Valve Officially Launches TV-Friendly Steam Big Picture Mode 140
An anonymous reader writes "Valve on Monday announced the public release of Big Picture, Steam's new mode that lets gamers access their games on a TV, in over 20 languages. Big Picture lets you use a traditional gamepad (as well as a keyboard and mouse) to access the complete Steam store and Steam Community from the comfort of the couch in your living room."
What prevented doing this? (Score:1)
"If you're a Steam user, you can set up Big Picture by simply by connecting your PC or Mac to your TV via a single HDMI cable."
So what kept you from doing that last month, or last year?
Re:What prevented doing this? (Score:5, Informative)
Nothing at all, except now you can do it with a gamepad-friendly interface.
Actually use the controller (Score:3)
What? you can plug a xbox360 controller in a pc's usb port. that is old news.
I'm guessing the news is that 1. the launcher will actually use the Xbox 360 Controller that you plugged in, and 2. the fonts are bigger so you can sit farther back, such as on the couch.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
And how, exactly, do you navigate a PC interface with menus and text entry using a gamepad? I mean, I suppose you could map one of the sticks to virtual mouse, but that type of system sucks (I've done it before), and is a tad bit more work than most people are willing to put forward. The interface is the key: being able to navigate through menus and text entry (yes, Valve has apparently devised a text entry scheme that doesn't totally suck) using the controller.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
"If you're a Steam user, you can set up Big Picture by simply by connecting your PC or Mac to your TV via a single HDMI cable."
So what kept you from doing that last month, or last year?
Big Picture didn't exist last year, and last month you could do it but it was still in beta.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Feels a lot like a beta for how the steam box is going to act. That is why this is cool, not because it magically enables you to connect to a TV.
Exactly my thoughts when trying the beta out myself.
If I didn't already have a pretty beastly HTPC setup, I might just be tempted to build a custom 'Steam Console' just for shits n' giggles.
Re: (Score:2)
More bloat (Score:1)
Great, new features added to Steam. But their OS X client is still the slowest and most bloated software I've ever used.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Steam for Mac has a memory leak relating to the way it handles windows (insert joke here). Instead of closing windows it just hides them. This can cause memory to skyrocket.
Re: (Score:2)
Skyrocket to the exact same size as having the windows open, lol.
Re: (Score:2)
But their OS X client is still the slowest and most bloated software I've ever used.
How is it 'bloated'?
Re: (Score:3)
So it's kind of like running iTunes on Windows?
Re: (Score:2)
In my recent experience (trying to play The Witcher on my MacBook Pro) it's irrelevant because the unstable games (ones using Wine wrappers) will have to logging out and/or rebooting every hour or so anyway.
TF2 has been very stable though.
Apple's proven time and again that they're not at all interested in gaming on Mac OS X, I don't know why I even bother trying. They love it on iOS, of course.
Rebooting to play games is such a pain though.
Re: (Score:2)
Why does the new GUI require more hardware resources than many of the games..?
Re: (Score:2)
Simple answer? The games are being made for 7 year old or greater hardware(consoles). Hey, remember...consoles are hot shit. That's why developers are abandoning them for the PC, and in turn 'nix.
Valve has a winner (Score:5, Informative)
I've been using this mode in the Linux beta of Steam. It's pretty nice, it's up there with the XBox 360 and PS3 media interfaces.
Re:Valve has a winner (Score:5, Funny)
...it's up there with the XBox 360...
It's jam-packed full of advertising, leaving 1/10th of the screen for actual content?
Re: (Score:3)
Minus the advertising. I was referring more to the aesthetics and design choices.
Re:Valve has a winner (Score:4, Funny)
It's jam-packed full of advertising, leaving 1/10th of the screen for actual content?
I opened up Steam and got that before I even hit the big picture button!
Re: (Score:2)
You do realize that Steam is little more than an advertising platform for games, right?
Hell, I count 60 advertisements when I visit the steam store, between the games, Valve Store, Steam Mobile, Gifting on Steam, and, of course, Big Picture.
