WEBVTT - Steam in a Box 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:12.840 Get in test with technology with text stuff from dot com. Heyl, everyone, 0:00:12.840 --> 0:00:15.680 and welcome to tex Stuff. I'm Jonathan Strickland and I'm 0:00:15.760 --> 0:00:19.239 Lauren and Lauren, you pulled an interesting quote that I'm 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:22.320 going to read out at the top of this episode 0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:24.200 before we really get into the topic. This is a 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:27.160 quote from a fellow named Greg Komer who said, there's 0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:29.960 a strong desire from our customers that we've heard for 0:00:30.000 --> 0:00:32.519 a long time. They love all those game titles, but 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:35.839 they also like their families, and whenever they had to 0:00:35.880 --> 0:00:38.800 go into the living room, they've had to abandon everything 0:00:38.840 --> 0:00:41.000 they loved about the games in the other room of 0:00:41.040 --> 0:00:44.760 the house. So here's a problem, right, I mean, if 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:47.880 you erode serious video gamer, particularly if you're a serious 0:00:47.920 --> 0:00:51.640 PC gamer and you love those games, but you also 0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:55.000 want to you know, not strange yourself from your family. 0:00:55.440 --> 0:00:58.680 Occasionally you have to move away from the gaming computer. 0:00:58.880 --> 0:01:01.080 Sometimes you have to stay end up from your from 0:01:01.120 --> 0:01:04.080 your game chair, leave all of your you know, cans 0:01:04.120 --> 0:01:08.120 of mellow yellow behind. Yeah, and your your your Frito's 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:12.399 and Derrito's and other salty snacks. Okay, we are officially 0:01:12.760 --> 0:01:15.400 talking down to the statement of the population. This is 0:01:15.480 --> 0:01:19.360 me actually talking about myself. I don't mean to suggest 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:21.720 that there is a stereotype. I'm just saying that if 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:25.320 there is, I fit it at any rate. Now, what 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:27.039 if you could solve this problem? What if you were 0:01:27.080 --> 0:01:30.040 able to bring the joy of the video games, of 0:01:30.160 --> 0:01:35.080 PC games, specifically into the realm of the living room 0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:38.039 with the rest of your family. That, in fact, is 0:01:38.080 --> 0:01:42.080 the promise that we hope the steam box will deliver upon, 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:44.720 or at least that's what they're hoping. But that is 0:01:44.760 --> 0:01:48.560 certainly what they're hoping. So we're talking about steam boxes, y'all. Yeah, 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:51.480 this is this is Valve's entire crazy idea, or maybe 0:01:51.520 --> 0:01:54.040 not so crazy idea. We will find out soon because 0:01:54.080 --> 0:01:56.800 the first ones are debuting this year. Will definitely talk 0:01:56.960 --> 0:02:02.520 about some of the perceived pros and perceived cons. But 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:04.960 before we get into all of that, it probably would 0:02:04.960 --> 0:02:08.480 help us to give a quick rundown on what Valve is, 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:11.120 who they are, why are they a big deal, and 0:02:11.240 --> 0:02:15.400 why they're trying to produce this living room console for 0:02:15.800 --> 0:02:20.040 PC gamers. Yeah, so let's let's first of all, obviously 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:22.880 this is gonna be another video game episode, so everyone 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:25.480 who hates video games stick with it, because This is 0:02:25.480 --> 0:02:28.959 actually kind of interesting from an industry point of view, right, 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:31.600 this is talking about trying to create a new market. 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:34.799 So let's talk about Valve. For those of you who 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:37.840 are not into computer games, you may not know that 0:02:37.919 --> 0:02:39.560 much about Valve. You might have played a few of 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:41.720 their titles because some of the titles have been ported 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:45.040 two consoles, things like Left or Dead and you know, 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:48.480 even the Half Life games. Obviously kind of portal, Yeah, 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:51.320 a little game called Portals Still Alive. Uh So in 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:55.919 nine six, that's when Gabe Newell and uh and and 0:02:56.000 --> 0:02:59.240 Mike Harrington both had left the company they had worked 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:02.480 for for several years, Microsoft. Both of them had made 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:07.280 boot Cous of Cash. They were very successful at Microsoft. Yes, yes, 0:03:07.760 --> 0:03:10.160 uh And so they left Microsoft and they launched a 0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:13.560 gaming company called Valve l l c. That was right 