Let's Talk Tech
Gamesir G8+ Galileo review!
Mobile controllers are REALLY good these days, and this might be one of the best on the market today! Not only a good wireless solution, the G8+ might be a good solution for PC gamers too!
So… Why can’t I use it? Continue reading “The Best Mobile Controller I Can’t Use: GameSir G8+ Review!”
PORTABLE STEAM LINK for AR glasses!
Want to take your PC gaming on the go? Want to game on a HUGE screen? Still want to pack light? These AR glasses can really come in handy, and now with a portable Android TV “brain”, we can push them even farther! Continue reading “Use Steam Link on AR Glasses NOW! Rokid Station!”
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)
Yup we know XBox, Playstation, and Nintendo. Between those three, you’d think the console market is all locked up. Steam hopes that assumption is wrong, and they’ll be launching a new Linux based operating system built entirely around the Steam gaming service.
SteamOS aims to pair a Linux kernel around a “Big Screen” gaming experience, and it’ll be launched soon as a stand alone piece of software for living room computing hardware. The idea isn’t without merit. Traditional computers running Windows for example need to use some of their hardware power to run the OS. Now that overhead is gone as all the computer will have to do is keep Steam running. With optimization, We could see performance gains in similar hardware simply by removing the traditional OS relationship.
SteamOS also looks to be focused on in home streaming. While hundreds of game titles will be available at launch, it’ll take a while before the entire Steam library will be ported over. Playing local music and video files over your home network is a given, but SteamOS will also allow you to play games on your PC over a local network connection on your TV. We’re also seeing user profiles, keeping adult game libraries separate from kids collections for example, and the recently announced Friends and Family game sharing will come built in.
Steam is a remarkably popular service. Currently 50 million people currently have accounts in over 180 countries. Leveraging just a small percentage of this user base could make SteamOS a serious player in the console market.
No word yet on supported SteamOS hardware, but manufacturers of shiny plastic discs probably aren’t looking forward to this console launch…
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)