SteamBox aka Steamy Gabecube aka SteamOS - The Bear and Badger

djchump

AJ wrote:

It was the PS3, yes. 360 just made the mistake of having an odd number of cores, but PS3 had custom chip design in an oddball architecture.

Plus PS3 GPU was relatively bobbins compared to X360 GPU, particularly ROP bandwidth which really affected alpha-blending.
And their tools were a bit shitty (well, the graphics ones I had to use), being somewhat cobbled together 2nd party, whereas X360 Pix was very reliable and easy to use.

hunk

acemuzzy wrote:

I'm unclear which graphic cards support it (and what happens on those that dont). I've a GTX690 which sadly doesn't do dx12 as far as I can tell - I guess that rules this out too??

Nah you'ré safe.

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-690

MS isn't stupid, they're bringing DX12 to even the simplest of gpu's.
Even my gtm555 is supported by DX12
Your gtx690 is more than capable of running demanding pc games at mid settings.
It's kind of obvious they're not going about this the same way as with gfwl.

acemuzzy

Hmm, it didn't have dx12 in that list when I checked a week ago! Good news though. May try a tech demo or something...

hunk

Blue Swirl wrote:

With the NX Nintendo won't make that same mistake again.

We can but hope.

Which is why the Steam vs Xbox/Win10 feud will be a major focal point come next gen.

Agreed. Steam Vs Winbox10 will probably be more important than Xbox Vs PlayStation. And let's be honest, while Nintendo would love to out-sell Sony and Microsoft, they're off in their own little world.

Nintendo will be doing a similar 'pooling of users' trick ms is trying to pull off with the win10/xbox merger.
Instead Nintendo will attempt to merge the handheld userbase (3ds) with their console userbase.
Could be interesting and we'll have to wait and see how that works out.

Blue Swirl

AJ wrote:

It was the PS3, yes. 360 just made the mistake of having an odd number of cores, but PS3 had custom chip design in an oddball architecture.

That, and the tiny amount of RAM didn't help.

hunk

So, it seems all big parties have a (solid) expansion strategy for next gen. All bar one; Sony.
MS has the win10/xbox merger, Valve has SteamOS/machines, Nintendo has the NX handheld+base console strategy.
And then there's Sony. Yes, they have project Morpheus. Yes, PS4 is doing great atm.
Still I worry for Sony next gen as they're the only one who lack a solid userbase expansion strategy. Not only that, if MS continues to focus on the xbox/win10 strategy chances are the PSN userbase will be hopelessly outgunned and overshadowed by the MS'juggernaut.
I could be wrong but going by extrapolation of the data now available, shit looks grim.

acemuzzy

My uncle works for Sony though and (don't tell anyone else) has already played on a Playstation 5 prototype

[Deleted User]

acemuzzy wrote:

My uncle works for Sony though and (don't tell anyone else) has already played on a Playstation 5 prototype

I hear it is at least 7 times as powerful as 3 Xbox Ones. Plus they will have Halo and Pokemon as launch exclusives.

acemuzzy

Shit are we cousins?

hunk

Ok, i admit. My middlename is Matthew.

AJ

Wait, has there been confirmation/proof that NX is both console and handheld, and I missed it?

hunk

My uncle shigeru confirmed it.

AJ

I know your uncle Shiguru, I wouldn't trust him to confirm a... No, wait, I've no idea where I'm going with this.

RedDave2

Cousin!

Ahem, back to discussion, is it possible that next gen (or even this one) pc owners will have access to not just xbox one and 360 games but also the steam stuff? What I mean is do ms need to wall off steam stuff to make the windows 10 box viable commercially or can the two co exist?

Would actual help the steam machines if you knew you could legally run xbone games on it

Blue Swirl

acemuzzy wrote:

My uncle works for Sony though and (don't tell anyone else) has already played on a Playstation 5 prototype

Tbf they've probably had a "PS5 prototype" since not long after the PS3 launched. How much it'll resemble the actual end result is another matter, of course. R&D, innit.