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:17.160 there in Bellevue, Washington, just a few miles away from 0:03:17.280 --> 0:03:21.200 the headquarters of Microsoft. And their first title they started 0:03:21.200 --> 0:03:25.080 to develop was Half Life. They collaborated with another former 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:29.799 Microsoft employee named Michael Abrash who was working at ID Software, 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:33.399 and so he helped Harrington the Newell get a license 0:03:33.680 --> 0:03:36.080 for a little thing called the Quake Engine to act 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:38.920 as the physics engine for Half Life kind of the 0:03:39.200 --> 0:03:43.760 backbone exactly. So that gave them a big leg up, right, 0:03:43.760 --> 0:03:45.960 you know, they had this licensing agreement so they didn't 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:48.480 have to build their own physics engine from the ground 0:03:48.520 --> 0:03:52.480 up for this. Half Life would launch two years later, 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:55.560 and in fact the publisher was Sierra Online because Valve 0:03:55.640 --> 0:03:58.160 was not a publisher at this point. They were a developer. 0:03:58.920 --> 0:04:02.160 And so the game, um, you probably have heard of it, 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:05.840 Half Life turned out to be a huge hit. They 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:10.360 also in acquired a company called TF Software p t Y, 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:12.680 which was a company that had developed a mod for 0:04:12.720 --> 0:04:15.600 the Quake engine called Team Fortress. This would come in 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:19.279 handy later on. Team Fortress also another big title that 0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:23.240 a lot of gamers are are fond of. I've watched gameplay. 0:04:23.279 --> 0:04:25.800 That game moves faster than I can think, so I've 0:04:25.839 --> 0:04:29.880 never actually sat down for it. So another thing that 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:35.560 made Valve really important really early on. You know the title. Yeah, 0:04:35.600 --> 0:04:40.240 so the title resonates with the gamer community. But beyond that, 0:04:41.120 --> 0:04:45.000 Valve actually opens up a software developer kit for free 0:04:45.360 --> 0:04:48.080 that people can download, which would allow them to create 0:04:48.120 --> 0:04:52.840 their own mods of Half Life. So they're they're trying 0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:56.479 to create a community of players that are not just 0:04:56.560 --> 0:04:59.600 players but creators. And that was that was really innovative 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:02.680 for the time. Not that many video game companies were 0:05:02.720 --> 0:05:05.760 willing to do that with their code, and especially not big, 0:05:05.760 --> 0:05:08.520 big titles. Right. You could see it in things like Doom, 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:11.160 Like there were Doom mods out there, and there were 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:15.320 some mods that were completely unauthorized mods that came out. 0:05:15.560 --> 0:05:18.600 But this was a company saying, you know, please, we 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:20.680 want to see what you're gonna do. Ye make stuff 0:05:21.360 --> 0:05:23.520 and uh and people did. In fact, you started to 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:26.560 see some pretty incredible ones, including one that would become 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:30.000 an insanely popular game in its own right, counter Strike. 0:05:31.200 --> 0:05:36.080 Um So. In two thousand, Harrington left Valve, so Newell 0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:38.960 was left behind to be kind of the head and 0:05:39.960 --> 0:05:41.960 ahead of the company and as well as you know, 0:05:42.160 --> 0:05:47.280 very public facing figure. Right. He's somewhat controversial. Sometimes he 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:50.040 likes he likes saying things a lot, and and and 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:53.920 frequently they're very energizing, wonderful things, and sometimes they're very 0:05:53.920 --> 0:05:57.200 inflammatory there. They can be a little brassy, you know, 0:05:57.560 --> 0:06:00.719 he's not he's not necessarily one of those who speaks 0:06:00.720 --> 0:06:05.320 in a corporate uh speak. You know, he's very plain spoken. 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:08.919 Two thousand two at the Game Developer Conference that's g 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:15.599 d cum big big event for video games, Valve unveiled Steam, 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:17.840 which obviously is going to be very important in this 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:20.920 in this episode to talk about steam boxes. The Steam 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:24.120 it was really as an online digital platform. It was 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:28.280 meant as a digital distribution platform originally mostly for things 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:32.080 like putting out game patches and updates. Right, it wasn't 0:06:32.080 --> 0:06:34.200 a full store to begin with. These days it's a 0:06:34.279 --> 0:06:36.760 it's a store. But then it was really just