Steam Controller: Revolutionary?

This has definitely been the week of Steam, with Valve making three big announcements. Steam Machines have been announced, and also the operating system called SteamOS. The third and last thing that Valve has announced is their own controller, the Steam Controller. If you give it a quick glimpse it might look like an ordinary controller, but it definitely isn't a controller you have seen the last past few years.

The first thing you will notice about the Steam Controller is that there are two things missing: there are no thumbsticks. Instead of the thumbsticks, Valve has placed two "high-resolution trackpads" that are driven by the players thumbs. With a lot of text and fancy words Valve claims that these trackpads have the resolution and precision that you would expect from a computer mouse. The new controller has a pretty cool feature, the controller will be compatible with both old and new games.

In the center of the controller is a touchscreen which can be used for various things. You will be able to scroll through Steam with it, but developers will also get access to the API so it might get some other uses such as maps or game-menu's as well. Instead of the touchscreens that we all know, this one is actually clickable. What that means that you will have to actually click the screen if you want to select something.

Just like the Steam Machines there will also be a beta for the Steam Controller, and if you participate for the Steam Machine than you will also participate for the Steam Controller. The two differences from the final version of the controller is that there won't be a touchscreen on the beta controller and the controller won't be won't be wireless in the beta.

Valve now has it's own OS, it will have its own hardware and now also has its own controller. Will all these things combined change the way that we play games, and is this enough for Valve to conquer the living room? It will definitely change the way that a lot of gamers play games, but will it turn console gamers into .. PC-console gamers?

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Steam OS and Steam Box announced

Valve has made two of the three announcements they are going to make, and it seems that the rumours were true: there will be a Steam Box. Actually, there will be multiple Steam Boxes or as Valve calls them, Steam Machines. These boxes will be running on Valve’s own operating system, which they have crowned as SteamOS.

Valve's Steam boxes are made for the living room, so we are expecting boxes that won't be a lot bigger than your average console. Valve is working together with multiple partners so they can bring a variety of Steam boxes on the market in 2014. All these boxes will have different specifications, prices and of course a difference performance. Since Valve is embracing open-source you will also be able to build your own Steam box with SteamOS running on it. Valve also states that it’s up to you what you do with the Steam Box, so if you feel like running a different OS on it, that’s perfectly fine as well.

Linux based SteamOS is designed for the TV and the living room, and it’s likely it will work a bit like the Big Picture mode that has been introduced last year. Everything will run in the Steam ecosystem, so you will have all your games, friends and achievements in there. The OS will allow you to stream games over your home network from your gaming machine to your Steam box, this means that you won’t need a powerful Steam box in your living room if you already have a powerful PC somewhere else in your house. Steam praises the OS for it’s openness, and developers and users will be able to add and remove certain functions from the OS.

Valve is also working together with many of the big media services, and they will be available on both Steam and Steam. It will “allow you to access your favorite music and video”, so we might be seeing services such as Netflix and Spotify appear on the platform. Steam’s new function called Family Sharing will also be available on SteamOS.

Valve is also looking for 300 beta testers to get sent a Steam box prototype, so if you are feeling lucky you can try to participate. Read more on how to do so here.

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Steam Box getting announced Monday?

For about a year there are rumours that Valve was releasing their own console, or at least their own hardware for gaming. It has been a bit silent around this so called Steam Box, but it is time for new rumours to show up. Valve has announced that “the Steam Universe is expanding in 2014”. The webpage that displays this message, also shows a TV and a controller.

The second thing you will see on the page are 3 circles, each with a (for now) meaningless figure in them. Under the first circle is a timer that started at 72 hours and will end on Monday, September 23rd. It isn’t yet known what will be announced by Valve, but the message under the timer makes the Steam Box a very viable option. The message tells you about the Steam Big Picture mode, which has been introduced somewhere last year and makes it easier to make use of Steam on a bigger screen and with a controller. If a Steam Box would be announced, the Big Picture mode will probably be the the way you play games on your TV.

A few days ago at LinuxCon 2013 Gaben Newell talked about the power and future of Linux, and how they will be bringing Linux to the living room. Valve has been supporting Linux for a while, with the introduction of a lot of Linux games in the Steam Store. It's only logical that we will be seeing a lot more of Linux in the coming days.

With the release of both the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One in November, will we be getting another console? And will this be classified as a console if it runs on Linux and runs PC games, or will it just be a living room PC?

With the release of both the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One in November, we might be getting another 'console' as well. With Steam featuring most games that are available on the PC, as well as a lot of indie games, a console that has access to the Steam Library would be able to play a lot of games. But we will be hearing more next Monday, so be sure to check Steam for updates on Monday's announcement.

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Steam introduces Family Sharing

Remember one of the earlier features of the Xbox One that later on got scrapped? The Family Sharing that was supposed to be one of the best features of best features of Microsoft's next-gen console, but sadly it was removed. But there is some good news for the PC gamers, and definitely those that have a big Steam library: Steam Family Sharing. Valve announced Family Sharing, but there will be a limited beta before the feature will be officially launched.

But what is it exactly, and what are the limitations? Steam Family Sharing will allow you to share your full Steam library with up to 10 friends or family members. Sounds pretty good, but the 'bad' news is that only one user will be able to access a shared library at a time. So, if a friend wants to play a game in your library while you are playing another game in your library, the friend won't be able to use your library. A friend with access to your library won't be able to kick you out of your game though, but vice versa you can kick friends out if you feel like playing.

You won't be able to share all your games through Family Sharing though, as "region-restricted content will remain in place when lending or borrowing content", which is of course only logical. As a lender you will also be lending your items to a certain Steam user, on a certain device. This means that you will only be able to play the games in the shared library if you are on the device that has gotten the rights to the library.

If you are interested in Steam Family Sharing, and you want to participate in the beta you can do so here. The beta will start in a few days, so better hurry up with signing up because this is a feature that you don't want to miss out on. Only thousand people that have applied will be lucky enough to get access to the beta of Family Sharing.

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Surviving the Summer Sale

Finally the time has come and the Steam Summer Sale has started. Every year Valve has a massive sale on a lot of the games they sell, games such as Tomb Raider, The Witcher 2, Resident Evil 6 and many more. But with so many good games on sale, the temptation might be a little too much for you to not open your wallet and start spending like a maniac. So, to make sure you (and your wallet) survive the Steam Summer Sale here are some handy tips on choosing what games you are willing to spend your money on.

Write it down

Yes, you should just grab a pen or paper (okey, your keyboard will suffice as well) and just write down what games you really want to buy. Don't even look at what games are on sale, just think about the games you really want. This way you can focus on the games you really want and you won't immediately buy a bunch of games that seem 'fun'.

Budget up!

Unless you are a millionaire (do those people even wait on the Summer Sale?) you might want to set a limit to how much you are going to spend. You can easily add money to your Steam Wallet, and when you have spent everything in your Steam Wallet you just need the willpower not to add more money.

Patience

Every day there are new daily sales and flash sales every 8 hours. These games will go for an even cheaper price than during the Summer Sale. If you have made a list of the games you want to buy, you can wait till the end of the Summer Sale and then buy all these games. In the meanwhile you can check Steam every day to see if one of these games is the Daily Deal or a Flash Deal. It is an easy way to save even more money.

Don't be stupid

Already bought games in past Summer Sales? You should check your library and see how many of these games you have actually played. Don't buy things you will never play, just because they are so cheap. Buy games you are legitimately interested in and that you won't regret buying. 

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