Only if it's Gabe shaped

I had to read it several times to understand what you meant, but I suspect that you're right.

Buying a full pc that will end up being potentially limited to gaming doesn't really make sense. Valve has a solution that's more integrated and probably better suited for most consumers.

You're*

Little to no*

You can add non-steam games to Steam Deck, not sure how that's walled off.

Non-FOSS time machine? It's 2005 as a service. Monthly subscription.

We have transferred your clone to 2005, please step into the incinerator.

This knowledge does me no good if I can't go to one of these exoplanets and meet a nice Orion lady.

That and large shitty patent laws

Yes! Super interesting devices, a friendly community, lots of development and you’ll be playing games made before gaming went full enshitification.

Is that the show with the liars and thieves?

Oh true emulation in general is very awesome

AYN Thor is a awesome DS handheld, but they too also warned that their supplier is bumping RAM prices heavily, so they expect the price to go up too

Oh man I miss old flash-based escape the room games. Remember the Crimson Room?

There's been a silent rise in mystery-themed (Ace Attorney adjacent) games in the East recently. The mysteries get better and better.

As a huge fan of the genre, got any recs that didn't get too popular? I've played Danganronpa, Ace Attorney, Nonary games, and have other Kodaka games in my backlog. Other than those do you know any great ones?

You got downvoted for mentioning you'd get downvoted! OK, I'll bite. Based on OP's comments, As long as it isn't in AI, surveillance or Microslop WIndows, maybe you have found something for us all?

So what, who cares about downvotes on Lemmy? Even one more person finding out about some awesome tech is worth it!

I think it's "console enough" that it could still work. Current consoles are really just locked-down PCs anyways.

It'd be no different than the OtherOS functionality on first-run PS3 consoles that allowed them to boot into Linux. Perhaps simpler than that even, given that current consoles already use standard PC hardware and not the Cell architecture the PS3 ran on.

Nah, it's been pretty clear for some time now that the next Xbox would just be a PC. I don't think they got this idea from Valve. I'm sure that Valve helped shape their plans, though.

The issue is most games nowadays don't work on day one, and you'll probably have to download patches for it. The main selling point of plug and play for consoles is almost irrelevant with current publisher (and possible development) practices in the industry.

That doesn't exist anymore. Can't even play Nintendo without it asking for updates to the system and MarioKart.

Here's hoping it still has that functionality, I don't see a reason why it couldn't.

PC gaming has come a long way that most games nowadays just work, even on Linux. I’m surprised at how many games work without even forcing Proton and no bugs at all, except those that also exist for Windows. That and my controller is seamless. Even VR is working better now.

On the other side, it seems console gaming is more complex than it needed to be and we’ve seen how consoles actually hold back gaming, as a whole, like the situation with the Xbox Series S that has forced developers to either cut content or remove features to make it compatible as that is Microsoft’s requirement when developing a game to be released for their consoles. I don’t remember hearing it, but I’m sure the same is true for the PlayStation side too with the lower end model. Whereas that doesn’t happen for PC exclusive releases. If your PC won’t run it, it’s probably because it’s outdated and that’s a you problem, not something everyone else needs to suffer for because a company like Microsoft is forcing devs to make it compatible with outdated/lower end hardware.

I can’t remember trying a game on my Steam Deck and it didn’t work. Unless you mean setting up a Proton version, then I’ve had that, but the game eventually runs in 9 out of 10 cases. That is exclusive to non-Windows OSes and it could be solved by automating based on the db and make the setting easier to find and change for users, maybe even prompt the user to try another Proton version kind of like Windows’ troubleshooter when it detects a program didn’t install or run correctly. Or when devs make their games natively work with Linux/macOS like they do for Windows which is why games just work there. And if the game doesn’t run well, you just lower the settings which I’ve done for many games with no trouble. Even console games now have the same settings to lower quality to get better performance.

Proton consistently shows better performance results than running the same game natively on Windows. Despite having a bunch of experience, Microsoft consistently shows that there is always a way to make a thing worse.

They have the expertise, just not the desire. Which explains why in 2026, proton and wine manage to run more Windows apps (well) than Windows.

