Steam sharing beta. Exactly what it says on the tin - by Phatose
Renzatic on 27/9/2013 at 21:26
Quote Posted by NuEffect
I'd have been happier with HL3 but Valve are just... they're off on one. I'm loving the scope of this vision.
Comeon, you know they're gonna hold onto HL3 until they absolutely have no other choice but to talk about it. They're a bunch of evil teases is what they are.
In fact, I'm willing to bet it's announced the same day as L4D3 so they can say "the 3 you've all been waiting for...that's right...Left 4 Dead"! Then they'll go on talking about it, crushing all our hopes of getting some info for yet another year, and then...
"Oh, and here's Half-Life 3".
Then they'll show two seconds of gameplay footage and leave it at that.
Quote Posted by Fafhrd
Having to switch controllers depending on what game I'm playing is a pretty big problem. Especially when they're touting this as being designed to play everything that's available on Steam now and in the future.
Depending on how clicky the left disc is, and how much travelling your thumb as to do to perform an action, it
could work for 2D sidescrollers. There, it's all about haptic feedback and immediate response. It has to feel like you're using it, giving some amount of resistance to your actions. If it's just a smooth surface you're sliding your thumb around on, it won't work nearly as well.SubJeff on 27/9/2013 at 22:02
The only games that you really need a d-pad for are 2D side-scrollers and beat-em ups. The left track pad is unlikely to have as much precision for this as the a d-pad simply because of the digital nature of a d-pad.
3rd person games are another thing altogether though - the dual trackpads would work just fine as mouse and keyboard replacements. In fact this new controller would be a halfway house - the left trackpad is like an analogue stick and the right one like a mouse; it's not mouse and keyboard, it's mouse and analogue stick.
Dresden on 27/9/2013 at 23:10
Damn, this controller is weird. How would you play something like Megaman where you need a jump and shoot button next to each other? I just can't imagine that without the traditional diamond positioned buttons.
Pyrian on 27/9/2013 at 23:33
Do the people who're complaining about the lack of diamond buttons know that there are buttons under the controller, where your fingers naturally are? The diamond never struck me as a good idea - you're typically taking your thumb off of one of the sticks to access it. This allows you to access those buttons while still using both thumb pads.
A touchpad doesn't really stand up to a mouse, sadly. Hopefully better than a thumbstick? Or else what's the point? The ridged circle thing is so foreign to me, I can't come to any conclusion as to how well it'll play.
WASD was never a great system either, and doesn't stand up to a thumbstick. Hmm. Do any FPS's support mouse + joystick?
Phatose on 28/9/2013 at 00:25
Looks like a thumb stick competitor. The fact that they're trying to sell it as equivalent to a mouse is a bad omen though.
Fafhrd on 28/9/2013 at 00:28
Quote Posted by Pyrian
Do the people who're complaining about the lack of diamond buttons know that there are buttons under the controller, where your fingers naturally are?
There are two paddles. Assume the triggers and shoulder buttons are mapped to the regular trigger and shoulder buttons, and map X and Y to the paddles and A and B to the A and B face buttons. That's still a really awkward configuration when you have to hit A and B simultaneously.
Quote:
WASD was never a great system either, and doesn't stand up to a thumbstick. Hmm. Do any FPS's support mouse + joystick?
Most do. RBJ is a huge proponent of using a controller+mouse combo for Thief (and other FPSes), since it gives you analog movement and the aiming precision of the mouse. I've tried it and it works pretty well, but there were some control mapping issues that I ultimately decided weren't worth putting up with.
Jason Moyer on 28/9/2013 at 05:10
Quote Posted by Phatose
Looks like a thumb stick competitor. The fact that they're trying to sell it as equivalent to a mouse is a bad omen though.
As far as I can tell from their pitch, they can be configured to work like touchpads on a laptop.
Jason Moyer on 28/9/2013 at 05:33
Aerothorn posted this over on FB and I have a feeling it will be relevant to SteamOS:
(
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7371/understanding-amds-mantle-a-lowlevel-graphics-api-for-gcn)
As awesome as the idea of SteamOS and Steam machines are, I find it really hard to imagine them being competitive with the XBone/PS4 even with superior hardware because of the operating system overhead and inefficiency of OpenGL. If something like Mantle would allow SteamOS games to directly access the graphics hardware that would be a huge win for PC gaming, imho.
