Steam Machine is coming. Where will the next-generation console killer go?

When we talk about next generation or next era, the first thing that comes to mind is Sony PS4 and Microsoft Xbox One. Next generation comes from Japanese, which means the next era or the future era. The commonly mentioned next generation technology refers to advanced technology that has not yet been widely used.

Indeed, these two consoles can be said to be the best in the industry in terms of performance and technological craftsmanship. Faced with the game console industry that has been dominated by Sony PS and Microsoft Xbox for decades, the clarion call for change has been sounded. But how can we break the next-generation monopoly?

Will Steam Machine become a powerful weapon to target the next generation?

Steam consoles and peripheral products were already hyped up at the pre-CES press conference last year. This latest living room console platform has attracted the attention of a large number of players since its launch, and Valve co-founder and managing director Gabe Newell also demonstrated a number of Steam Machine game consoles at the press conference.

However, after a year of delay, this Linux-based game console was only recently announced to be open for pre-order, and nearly 2,000 games that can be searched on the Steam platform were announced. Of course, these games are not small-scale casual games like those on Android consoles. Major titles including "Dota2", "Dying Light", "Portal 2", "BioShock: Infinite" and so on can all be run on Steam Machine.

However, although the Steam Machine has powerful performance, the cost of the host is quite high. A GTX780 graphics card alone costs 400-500 US dollars, and the cost of the whole machine is more than 1,300 US dollars according to the retail price, which is more expensive than the PS4 and Xbox One combined. Although there are cheaper Steam Machines, their performance is much worse.

In terms of gaming experience, although most games can run smoothly on the Steam platform, the Linux-based Steam OS can simulate the PC platform, but it still has a different experience from a real PC.

It is not clear how effective the Steam Machine is, but when foreign media tested the Steam controller, the dual touchpad design looked very novel, but it was somewhat unsatisfactory to use.

Can Android consoles become the next-generation console killers?

Although the world recognizes Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo as the three major console manufacturers, only Sony's PS4 and Microsoft's Xbox One can truly be called next-generation consoles. Even Nintendo's Wii is not worthy of the word next-generation due to its performance disadvantages.

Faced with next-generation consoles with powerful hardware performance and rich game resources, can Android game consoles become the killer of next-generation consoles?

Relying on its years of advantages in hardware performance, NVIDIA's Android-based NVIDIA Shield has also caused quite a stir in the console industry. In addition to being equipped with Nvidia's own Tegra X1 (with performance twice that of the Xbox 360 game console), the Shield console has 3GB of memory and 16GB of built-in storage, and supports Microsoft's DirectX 12.

In terms of hardware configuration, NVIDIA Shield seems to have reached the next-generation level. However, in terms of games, in addition to being able to play PC games through streaming, the rest can only play some native Android games. Moreover, under NVIDIA's so-called 1080P and 60Fps effects, large-scale streaming games still have delays and stuttering, and the gaming experience is not perfect, which has also led to the current mediocre sales situation.

Oyua, a veteran Android console with rich gaming resources, gradually went bankrupt due to poor console experience, system errors and poor operation, and was finally acquired by Razer. This also proves that there is still a long way to go for Android game consoles to reach next-generation standards.

Are there any comparable strengths hidden in the country?

For the Chinese market, which has just experienced the lifting of the ban on game consoles, the blank console industry has allowed many manufacturers to see a piece of delicious food waiting to be divided. Many manufacturers have also begun to test the waters in consoles, and as a result, many consoles based on the Android system have been launched, including some powerful consoles equipped with Tegra chips. Seeing the advantages of the Steam platform, consoles using the Steam OS system have also appeared.

As a result, faced with the limitations of Android and Steam OS, the sales of these consoles are not particularly ideal.

However, faced with the gap in the domestic market, the bigwigs are not going to give up so easily. Even Xiaomi, which started out as a mobile phone company and intends to develop in the smart living room field, has announced loudly that it will focus on the "next generation."

However, if you think about it carefully, if Xiaomi's next-generation products still cannot escape MIUI or Android in terms of system, the development prospects of this product are still not optimistic.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.