to 0:06:37.480 --> 0:06:41.360 have a smoother interface for forgetting those important little bits 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:44.120 of update to games that people were playing. Right, So 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:46.320 if a game goes out and there is something to 0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:50.160 address either a vulnerability or a glitch, it made it 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:53.640 easier for players to get that. Well, hypothetically, it didn't 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:56.320 actually work that way for several years where there were 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:59.160 there were a lot of problems upon launch um there 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:02.200 was a rip server overload most of the time. Yeah, 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:04.599 that was that. That meant that the entire service was 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:07.360 somewhat unsteady. It could crash at a moment's notice. But 0:07:07.640 --> 0:07:10.960 and they furthermore were including a bunch of DRM and 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:15.040 an online authentication kind of things just coming up the system. Yeah, 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:19.320 and and the Valves. Valves history with DRM is one 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:21.680 of those things that a lot of players have cited 0:07:21.720 --> 0:07:24.880 as a negative about the company. Now that's really something 0:07:24.920 --> 0:07:27.160 in the industry as a whole. It's you know, industry 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:32.120 trying to make sure that people are not exploiting the system. 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:34.760 But you know, depending upon how you implement that, it 0:07:34.800 --> 0:07:39.440 can be restrictive, like beyond what it was intended to do. 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:43.880 There are ways where this system can restrict a person 0:07:43.920 --> 0:07:46.720 who has a legitimate copy of the game from playing 0:07:46.720 --> 0:07:49.640 that game. We'll talk about that a little bit as well. 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:53.680 So it also was a system that allowed for multiplayer 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:56.640 modes on several games. You know, that was another purpose 0:07:56.680 --> 0:07:59.200 of the Steam plat right it could It could again 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:02.760 hypothetic connect users for for those multiplayer matches in those 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:06.080 early days. It was certainly more hypothetical than than realistic. 0:08:06.560 --> 0:08:10.680 In two thousand three, Valve l l C. Becomes Valve Corporation, 0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:13.320 which in my notes I wrote, no longer would its 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:19.520 liability be limited. Thundercrash. That's a thundercrash noise um or 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:22.720 maybe a kitten. I don't know either one. I'm bad. 0:08:22.840 --> 0:08:26.760 I'm bad at sound effects, y'all. But in two thousand 0:08:26.800 --> 0:08:30.040 three was also the year that that Steam officially launched, 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:34.040 because it was just an unveiled the previous launched right 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:37.080 and in two thousand four, Valve made an announcement that 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:41.280 was met with some criticism. I think that this is 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:43.839 more the thundercrash moment. Actually, yeah, this is when Valves 0:08:43.840 --> 0:08:46.839 said that all future games from from that company would 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:50.760 require Steam to play. So even if it were a 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:54.640 single player, offline game that you bought on a disc, 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:57.679 you would have to have Steam as an authentication tool 0:08:58.040 --> 0:08:59.720 to be able to play, which of course means that 0:08:59.800 --> 0:09:03.839 if Steam is not completely reliable, then you could have 0:09:03.960 --> 0:09:07.680 a game on your computer that is single player, there's 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:10.240 no online element to it at all, need to get 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:13.920 online that you cannot play because the service itself is down. 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:17.959 And a lot of gamers said that doesn't sound right. 0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:20.000 So this was one of the things that was kind 0:09:20.000 --> 0:09:24.520 of a little um controversial. I mean, ultimately, the Steam 0:09:24.600 --> 0:09:28.080 service got better. Uh. It took some time for it 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:30.320 to get up to speed, but once it did, and 0:09:30.360 --> 0:09:33.320 once it got better, uh and started to add more 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:37.360 value to games, And that was when gamers started to 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:40.840 kind of come round. Sure, but but that wouldn't happen 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:43.000 for another couple of years. Back in these early days 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:46.839 at half Life two also launched that year, and um 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:50.720 it took players in some instances hours or even days 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:54.199 to just get online to authenticate because of the server overload. 