# Steam big screen?



## Sunray (Dec 8, 2012)

Tried it today and it doesn't seem to work, just got the spinny wheel on many of the options and appears a total rip off of the Xbox and windows media centre. 

Anyone using it. Does it work ok for you?

There appears to be a disconnect between valve and its users. 
 Did I want or need this feature? No. 
 Did they make a ton of cash from it? No.

Do I want Half Life episode 3? Stupid question. 
Will they make money?  Stupid question. By not creating this game, they are essentially going 'meh' to a near guaranteed mountain of cash. 

Surely, by now Gabe Newell must be getting suicidal over people asking when is it due.


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## golightly (Dec 8, 2012)

It just seems to be a means of Steam colonising the whole desktop as far as I can see.  Doesn't work well and doesn't add anything that I can see.  I was totally unaware that they were going to add this feature; it just cropped up a few days ago.


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## Epona (Dec 8, 2012)

Yeah wot he said ^.  I looked at it for a few moments in big screen mode, went "WTF?" then turned it off.

Although Steam is also used by PS3 gamers iirc - so it might be more useful in that format if you're on a console.


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## Shippou-Sensei (Dec 8, 2012)

i thought it was for when you plug into a tv?


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## fen_boy (Dec 8, 2012)

I use my gaming PC on my TV, it's perfect for me. Turns my PC into a big console, which is what I want.


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## Kid_Eternity (Dec 10, 2012)

Isn't it going to fall down on the fact that Steam is mainly PC games?


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## Crispy (Dec 10, 2012)

Sunray said:


> Did I want or need this feature? No.


I do (will, when (not if (I mean it! also, three sets of brackets)) I get myself a gaming PC).


> Do I want Half Life episode 3? Stupid question.
> Will they make money? Stupid question. By not creating this game, they are essentially going 'meh' to a near guaranteed mountain of cash.
> 
> Surely, by now Gabe Newell must be getting suicidal over people asking when is it due.


It's not up to Gabe. If the people who work at Valve want to make HL3, they'll make it. If they don't, they won't.


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## Firky (Dec 10, 2012)

fen_boy said:


> I use my gaming PC on my TV, it's perfect for me. Turns my PC into a big console, which is what I want.


 
I used to do that hten I got a pair of of 27" HD screens and slapped them side by side and now it's better htan my cheap LCD TV


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## Cid (Dec 11, 2012)

Well the console's been confirmed, so presumably it's intended for that.

e2a: seems Gabe reckons there'll be a wave of console-PC type things, wonder what M$ and Sony are thinking about this... http://kotaku.com/5966860/gabe-newell-living-room-pcs-will-compete-with-next gen-consoles


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## cliche guevara (Dec 11, 2012)

Crispy said:


> I do (will, when (not if (I mean it! also, three sets of brackets)) I get myself a gaming PC).
> 
> It's not up to Gabe. If the people who work at Valve want to make HL3, they'll make it. If they don't, they won't.


HL3 will be the most hyped game of all time. Of course they'll make it. It's more a question of "when".


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## Sunray (Dec 12, 2012)

Gah, if nothing else, I want to have the satisfaction of killing one of those blob things in the face in as weird and complex way as possible, e.g. opening a portal onto the event horizon of a black hole while its standing in front of a chain link fence. It still pisses me off that I couldn't attack those things.


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## golightly (Dec 13, 2012)

Sunray said:


> those blob things


 
You mean the advisors?


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## Epona (Dec 15, 2012)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Isn't it going to fall down on the fact that Steam is mainly PC games?


 
Aren't PS3 users on Steam these days?

Also I use my PC via my TV. There's no law (nor technical limitation) that states 'PC gamers will be sat up at a desk in front of a monitor'. Or at least if there is, someone forgot to send me that memo.

I'm not using/didn't like Steam Big Screen, because I'm on kb+m and it's unintuitive for that method of input, but after playing around with it for a few minutes I can see that it's a better Steam interface for those using a control pad rather than kb+m.


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## Sunray (Dec 15, 2012)

I keep meaning to buy the usb thingy that ms make for PC's to connect XBox controllers. 

For some games it may well be a better option if they are good games but with ropey ports.


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## Epona (Dec 15, 2012)

Sunray said:


> I keep meaning to buy the usb thingy that ms make for PC's to connect XBox controllers.
> 
> For some games it may well be a better option if they are good games but with ropey ports.


 
Aye, I'm a PC gamer but there are a couple of games that are obviously console ports where a controller would work better. At least please fucking tell me that driving in LA Noire is better on a controller! Great game, but I mostly told my partner to drive to crime scenes because I take out half of LA trying to take a corner, I gave up at the one point I was forced to do a car chase. Some ports to PC are not optimised at all for mouse use (Alpha Protocol for example).

Not that I can use a controller mind you, my thumbs are arthritic - I just wish that when games were ported, a little thought went into control input, interface and display for different platforms - a few hours spent on optimising things in terms of kb+m control and menu/HUD could make a world of difference in terms of gameplay (and repeat customers for future titles). And despite what they've been trying to tell us for the last 20 years, the PC _still_ hasn't died as a gaming platform.


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## Shippou-Sensei (Dec 15, 2012)

i have a game pad for my pc but never use it

i got it for a beat-em-up that i never got round to playing

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Saitek-Cybo...IX26/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355579443&sr=8-1


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