Steam Box And The PC Games Console

An Artists Impression

Oh Look it's my PC!

I've been following this story with much interest and I get the feeling that the gaming community both PC and console don't seem to see beyond "but it's just a PC". The community seem to be seeing hardware and not the most important aspect of this possible new product.

You see to understand the benefit of this so called PC console we need to take a critical look at PC gaming. Now as a dedicated PC gamer I know the benefits, I can buy cheep games brand new off the internet from places such as wowhd.com.au and steam. I can even buy discounted PC hardware from warehouses and put the thing together myself and save hundreds of dollars. It's not hard it just takes time. Hard core PC gamers know this, their proud they have the know how to do it. That's fair, BUT they also expect others to take the time and learn all this for themselves and that's just not realistic.

The problem lies in that there is a lot of people that don't have the time or will power to learn this stuff, it's simpler to just walk into a shop and buy a console for their gaming needs. I can understand that (although I'd still say your missing out if your not gaming on PC). So PC is missing out by only offering sub par Dell packages or overpriced Alienware PCs for the customer looking for an easy hassle free perchance.

So the key to a successful PC Games Console like the Steam Box concept is not in the hardware being something new and different it's in the product as a whole, its concept. It would have to be marketed like a console, an entertainment unit advertised to be plugged into your living room. It could be packaged up with a wireless mouse, keyboard and game controller. It would be pre-built to run games and video. A hassle free plug and play PC. It would have mass market appeal as a singular boxed product like a console, but with the benefit of thousands of games available on launch day, the open platform flexibility and upgradeability of a PC. A true hybrid.

The PC has everything it needs for mass market, software such as steam smashes old limitations such difficulties installing games and updating graphics drivers. You can now 'one click' install games and AMD graphics drivers through steam, hassle free. But the hardware of a PC is different it's not within today's mass market popularity. Buying a new graphics card is not the same as buying a new tablet. I could see the steam AMD partnership growing to fill this gap. AMD already makes it's products as a platform, such as their Spider and Dragon platforms, consisting a family of chipsets, CPUs and GPUs. Transferring those necessary possessors into a pre-build system by one or two manufactures is not out of the question. And then you could potentially have an affordable hardware platform for steam software.

I consider myself bit of a PC enthusiast and I think I will always build a custom PC myself, but I can see the benefit of this hybrid, this console marketed optimized PC platform, this Steam Box idea. It could bring PC gaming to large numbers of people that are turned off by the few remaining down sides to PC gaming or still under the false impression of past flaws that are no longer. The next gen consoles need to evolve under pressure from an expanding PC market and portable gaming tablets. So they are most likely to become more PC like anyway, more internet reliant and so more at risk of hackers like the despicable attack on the PS3. But the big three will still hamstring developers with their closed platform that delays patches, restricting games as exclusives, and limiting graphic potential. Perhaps a console PC hybrid might foster change? Brake dawn the closed platform barriers to compete? End the exclusives that divide fallow gamers to no end? One can only hope. But a Steam Box would be a nice addition to the gaming landscape regardless.

Now that's a gaming rig!