SteamOS, Steam Box Compared With Xbox One, PlayStation 4 For PC Gaming

SteamBox and SteamOS by Valve software are being prepped to compete with the Xbox One and PlayStation by revitalizing PC gaming.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Wii U hardware design by AMD should make porting games to the PC platform a snap in comparison to previous years. Even game developers say a Xbox One vs PlayStation 4 matchup results in a draw at least when it comes to features, not performance.

Valve is responsible for the Steam digital games platform, which recently introduced a Family Sharing option. Steam also has a Big Picture mode that brings PC gaming to the home theater system. To put things in perspective, Steam membership now exceeds 50 million users while Microsoft’s Xbox Live can only boast around 40 million people.

Valve is working on the SteamBox, which is essentially a PC hardware specifications standard for video game developers to shoot for. While the Valve Steam Box was originally thought to be a full gaming console like the Xbox One or PlayStation, it became apparent Valve was only intending for the Steam Box to be a blueprint or a guideline on open standards for hardware manufacturers. But Valve is saying the price range for a Steam Box might go from free to $99 all the way to $300 for the Cadillac model.

Supposedly, to meet the Steam Box hardware standards would require implementing biometrics and motion controllers similar to the Kinect. But these features will also be capable of sensing the mood of the player. For example, the gameplay flow of the next Left 4 Dead game could adjust itself dynamically based upon the player’s fears.

But the biggest break from the norm is that the SteamOS operating system will be Linux instead of Windows. Valve will try to make the SteamOS open to developers, which should allow mods to flourish just like they current do with regular PC gaming.

While the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 are much faster than previous consoles, including the Wii U, those gaming consoles can’t compare to PC gaming systems that have been out for over a year. For example, the PlayStation 4 GPU can be bought for $399, but a PC video card like the AMD HD 7970 can be bought for a little more and provide almost double the graphics performance. But, to be fair, a PC gaming machine will cost a lot more than just the $400 spent on a video card.

Valve says further announcements about the SteamOS and Steam Box will be made on Wednesday.

Do you think SteamOS and the Steam Box could compare to the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 hardware gaming experience?