You realize PC is not just Windows, right? It's Windows, Linux, Mac.

Windows might be the most used PC platform but game developer are well aware attaching their success to Windows is not the right move. And that's exactly the kind of freedom PC gives that consoles do not.

But think of the AI agents that need to work on it!!!

Yep, and I wager the steam machine is probably going to be, at minimum, 50% more expensive than valve planned it to be, which more than likely will kill it on arrival as far as price/performance goes.

Will there be die hards who buy it no matter the price? yeah.. but i wager it'll see a fraction of sales that the deck did, due to ram and storage price bullshit thanks to AI fucking everything up.

The contracts for the Steam Machine were already locked in before RAM and GPU shortage even started, which means they will (like other consoles) be able to provide a reserved amount of devices at a fixed and lower price. But likewise, this also means that for any console that did not have contracts locked in before shit went down, will suffer massively from this. Thus looking at current prices for hardware isn't indicative of how much prices will rise. Steam Machine could be the most affordable gaming device of the next decade.

But Valve also isn't stupid. PC has the unique position where it has one of the longest backlogs of backwards compatible games and applications. Which means you don't need top of the line hardware. People are still gaming on 10 year old PCs, so the hardware for those will be much more affordable and still be able to play most games. Especially indie games with their insane price to performance to quality ratios. If top line gaming on PC becomes economically unviable, it will simply move down a notch.

Better integrated than Steam? I'd be curious to hear how.

"XBOX game pass is heaps better than Steam" - said no one ever

Probably not so much as "better" as it would be "almost as good for cheaper".

The bespoke AMD part is an exercise in cost management. iGPU is more affordable but usually pretty low end. The bespoke AMD solution is an iGPU bumped up to a nearly on par with a mid tier discrete GPU.

If released with same generation of tech, I would expect the steam machine to have higher performance but at a disproportional higher price.

No prices for both new xbox and Steam Machines has been announced. How do you know which would be more expensive?

Not that I know of. They supposed to announce prices in the first quarter of 2026 but due to memory shortage they have postponed it. As for shipping, they have claimed that they are still planning to launch shipping by the end of first half of 2026. Price is estimated at $800-$1000. Shortage might increase it.

Good idea, but I 100% expect the bios to be locked down and force secure boot. Hopefully there would at least be a work around to enroll new keys, but don't count on it.

Consoles are literally just computers. Install game -> play game. There's no magic "technical skill" required to do the same thing on a less locked down computer instead.

I think the steamdeck is the closest to a console-like experience, but yeah consoles have been PCs for a long time they just make it very simple to install/load games because it is a closed platform where they control every aspect of distribution

I understand the frustration with Xbox slowly dying, but this is all microslop's fault.

When the games stopped shipping completely on their physical media is when they lost me. So, I guess PS3. To me, a console should be a completely self-contained experience. You want a game? You buy it. It comes on a disc, or cartridge, or HuCard. Doesn't need to download updates. Doesn't require the internet. Just pop it in, and boot directly to a game. Immune to digital stores closing, or servers shutting down.

If I have to download 50gb when I bought a game on discord, what are the discs even for? And I would still have to worry about disk space? Man, I'd rather just have a PC.

If you don't have enough technical skill level and experience to install a game via steam, gog, or (bleh) epic games, you don't have enough technical expertise to do the same on any console, including ones that require you to just put a cartridge in. Pressing "install" button and waiting for a while to then press "play" button might be less complicated than figuring out which side disk goes. And that's exactly what is required to play a computer game.
It is not like-for-like experience, because a general purpose computer allows you to do a bit more than playing a game, but in terms of actually doing it, let's not pretend it's some kind of rocket surgery.

AI slop

They definitely didn't use that terminology though, with how hard they're pushing back against the "Microslop" term. Thanks for the update, however.

I mean, I would argue that having to pay for access to different parts of Windows, like say access to PowerShell or access to more advanced features and settings has been part of the way they make money for a long time. That's why their used to be "Home," "Pro," and "Enterprise" versions all with various levels of capability. So while it looks like the original article has been debunked, I would think that offering stripped-down versions of Windows would just serve as a way to push upgrades to more full featured versions the same way they press you to upgrade to Office 365.