Re: (Score:2)
You do realize that Steam is little more than an advertising platform for games, right?
Hell, I count 60 advertisements when I visit the steam store, between the games, Valve Store, Steam Mobile, Gifting on Steam, and, of course, Big Picture.
Hmm.. I shut down Steam and then opened it up fresh. This is the first screen that came up http://i.imgur.com/wviMA.jpg [imgur.com]
Not a single advertisement to be seen.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
but they have a summer sale and tell you about it, which to me looks like ads.
Do you go to a store and bitch about all the advertisements sitting on the shelves?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
...I count 60 advertisements when I visit the steam store...
Err...duh?
Re: (Score:2)
...it's up there with the XBox 360...
It's jam-packed full of advertising, leaving 1/10th of the screen for actual content?
What 'actual content'? When i'm looking at 'actual content' on my xbox i don't see any advertising.
Re: (Score:2)
That means it is good advertising.
Re: (Score:2)
That means it is good advertising.
Perhaps i should rephrase that...'there isn't any advertising', much less being 'jam packed', the actual content takes up 100% of the screen.
Re: (Score:2)
You have to sit around for 15 minutes waiting for updates anytime you want to use it?
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
I tried this mode on the OS X client recently and it was extremely clunky and was mostly a pain in the ass to work with.
It's a great first try at a ten foot interface but they've definitely got some work to do.
Re: (Score:2)
I got Deus Ex for the PS3 when it came out and played it through, enjoyed it a lot. But now the missus take a lot of the TV time so I don't have that much access to it. So I got it for 4€ in the autumn sale on the PC and (no surprise) the UI is different on the PC (the 10 shortcuts for keyboard). Can anyone tell me if when I use a controller (and Big Screen) so that when I do have some TV time I can play it with controller, does the game/steam change the UI to the PS3/XBOX layout when you switch to con
Re: (Score:2)
Sony's XrossMediaBar is actually 9 years old, it was first used in the PSX, SCEJ's Japan-only PS2/DVR combo device.
XMB won an Emmy in 2006 you know, and I don't think it wastes space at all, at least it doesn't on my TV. Are you using SDTV?
PC required? (Score:2)
From what I understand, I still need a beefy PC to make this work. So, how's this any different than hooking up my video card's HDMI output straight into my TV set?
Re:PC required? (Score:4, Informative)
Beefy PC? There are guides coming out on how to build a $300 DIY Steambox, minus the cost of OS and the cost of an optional XBox 360 controller which you can use on Windows or Linux. It'll be competitive against Microsoft and Sony's next consoles.
http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/30/3706718/forget-the-ps4-and-the-xbox-720-build-your-own-steambox-on-the-cheap [theverge.com]
Re: (Score:2)
how's this any different than hooking up my video card's HDMI output straight into my TV set?
Now you can use a controller to navigate instead of trying to use your mouse on your knee or the arm of your sofa.
Gamepad (Score:1)
The gamepad-friendly interface is the news here. It was an annoyance to have to grab a keyboard and mouse just to switch between games.
Now that TV is 1080P, all computers have a TV friendly interface.
LAN Streaming (Score:5, Interesting)
why just a HDMI and USB over TCP/IP box (Score:2)
why just a HDMI and USB over TCP/IP box.
Re: (Score:2)
You just gave me an NComputing flashback (Score:2)
It would be even more awesome if you could use a beefy machine as a server of sorts by allowing multiple instances running at once so at multiple people can game at once with one computer.
