>updated Steam Controller
>Steam Machine
>updated Index now called Steam Frame
So they're making a console but they are calling the machine and frame "PC" because they run steam OS, and calling it an "open ecosystem."
I mean if you can plug in a keyboard/mouse and do normal Linux stuff on it then yeah it is just a PC.
it is a PC and it's an open ecosystem since as you can run any third party software on it, i'm privy to any company that has software licensing as their bottom line, but i don't see anything particularly deceptive about their launch ad
The Year of Linux on the Desktop is nearly upon us, sisters…
>no price listed
Sussy
>>44878They decided "put phone in cardboard with lenses and provide no real standardized software beyond demos" was an acceptable cheap option, so they went all in on luxury VR.
>>44878the controller looks cool, but arent you in brazil or something? afaik valve doesnt officially distribute outside of yurop and the US, so it's really a big nothinburger for me, since i'm in mexico
>>44878>>the Steam brand overpriced VRthey haven't released prices
>>44883you can get a SteamDeck in MercadoLibre for like twice the price lmao
>>44884they're not giving away a "steam deck" powered VR for cheap
half life fans r in for a long couple of months lol
>>44888look up the pimax portal
Their first controller is uniquely useful to use the computer from the couch I'll admit
The controller looks decent I will say but the DRM-Box and the Virtual Boy 2.0 looks like its gonna meh at best
>>44890>>44891the controller would be barely a waste of money if it had a single big trackpad like the PS4/5 controller
AND it didn't had those stupid extra back buttons for using with your pinkie and ring finger
but alas it's just a worse PS5 controller and an ergonomic nightmare.
>>44893Alternatively, color it orange instead of bland dark grey.
>>44893>>44895g*mers are trying hard not to look like manchildren and Wii chic is
out!
>>44907>chicthats nowadays known as "millennial gray" lol
>>44908i was refering more to it being the logical conclusion of the NES philosophy of looking like a home computer. it strongly resembles a more sleek dvd player. i think considering this, the stark white case and prominent dvd slot are actually a nice touch, while the potruding buttons and rectangular case safe it from looking like an apple blob.
>>44885>you can get a SteamDeck in MercadoLibre for like twice the price lmaoyeah it sucks but i got a chinese PC handheld through FB marketplace, cant recommend that shit enough
>>44921What's the name and where can I buy it?
>>44913the first steam machine flopped so fucking hard
>>44894you 100% didn't hold a steam deck nor a PS4/PS5 controller in your hands
>>44935i actually own and hold a ps4 controller besides the hecking chonker that is the Xbox controller marketed towards the american public with fat hands.
and a single trackpad does the job just right, have you ever seen anyone say "gee i wish i had two mice to play on my own"?
and the pinkie buttons are the worst, it's like an actual teenager designed that with no idea of ergonomics, layouts or the market itself.
>>44936The ps4 controller has a good form factor and serviceable analog sticks, but the "dpad" buttons are a joke. Even though the newer xbox dpads are distractingly clicky, i can at least reliably get in quick diagonals with them.
>>44940> but the "dpad" buttons are a joke.That's their signature. I've always hated playstation D-Pad buttons. Felt like they were designed to hurt your fingers.
>>44940>>44941PS2 dpad was softer imo
but alas the good days are behind us
>>449431- that's a PC
2- i hate Valve
3- i hate Valve fanboys
>>44944>1- that's a PCAnd?
>>44944all consoles have been indistinguishable from pcs for about a decade already lol
>>44945>>44946You can get better mini-PCs for the same price or lower
same as the steam deck, specially outside of yurop and the US
>>44948Define "better". I don't care about consumer politics either way.
>>44949it's cheaper and actually small.
this Steam Machine 2.0 is more of an attempt at psyopping console players into buying a PC again, that's why it's meant to be bigger, to trick them into thinking it's a console.
and quite hopefully it'll *probably* flop because Steam is underestimating the console players parasocial relationship with the companies behind their consoles, and Valve meatriders already own a PC.
>>44950>Steam is underestimating the console players parasocial relationship with the companies behind their consolesThis. Nintendo mascots are like Hindu gods. Steam has a gazillion games, but what's the Valve identity, the Valve universe, is it Portal (also available on X-Box, Switch…)? Valve should have story-lines like wrestling does you know, imagine Valve managers insulting and cucking each other and having fist fights, all shared widely over social media, and then mayyyybe I would care.
