• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Steam's Big Picture Mode beta starts Monday Sep 10th [out now]

Dr. Zoidberg said:
Is there going to be a standard QWERTY OSK option? Because I've used the "lotus" style input methods before and I hated them. There's a reason why this has been done before and abandoned. A lot of people don't want to relearn this sort of thing, even if it is faster.
Click to expand...

Yep, I'd much rather just have the standard 360/PS3 style layout. I hope there's an option to use it at least.
 
HoosTrax said:
Windows doesn't support that yet. Or I should say, Microsoft hasn't bothered adding support for it. I think someone here made an driver for it but it doesn't work on the wireless 360 pad.

If someone could get on that and get it working, I'd donate to the cause.

I've been doing some digging, and it sounds like the Sixaxis version works fine on PC, but obviously, no GUI interfaces for PC games are really tailored towards Sixaxis button style. The Sixaxis doesn't have as much developer support (actually none) on PC, and as you can see, the button prompts on BPM are for 360 style.
Click to expand...
I am the person who made a driver based on research other people had done (http://code.google.com/p/chatpad-super-driver/). Beware of bugs though, I never made it polished enough.

I think it was specifically requested that the big XBox button be mappable to shift-tab so the Steam overlay would come up, and as far as I know that worked. Unfortunately yes, I still have the wireless controller lying around and still haven't tried to reverse engineer it. :(
 
I love it. UI looks excellent and the "lotus" virtual keyboard looks really intuitive.

The one thing that I hope Valve can do is make it easy for users who have their PC hooked up up to a monitor as well as a TV (extended desktop). Hopefully they can add an option to tell Steam where to output the Big Picture Mode interface.

Hopefully most of us can get into the beta for more info.
 
ari said:
So like....is this a pc or a box like Netflix?

Because I was thinking about investing in HTPC with gaming capabilities.
Click to expand...

neither. you buy/build a PC and install Steam. This is an interface option that makes it more convenient to navigate your steam games collection when sitting on a sofa 10ft from your TV, using a gamepad (something like the 360 controller)
 
I wonder if they're only going to have native 360 controller support. Also noticed the power button in the corner. Would be sweet to be able to put it to sleep and then start up whenever you use the controller.
 
I love how none of the onscreen keyboard methods mentioned are like Valves. They similar because they're circular, but all of them require scrolling over a single letter to select it. Sonya's is the closest approach, although not as convenient looking as Valve's.

Anyway I need this. C'mon Valve, release it!
 
The picture of icefrog is a nice touch.

We still don't know who he is :(.


Looks like an awesome feature, I won't get much use out of it since I don't have the right setup for it + all the games I play pretty much require M/KB (not that I think you can't play mkb on big picture mode, just that I would find it kind of hard to do without another table in front of me). It would be awesome to one day go through my log of games and replay them in big picture mode with a controller.

It would be neat if there was some sort of server setup on tf2 that enforced controller usage, I don't know how it would be enforceable though, its easy to mask usb devices.
 
That controller keyboard looks amazing...makes me wonder why no one else has come up with this on the console front. Argh, just realized I'm going to need some sort of USB extender since my controller won't reach to my couch =\
 
:lol at "Seriously EA?" on the reddit page :D
just a coincedence, probably. Also, no signs of Half Life 3 apparently. :(

I'm ready Valve, I just bought Sleeping Dogs and ready to connect my laptop to my 42" TV. I'm also sure that this will make me build an exclusively Steam-PC permanently hooked to my TV, it's just a matter of time.
 
I wonder if we're gonna use the browser mode for the community/store. Would love to see unique uis for each but it seems like a lot of work.
 
grkazan12 said:
I love it. UI looks excellent and the "lotus" virtual keyboard looks really intuitive.

The one thing that I hope Valve can do is make it easy for users who have their PC hooked up up to a monitor as well as a TV (extended desktop). Hopefully they can add an option to tell Steam where to output the Big Picture Mode interface.

Hopefully most of us can get into the beta for more info.
Click to expand...

This is also what I'm wondering about. But I forgot to post about it.:P I would be impressed if Valve nails this aspect.
 
Also I wonder if this will update the in-game browser as well, since you can see they added favorites and some other things to this. Would be awesome if it worked in-game as well.
 
where about do you sign up for the beta for this?

My pc has been running through my tv's for over 4 years and I have been using xbmc.

Looks promising this though.
 
Wait wait wait....

Does netflix work from inside the steam browser?!?!?!?!?

I so desperately want a mouseless netflix interface for the PC. The WMC plugin sucks ass.
 
Interfectum said:
So because someone made a homebrew version of it a decade ago Valve shouldn't be applauded for making it a vital part of their Steam Big Picture mode where no one else has over the years?
Click to expand...

it shouldn't be applauded as something groundbreaking or as if it was their own idea because it isn't.

here it is:

QEnks.jpg


interface is a bit different but the concept is the same. you turn the analog stick and press the color coded button to type the letter.
it an homebrew web browser for the Xbox 1.

:)
 
Yoritomo said:
Wait wait wait....

Does netflix work from inside the steam browser?!?!?!?!?

I so desperately want a mouseless netflix interface for the PC. The WMC plugin sucks ass.
Click to expand...

That would be great but Netflix would need a more friendly UI for couch surfing...well I suppose it depends on the size of your TV
 
I have a question. I have my PC connected to my TV but the windows is "cloned". Its not that good, since my PC has a resolution of 1680 while my TV has 1920*1080p.

Could the BPM maybe let me choose the Screen I wanna play on, while the other screen just shows the desktop?
 
I really wouldn't mind Valve overhauling the look of the Steam client to match Big Picture mode. The 2010 overhaul remains pretty goddamn ugly, with unsightly gradients all over the place. Big Picture Mode looks like it was actually designed by someone who knows what an aesthetically pleasing UI looks like.

I realize there are skins, but I'm not a fan of having to find (or wait for) the latest version if Valve updates Steam. There are also only a few that I can tolerate, and a lot of them are too dark for my tastes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Pillars of Eternity – Turn-Based Mode Beta Announcement Trailer
2
59
766
Mister Wolf replied
Vampire Survivors VR - out now
33
501
Gameplay Gods Bless replied
Ghost of Yotei Huge Patch 1.1 Out Now on PS5, Adds New Game+, VRR, New Balance Mode, and More
News  2
60
2K
Kvally replied
Yooka-Replaylee out now, steam discount available for original owners
10
326
keefged4 replied
SteamOS 3.7.5 for Steam Deck now in Beta with big upgrades and initial support for more hardware
0
665
jshackles replied
Top Bottom