So something like NComputing thin clients [wikipedia.org]? They had those at the last place I worked, and they were slow to respond to keypresses and mouse movements. We replaced them with cheap Ubuntu boxes for accessing our internal web applications, which freed up the Windows boxes for people who really needed access to Access. I'd rather buy or build a second PC, put it in my living room, connect its HDMI out to the HDTV's HDMI in, plug three Xbox 360 Controllers into the PC, and start Trine.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Steam Pipe
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
They should consider creating making a LAN version of game streaming, you have a small thin client hooked up to your TV but all all the work is done by your beast desktop in the next room. The biggest hindrance to their current setup is that most people don't have their computer hooked up to their TV because they use it for other things than just gaming. They could call it Steaming (Steam + Streaming). :)
Apple TV
The hindrance is that PC is singular (Score:2)
The biggest hindrance to their current setup is that most people don't have their computer hooked up to their TV because they use it for other things than just gaming.
I'd have to disagree: the biggest hindrance is that "computer" is singular. Instead of buying a PC for the computer desk and an Xbox 360 for the TV, why not buy a PC for the computer desk and a PC for the TV?
Re: (Score:1)
I see it different. Most people have far too much power on their desk (and don't need it there). I rather have the most power in the living room and just enough power on the machine for office work. (Can remotely execute compute jobs anyway so why not on the living room PC when nobody is gaming?)
Re: (Score:2)
PCs are a pain in the ass.
In what way?
Nobody wants a classical $300 PC on their TV as opposed to a set top or console
"Nobody" is a strong word. I count at least hairyfeet, Penguinshit [slashdot.org], TemplePilot [slashdot.org], CidHighwind [slashdot.org], exomondo [slashdot.org], mcgrew [slashdot.org], Anonymous Freak [slashdot.org], Praetor.Zero [slashdot.org], vlm [slashdot.org], Belial6 [slashdot.org], Fishchip [slashdot.org], and Charliemopps [slashdot.org].
Nobody is asking for moar general purpose machines, what people want is really good software.
Unless console maker bureaucracy gets in the way of publishing a particular piece of "really good software".
Re: (Score:2)
You can't extrapolate from a few Slashdot nerds to the general populace. Slashdot is a niche culture.
Re: (Score:2)
You can't extrapolate from a few Slashdot nerds to the general populace.
For one thing, I've been called out for using "nobody" in the same sense that Anonymous Coward did, and even "statistically nobody" drew replies to the effect "Statistically? What kind of study did you conduct?" from HTPC fanboys. People are misusing "nobody" just like people misused "indie" in a recent story about the Wii U. I'm just trying to help make this discussion more precise so that people don't end up talking past each other due to definition disagreements [c2.com].
Slashdot is a niche culture.
Video gaming itself was once a niche cultu
599 US dollars (Score:2)
I dunno, cost?
When the PlayStation 3 came out, it cost five hundred ninety-nine U.S. dollars [youtube.com]. Nowadays, the PlayStation 3 is much cheaper, but so is a $300 PC [theverge.com].
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, but that Deluxe model PS3 was probably a better gaming machine that a 2006 PC of the same price. A PS3 still holds it's own against that 300 dollar steambox. And what does he do on it...emulate. He'd have been better off plugging a CECHE model PS3 into that HDTV. His build doesn't even include an optical drive!
Besides what's the point of using an HTPC steambox if you're just going to play the same stuff that you can play on the PS3/360.
I'd be more impressed if people were playing STO, or DOTA/MOB
PS3/360 red light? Steam Greenlight. (Score:2)
Besides what's the point of using an HTPC steambox if you're just going to play the same stuff that you can play on the PS3/360.
Three reasons. First, not everyone's "just going to play the same stuff that you can play on the PS3/360". If you believe hairyfeet [slashdot.org], there are plenty of games on Steam that are optimized for HTPCs and unavailable on PS3 or 360. Second, even cross-platform games tend to be cheaper on Steam. Third, in countries that have Hulu or foreign counterparts, I'm told a lot of videos are still licensed for playback only on PCs, not "devices". Has this changed?
Re: (Score:3)
OnLive for local LAN, run from your own PC, you mean?
It would suffer the same problems as OnLive, plus others.