On the topic of Sony not having a big USP coming up, I think we're underplaying the value of simple-to-set-up VR that doesn't require a beast of a PC to use. I mean, Rift is something like £600 just for the headset, right? Then there's controllers and the computer to attach it to. A 500GB PS4 is £275 with a game these days. Never underestimate the value of, um, value. Definitely played a part in the Saturn's downfall when it launched at US$100 more than the PS.

djchump

From the way MS seem to be taking their first party games, you won't need an xbone cos there will be pc versions of all the exclusive first party games. All multiplats already do pc as well - so pretty much it won't matter if you get the console or a small form pc, and the Xbox will end up as a small form pc anyway.
Which kinda begs the question of, if Xbox live friends Eric and cross play come to pc, why you would then buy the Xbox version of a game at all? Pc versions tend to be cheaper don't they?
If an Xbox-compatible pc can do steam as well, seems to me that'd make Xbox as a console kinda redundant?

hunk

Theoretically yeah, PC peepz with win10 will have access to Win10 xbox stuff AND Steam.
Wether the games are interchangeable, probably not. Curse of the DRM etc.
Can the two ecosystems coexist? They'll have to, can't see it any other way. Valve isn't in a hurry to abandon their Windows cashcow and MS really, really wants the master keys back to the gaming room in the Windows mansion. Valve's not having any of that tho.

It would be cool if the Steam win10 version would also work on xbox and vice versa. Bonus buy!
Probably won't work because xbox live vs steamworks.

acemuzzy

acemuzzy wrote:

Hmm, it didn't have dx12 in that list when I checked a week ago! Good news though. May try a tech demo or something...

So dxdiags showed my supported feature included 11 but not 12.
So I tried to upgrade my driver.
Which has failed.
So I now have VGA resolution on my W10 box. Yay.

Did that SLI / upgrade crap really never get sorted?? Do I just need to try to roll back by graphics driver or am I now in some horrendous hole of doom from which there's now escape?

hunk

Ì think if u use the nvidia geforce experience (yeah THAT nvidia app) it offers a beta driver as a patch to the latest botched stable. Many people are experiencing trouble with that one esp. peeps with multiple monitor/sli setups.

Clean install of driver also helps.

acemuzzy

Thanks!

[Deleted User]

Geforce exp pretty good. I use it for all drivers and game settings, which it will optimise for you depending on your setup.

acemuzzy

Yeah geforce experience got me in this hole!

hunk

Is it me or does geforce experience sound alot like gayforce exp?
Someone at nVidia is obviously having a giggle.

RamSteelwood

i imagine if/when MS start selling games fully cross compatible between the win 10 pc and xbox one, that they'll unify the pricing. so basically pc gamers will pay console prices for their games.

i also think they'll prob need to be careful about how they market the 'console'...if they get too involved in 'it's just a small pc' i think it will put console owners off...they almost need to hide the pc link from the console side of things, and just let the pc owners know they can play xbox one games too...

hunk

Why would ms want to do that?
They're unifying stuff so you can actually choose where and how you want to play games.
Buy a game once on xbox live, play it on either win10 or xbox. It's your choice from what device you want to access the xbox library.
It's quite a similar idea to Steam's buy once, play on either Win10, OSX or Linux.

Xbox people really should not complain, as they've always played games on fixed optimised low settings. They've just never been aware of it because devs never allowed them access to the gfx settings.
Now that their discs/binaries are also playable on Win10 with unlocked gfx options they suddenly realise their hw is on the low end scale of things and immediately start screaming shit is unfair. At least now with a modifiable xbox they should be able to upgrade to make use of those scalable gfx settings.

AJ

I reckon there's a fair chance MS will demand cross-buy PC games are locked at Xbox settings.

monkey

I think Xbox owners are entitled to be a bit shirty about it. If MS had said at launch that all games for the Bone will also be available and playable on PC, then that changes the value equation a bit there. Many people might not have bothered.

That said, they've been moving in this direction for a while and it means I never have to buy a bone so I don't care. I'll be surprised if I ever use the Xbox app for more than a couple of games though.

I_R

I don't think they have enough big exclusives for whatever the idea is (and we really have only the vaguest idea) to really compete on the PC. Some sort of walled garden where they take 30% of sales is going to need a hell of a hook to get publishers and gamers on board.

AJ

Being able to release your Xbox game on it without any additional dev work will probably win some of the publishers.

I_R

That only seems like something that would be attractive to the smallest developers. PC gamers would expect the works from the likes of Ubisoft and Activision.

God knows what the millions of PCs less powerful than an Xbox One do to this.

Howdy, Stranger!

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