0:09:54.320 --> 0:09:57.400 Yeah now, but half Life two would end up giving 0:09:57.480 --> 0:10:00.920 us things like Gary's mod, which ind up being huge 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:04.079 in Mashinima circles. People were using Gary's mod to create 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:08.959 uh little Mashinima movies. Mashinima. For those who do not remember, 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:12.040 I text stuff to an episode ages ago about Mashinima. 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:18.000 It's essentially a machine animation. It's using uh, computer generated 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:21.439 characters that are pre generated by something like a video 0:10:21.480 --> 0:10:24.560 game as sort of digital puppets, and you use those 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:26.679 to tell your stories. And then there are a lot 0:10:26.760 --> 0:10:29.040 of different examples out there. The one I always cite 0:10:29.080 --> 0:10:32.080 because it was what introduced me to Mashinima is Red 0:10:32.200 --> 0:10:35.439 versus Blue from Rooster Teeth. But there are lots of 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:39.080 different examples, and in fact, Gary's mod ended up being 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:41.280 kind of a you know, kind of a renaissance for 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:43.720 that are really a launching point for a lot of 0:10:43.840 --> 0:10:48.800 people to create these, uh, these creative projects. Two thousand five, 0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:51.880 Valve ended up making agreements with third party publishers to 0:10:52.000 --> 0:10:55.120 allow non Valve games in the Steam Store. And this 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:58.200 is really where things are starting to pick up for Steam, 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:02.440 because it's becoming a viable marketplace, not just not just 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:04.680 a thing where you could get patches and fit the 0:11:04.720 --> 0:11:07.360 systems up, or just a thing that allows you to 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:09.840 play your game. Because of the d r M. Now 0:11:09.960 --> 0:11:12.200 you have a store where you can go and buy 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:15.600 games and have and download the game, and you never 0:11:15.800 --> 0:11:20.520 end up getting a physical copy at all, exactly, you 0:11:20.600 --> 0:11:23.280 just you just buy it on. In fact, most gamers 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:26.080 I think these days, as long as they have a 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:29.160 decent Internet connection, this is how they buy games. Now. 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:32.360 You know, they're buying them online, downloading them, and usually 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:34.880 you have some sort of cloud element. This is certainly 0:11:34.920 --> 0:11:37.040 true with Steam. But you have a cloud element where 0:11:37.080 --> 0:11:39.280 you can buy a game, install it on your computer, 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:42.080 play it, and then if you ever were to need 0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:44.400 that space, you could delete it from your hard drive 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:49.439 and then maybe later down the road, you think, along 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:52.040 with your saves. Yeah, because because it's all cloud based, right, 0:11:52.120 --> 0:11:54.800 because if it weren't cloud based then you'd really be stuck. 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:57.360 But that was another thing that Steam did that again 0:11:57.400 --> 0:12:00.640 added value to the service and to the game themselves. 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:03.400 And I think partially because they started becoming accountable to 0:12:03.520 --> 0:12:06.240 third party publishers, they really got their act together. I 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:08.840 think that that was the tipping point of them going like, oh, 0:12:08.880 --> 0:12:11.319 I guess that we need to have more servers and 0:12:11.520 --> 0:12:15.480 uhstability for our services, make it stable. And yeah, they 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:18.800 also added in achievements, which for some people is the 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:22.520 only reason to play games. Uh. And then also that 0:12:22.559 --> 0:12:24.959 was a little bit of commentary. Well, I mean, I like, 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:27.920 I like achievements. I like the feeling I get when 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:31.800 I unlock an achievement, but I don't like feeling. There's 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:34.680 some players who treat it so like it's such an 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:37.240 important part of the game that it almost feels like 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:41.360 they're concentrating on getting the achievements and not experiencing the game. 