darthbator

Return of the Steam Box!

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I don't know if this will help or if this product is available in your region, but The Wirecutter's recommendation of a wireless HDMI transmitter sounded pretty solid and inexpensive -

 

http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/the-best-wireless-hdmi-video-transmitter/

 

Of course, that still doesn't solve the problem of input devices that you had but may be useful in a projector home theater setup.

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Pro: Steam Machine prototypes shipping on Friday, about three hours until the beta participants are notified. SteamOS is releasing same time units ship, presumably this Friday or very soon.

 

Con: Little bit of a bait and switch with this beta program, turns out the 300 prototypes will only be going to US beta testers due to regulatory hurdles. Sorry, most of you guys.

 

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamuniverse/announcements/detail/1930088300965516570

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My hopes and dreams! Crushed!! THANKS FOR RUINING CHRISTMAS, VALVE! I mean, ALL HAIL VALVE, the saviours of PC gaming!

 

They know where I live now.  :zoid:

  
 
I think 2014 is going to be a wonderful year!

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Land of free and home of the brave, melon farmer. I am, as the name implies, Irish but I live in Kentucky were men are men and bourbon flows like wine. The wine of freedom.

 

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Okay, maybe I'm a terrible person, but I saw the US only announcement and immediately thought "Wooo!  Now it's like a 1 in a thousand chance of getting one instead of a 1 in 1500 chance!"

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That's understandable but still a little unfortunate. Does it perhaps show that Valve is new to the hardware business, that they didn't realize the hurdles until the program was well underway? I feel the correct compensation would be to make Steam Machines 20% cheaper in the rest of the world than they will be in the US. As a sign of good faith.

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I recently built a PC (with a nice microATX case) to play PC games on in my living room and I've got a pretty comfortable set up going. I have it set up to boot right into Steam Big Picture Mode and I am using a wireless keyboard + mouse with a lapdesk-type thing from my couch. I have the receiver for the KB+M plugged into a USB extension cable which I've set up on the end of my entertainment center to help reduce the chance of any latency. I've been playing games like this for over a week now and even with shooters I'm not noticing any serious input lag.

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Less than 30 minutes to go until the lottery winners beta participants are notified!

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Good news guys, I'm in the beta. Oh, sorry, I mean I'm in a beta. Not the Steam one, though.

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Did anyone win? Are you prevented by NDA from saying so?

 

A few people have posted that they got the email in a thread on Steam, and any account that got into the beta gets a new, unique badge, which is publicly visible, so you can verify if someone claims they got in.   And those people have the new badge.

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I think my spam filter must have eaten the email. Yeah, that must be it, and not the astronomically low odds.

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Screw that huge box! We get to try out SteamOS soon, woo!

 

I didn't even finish the beta survey, because where the fuck do I get a decent controller that actually works well with Mac??

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I love that Valve is saying that even though SteamOS is released soon, only hardcore Linux programmers will be able to install it. Everyone else: please wait until somewhere in 2014. We're still releasing it now though. For the nerds.

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Screw that huge box! We get to try out SteamOS soon, woo!

 

I didn't even finish the beta survey, because where the fuck do I get a decent controller that actually works well with Mac??

 

Hmm. I've not had to wrestle with it myself but do the usual Steam-approved range of Logitech F3/F5/F710 and Xbox 360 wired / wireless controllers throw up problems?

 

The Logitechs have a Direct Input switch and there are drivers available for the 360 pads, so says macgamepads.com

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I only have a wireless 360 pad, which definitely doesn't work. I should buy a wired one, but I'm too cheap. And Logitech, I don't know.. aren't they a bit shit? They probably work, though. But the feel? How is it?

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I vaguely remember there being an OS X driver out there for the Xbox 360 dongle, no? May even be something out there for using a PS3 controller via bluetooth. I have no recollection at all how that actually worked with games though. 

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There are third-party drivers for the Wireless Receiver on Mac, yeah. Logitech controllers actually feel pretty nice, in my opinion. However, they do have the PS3 button configuration (no offset analog sticks) so that might be a hurdle. Otherwise, they look and feel pretty nice, even having the same colorization of the XYAB buttons of the 360 controller. I've also briefly used the Razer Onza Tournament Edition on PC and it felt way better than the standard 360 controller, but I don't know what the driver situation is for Mac on that one.

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