SteamOS and other announcments

[Icemage]

Re: SteamOS and other announcments

Out of curiosity, what's the problem with Windows 8 for gaming? Never tried it. I know I've heard desktop compositing can't be turned off now, but is there anything else?

Win8 App Store is a massive crock of shyte. Metro interface sucks horribly with mouse navigation. DX11.2+ being Win8 exclusive means developers are forced to choose either tiny market share or new features. And it's not like DirectX has ever been all that great to begin with; there's a reason Valve is reporting significant efficiency gains on Linux, because they don't have to deal with the overhead of the various Windows API drivers on top of DirectX.


Icemage

[Firewind]

Re: SteamOS and other announcments

It's not as if it's hard to dual boot SteamOS if it is Linux based and use SteamOS for gaming and Windows for your everyday desktop stuff.

I'm really looking forward to it.

[Icemage]

Re: SteamOS and other announcments

SteamBox beta test in 2013 announced!

Steam Machines

Here’s how to participate

Want to make yourself eligible to participate in the beta? Add yourself to the list of candidates by completing the Eligibility Quest on Steam. Sound hard? It’s not.

THE HARDWARE BETA ELIGIBILITY QUEST:

Before October 25, log in to Steam and then visit your quest page to track your current status towards beta test eligibility
1. Join the Steam Universe community group
2. Agree to the Steam Hardware Beta Terms and Conditions
3. Make 10 Steam friends (if you haven't already)
4. Create a public Steam Community profile (if you haven't already)
5. Play a game using a gamepad in Big Picture mode

You can complete the steps in any order. Once you’ve completed all of the steps, you’ll be awarded a special badge, and you’ll officially be among the pool of people from whom we’ll choose beta participants / hardware recipients.

On October 25th, the list will be locked. So complete the quest before then!

Your help is critical to our design process. Your feedback will shape both the new OS version of Steam and the new category of gaming machines that will run it.


Questions!

When can I buy one?!
Beginning in 2014, there will be multiple SteamOS machines to choose from, made by different manufacturers.

I’m pretty happy with my PC Gaming setup, do I have to buy a new piece of hardware now?
No. Everything that we’ve been doing on Steam for the last 10 years will continue to move forward
.
If you guys are delivering an OS to hardware manufacturers, why is Valve also making its own box?
We're conducting a beta of the overall Steam living-room experience, so we needed to build prototype hardware on which to run tests. At Valve we always rely on real-world testing as part of our design process. The specific machine we're testing is designed for users who want the most control possible over their hardware. Other boxes will optimize for size, price, quietness, or other factors.

How will you choose the 300 beta participants?
A small number of users (30 or less) will be chosen based on their past community contributions and beta participation. The remainder will be chosen at random from the eligible pool.

Should I create lots of Steam accounts to increase my chances of getting selected?
No, that won’t work.

What are the specs of the Valve prototype?
We'll tell you more about it soon. Remember, there will ultimately be several boxes to choose from, with an array of specifications, price, and performance.

Where’s a picture of it? How big is it?
We promise we'll tell you more about it soon.

When will the prototypes ship?
This year.

Will beta testers be allowed to share info about their experience and post pictures and opinions online?
Yes, that really is the whole point. The input from testers should come in many forms: bug reports, forum posts, concept art, 3D prints, haikus, and also very publicly stated opinions.

Will I be able to build my own box to run SteamOS?
Yes.

Can I hack this box? Run another OS? Change the hardware? Install my own software? Use it to build a robot?
Sure.

Can I download the OS to try it out?
You will be able to download it (including the source code, if you're into that) but not yet.

If I’m not in the beta, how can I help and contribute feedback?
The Steam Universe Group is where feedback is being collected. Most areas of the group will remain open for participation by all Steam users. Some may be limited to beta participants only, but there will be plenty of ways to contribute feedback for everyone.

What games will be available during the beta?
The nearly 3,000 games on Steam. Hundreds already running natively on the SteamOS, with more to come. The rest will work seamlessly via in-home streaming.

What is SteamOS? What’s included?
Here's a link to what we said earlier about SteamOS. We'll have more details to tell you, soon.

Am I going to be using a mouse and a keyboard in the living-room?
If you want. But Steam and SteamOS work well with gamepads, too. Stay tuned, though - we have some more to say very soon on the topic of input.

[Malacite]

Re: SteamOS and other announcments

So, the Steam Box is gonna be a thing?

[Icemage]

Re: SteamOS and other announcments

Today, Valve announced that they have a custom controller for SteamOS.

To say it's... surprising... would be an understatment.

(large image)

Steam Controller

Two clickable trackpads instead of dual sticks, a touchscreen and four buttons on the edge of the screen, plus triggers. No D-pad or traditional face buttons, but there are two additional buttons underneath the controller.

I think it's ugly, personally, but if it's functional I'm OK with that. That's a big IF though... no sticks I'm willing to be convinced of, but no face buttons?


Icemage

[cidbahamut]

Re: SteamOS and other announcments

I don't think it looks remotely functional.

[Malacite]

Re: SteamOS and other announcments

Yeah I'm gonna have to WTF @ that monstrosity.

