Joystiq

Valve's Gabe Newell talks 'turnkey' living room hardware

Mike Suszek — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 18:00:00 EST

With the recent launch of Steam Big Picture, it hasn't taken long for the words "Steam Box" to enter the collective gaming community's brain space. Valve boss Gabe Newell reignited that discussion when speaking on the red carpet at last night's Video Game Awards ceremony about the company's plans to enter the hardware business.

Newell told Kotaku that he sees multiple companies entering the hardware space, and that "most customers and most developers are gonna find that [the PC is] a better environment for them." His reasoning is that consumers "won't have to split the world into thinking about 'why are my friends in the living room, why are my video sources in the living room different from everyone else?' So in a sense we hopefully are gonna unify those environments."

The Valve boss suggested that companies would launch PC bundles in 2013 designed to run Steam in the living room and compete with next gen consoles. Newell added that Valve is one of those companies, and its efforts may not be as open-source as some might expect:

"Well certainly our hardware will be a very controlled environment. If you want more flexibility, you can always buy a more general purpose PC. For people who want a more turnkey solution, that's what some people are really gonna want for their living room. The nice thing about a PC is a lot of different people can try out different solutions, and customers can find the ones that work best for them."

Valve's Gabe Newell talks 'turnkey' living room hardware originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 08 Dec 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Steam Big Picture is live, weeklong sale on controller-friendly games

Jessica Conditt — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 13:45:00 EST

Steam Big Picture, the mode that transforms Steam into a big-screen service easily controllable with a gamepad, is officially live now, following a beta that began in September. To celebrate, a range of games that fully support controllers are on sale through December 10 at 10 a.m. PT, some for up to 75 percent off.

A few games on sale are Tiny and Big: Grandpa's Leftovers, Castle Crashers, Portal 2 (now with split-screen), Left 4 Dead 2, A Virus Named Tom and Mark of the Ninja. There are more than 30 games on sale, all of them featuring full controller support.

Steam breaks down games into full and partial controller support: There are 41 games with full support and 387 with partial, though on the Big Picture sale page Steam lists 70 with full and 851 with partial, so there may be some hiding in the rafters. All games are accessible in Big Picture mode, though not all support gamepads, of course.

Continue reading Steam Big Picture is live, weeklong sale on controller-friendly games

Steam Big Picture is live, weeklong sale on controller-friendly games originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 03 Dec 2012 13:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New York Times: Steam Big Picture public beta starts Monday

Jordan Mallory — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 21:00:00 EST

Last August, we found out that Steam's Big Picture interface would be moving into its beta phase "soon," but we never expected it would be, like, soon. It is Valve after all, and we never figured that Big Picture's public beta would happen in our lifetimes, let alone on Monday, September 10, like the New York Times says.

For those of you who haven't been following this song's bouncing ball, allow us to refresh your memory: Steam's Big Picture interface is a custom UI designed specifically to make Valve's all-encompassing digital storefront more user-friendly on televisions. It's being designed with controller-based navigation in mind and would represent Valve's first formal step into the living room. Whether Monday's testing is truly public or invitation based like its Community beta remains to be seen.

New York Times: Steam Big Picture public beta starts Monday originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 08 Sep 2012 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Steam 'Big Picture' beta coming soon

David Hinkle — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 01:33:00 EST

On tonight's episode of GTTV, Valve's Gabe Newell revealed that a beta for Big Picture mode would launch "soon." Big Picture mode, first announced in early 2011, will allow gamers to hook up their PC or Mac to their living room television - well, okay, it doesn't have to be in your living room, just wherever you've got a TV. Valve aims to offer "simple, easy-to-read navigation designed specifically for TV" and controller support with Big Picture mode.

Tonight's episode of GTTV isn't available online yet (it's still technically on Spike TV on the east coast, if you want to catch the last few minutes) so we're going off host Geoff Keighley's Twitter account right now. We'll be sure to update as more information is made available. In the meanwhile, go grab a rag and dust off that moldy old television set!

Steam 'Big Picture' beta coming soon originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 17 Aug 2012 01:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Steam sales increase 100 percent for the seventh straight year

Jessica Conditt — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:15:00 EST

Steam now hosts more than 40 million accounts and 1,800 games, and its 2011 year-over-year sales increased 100 percent for the seventh year in a row, Valve announced today with a ridiculously smug grin on its face (we assume). During the Holiday Sale, Steam clocked more than 5 million simultaneous users -- in perspective, that's easily more people than the entire population of Norway, all on Steam at the same time.

Steam served over 780 petabytes of data to gamers in 2011, more than doubling the amount delivered in 2010, Valve reported. More than 19 million items were traded in-game, Valve president Gabe Newell said, and he promised that more free-to-play titles will be launched in 2012 to supplement the 18 Steam already hosts.

Newell hasn't forgotten about Big Picture Mode, Valve's attempt to infiltrate living rooms with a top-boxy device that will offer Steam via controller navigation on "more screens throughout the house." Newell said Valve is "preparing for the launch" of Big Picture Mode, so we're guessing we can expect to see something concrete by 2015.

Continue reading Steam sales increase 100 percent for the seventh straight year

Steam sales increase 100 percent for the seventh straight year originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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