You would get more lag, especially with screen compression / decompression (which you would still need because otherwise people would moan that it's jerky on their 56Mbps wireless, etc.). Your CPU use on the machine playing the game would rise, cutting FPS (it would be similar to running FRAPS saving onto a remote network share, for instance). Your machine doing the receiving would need to be quit
They need to add media capabilities (Score:3)
They need to add the ability to browse my media library and access internet media content since gaming on a console is becoming secondary to media.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
and getting back to steam?
it needs to be part of the main UI, not part of the Game Library.
gamepad (Score:1)
Still quite rough (Score:1)
Big Picture is pretty, controller-friendly and, imo, a great user experience... or, it would be if:
a) it didn't flatline one of my cores whilst it's active
b) every single trailer on it didn't crash within a few seconds of starting. I'm not alone on this -- there's a (small) thread on the steam forums.
These problems have been here during the beta and persist now that it's live.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Can't wait to destroy some idiot trying to play CS with a pad.
Re: (Score:2)
YAY! Now our big fat asses can get even BIGGER!
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
This is a different UI for Steam
It's geared towards the 8' or 10' user (sitting on the couch), and accessible via Remote Control or Gamepad, instead of mouse.
It essentially cleans up your coffee table (removing the kb/mouse from being needed, unless the game you choose requires it)
I, as a person looking for a sim
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Did someone ask the internet for corrections? Here I am!
I read about it on the steam website. On the output side it has a "web browser for TVs" which is hardly a new idea and they never work. Just pump Chrome over that baby and it'll be fine.
The big deal on the steam website itself seems to be the input side... using a gamepad instead of a mouse and keyboard. Text entry via game pad sounds hideous.
Sincerely, "The Internet"
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Text entry via game pad sounds hideous
It is.
Co-Signed the XBox and PS3
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
have you tried smartglass for the xbox? i have it on my nexus 7, you can control the menu and type using the keyboard on the tablet.
damn i sound like a shill, maybe i should check my mailbox for a check when i get home. Im sure the app isnt perfect but it beats the heck out of the gamepad text entry.
Re: (Score:3)
Or you can just plug a freakin' keyboard into the Xbox 360. Or PS3. They both support them.
I used to leave one hooked up when playing one particular game that has you name each custom car you create. Heck of a lot easier that way.
Re: (Score:1, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
1999 called, it wants it's argument back.
There are these things called USB ports, they let you plug keyboards into them The PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii and Wii U all have them. There is also this thing called Bluetooth that also lets you connect keyboards wirelessly. There are also these things called "chatpads" which attach directly to the controller and are similar to keyboards on some cell phones.
Text entry on consoles hasn't been an issue in over 10 years.
Single-screen multiplayer (Score:5, Insightful)
[Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3] are for ppl too stupid to game on the PC so who cares?
Online play with strangers isn't enough for everyoen. Sometimes you want a game that supports single-screen multiplayer in case you have kids or in case your real-life friends are visiting your home but didn't happen to bring gaming laptops for a LAN party. Those are historically much more common on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 than on PC, despite that HDTVs can display PC video and PCs can use Xbox 360 controllers. Part of the goal of Big Picture is to encourage these kinds of games to be developed for PC, which would encourage people to buy a second living room PC that can play games from the Steam store (where Valve gets a cut) instead of a console that can play games from the console maker's store.
Re: (Score:2)
Two fishermen, one cod (Score:2)
Almost all of them require internet multiplayer
True, online multiplayer is more convenient for people who prefer to game in pick-up groups with strangers, and some publishers have been known to move multiplayer online to sell more copies to each household [cracked.com]. But Call of Duty series still allows two players per Xbox 360 console.
except for some pretty specific party games.
I think the point is to encourage PC ports of these party games. Right now, for example, fighting games that aren't Street Fighter 4 tend not to get ported to the PC. Where's the PC counterpart to platform fighters like Power Stone,
Re: (Score:2)
Aw, man, you had to go and remind me of Power Stone. I loved those games on the Dreamcast.
It's been almost 13 years since the last new Power Stone game. No, 'Card Fighters DS' doesn't count. C'mon, Capcom!