>>44943It's going to be priced like a PC and not a console, so valve doesn't step on Microsoft and Sonys toes.
Therefore, there is no point in using this pre built with immutable OS over what you already have.
>>44952>over what you already havei have an old IBM thinkpad :)
>>44936the trackpads on the deck, and by extension the new controller, are insanely useful actually, not only are they ACTUALLY PUT AT A POSITION WHERE IT'S ACCESSIBLE FOR YOUR THUMBS, unlike the PS4/PS5, but stuffing them with inputs is great, I made myself an input layout in TF2 on the deck where I use the left trackpad for voicelines and the right one for quick weapon switch
also, as for the back buttons, I had a phase with my deck where I would aim with trackpad + gyro, the back buttons came clutch because I bound them to the face buttons so I didn't need to move my thumb from the pad
>>44952>It's going to be priced like a PC and not a console, so valve doesn't step on Microsoft and Sonys toes. top of the line consoles are nowadays priced pretty much on par with PCs
>>44956I feel like it would be wrong to say it'll be the same price as a steam deck, where the base price is 400 usd.
it'll be more than the ps5 which starts at 500 usd, because sony at least has the privilege of lowering the price for the hardware and making up for the rest with software and online access.
and valve doesn't want to kill the console ecosystem because all of those console exclusives will make it to steam anyway.
I personally don't understand why you'd want a console level computer, with only 1 display port, 16gb of ram and 8gb vram out of box, and an os that will support only the gpu and cpu that comes with it, when you could just build your own and install arch yourself.
>>44957I think the appeal is supposed to be that it fills the niche of a console but is an open ecosystem that can play whatever, run emulators, do other stuff. I think that to understand the thinking here you have to look at it in terms of a Linux/SteamOS console rather than a PC. As a console:
<hardware is all-in-one and ready to go<form factor is portable<ecosystem of natively supported peripherals<saves on extraneous features not dedicated to games like extra output ports or the built in screen/keyboard of a laptop<simple enough for children to useConsoles have basically been specialized PCs for a while now, this is kind of a logical endpoint for that.
Also don't forget Microsoft is discontinuing windows 10 which means this could be an attractive option for people who are jaded about windows and looking to switch to a linux based system.
>>44954sounds like a nasty solution to a problem that a standard controller layout like that isn't meant to solve, i could map my PS4 controller to do the same and it'd still be subpar because TF2 wasn't made with controllers in mind.
>>44959it is NOT portable, half of it's space is taken by the fan radiator which would make sense on a design PC not a mid-end-ish PC in a box.
you can already tell the average consoomer of this is going to be soyjak looking middle class redditors who worship Gabe Newell and can afford to waste money on a glorified PC
>>44957AFAIK Sony is not selling consoles at a loss anymore, if the price point is between 600 and 700 it'll be competing with the PS5Pro. I get your point about why not get a computer but it's sort of the same thing with consoles anyway. It seems to me that the value proposition here is attempting to convert users that bought into steam through the steam deck, and I don't even think they'll ramp up production until that niche is secured. My bet is that this thing will be constantly out of stock because of small production batches, a strategy that worked for the steam deck
>>44942>the good days are behind usFun story, if you ever tried the xbox 360 dpad, you will know it lowkey sucks, but it's actually one of the best construction-wise. The button actually has the wrong dimensions, making it chafe against the south end of the socket, something that was only ever fixed in some gold anniversary edition model. If you open up the controller and pop a circular, thin, soft piece of cardboard on the rubber, the dpad button will sit securely in the center though and move as snappily as a slightly padded analog.
>>44942>but alas the good days are behind usYou're such a drama queen lol. This is the golden era of third party controllers, you can get a 8bitdo ultimate for like 20 bucks you can do dpad circles on that one. Remember how heinous third party controllers used to be? No more, the Chinese have broken the market, and you can get really good controllers for cheap
>>44960
>"sounds like a nasty solution to a problem that a standard controller layout like that isn't meant to solve">what was mentioned was a use case where the steam controller makes a more pleasant controller experience on a game made for KBM, because that's literally its purposecongrats you've proven your opinion is insignificant in this matter
>i could map my PS4 controller to do the same and it'd still be subpar because TF2 wasn't made with controllers in mindno, it would be subpar because the trackpad placement on the DS4 is ass, as it requires you to move your hand out of the usual comfortable hand placement
>>44964only 19 years too late
>>44967i wouldn't use the trackpad, i'd use gyro like a normal person.
