Return of the Steam Box!

[osmosisch]

I miss that sloth, JonCole

[Roderick]

It's JonCole! I didn't even recognize you, I thought you were a goddamn newcomer! What the hell do you think you're doing?

[JonCole]

You guys are ridiculous. 

 

Just got this cartoon face drawn of myself so I figured I'd put it to use as a new avatar in all of my various social channels. A brief show of vanity, I suppose.

[Irishjohn]

You guys are ridiculous. 

 

Just got this cartoon face drawn of myself so I figured I'd put it to use as a new avatar in all of my various social channels. A brief show of vanity, I suppose.

 

Well I for one am horrified. I mean, that's what I did too.

[elmuerte]

So did I

[osmosisch]

Same!

[elmuerte]

And me

[Twig]

Me too.

[BigJKO]

Sure.

[Roderick]

...And my axe!

[Badfinger]

I thought I was the only one!

[Erkki]

The what now?

 

I wonder if Apple's new cylindrically-shaped Mac Pros could function as Steam Machines... Not that I could afford one for that purpose, but they look really cool.

[JonCole]

The what now?

 

I wonder if Apple's new cylindrically-shaped Mac Pros could function as Steam Machines... Not that I could afford one for that purpose, but they look really cool.

 

The only issue I can imagine is Linux driver compatibility, otherwise they are Intel machines that should theoretically work just fine.

[Erkki]

Seems they have workstation graphics cards, which are not meant for gaming (or maybe there'll be an option with gaming cards).

[Irishjohn]

I feel like in this day and age using a Mac Pro to stream illegal feeds of Bundesliga football in an elaborate palace would be the ultimate statement of proud decadence. I mean, that or a gold iPhone I guess.

[Lu]

Controller demo.

 

[Twig]

I'm content with what I see there! FPS controls don't look sluggish there like they usually do when using a controller. Just imprecise. Which is most likely just a matter of getting used to it.

 

Only thing I want now is proof the haptic feedback is a godsend.

[Ucantalas]

I'm pleasantly surprised at how responsive it looks. I am getting more and more excited about it.

[Dewar]

Looks great for Portal, still not sold on using it for things like Civ.

[Gormongous]

Looks great for Portal, still not sold on using it for things like Civ.

 

Yeah. While it looks more responsive than I expected, I just watch that right thumb scrolling and scrolling and scrolling. My own thumb starts to ache. The wrist-operated mouse has the muscles of the entire arm and shoulder backing it up. The thumb-operated gamepad just has the thumb. Because of that, I'm not convinced that the controller going to be better than an acceptable substitute for mouse-driven games like this.

[sclpls]

I still want to see someone playing like Supreme Commander with this thing. That game was a really good case study in how awful controllers are for certain types of PC games.

[Lu]

Yeah. While it looks more responsive than I expected, I just watch that right thumb scrolling and scrolling and scrolling. My own thumb starts to ache. The wrist-operated mouse has the muscles of the entire arm and shoulder backing it up. The thumb-operated gamepad just has the thumb. Because of that, I'm not convinced that the controller going to be better than an acceptable substitute for mouse-driven games like this.

 

He said that the Portal 2 thing was set up for 1:1 mouse look movement. I'm sure you could have it emulate thumbstick movement too if your pansy thumb gets tired? Rather impressive when you consider that this could work with any shooter without controller support.

[Nappi]

Seems to quite nicely, though I probably still wouldn't use it for really fast paced FPS or RTS games. I'm interested to see how well it works for traditionally face button heavy games like Rayman or Spelunky or something.

[elmuerte]

I'm not convinced about FPS controls

[SecretAsianMan]

I'm curious about that thing they showed during Papers Please with the two track pads acting like one.  It makes me think of Jake's question about multitouch on the pads.