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:44.120 And then I feel like I get talked down to 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:46.640 if I don't get all the achievements. Well, don't don't 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:49.160 don't hit on their version of gameplay, let live and 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:51.439 let live. I don't hate on the fact that they're wrong. 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:56.120 I just point out that they're wrong anyway. So they 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:58.560 also introduced chat clients, things like that. So there are 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:03.000 a lot of different elements to stee besides just the store. Uh, 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:07.160 we're gonna jump ahead to So between two thousand five 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:09.280 and twenty ten, a lot of stuff developed, But twenty 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:12.640 ten was when Steam got a makeover. Uh. The user 0:13:12.679 --> 0:13:16.040 interface was retooled, so it made it more attractive and 0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:20.680 easier to use. They also released versions for Mac and Lennox. Yeah, 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:23.800 big deal there, because before that it was PC only, 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:27.000 Windows based PC only. You know, PC we use as 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:30.360 just shorthand for Windows machine, but obviously personal computer could 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:34.120 mean anything. Um. The store also began to carry stuff 0:13:34.120 --> 0:13:39.600 besides games, like user generated content, so again expanding the 0:13:39.800 --> 0:13:44.080 offering of Steam itself. And in eleven, that's when a 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:48.760 bad story happened. Yeah, there was a big hack hack attack, yeah, 0:13:49.160 --> 0:13:51.440 right on Steam. I mean it was and it was huge. 0:13:51.720 --> 0:13:53.520 I remember when this happened. I mean I wasn't a 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:57.280 Steam user at the time because and we'll get into 0:13:57.280 --> 0:13:59.120 this when we talk about the Steam boxes themselves. I 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:02.040 was one of those gamers who had migrated away from 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:04.880 PCs and towards consoles, and we'll talk about kind of 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:07.360 the reasoning behind that, which is one of the reasons 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:09.640 why Valve is behind the steam box thing in the 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:13.120 first place. Anyway, I was aware of this, but I 0:14:13.160 --> 0:14:17.479 wasn't affected by it directly. So hackers ended up defacing 0:14:17.600 --> 0:14:21.520 the forums over at Valve. But then beyond that, the 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:25.680 Valve employees discovered that the hackers had access some databases, 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:29.000 which meant they potentially got their hands on things like 0:14:29.040 --> 0:14:33.800 credit card information and personal identification. So that raised a 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:39.720 big scare, and months after it happened, Newell went public saying, uh, 0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:42.400 we still haven't found any evidence that they actually took 0:14:42.480 --> 0:14:48.320 any recent personal information. However, they probably access to database 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:51.200 which gave them access to all transactions that took place 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:54.360 between two thousand four and two thousand eight. This is 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:58.240 in early twelve when he made this announcement, so again 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:01.360 these were transactions that were four years old, so you know, 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:03.280 for a lot of people, I'm sure the credit card 0:15:03.320 --> 0:15:05.560 information was no longer accurate. But still when you have 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:10.040 that personal identification the trouble there is identity theft. Not 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:13.440 just someone's used your credit card, which is minor in 0:15:13.480 --> 0:15:16.240 the grand scheme of things, but someone has access to 0:15:16.280 --> 0:15:18.560 your personal identification, which means they can do a lot 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:24.000 more harm. So that was definitely a black mark against Steam. 