Phantom Prototype Appears

[SteelCrysis]

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/07/ar...m-console/
Who would have thought we'd hear from the Phantom again.

Valve had better taken notice of this:

Schlesinger himself recalls not being that impressed by what he saw of the Phantom prototype. "Being that this was such a dinky machine, there's no way that this 'system' was going to be much of anything remotely resembling a gaming system," he told Ars. "At minimum, it would require a total rebuild every couple of years or so.....mobo, graphic card, memory. Socket A can only get you so far, you know."

[ocre]

Take notice?

Why?

[SteelCrysis]

Because the person says it, a PC-like console with upgradeable hardware, would have required regular upgrading. That's won't go over with that part of console gaming that doesn't like PCs for precisely that reason.

[ocre]

CPUs gains have been so pathetic the last 6yrs. I cant see the issue being anything close to what the phantom would have had to face.

A decent CPU and 16gb of ram.............
that will last a good while. A steam machine needs an upgradable HD and for longevity, perhaps a way to swap out GPUs. Have a list of approved GPUs for each model.
Today it is way more feasible than ever before. And upgradable console sounds neat to me. But as long as they keep new models coming, users could just decided to buy a new console every few yrs.

The 8yr span of consoles is far too long. That is what has been holding graphics back all these yrs

[SteelCrysis]

CPUs gains have been so pathetic the last 6yrs.  I cant see the issue being anything close to what the phantom would have had to face.  

A decent CPU and 16gb of ram.............
that will last a good while.   A steam machine needs an upgradable HD and for longevity, perhaps a way to swap out GPUs.  Have a list of approved GPUs for each model.  
Today it is way more feasible than ever before.  And upgradable console sounds neat to me.  But as long as they keep new models coming, users could just decided to buy a new console every few yrs.  

The 8yr span of consoles is far too long.  That is what has been holding graphics back all these yrs

The 8 year span is what's worrying me, as that may have conditioned console gamers to want that much longevity or close to it. The Steam Machines requiring hardware upgrades to even get close to that longevity won't go over well with them.

[ocre]

Yeah, I dont have faith in steam machines especially without the ability to run windows games.
I do dream of a future with console/PC hybrids. Kind of steam machines without the linux part. Perhaps Microsoft take charge........call them Mean Machines

[BoFox]

Only if Microsoft buys AMD will we ever see console/PC hybrids. And that's only a possibility, given the "if".

If Google buys AMD, we might see Android/PC hybrids. It's unlikely, though..

Nvidia, as a maker of custom ARM cores, and on the verge of integrating ARM cores with their GPU's, along with a viable line of high-end Android tablets geared towards gaming, might be the closest candidate to anything truly "hybrid", yet, they would need at least $2 billion of marketing capital invested and consummated if they wish to clash with the mega-corporations by rising to their own level at such a threatening pace. Microsoft would hate that - Google would hate that. Intel would especially hate that. Nobody wants to see a small company that serves them well in business (like Nvidia licensing their IP to Intel), and then suddenly become bigger than them overnight. So they would fight tooth and nail to prevent Nvidia from having any serious success with this.

Right now, the mega-corporations are having a good laugh watching Valve scramble and stumble in the corporate jungle that they know so well.