Let's Talk Tech
Razer Edge vs Steam Deck! Let’s GO!
A mobile gaming showdown is ALWAYS fun. Steam Deck is winning the hearts of PC gamers. Can the Razer Edge convince YOU to switch platforms? It’s time for a showdown! Continue reading “Razer Edge vs Steam Deck: Can Android Topple PC Gaming?”
I love the Steam Deck. It’s amazing.
Playing with it, I hope we’ll continue to see more portable PC gaming devices hit the market. At some point, there will be a console which “kills” the Steam Deck, but that hasn’t happened yet. Just because another console might be more powerful, doesn’t mean it’s a Steam Deck “killer”.
Let’s discuss… Continue reading “Sorry Chief, There are NO Steam Deck “Killers” Out Now…”
Steam Deck vs Gaming Phone!
Valve vs RedMagic! PC vs Android! What REALLY gives you the best mobile gaming experience? Let’s check out two VERY different portable gaming options, and see which is right for YOUR needs and budget! Continue reading “Steam Deck vs Gaming Phone: The better portable gaming experience?”
Steam Deck first impressions!
This is such a rad little PC. It’s immediately scratching that itch I’ve had for mobile gaming, and I’ve been playing through more of my Steam library in the last three days, than I have the last year.
I can’t offer any grand insight over videos that have already come out, but we have to start a conversation somewhere!
Let’s chat! Continue reading “Steam Deck is HERE! Rambling through my first impressions of this awesome Portable PC!”
It’s the dream of every gamer, to not only be paid for playing a video game, but at some point be considered the best in the world.
The industry has embraced various tournaments featuring games like Madden NFL Football and Street Fighter, with prize pools ranging from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Free to Play, from Valve Films, follows the individual members of competitive DOTA 2 teams, as they compete for a $1 million grand prize during a 2011 tournament.
Competitive gaming has already earned a fair amount of respect in many Asian countries, and its popularity is on the rise throughout Europe. Free to Play peels back some of the internal pressures players face, conflicts with family, work/life balance, schooling and social expectations. These players are held up as the vanguards of a generational shift, often with parents who don’t quite understand what the stakes are. The film posits that soon we’ll look back at these earlier tournaments, and take competitive gaming for granted.
It’s not too far fetched an idea either. The video gaming industry now regularly unseats Hollywood in generating revenue, and we’re into our third generation of people living on this planet that don’t know a world without electronic entertainment. Just as physical sports like football generate incredible revenue, while we’re ostensibly watching grown men play a school yard game, there exists the potential for e-sports competitors to make a similar mark on fans.
While I’m not terrifically familiar with the game play of DOTA 2 (described in the film as a blend of Chess and Soccer) it’s easy to get drawn into the drama of what these players face. They carry the expectations of their fellow team members, their fans, and often their home countries.
The million dollar grand prize is important, but maybe not as valuable to some as defeating their rivals.
Valve has released the film for free to stream, and in a variety of languages. Embedded below is the USA (English) version.
The more I see from this thing, the more curious I am to try it out. These high-res “owl-eye” sensors, instead of dual analog sticks, look like they could give controller players a nice step up.
Valve details the new set up for their up coming Steam boxes in this video. Sit back, settle in, and enjoy the next four minutes and twenty five seconds of game play demonstration with Valve’s new hardware.
How crazy does this thing look?
Unveiled today, this is one of the major announcements coming our of Steam as they make a push to compete in the living room arena currently occupied by game consoles. Following the reveal on SteamOS and Steam Machine program, now we know how you’ll control and interact with your games from the couch.
This owl-like pad features two clickable high-resolution touch sensors in lieu of traditional analog joysticks. Traditional triggers and buttons flank the sensors, and new haptic feedback sensors should improve upon the current force rumble we’re used to today. Valve claims that this setup should be more sensitive and accurate than current controller tech, and should close some of the gap between controller gamers and the advantage that Mouse+Keyboard gamers enjoy.
A screen in the middle of the controller feeds info to the player, and the entire surface is one large button. Instead of a touchscreen which could be accidentally brushed by the player, to engage with single functions, the entire surface requires enough force to click it.
Lastly, Valve is touting a high degree of compatibility and  hackability. It’s currently compatible with any version of Steam, and will obviously work with SteamOS and Steam Machine products released in the future. A new set of APIs will be made available to developers once the controller leaves BETA. Plus Valve will make select tools available to consumers allowing them to participate in hardware hacking and design.
The design is already proving somewhat controversial in discussion online. I’ll be curious to try it out as I feel dual analog sticks slow me down (WASD FOR LYFE!), so if Valve as found the trick to smooth out that experience then sign me up!
(via Steam)
As we move away from cartridges and shiny plastic discs, and towards digital distribution, game mobility becomes an important factor in how our gaming libraries are kept. Not in whether we can play our games on the go, but whether we can share our games or re-sell them. When I was a kid we thought nothing of swapping, borrowing, and trading NES cartridges. No verification, or logins, there was a physical thing we could share.
That gets trickier with digital distribution and cloud gaming. A number of different tactics have been employed to offer gaming services while trying to prevent game piracy, with varying levels of success. Now Steam is implementing a new program aimed at getting gamers invested into their gaming platform through the games friends and family members have purchased.
In limited beta now, Steam Family Sharing allows users to create a list of approved “close friends and family”. This list of people will be allowed to play games on the Steam user’s account, while unlocking their own achievements and saving their own game progress on their own account.
On the surface it’s a great goodwill program, allowing people to share and play, but I think it very savvy that people get to accrue their own achievements. It’s an investment in time that gamers wont want to have to rebuild if they decide they want to own their own copy of the game. They’ll be far more likely to purchase through Steam. Building that kind of community is a license to print money.
Sign up for the Beta on SteamPowered.com
(via Reddit)