Well, to be more correct, if they see a venture or tactic of theirs isn't paying off as their delusional AI's told them it would, we can at least get them to scrap that direction and try something else. We'll never actually "stop" them, but we can use the thing we have, that they want, to at least direct them away from the places that they are causing harm to things we want to preserve.

I am under no expectation of this happening at all, we have hundreds of millions of families who will throw whatever new, shiny, mainstream tech-toys and "blockbuster" releases at their kids as a babysitter, those are the breadbasket of the tech and entertainment companies.

'member needing Xbox Live Gold to watch Netflix on your Xbox?

Oh fuck, that's the goal isnt it. Gaming with internet locked behind a paywall.

Isn't the whole point, since the Xbox One, that they didn't want it to just play games? We don't consider it dead just because it does more stuff. I guess you can have whatever definition you want for your personal view, but I don't really think anyone else would agree with it. It's still going to be a Microsoft controlled platform that's typically in the living room on a TV. Most people would say it's dead when they stop having a device in the living room, not when that device gets extra features.

Yeah, I’m hoping they don’t wall that stuff off from the general PC space for business reasons.

Their emulation work is one of the few bright spots of the Xbox platform on the past decade. Things like FPS boost and Auto HDR are nice for improving older games. I’m not sure if any third party emulators can do the same, admittedly.

Right, but you cannot play those two games on PC. So if the new console PC hybrid uses Windows, I don't forsee those games running. I may be missing something though.

$119 a piece, don't forget about those poor shareholders.

I mean, Sony & Microsoft consoles are basically PCs with a custom OS now already (PS4 onwards, and Xbox One both used x86-64 CPUs).

There are fewer and fewer reasons to buy a specific (and expensive) piece of hardware that is less flexible in terms of functionality than the alternatives, so this is Sony trying to protect their own fiefdom.

Fuck ‘em.

The specialized rendering processors of the NES and SNES and Sega Genesis could push pixels without all the distractions a CPU has, in away they were the first GPUs (although modern GPUs do a much more generalized job).

...What?

The NES had a 6502, the SNES had what amounts to a 16-bit version of the 6502, the Genesis had two CPUs, a Zilog Z80 and a Motorola 68000. I will grant you, their video chips were a bit more specialized for playing games, with sprite generators and such, lacking text or bitmap modes. Consoles mostly dominated arcade action, PC games were often slower paced but in many ways technically superior. True 3D graphics happened on PC earlier, hardware 3D acceleration happened on PC earlier, it wasn't until the Xbox One/PS4 era that game consoles pretty much became entry level worsened gaming PCs.

Consoles were cheaper, specialized computers made specifically for games, PCs were far more expensive but significantly more powerful. No console in 1995 would run Descent or Mechwarrior 2.

That stopped being the case some time around the Xbox 360 era; By then, it was fairly common to see console ports of PC games or vice versa; console versions might lack multiplayer or have reduced graphics or something, the PC has pretty much always been the home of nerdier shit like flight simulators, but by the PS3 and PS4 era consoles basically became entry level gaming PCs. Console prices increased to the point that, for the cost of a PS5 Pro, you could put together a reasonable gaming PC...then ChatGPT ate all the world's semiconductors and the child rapist in chief bombed Iran apparently on a whim and that brings us to the present moment.

While not quite the same thing: sleeping in the middle of a game is something that every platform other than Windows can do. Linux, including the Steam Deck, can just go to sleep in the middle of the game and bring you right back to where you were before putting it to sleep.

If this new Xbox is Windows-based, they are going to lose not only the sleep ability, but also the quick resume you point out.

Also the Steam Deck can already take over that role if the Steam Machine is too much of an ask for you. When they're restocked, that is.

Here's hoping 🤞

Halo 5 has great gunplay and multiplayer. Plus elements of the campaign like the Guardians were cool.

...XFBS format nothing can read... for now. At the rate Microsoft recycles their staff, we will have some of them out in the wild one day with the full work around to reformat this abomination.

The youngins today will never understand how fucking awsome halo 1 lan parties were