Valve Unveils Big Picture Mode, Now in Beta
You'll finally be allowed to have Steam on your TV.
While there won't be a "Steam box" any time soon, you'll still be able to experience your Steam library on your TV with Steam's Big Picture Mode.
Valve released a trailer giving a few details of Big Picture Mode's beta.
At first glimpse, it seems that Steam's Big Picture Mode, which can be accessed with a simple click on an appropriately labeled transparent bubble, simplifies Steam's interface to be tile-like (think Xbox Live) to be more easily navigable with a controller.
Big Picture Mode will retain all of Steam's features, including the browser, which will feature tabbed browsing and cloud-saved favorites. Typing with Big Picture Mode has—thankfully—been simplified. Shunning the QWERTY layout, typing on Steam in Big Picture Mode involves the Daisywheel, where four letters are assigned to the four face buttons. Every letter is grouped into four and displayed in a wheel, and each grouping can be cycled between using the d-pad or analog sticks.
For more details, go to Steam's official page for Big Picture Mode.
Althought, the web browser wasn't doing well on youtube...
Better than nothing!!!!!
Does this mean gaming will be easier now on HDTVs? That's the only thing I like about consoles tbh. The ease of using them with an HDTV. With an HPTC I always have to play with the DPI and whatnot.
I do interface design work for a living (almost a year working from home, woo!) and was underwhelmed by the big picture mode beta. I hoped from all the talk of wanting to simplify and comfort the pc user that they would have put in a decent effort, guess not..
Gabe can cry all he wants about windows and Microsoft, but I think he should consider crying over his own company and it's lack of progress or innovation in regards to Steam. Either they are too big and relaxing at the top, or they're work model of doing whatever you want fails for boring features. Code monkey's are important for this, you need a shit-kicker to do low work for highly requested features like the Scheduler system for scheduled downloads! I mean it's not like that hasn't been requested for over a decade right? Who is honestly going to pick that task over adding their favourite new gameplay mechanic to Source?
If I wasn't juggling contracts and working on my next game I would create my vision of Steam, I was hoping Big Picture would implement some of my ideas so now that it's clear it's not I might try to clear time later this year.
Jerry.
Honestly, until you or someone else can provide a better service Steam will suffice.
Improvement doesn't happen by running ones mouth, but by taking action.
This is just one small step for Steam and their generally well-received services.
Already have too many steam games that are unplayable because of being controller based even on the PC version
Also... how many PC games do you have that use a gamepad? :\
Way too many. Console ports are all the rage with cash focused publishers!
If you think you could do better you should step up, until then you just sound like a big crybaby
Despite all the flag you're getting I have to agree with you. Valve's been exceptionally lazy with regards to the ui. The search feature in the library is useless, the search in the shop is marginally better and even the simplest of options is missing and has been for years. For native english speakers most of the steam service is viable, but if you're german or french or something you're even worse of.
However. I am reasonably capable of english and sufficiently technically inclined to find workarounds for most of the steam issues except for the shop filters.
There is moaning about someone elses work, then there is saying "If I wasn't so busy I would do it myself", well with 50 million customers at stake he is just running his mouth off. He shouldn't say he can do a better job, he should do a better job, then he can lord it over us with his first billion dollars instead of being a bleeding heart
I haven't got the slightest doubt that I could do a better job than whoever did the steam ui, so I'm confident so could that dude. I can't concentrate long enough to actually make it a working product though, but I definetly know ways to improve the functionality without adding complexity.
I won't claim that I'll do it, cause frankly nobody will be allowed to. Valve doesn't allow for third party clients and they don't want to read feedback on their own forums.
...
The march of progress is never fast, for anyone, even for Microsoft or Apple it seems like even the smallest improvements happen over long time periods, this feature is good, but not epoch making by any means, but any progress is good as it gives us all a chance to absorb it and get used to it before the next minor improvement is made but also if the feature is not received well it can be improved or moved accordingly
...
I already use Steam on the TV and sitting 10 feet away as opposed to 2 feet away is a huge difference
I'm not nessecarily talking radical design changes.
A radical change would be to have a library of 3rd party libraries and runtimes so it wouldn't try to install directx and vc2008 every time you install a new product but only for the first one using a specific library. I have 600+ titles. Imagine how many dxsetup's and .net 3.5 installations I might have in my common folder.
More info:
setup - http://store.steampowered.com/bigpicture/setup
site - http://store.steampowered.com/bigpicture/