posted on Aug, 30 2014 @ 02:46 PM
There's always Steam and the
Steambox. Note: the linked article is a
little dated, so you are likely to get better specs for lower prices. Seems to provide a good overview though.
A Steambox is basically a small form-factor PC running SteamOS instead of Windows/Linux/OSX. It's got a pretty good UI, similar to most consoles,
but does not (yet) support things like Netflix/Youtube/VUDU. There are *thousands* of games available, and a few that are not. Some of the EA titles
aren't available, such as the newer games in the Battlefield franchise. Ubisoft titles that you purchase in store usually won't have a
Steam-redeemable product key, but you can purchase them through the Steam software instead.
Other things of note with Steam: In-Home Streaming, allowing you to stream from the gaming machine to another device such as a laptop. All the
processing happens on the gaming machine. Also, Family Sharing. You can link up with friends and family and share your game libraries. Only one
person can use a specific title at a time, but it expands your library pretty quickly.
A lot of people say negative things about Steam, but I have never had any complaints (except when they have those sales and i spend all my money). A
lot of the things I hear/see all revolve around people disliking DRM.