I see people speculating the present console generation lasting another 5 year ... to me that seems a downright dangerous proposition. There are not a whole lot of people who could enter the console space in the meantime, with one big exception. Valve are IMO uniquely positioned to launch a console, or rather a PC acting like a console.
I hear the cries of instability, exploits, unsuitable control schemes, piracy etc. coming from the peanut gallery ... but that's short sighted IMO.
First lets handle the instability and exploits ... the box would run a locked down windows, any necessary system updates would be pushed on it by Steam not microsoft update. It would function as a virtualization host and it would come with Chrome OS as a default guest and allow users use to a real windows guest if they supply their own install and license. With the windows guest it would be a mostly functional PC (no real 3D support because that has to run through emulation, audio&video shouldn't be a problem though) but it still would not be able to affect the stability of the console as a gaming system (expert users could also dual boot, but that's not relevant to it's console use). Only games explicitly allowed by Valve are allowed to be installed, these might include some existing PC games but certainly not all (basically Valve would create profiles for specific install CDs these would take care of all the user input necessary to install the game, the installer would be sandboxed and hidden from the user, setup default UI mappings, create entries for the games in the dashboard etc. etc.).
Unsuitable control schemes. They could divide up the games they support into a core set which has either been adapted by the developers to work well with a gamepad or which already worked well with one because they were good console ports, then there would be a set of games which worked well with gamepads but where the in game UI didn't necessarily understand them (the game would come with a default mapping for the game pad, including mouse emulation with the analog stick) and finally games which would require a full keyboard+mouse. I think they could launch with a pretty good line up in those two first sets (practically the entire steam line up with the last included).
Finally piracy ... PC games seem lucrative enough without a solution beyond simply the convenience of using an online steam account to persuade people not to do it. Also I personally think the time is right for dongles to make a return but that's a matter for a different post.
What would it cost right now? Dual core, 500 GB HD, 2 GB memory, HD5670 ... ~450$ assuming big system builders can get windows for 50$. Still a little expensive, but give it a year and build it with fusion and 350$ should be doable (shop prices with thin margins, not console prices with subsidies).
I hear the cries of instability, exploits, unsuitable control schemes, piracy etc. coming from the peanut gallery ... but that's short sighted IMO.
First lets handle the instability and exploits ... the box would run a locked down windows, any necessary system updates would be pushed on it by Steam not microsoft update. It would function as a virtualization host and it would come with Chrome OS as a default guest and allow users use to a real windows guest if they supply their own install and license. With the windows guest it would be a mostly functional PC (no real 3D support because that has to run through emulation, audio&video shouldn't be a problem though) but it still would not be able to affect the stability of the console as a gaming system (expert users could also dual boot, but that's not relevant to it's console use). Only games explicitly allowed by Valve are allowed to be installed, these might include some existing PC games but certainly not all (basically Valve would create profiles for specific install CDs these would take care of all the user input necessary to install the game, the installer would be sandboxed and hidden from the user, setup default UI mappings, create entries for the games in the dashboard etc. etc.).
Unsuitable control schemes. They could divide up the games they support into a core set which has either been adapted by the developers to work well with a gamepad or which already worked well with one because they were good console ports, then there would be a set of games which worked well with gamepads but where the in game UI didn't necessarily understand them (the game would come with a default mapping for the game pad, including mouse emulation with the analog stick) and finally games which would require a full keyboard+mouse. I think they could launch with a pretty good line up in those two first sets (practically the entire steam line up with the last included).
Finally piracy ... PC games seem lucrative enough without a solution beyond simply the convenience of using an online steam account to persuade people not to do it. Also I personally think the time is right for dongles to make a return but that's a matter for a different post.
What would it cost right now? Dual core, 500 GB HD, 2 GB memory, HD5670 ... ~450$ assuming big system builders can get windows for 50$. Still a little expensive, but give it a year and build it with fusion and 350$ should be doable (shop prices with thin margins, not console prices with subsidies).
Granted it didn't give you the option to install an arbitrary OS (legally), nor did it have a browser (which would resolve the chromeOS necessity). Ironically the PS3 does resolve those two problems (albeit Linux only on the fatty models), the lack of Valve support, and since it's PowerPC based I guess it wouldn't be considered "PC-based."
