Steam's Big Picture Mode Exits Beta

[babinro]

Seems like a good mode for consoles/smartphones.

It's strictly worse to a traditional keyboard and mouse. It's like navigating websites with a Wiimote.
It feels different but it's just a step back to the tried and true.

 

[mad825]

Seems cool but it kind of defeats the whole point when you need you the use of a mouse beforehand and it's shit for browsing. Really, the next logical step is a gaming console which again would defeat the whole point of all this.

 

[exobook]

I do wonder if this is the first step for setting up steam as a console system, like that one Valve is said to be working on.

Personally I don't like controllers, but I you can attack a keyboard and mouse to it, I don't mind.

 

[The White Hunter]

Hmm. If only my TV was'nt hopeless for PC gaming and actually supported PC's this would save me a monitor upgrade...

 

[Malty Milk Whistle]

I used it a couple of times, and really liked it, unfortunately my TV is liquid crap, so I don't see myself using it much
It was nice though, very easy to navigate.

 

[Irridium]

They have Counter-Strike Global Offensive labeled as "controller-friendly."

Hilarious.

As for Big Picture mode itself, tried it out. After years with Xbox Live, having an interface that's just games and no ads is a thing of beauty.

 

[Smooth Operator]

To put it another way does it fix ANY of the issues that Steam has and are getting more and more of an issue with the ever larger amount of utterly useless, worthless and pointless crap they keep shoe horning in to Steam?

Nope, all old problems remain, this doesn't seem to add any issues to the regular client just has it's own problems on top of the old shit.

 

[Covarr]

They have Counter-Strike Global Offensive labeled as "controller-friendly."

Hilarious.

From a purely technical perspective, it is. The menus and gameplay work fine with a controller. As for actually playing to win... Y'know what, I'm not gonna complain. If other people wanna play with a gamepad, that just gives me an advantage.

Overall I'm impressed with Big Picture Mode. Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit looks gorgeous on a big TV, Batman: Arkham Asylum is a lot more fun with a gamepad, and Sonic Generations is a little of both. Being able to start them from my couch without having to go to my computer first is nice... (though it'd be nicer if I could also switch default sound devices, because my computer is ALWAYS connected to my TV and I usually have it on speakers out by default.

Gamers who lack an HDMI port may have trouble taking full advantage of Big Picture Mode

Not really. It works fine with any connected display, regardless of the connector used. Since my TV won't let me disable overscan via HDMI, I have it connected with a VGA cable. It's a bit more difficult since I have to turn the little screws and plug the sound in separately, but I've had no issues with it. I just wish VALV[sup]E[/sup] would make it a bit more clear that HDMI isn't explicitly required, just easier.

P.S. Thanks

 

[Steve the Pocket]

Also, by the look of the tiled interface with the games, they've inadvertently made it look rather Windows 8'ish. I wonder if this is a pre-cursor to a Windows 8 app that they decided to make..?

Nope. Steam would not be possible as a Windows 8 app, because of the restrictions Microsoft puts on them.

 

[Furism]

It's very nice of Valve to let us have a taste of what their future console will probably be.

 

[Overusedname]

It looks so pretty man. It's not that much of a big deal, but it's great presentation and makes my comp feel more like a home theater.

 

[Griffolion]

Also, by the look of the tiled interface with the games, they've inadvertently made it look rather Windows 8'ish. I wonder if this is a pre-cursor to a Windows 8 app that they decided to make..?

Nope. Steam would not be possible as a Windows 8 app, because of the restrictions Microsoft puts on them.

Ah okay, could you please tell me more about this? I'm not too up on this issue.

 

[Covarr]

Also, by the look of the tiled interface with the games, they've inadvertently made it look rather Windows 8'ish. I wonder if this is a pre-cursor to a Windows 8 app that they decided to make..?

Nope. Steam would not be possible as a Windows 8 app, because of the restrictions Microsoft puts on them.

Ah okay, could you please tell me more about this? I'm not too up on this issue.

The RT API (the bones behind all Modern UI apps) does not allow the launching or installing of an external application; at the most it can open a document itself or with the default program for that document, or a URI with the default program for the protocol being used. If the desktop version of Steam is installed, a helper app can use it to actually do things, for example this link will open Half-Life 2 [steam://rungameid/220] if you have it installed and Modern UI apps can launch Steam games the same way. On the other hand, an "app" that does nothing but open this link [steam://open/bigpicture] would basically get the job done... provided desktop Steam is installed, of course.

P.S. Thanks