Who's up for a Steam Box console?

[Beskar]

Tempted to download it and try it out. The main issue I am having with being able to do that is having a dedicated machine where I can actively try it out. (As in, I only have one machine capable of PC gaming really, and I don't want to mess that one up!)

But the thing with consoles anyway is that they are effectively stripped down computers which are dedicated to gaming in a uniform manner and you are able to play from a disk. The advantages of this makes a hassle free experience for the vast majority of consumers. These systems are also subsidised so they are far cheaper than a gaming machine (£200 versus £1000. No contest). The conformity prevents all those hassles like "Why is game not working on my machine?!" with its 101 steps of possible reasons opposed to "it is broke, get it replaced" which occurs with consoles and playing from the disk enables games just to "get on with it" without going through lots of install screens, waiting for it to install, filling your harddrive with nonsense, etc, where as Lemur could simply bring his left4dead2 game around and put it in, and we would be blowing away zombies with shotguns in mere seconds.

All of these points are easy to manage, there just needs to be a lot of will in the pc-game industry to enable it, opposed to 'closed-shop' systems like your typical console.