Valve cooking something big....

[CommanderShawnzer]

Weird looking controller

What is that abomination!!!!!?????????
it looks from the crappy future!

.........

 

[cyborg47]

What is that abomination!!!!!?????????
it looks from the crappy future!

.....

 

[CommanderShawnzer]

That controller is seriously not a controller

 

[vickybat]

What is that abomination!!!!!?????????
it looks from the crappy future!

Don't judge that by its looks mate.
Looks pretty solid imo and a lot better than tablet gamepad designs, both in looks and functionality.
This thing has what it takes to tap into the market.
SteamOS is the next big thing after Google's Android.

P.S - Circular Trackpads are indeed innovative.

That controller is seriously not a controller

Its more than a controller.

 

[CommanderShawnzer]

And why does it have a touch screen?

And I'm pretty sure the "Steam Device" will have laptop-y hardware

 

[vickybat]

And why does it have a touch screen?

Read !

In the center of the controller is another touch-enabled surface, this one backed by a high-resolution screen. This surface, too, is critical to achieving the controller’s primary goal - supporting all games in the Steam catalog. The screen allows an infinite number of discrete actions to be made available to the player, without requiring an infinite number of physical buttons.

The whole screen itself is also clickable, like a large single button. So actions are not invoked by a simple touch, they instead require a click. This allows a player to touch the screen, browse available actions, and only then commit to the one they want. Players can swipe through pages of actions in games where that’s appropriate. When programmed by game developers using our API, the touch screen can work as a scrolling menu, a radial dial, provide secondary info like a map or use other custom input modes we haven’t thought of yet.

In order to avoid forcing players to divide their attention between screens, a critical feature of the Steam Controller comes from its deep integration with Steam. When a player touches the controller screen, its display is overlayed on top of the game they’re playing, allowing the player to leave their attention squarely on the action, where it belongs.

Amazing thinking by valve.

 

[Skyh3ck]

can someone post a direct pic here for low bandwidth people

of console, controller, or any prototype

 

[vickybat]

And I'm pretty sure the "Steam Device" will have laptop-y hardware

So?? Next gen game consoles also sport laptop-y hardware.
Low level API's like "mantle" will be immensely popular here as well as in the pc space.
PC hardware usage will be efficient like never before.

Laptop-y hardware is no longer laptop-y.

 

[CommanderShawnzer]

Read !



Amazing thinking by valve.

Those are nice features.
I hope it works for people who have sweaty fingers(like me).

 

[vickybat]

Those are nice features.
I hope it works for people who have sweaty fingers(like me).

If you can handle a regular d-pad with sweaty fingers, this thing will have no issues too.
Note it has rough surfaced track-pad. Its coarser than a regular laptop touch-pad and has those circular fringes for added friction.

 

[CommanderShawnzer]

If you can handle a regular d-pad with sweaty fingers, this thing will have no issues too.
Note it has rough surfaced track-pad. Its coarser than a regular laptop touch-pad and has those circular fringes for added friction.

I mean touch screen.

So?? Next gen game consoles also sport laptop-y hardware.
Low level API's like "mantle" will be immensely popular here as well as in the pc space.
PC hardware usage will be efficient like never before.

Laptop-y hardware is no longer laptop-y.

But That defeats the purpose of

OMGWTF 1080P 60FPS With everything @ Ultra and 32x AA on my TV!!!
Consoles sux,Consoles are Extinct

^Btw the quote is what most PC fanboys think about the "steam box"

 

[vickybat]

I mean touch screen.




But That defeats the purpose of

I would suggest you to do some proper reading.
Read what mantle is. Steam machines and SteamOS are destined to bring the best out of both worlds.
Not that closed boxed, but offers low level access. To top it off, they are upgradeable.

They are both pc and console at the same time.

 

[CommanderShawnzer]

I would suggest you to do some proper reading.
Read what mantle is. Steam machines and SteamOS are destined to bring the best out of both worlds.
Not that closed boxed, but offers low level access. To top it off, they are upgradeable.

They are both pc and console at the same time.

Holy Sh!te!
They made laptop-y hardware modular!
I just hope the steam devices are not like Alienware x51
(Stuffing sub-par small PC GPU's(Like gtx 645) into a mini-ITX board in a cramped chassis)

 

[vickybat]

Btw the quote is what most PC fanboys think about the "steam box"

There are no fanboys here and we are not talking about "Steam Box" but "Steam Machines".
There is not a single machine. There will be a plethora of configurations and thereby, choices.

Holy Sh!te!
They made laptop-y hardware modular!
I just hope the steam devices are not like Alienware x51
(Stuffing sub-par small PC GPU's(Like gtx 645) into a mini-ITX board in a cramped chassis)

Interestingly, SteamOS is absolutely free and Steam Controller will also work on your regular pc if SteamOS is installed on it.
Extremely versatile imo.

 

[snap]

AnandTech Portal | Understanding AMD a good read regarding mantle

 

[vickybat]

AnandTech Portal | Understanding AMD a good read regarding mantle

That's a great read and is also technical.

These will give messages in a broad sense:

AMD, Nvidia ramp up Linux driver support after Valve's SteamOS announcement

SteamOS/Mantle - It looks like PC gaming is handing MS Divorce Papers!

 

[Desmond]

I move my attention for a bit and missed so much discussion.

So the holy trinity of announcements from Valve looks pretty solid to me.

First SteamOS, an OS for the living room, an OS dedicated for gaming and a rock solid media center.

Second, SteamMachines, fully upgradable/tweakable media center devices running the above OS which allows you to stream media and games (which are not natively supported on SteamOS) from your PC.

Third, the SteamController to control said device.

Since I don't have much experience using a controller (do not own any consoles or played much on any), I cannot say how the trackpad would fare compared to the analog stick but I do love the touchscreen in the center. Imagine you want to switch weapons using the selection dial (that most new games feature) and as soon as you touch the touchscreen, the dial comes up and you choose your weapon using your finger movements.

I would like to see whether they can find some way to run Windows games using something like Cedega. Valve could fork Wine and come up with their own variant that could be better. Then bye bye windows and DirectX.

Edit : Just realized that Wine probably needs Windows binaries.

Edit : They could fork Wine and make it compliant with Mantle.

 

[cyborg47]

I mean touch screen.




But That defeats the purpose of

^Btw the quote is what most PC fanboys think about the "steam box"

Why don't you apply for the beta, you might get one for yourself in the test, and have a look by yourself

 

[Desmond]

Why don't you apply for the beta, you might get one for yourself in the test, and have a look by yourself

Beta devices do not have touchscreen yet. Ref the link.

 

[cyborg47]

Beta devices do not have touchscreen yet. Ref the link.

I'm just saying, generally, coz Commander seems a little skeptical about the entire thing.

..and here's the community page, Valve will announce more over here.

*steamcommunity.com/groups/steamuniverse