>>44966meh, only controllers that catch my eye are homemade 3D printed ones although idk what you can do out of that if you don't own a 3D printer and a place to distribute the ones you make considering is cheaper if you buy the parts in bulk
>>44969The switch aftermarket controller i got was quite good. It had almost like larger and more weighty version of the ds buttons.
The notion of using a controller as your primary input device is wild to me, because it's a long way from what video game input devices are designed to be good at. While both are more pleasant with a bit of depth and some feedback, for video games lack of resistance on fast inputs will always win out over tactility, making membrane buttons the only viable choice. For long computing sessions you ideally want your inputs as tactile as possible, not only to avoid the mental load of not knowing whether your presses register, but also because classic mechanical switches, which to depress requires a fair bit of force, paradoxically are the least taxing to use over long periods.
>>44970agreed: able-bodied controller players need to get gyropilled already
>>44970how about allow console babbys to have aim assist but make them visible to everyone with Xray vision
>>44970the only thing it will do is make people run games u.der linux,which will increase cheaters by 500% at least because a "casual" player could set it up easily
>>44976just make anticheat that works with linux?
>>44977make an anticheat that doxxes you if your IP repeatedly cheats in games
>>44976ironically the steam machines indeed open the possibility of these intrusive kernel-level anticheat measures games use nowadays, there's no reason why valve cant develop them since it's their own first party OS. certain games being only supported within steamOS but not on under other linux distros is a fair possibility in the near future.
>>44979just a problem with that; Valve has it's own Anticheat, and it's dogshit
add to the list the rumors of steam moderators being in cahoots with cheaters, and also scammers, that last one is almost confirmed.
>>44982Most anti-cheat is complete dogshit and are just completely unable to do anything to stop pixelbots running on 5 bucks arduino boards but I think Valve could open up third party anti-cheat software like vanguard by providing ring 0 access to developers and having hardware integrity checks, making them a step above consumer PCs but a step below consoles. That's the power of OEM hardware and why Valve is trying so hard to push their steam machines.
>>44991Just buy our upcoming steam™ keyboard&mouse bro
>>44995looks chunky, has no trackpad and it probably gets recognized as an Xbox controller if you're lucky.
also i doubt it has gyro.
not saying is bad, but i picked a PS4 controller for a reason
>>44997This one on the pic is the ultimate 2c and fits in my girl's hands which are ridiculously small, it comes with a dongle, accepts also BT and you don't have to do anything. Works on my arch machine too btw.
>>44998i think my main concern when buying a controller was the playstation layout, it's just what i'm used to and never had much of an interest in memorizing the Xbox one, i mostly just remembered which button did what by muscle memory. but when games start getting collored inputs and such on screen i get a bit disoriented.
under communism we need to have a standarized button layour cus g'damn having more than 1 is stupid.
>this prebuilt sucks when you can get something so much better by wasting a lot of time and even more money on building your own gaymen rig!!!!!!!!!
ok cool idrc
>>44995The OG steam controller is the last time anyone tried something new in gaming controls. It was definitely not on par with kb/m like they claimed, but it was a step up over dual analog sticks. It's such a fucking shame it got patent trolled out of existence. I miss the haptic nipples.
>>44997PS3 Controller was peak.
>>45005i hate that layout even more now thanks
>>45006It's an SNES controller with dualshock ergonomics and stick placement. When yoy say layout you mean the button layout? Do you need to look at your controller to know that to press?
>>45005Is it worth it to get one of these 8bitdo controllers over something like a ps5 controller for pc?
>>45007only when it's not a PS controller tbh
i can make muscle memory of the button prompts but i associate the red button with O and when i see an X i think of the button in the bottom
i know where the Xbox buttons are but my brain still can still get confused in the heat of the game
>>45008Yeah they're a fraction of the cost and they're pretty good
>>45008I have one and it's basically the only way to have cheap controllers with more buttons than normal
>>45008The dualsense is a garbage controller without hall effect or tmr, and it has a shit battery life. If you want a high polling rate and gyro you buy a more expensive third party controller.
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