0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:27.120 So but then in two thousand twelve, UM, that's when 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:30.640 we start really getting towards the steam box movement. That's 0:15:30.640 --> 0:15:33.880 when Valve announced that they were going to have Big 0:15:33.960 --> 0:15:37.680 Picture Mode in Steam, which means that you would be 0:15:37.720 --> 0:15:42.040 able to enable this and that would optimize whatever game 0:15:42.080 --> 0:15:44.200 you were playing, whatever Steam based game you were playing 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:49.600 for a television display, not a computer display. So if 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:52.400 you were to hook up your computer to a TV 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:55.280 and put big Picture mode on, it would actually optimize 0:15:55.280 --> 0:15:58.440 that to show on your big television. So this was 0:15:58.480 --> 0:16:01.000 the first step towards the steam box movement, and in fact, 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:03.560 some people started calling any sort of PC that you 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:05.880 would hook up to your computer and use this a 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:09.200 steam box, right, And previously people had found kind of 0:16:09.520 --> 0:16:12.640 kind of jakie workarounds to making this happen. Yeah, but 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:15.920 it wasn't optimized. It wasn't optimized, and and you know, 0:16:15.960 --> 0:16:18.200 this was still a little bit, a little bit clunky. 0:16:18.280 --> 0:16:20.200 You know, you still had to have a PC keyboard 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:22.360 and mouse rigged up in your living room. You can 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:25.040 play some games with a controller, but it's it was 0:16:25.080 --> 0:16:29.800 a relatively maybe somewhere between fifty games, but that's still 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:31.640 left a lot of games out, oh sure. And even 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:34.560 if something was controller compatible, you usually have to set 0:16:34.600 --> 0:16:37.360 them up with the mouse and keep right right. So 0:16:38.160 --> 0:16:43.560 you know, it wasn't something that your average player who 0:16:43.680 --> 0:16:45.880 is not a PC player like, like you know, we 0:16:45.880 --> 0:16:50.160 we think of gamers in different buckets, often like different populations, 0:16:50.240 --> 0:16:52.760 and to some extent that's true. I mean, there are 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:57.040 some gamers who identify themselves as console gamers, and it's 0:16:57.080 --> 0:17:00.000 not that they looked down on PC gamers some of them. 0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:02.200 Some of them do. But but it's just that, you know, 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:06.080 they're the consoles are more attractive to them than a PC. 0:17:06.200 --> 0:17:09.280 Either the PC is too intimidating, or they don't like 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:12.879 the idea of a system that they need to upgrade 0:17:13.000 --> 0:17:15.440 fairly regularly in order to keep pace with the games 0:17:15.440 --> 0:17:18.120 that come out. There are a lot of different reasons. Meanwhile, 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:21.840 you have the the PC gamers who kind of they 0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:24.359 may some of them look down on console gamers because 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:26.560 they like to be able to run stuff that is 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:31.159 constantly pushing the envelope of what is possible graphically and 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:34.040 and sound and all other aspects of gaming. And they 0:17:34.119 --> 0:17:37.000 might be a little bit more um technologically inclined in 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:39.879 terms of being really excited about those specific bits of 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:42.919 hardware and building the best machine right. And also, you know, 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:45.120 you've got the whole Twitch based argument of the fact 0:17:45.160 --> 0:17:47.880 that you know, keyboard and mouse gives you precise control 0:17:47.960 --> 0:17:51.360 compared to a game pad. So there's a lot of different, 0:17:51.440 --> 0:17:54.800 you know, things between these different populations. But one thing 0:17:54.840 --> 0:17:58.720 that PC gamers do envy about console gamers is that 0:17:58.800 --> 0:18:02.600 it's really easy the play console game on a big 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:05.480 screen television. Not that it's impossible to play a PC 0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:08.720 game on a big screen television, it's just not generally speaking, 0:18:08.800 --> 0:18:12.000 optimized or as easy, you know, because it wasn't it 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:14.920 wasn't built with that purpose in mind. And that's where 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:18.000 Steam starts going huh yeah, And and that's that's where 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:20.119 they you know, it was really exciting that they were 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:22.679 getting into this space, and they wanted to let everyone 0:18:22.760 --> 0:18:24.840 know that they were really excited about it, even even 0:18:24.840 --> 0:18:28.880 in these relatively early days of they were teasing the 0:18:28.920 --> 0:18:32.280 concept of steam boxes pretty hard. Yeah, So there was 0:18:32.480 --> 0:18:35.960 a lot of speculation when Big Picture Mode came out, 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:39.119 it is Valve making some