Re: (Score:2)
Out of the 59 'current gen' console games I have here, only eight have online-only multiplayer.
The rest either have local and online, local only, or are single-player games.
(I didn't count single-player games that just have minor online services like a leaderboard to be multi-player. After all, you can't actually play them WITH anyone.)
The only 'party games' I have are the Wii and WiiU pack-ins.
Re: (Score:2)
Not really true, most console games still have local multiplayer.
I think all party games do too rather than "pretty specific" ones, that's kind of the point of party games - they're for parties. I think just about all Kinect titles for example do, maybe only one or two that don't.
Re: (Score:2)
I think all party games do too rather than "pretty specific" ones, that's kind of the point of party games - they're for parties.
Perhaps NouberNou's point is that the whole genre of party games is "pretty specific", and there isn't enough demand for party games to justify development of party games by a company not large enough to qualify for a console license.
Re: (Score:2)
It is true that you can use an X-box gamepad on your PC, but unfortunately most games I have seen translate proportional motion commands into WASD keys, which is insane, especially considering the same game on the Xbox-360 interprets joysticks properly. Using a pair of proportional joysticks for motion and direction are the only advantage of gamepads over keyboard/mouse, so I am confounded by the inability to use them properly.
Re: (Score:2)
I can't actually remember the last XBOX game I bought that allowed same-screen play. Nintendo has been a little better about it, but most game developers have settled into a "your friends must buy it too" mentality.
Re: (Score:2)
I can't actually remember the last XBOX game I bought that allowed same-screen play.
Let me guess: you don't own any Call of Duty games, all of which support 2-player split-screen, or any fighting games, which support 2 or rarely 4 players without splitting the screen. Which genres do you prefer?
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah but those are for ppl too stupid to game on the PC so who cares?
That seems a funny thing to say when PC and console gamers are playing the same games.
Re: (Score:1)
They actually have a fairly good text entry method for gamepads called a flower. You point your analog stick in the direction of a leaf and press one of 4 gamepad buttons to select your character. This let's you quickly get to any character without scrolling.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1, Informative)
Are you really a complete moron or do you just play one on the internet? He's describing a text entry method. You know, with characters like A, B, C and so forth.
What the flower looks like (Score:3)
Great. So how do you perform the typing to name that character in the first place?
Using the flower. It shows eight groups of four letters and other punctuation. To enter each letter, you hold one of the eight directions and press a button. To see an example, look at this [examiner.com]. I'd add a diagram directly in this post, but Slashdot has a "lameness filter" against ASCII art.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:About .. eh.... time? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:About .. eh.... time? (Score:4, Funny)
Heaven forbid a company designing a UI that you might find useful, or, SHOCK HORROR, make your life easier. I mean, who wants things to be easier? In fact, Valve should force TV users to load all games via an 8pt comic sans font console that has pink writing on a white background, & ensure that the only input device allowed is a hacked Wii-mote.
The amount of bullshit wank you faux-geeks go on with is ridiculous. Any positive change to a device/piece of software & it's all "I could do that x years ago by gluing a piece of string to a tin can".
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It's a controller friendly ui for steam presented in a tv friendly format.
The chat ui is especially creative. It's a flower.
Re: (Score:2)
It makes you think they'll be bringing out more in this general direction, right? Like setting up for a console?
Re: (Score:2)
Of course there are ways to do it.
Now go try it. Squinting to read tiny text on your hi-res screen on the other side of the room. Sure, you can increase the font sizes etc. Now you have to window-manage, too. And you find that a lot of apps haven't thought about what happens when you increase the font size and the top menu of their menu can take up 10% of the screen (or 20+% if it wraps because the font is large enough).
And, sure, a keyboard would work. Until you realise that the programmers forgot to
Re: (Score:1)
Props to Valve for slightly improving their product and some how getting news websites everywhere to recognize this as revolutionary.
Perhaps they took lessons from Apple.
Re: (Score:1)
I was using dvi on my normal monitor just to test it.