It’s been a long time coming, but Valve’s announced that Big Picture Mode for Steam is finally out of beta.
A Valve moderator on the Steam forums has recently confirmed that the Steam Deck's UI will be replacing Steam's Big Picture mode.
Everyday Digitals - The idea of being able to play games on the couch from arguably the best gaming platform on the market sounds great. In fact many people are already do just that. But instead of the plug & play usability of a gaming console, serious PC gamers for years have setup their computers in the living room and ran an HDMI or other, more elaborate setups out to their TVs in order to get the lean back experience. Valve made that experience more user-friendly last year by releasing a version of Steam with tweaked UI to better suit couch surfers and controllers. The release of "Big Picture Mode" was an obvious signal that Steam was vying for a more permanent spot in the living room.
hmm he has a point this isn't going to convert any PC gamers- and I can't see it having the exclusives to draw people to it-when it will have pretty much the same specs as ps4/next xbox- hmmm although if Valve say made half life 3 etc excluisve.... but I doubt they will tbh? :p
I don't know...I have a big game collection on Steam, and it's just gathering digital dust, because I can't be bothered to get home from work, where I sat in front of a computer, and sit in front of another computer to play games. I play much more on my PS3 and 360 nowadays...if the Steambox has a decent performance, price, ease of use and, more importantly, a great controller that can allow me to play RTS games too, I might buy it and start PC gaming again.
I know everyone will say: "but you can connect your PC to your TV", but my computer is very big and heavy, and my living room just doesn't have any more space. It's just not practical to me. I think the Steambox is geared towards guys like me. The question is: how many of us are in the world?
I just hooked my laptop to my TV via HDMI last night for the first time and was playing STALKER.... why does a Steam Box even exist?
As we return from an unintentional break we face the ridiculous amount of comment backup we have caused, we talk about what Valve's Big Picture Mode means for the future of the service, and wish THQ a fond farewell.
I've been using it since beta, it's awesome. Steambox FTW!