hardware. Are they going to 0:18:39.160 --> 0:18:42.600 get into the console game by building what is essentially 0:18:42.600 --> 0:18:45.280 a computer but has all the benefits of a console, 0:18:45.320 --> 0:18:47.800 and that it's simple to set up, you know, even 0:18:47.840 --> 0:18:51.159 if you are intimidated by building your own computer, this 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:53.199 is something. This is a different avenue you can go 0:18:53.320 --> 0:18:56.560 to that will give you access to all the benefits 0:18:56.720 --> 0:19:01.159 of the Steam library, but without the the hardship of 0:19:01.240 --> 0:19:05.800 either planning out or building a gaming PC. But that 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:08.760 was before we actually knew any details about steam Box. 0:19:09.080 --> 0:19:11.600 So we got a lot more to say about steam boxes, 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:13.320 you know now that we're actually getting into the topic. 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:16.200 But before we do that, let's take a quick break 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:20.320 to thank our sponsor. Al Right, back to steam boxes. 0:19:20.400 --> 0:19:24.240 So we've teased it, but it wasn't until last year, 0:19:24.320 --> 0:19:29.960 that's spoiler alert now, but the last year and that 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:35.160 we finally start to hear more details about a an actual, 0:19:35.280 --> 0:19:38.400 honest to goodness steam Box, and that was mostly through 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:42.040 valves announcement that they were creating a Steam OS. Yeah, 0:19:42.160 --> 0:19:45.399 so Steam operating system, so that this is beyond the 0:19:45.600 --> 0:19:49.280 platform that's online where you can you know, shop for 0:19:49.359 --> 0:19:53.760 games and and uh have your DRM authenticated. This is 0:19:53.800 --> 0:19:56.639 actually an operating system that sits on top of another 0:19:56.680 --> 0:20:01.399 operating system, Linux, So Linux is an open source operating system, 0:20:01.440 --> 0:20:04.280 meaning that people are free to get at that source 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:07.520 code and alter it and make their own versions of Linux. 0:20:07.520 --> 0:20:12.879 These are called distributions or distros um and so SteamOS 0:20:12.960 --> 0:20:15.280 is sort of a flavor of Linux, or at least 0:20:15.280 --> 0:20:19.600 it's built on top of an Ubuntu based Linux operating system. Now, 0:20:19.640 --> 0:20:23.080 this is interesting. It definitely hearkens back to their days 0:20:23.160 --> 0:20:25.960 of half life and opening up the Software Developer Kit, 0:20:26.480 --> 0:20:28.960 saying that they like the ability of people if they 0:20:28.960 --> 0:20:32.399 want to get down and dirty and modify stuff, then 0:20:32.600 --> 0:20:35.080 this is kind of in line with that. Sure, and 0:20:35.160 --> 0:20:37.960 they also were making sure that that by using Linux, 0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:40.760 they could offer SteamOS as a free download. Yes, because 0:20:40.800 --> 0:20:44.720 you didn't have to worry about paying a licensing fee 0:20:44.800 --> 0:20:46.600 like you would if you were buying something that was 0:20:47.000 --> 0:20:51.359 Windows based or mac Os based. Uh. There are some limitations. 0:20:51.359 --> 0:20:54.040 Will get into those in a little bit, but you know, 0:20:54.320 --> 0:20:58.600 it was it's an interesting approach. They also announced that 0:20:59.040 --> 0:21:01.800 that both the Steam MOS and the desktop platform would 0:21:01.800 --> 0:21:07.040 be gaining some features right streaming, uh family sharing, which 0:21:07.040 --> 0:21:09.560 which means that it's it's like a digital borrowing system 0:21:09.600 --> 0:21:12.080 that will let up to ten Steam accounts pull from 0:21:12.080 --> 0:21:15.760 the same library um, just not simultaneously, Like you can't 0:21:15.800 --> 0:21:17.840 have more than one account working on the same game 0:21:17.880 --> 0:21:20.000 at the same time. This is this is a big 0:21:20.000 --> 0:21:24.000 deal for you know, families or you know, maybe groups 0:21:24.000 --> 0:21:26.280 of friends or whatever, where you've got you know a 0:21:26.320 --> 0:21:31.399 bunch of people who are interacting often Like I just 0:21:31.400 --> 0:21:33.320 think of like your typical family where you might have 0:21:33.400 --> 0:21:35.040 a couple of you know, a couple of kids you've 0:21:35.040 --> 0:21:38.159 got maybe maybe the adults like to play too. If 0:21:38.200 --> 0:21:40.800 you're going with an old system where it's one account 0:21:41.160 --> 0:21:44.960 per console, then that really can limit, you know, what 0:21:45.119 --> 0:21:47.760 each person can do, especially if you are interested in 0:21:47.760 --> 0:21:50.320 things like achievements. Right, So, Lauren, if you and I 0:21:50.480 --> 0:21:53.800 share an account on Xbox, like if we're sharing a 0:21:53.880 --> 0:21:56.040 tech Stuff account, which by the way, does not exist, 0:21:56.080 --> 0:21:58.200 so don't go looking for it, or if it does exist, 0:21:58.359 --> 0:22:01.320 it's not us um. And if we were sharing that account, 0:22:01.400 --> 0:22:03.280 and then you went in and played a game, and 0:22:03.280 --> 0:22:05.000 then later on I'm like, oh, I want to play 0:22:05.040 --> 0:22:07.239 that game too, And I keep wondering why I'm not 0:22:07.320 --> 0:22:09.800 good at this game because I haven't unlocked any achievements, 0:22:09.840 --> 0:22:11.280 And then I go and check and I see, oh, 0:22:11.320 --> 0:22:14.160