Steam i SteamBox

[Skvikki]

Mislim da je vrijeme da se otvori jedna tema posvećena SteamBoxu.

Što je Steam?
Steam je online dućan za kupovinu igara, slično PS Storu samo za PC i jeftinije . Kupiš igru, ona se skine, instalira i možeš igrati.

Što je SteamBox?
SteamBox je Valveov (vlasnici Steama) pokušaj da uvede osobna računala u dnevne sobe. Ovaj tjedan su objavljene neke informacije o SteamBoxu. Oni koji su pratili sva prošla događanja nisu previše iznenađeni. Najavljen je novi operativni sustav SteamOS baziran na Linuxu, najavljen je prototip računala koje bi bilo referentni dizajn za proizvođače računala te kontroler koji svemu ovome daje smisao (riba ga je već stavio u jedan thread). Pa krenim redom:

Steam is coming to a new operating system
As we’ve been working on bringing Steam to the living room, we’ve come to the conclusion that the
environment best suited to delivering value to customers is an operating system built around Steam itself.
SteamOS combines the rock-solid architecture of Linux with a gaming experience built for the big screen.
It will be available soon as a free stand-alone operating system for living room machines.

Living room & Steam
Finally, you don’t have to give up your favorite games, your online friends, and all the Steam features you love just to play on the big screen. SteamOS, running on any living room machine, will provide access to the best games and user-generated content available.

Fast forward
In SteamOS, we have achieved significant performance increases in graphics processing, and we’re now targeting audio performance and reductions in input latency at the operating system level. Game developers are already taking advantage of these gains as they target SteamOS for their new releases.

Cooperating system
Steam is not a one-way content broadcast channel, it’s a collaborative many-to-many entertainment platform, in which each participant is a multiplier of the experience for everyone else. With SteamOS, “openness” means that the hardware industry can iterate in the living room at a much faster pace than they’ve been able to. Content creators can connect directly to their customers. Users can alter or replace any part of the software or hardware they want. Gamers are empowered to join in the creation of the games they love. SteamOS will continue to evolve, but will remain an environment designed to foster these kinds of innovation.

In-home Streaming
You can play all your Windows and Mac games on your SteamOS machine, too. Just turn on your existing computer and run Steam as you always have - then your SteamOS machine can stream those games over your home network straight to your TV!

Music, TV, Movies
We’re working with many of the media services you know and love. Soon we will begin bringing them online, allowing you to access your favorite music and video with Steam and SteamOS.

Family Sharing
In the past, sharing Steam games with your family members was hard. Now you can share the games you love with the people you love. Family Sharing allows you to take turns playing one another’s games while earning your own Steam achievements and saving your individual game progress to the Steam cloud.

Family Options
The living-room is family territory. That’s great, but you don’t want to see your parents’ games in your library. Soon, families will have more control over what titles get seen by whom, and more features to allow everyone in the house to get the most out of their Steam libraries.

Steam Machines
A powerful new category of living-room hardware is on the horizon. Join the hardware beta now. Choose the model right for you in 2014.

Finally, a multiple choice answer
Entertainment is not a one-size-fits-all world. We want you to be able to choose the hardware that makes sense for you, so we are working with multiple partners to bring a variety of Steam gaming machines to market during 2014, all of them running SteamOS.

But first, Valve’s prototype
While these products are still in development, we need your help. As always, we believe the best way to ensure that the right products are getting made is to let people try them out and then make changes as we go. We have designed a high-performance prototype that’s optimized for gaming, for the living room, and for Steam. Of course, it’s also completely upgradable and open.

This year we’re shipping just 300 of these boxes to Steam users, free of charge, for testing. You can make yourself eligible to get one. How? Read on!

Steam Controller
A new way to play your entire Steam library from the sofa. Join the Steam hardware beta and help us shape a new generation of gaming.

A different kind of gamepad
We set out with a singular goal: bring the Steam experience, in its entirety, into the living-room. We knew how to build the user interface, we knew how to build a machine, and even an operating system. But that still left input — our biggest missing link. We realized early on that our goals required a new kind of input technology — one that could bridge the gap from the desk to the living room without compromises. So we spent a year experimenting with new approaches to input and we now believe we’ve arrived at something worth sharing and testing with you.

Complete catalog
The Steam Controller is designed to work with all the games on Steam: past, present, and future. Even the older titles in the catalog and the ones which were not built with controller support. (We’ve fooled those older games into thinking they’re being played with a keyboard and mouse, but we’ve designed a gamepad that’s nothing like either one of those devices.) We think you’ll agree that we’re onto something with the Steam Controller, and now we want your help with the design process.

Superior performance
Traditional gamepads force us to accept compromises. We’ve made it a goal to improve upon the resolution and fidelity of input that’s possible with those devices. The Steam controller offers a new and, we believe, vastly superior control scheme, all while enabling you to play from the comfort of your sofa. Built with high-precision input technologies and focused on low-latency performance, the Steam controller is just what the living-room ordered.