The touch pad idea is interesting, as I guess they want to simulate using a mouse as much as possible. But... it's hideous, and WTF @ the placement of the "face buttons" ...

It looks like the illegitimate bastard of a Dreamcast & Xbox controller.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: SteamOS and other announcments

I think one would actually have to use the controller to see the point of the design choices. It was specifically stated they wanted to design a controller compatible with genres more specific to PC, such as RTS while also playing to most genres.

Analogs sticks aren't great for everything. If they were, we wouldn't have kept the D-Pad around or have touch or motion elements now.

As with everything else shown, its likely an optional thing and other controllers will be welcomed

[Armando]

Re: SteamOS and other announcments

It's certainly strange. I'm not optimistic about it, but I do applaud them for trying to break new ground. I appreciate the fact that they're trying to solve problems like games that are only viable with keyboard/mouse, and the fact that many games don't recognize joysticks at all. Overlaying the touchscreen's display onto the main monitor is pretty clever. I also appreciate that it's left-handed friendly. Even if it turns out to be surprisingly functional, it doesn't sound like it'd be cheap though.

As with everything else shown, its likely an optional thing and other controllers will be welcomed

Yeah, they addressed that. You can keep on using keyboard/mouse or whatever else you use.

[Firewind]

Re: SteamOS and other announcments

The track pads are there to give you the same functionality as a keyboard and mouse. You can basically programme the whole thing for each individual game without having to worry about archaic control schemes (GTAV, every 2D fighting game ever) or just plain unintuitive (Assassin's Creed, MGS4, DMC4, every 2D fighting game ever) controls.

Actually the trackpads would be ideal for archaic 2D fighting game controls, where you have to turn the stick in arcs for combos, instead of something sensible like button press commands, because those commands would actually register if the pads works as it should.

Steam Controller

The Steam site uses Portal 2 as an example as to how you can set up the pad:

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: SteamOS and other announcments

I'm actually interested to see if Logitech adapts/reinvents their old PS2 MMO keyboard for something like this. That thing was pretty cozy for FFXI. My only real dislike of this controller was that I saw a button to trigger a software keyboard, which is a horrible input method for communication on anything without a visible touchscreen.

Software keyboards reliant on digital or analog inputs are just ass, I doubt trackpads or a touch surface would be any better. Physical keyboards or visible touchscreens are pretty requisite - especially when things need to be made clear and there's too much chatter going on in a voice chat situation (if you even want to be in voice chat, at that).

Portal 2, if I'm recalling correctly, had a little scheme to communicate things non=verbally and without text in co-op, though. So there are ways to communicate goals without either - though it takes a bit more getting used to.

[Firewind]

Re: SteamOS and other announcments

Non-Verbal and non-text queues imply that people are actually paying attention to text chat. Sure it's acceptable if you play very slow paced games with total strangers. However, in certain games, like I don't know, Final Fantasy XIV, this is simply not viable. Especially in Titan and Binding Coil where there's often so much going on in boss fights there's no time to take your hands off the movement keys to type, nevermind take your eyes off what is going on around you to check what is in the text box. Anything that involves PvP is also simply not viable with just text and visual commands anymore. There's a VERY good reason why no competitive groups in PvP games use solely text chat.

Seriously, in Titan HM someone simply calling out "Lagging" in voice comms can make the difference between winning and wiping because at least the party will know to stay the fuck away from you so they don't get hit by some horrible AoE. Plus the implication that all voice comms are full of kids and chatter is born of ignorance. The vast majority of people that use voice comms are friends both IRL and ingame using it for instant communication and coordination while in group content.

Games with Co-Op are another great example. Who the hell would let a complete stranger into their game and voice channel? The vast majority of people that play Co-Op stuff are playing it alongside one or more friends. The main reason why fewer and fewer games are supporting text chat input isn't purely because it's largely intuitive, it's because you always have to stop what you are doing to type out a message, something that only works in very, very slow paced games like your turn based strategy or your turn based RPG, or just about anything turn based really.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: SteamOS and other announcments

The main reason why fewer and fewer games are supporting text chat input isn't purely because it's largely intuitive, it's because you always have to stop what you are doing to type out a message, something that only works in very, very slow paced games like your turn based strategy or your turn based RPG, or just about anything turn based really.

My point was software keyboards are incredibly slow even in the face of other inputs including keyboard and touchscreen chat. Software keyboard chat isn't really beneficial to anyone.compared to other inputs.

I don't give a rat's ass about competitive mutlplayer, but given some players are deaf, I think its incredibly short-sighted to not even consider text chat and visual cues as important elements even with co-op and competitive multiplayer. Some people might need to use it. In fact, controller designs in general for the handicapped are lacking in gaming as a whole. PC gaming affords some customization and additional options, but console gaming has a terrible track record there.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: SteamOS and other announcments

Here's a hands-on with the controller prototype by one of the guys from Team Meat.

Yzc2NjQ1MzQyNDU2MjMyMz - My time with the Steam Controller

[Malacite]

Re: SteamOS and other announcments

Not sure if this is OK or not, so putting it in spoilers.

CTRL+ALT+DEL take on the Controller