this is an ataribox, runs linux and amd cpu/gpu. What I like is they said they wouldn't cockblock users from using other platforms (meaning steam and gog for example). If the OS isn't based off Debian then it'll already be better than SteamOS (due to slow release cycle and how much amd drivers have been changing as of late).

SteamOS is just linux, so an exclusive wouldn't be so exclusive as people with no steamboxes can't run them (though linux users are a minority)

Whoah! Can I run OpenOffice on SteamOS? Can I download SteamOS, install it on a $500 machine from Newegg, and play games, surf the web, send and receive email, edit photos and videos, do everything I need for work AND not need a Windows PC anymore? Woohoo! Maybe I'll never have to run anything after Windows 7 after all!

Valve nor Microsoft do not have a monopoly though. You can't have a monopoly in software.

shameful

Just get a C64 mini instead

When there's no other software that can compete I'de say it's a monopoly. And even then that absolves neither company from anything.

that thing is adorable, but either there's some perspective fuckery going on or those keys are like half the size of a usb port, how the fuck would you type on those

You're probably not intended to and you're supposed to plug in a USB keyboard. It's from those THE64 clone-makers on Indiegogo that still haven't actually produced and shipped out their C64 clones for backers, and apparently that project won't ship out until after the C64 Mini does.

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You can, but IIRC there's some weird scaling shit going on.
You can get Mint or something else for free, and essentially get the same thing, give or take resource usage in the background.

You know actual functioning C64s are neither rare nor expensive.

So this is the power… Of Atari…

Oh fuck off you pedantic retard

Nigger you know what he fucking meant

No, that isn't a monopoly. Learn what the definition of monopoly means.

You first you sub-human. It's not my fault you want to degrade language because you're a retarded inbred.

I mean if you're implying Valve has a monopoly as far as Digital Software storefronts, I can't exactly argue for or against that, especially considering I'm mostly a niche customer when it comes to game and most of what I play doesn't come off steam. (But occasionally comes with steam keys.)

A qp?

fuck you nigger, woodgrain is patrician tier

It's a company that holds a service that nobody else is capable of realistically competing in. If there's a more appropriate term to use than it being a Monopoly then please spoonfeed it to me. And again it absolves them of nothing either way.

A success.

Based off being kikes. Great argument.

Well quad satan, since you got some nice quads I'll try to help you out a bit. Let's look at the price range of a steam box or steam machine. Lower end starts at around 500-600$, higher end is 900-1000$. That's basically a PC, you might as well get a PC for those prices and have better plug and play, and compatibility.
For an even lower budget option go look for some off lease refurbs small form factor business desktops. An i5 with 8 gigs of RAM machine without an OS can sometimes be found for around 120-140$ depending on where you are. Add a single slot low profile e-sport grade GPU like a GT 1030, 70-100$ depending on location. Add loonix for the OS and install Steam, keep it simple go with an ubuntu based distro. Run Steam on big picture mode. You don't have to assemble a PC from the ground up, you're just looking for a near turnkey system that you can stick a few simple upgrades to it and have a PC steam box that is cheaper yet is more versatile and upgradeable than an official steam machine.
Then install wangblows10, for free. Claim that you are a handicapable special person and you can get wangblows10 gratis under their assistive technology program. You're not lying, technically you might be special ed since you are about to install windows10 anyway. Just use it for games though, don't use it for anything important like banking, or shitposting on a burmese condom wrapper forum.
Then look for an offlease refurb no OS included workstation midtower with enough PSU wattage to support a gayming card of your choice. Same deal as above but slightly bigger form factor.
Then look at something like a NUC or similar. You'll pay more for the smaller size but you can still get it under budget if you shop carefully.
Buy a wireless media keyboard, get a steam controller or xbox or ps3-4 or logitech or compatible controller of your choice.

Except that's wrong. A monopoly is when a good or service is supplied by one supplier that is able to completely influence the free market pricing of a product willingly through strongarm practices while also controlling the chain of production for that product or service through vertical integration. Software cannot be monopolized because there is always a way to realistically compete with existing software because there is no barrier to entry into writing software (anybody can jump on a computer and write code). While Steam, Microsoft, etc. have large market shares with their software they do not control the free market value for their software or the software they provide and there are alternatives to all of their software which are easily accessible (and in most cases free to use).

Look, when they start getting like the cable companies and microsoft having actual laws preventing people from competing with them I'd be more than happy to call them an actual monopoly.
Or you could get on anti competition agreements with publishers, if they do exist as an external market force.
I'm not going to throw the word monopoly around like an invalid.

So then what's the appropriate term to use? Like I said there's no comparative service out there that offers the same and it's been influencing how games are produced now for the worse. I'm not arguing that Steam is a de facto monopoly but there's no obvious competitor for them so again what's the best word to use in this context that expresses the issue? Because obviously you shouldn't be supporting it.

Just make your own.
pcpartpicker.com/b/XpWZxr

It's called a "buy software from somewhere else or stop bitching that everyone sells software on steam, dumbass"

Nigger what. Of course it can, just look at something like Adobe.
But not everybody can write code that works well, or even work at all, you pajeet.

So in essence I'll just call it a monopoly as no other service offers as much that you can legally purchase from.

"I'm too lazy to look up if a game I want to buy can be bought somewhere else" is not the same as "There is no option to not use steam"
People like you are why the Google situation grew into such a behemoth monster.

The technical term is dominant distribution market share, since the PC games market is largely defined by what is distributed over steam.

If the only other option is to torrent it I'de say that there's a reasonable issue with telling people to look elsewhere.

A lot of the time it isn't.

the appropriate term is effective-monopoly

It is for my library. Most of the games are exclusive to steam or the Pirate Bay because they're hosted nowhere else or because the dev is is small to go elsewhere. If you were a developer would you ever consider using anything but Steam if you wanted to see any money back?

Well hopefully either will catch on with normalfags.

For anyone not yet aware, this is likely a scam, as it's from the same faggot behind that vaporware "gamer watch" project from a while back. There are Atari 2600 emulators for EVERYTHING, even the PS2 and Xbox. You can get your fix without sucking crowdfunding dicks.

This one isn't though.

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POST MORE WOODGRAIN CONSOLES

I concur.

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Nah it looks great. Hipsters attaching to it doesn't negate the aesthetic.