Dual trackpads
The most prominent elements of the Steam controller are its two circular trackpads. Driven by the player’s thumbs, each one has a high-resolution trackpad as its base. It is also clickable, allowing the entire surface to act as a button. The trackpads allow far higher fidelity input than has previously been possible with traditional handheld controllers. Steam gamers, who are used to the input associated with PCs, will appreciate that the Steam Controller’s resolution approaches that of a desktop mouse.

Whole genres of games that were previously only playable with a keyboard and mouse are now accessible from the sofa. RTS games. Casual, cursor-driven games. Strategy games. 4x space exploration games. A huge variety of indie games. Simulation titles. And of course, Euro Truck Simulator 2.

In addition, games like first-person shooters that are designed around precise aiming within a large visual field now benefit from the trackpads’ high resolution and absolute position control.

Haptics
Trackpads, by their nature, are less physical than thumbsticks. By themselves, they are “light touch” devices and don’t offer the kind of visceral feedback that players get from pushing joysticks around. As we investigated trackpad-based input devices, it became clear through testing that we had to find ways to add more physicality to the experience. It also became clear that “rumble”, as it has been traditionally implemented (a lopsided weight spun around a single axis), was not going to be enough. Not even close.

The Steam Controller is built around a new generation of super-precise haptic feedback, employing dual linear resonant actuators. These small, strong, weighted electro-magnets are attached to each of the dual trackpads. They are capable of delivering a wide range of force and vibration, allowing precise control over frequency, amplitude, and direction of movement.

This haptic capability provides a vital channel of information to the player - delivering in-game information about speed, boundaries, thresholds, textures, action confirmations, or any other events about which game designers want players to be aware. It is a higher-bandwidth haptic information channel than exists in any other consumer product that we know of. As a parlour trick they can even play audio waveforms and function as speakers.

Touch Screen
In the center of the controller is another touch-enabled surface, this one backed by a high-resolution screen. This surface, too, is critical to achieving the controller’s primary goal - supporting all games in the Steam catalog. The screen allows an infinite number of discrete actions to be made available to the player, without requiring an infinite number of physical buttons.

The whole screen itself is also clickable, like a large single button. So actions are not invoked by a simple touch, they instead require a click. This allows a player to touch the screen, browse available actions, and only then commit to the one they want. Players can swipe through pages of actions in games where that’s appropriate. When programmed by game developers using our API, the touch screen can work as a scrolling menu, a radial dial, provide secondary info like a map or use other custom input modes we haven’t thought of yet.

In order to avoid forcing players to divide their attention between screens, a critical feature of the Steam Controller comes from its deep integration with Steam. When a player touches the controller screen, its display is overlayed on top of the game they’re playing, allowing the player to leave their attention squarely on the action, where it belongs.

Buttons
Every button and input zone has been placed based on frequency of use, precision required and ergonomic comfort. There are a total of sixteen buttons on the Steam Controller. Half of them are accessible to the player without requiring thumbs to be lifted from the trackpads, including two on the back. All controls and buttons have been placed symmetrically, making left or right handedness switchable via a software config checkbox.

Shared configurations
In order to support the full catalog of existing Steam games (none of which were built with the Steam Controller in mind), we have built in a legacy mode that allows the controller to present itself as a keyboard and mouse. The Steam Community can use the configuration tool to create and share bindings for their favorite games. Players can choose from a list of the most popular configurations.

Openness
The Steam Controller was designed from the ground up to be hackable. Just as the Steam Community and Workshop contributors currently deliver tremendous value via additions to software products on Steam, we believe that they will meaningfully contribute to the design of the Steam Controller. We plan to make tools available that will enable users to participate in all aspects of the experience, from industrial design to electrical engineering. We can’t wait to see what you come up with.

Ja sam se ovome nadao jako dugo i nadam se da će zaživjeti. Ako tko ima snage za to onda je to Valve. Svakako pogledajte ako možete kako upasti u ovo sudjelovanje u testiranju ako vas zanima. Meni fali još par prijatelja pa ako tko ima Steam account neka se javi.

[ribafish]

Super tema, trebala nam je

Meni je sve sto sam cuo ovaj tjedan od Valvea odlicno, OS, steammachine i kontroler su izvrsne vijesti i nadam se da ce privuc jos vise ljudi ka PC gamingu..

Osobno jako me zanima steambox, ako bude "povoljan" cijenom i hardverom mogao bi zamijenit moju PC kutiju, a ostavit si Win PC za lagano surfanje, filmove, torrent..

Inace sve PC sim od iR do pC i AC i ove multiplatform Dirt, F1, WRC su dostupne na Steamu pa nema brige..

Kontroler je druga prica, jaaako mi se svidja, izgleda futuristicki, bas next gen.. Samo kako na njemu igrat sve igre? Vidim ga kao odlicnog za FPS, ali za PES npr?? To ce bit izazov, zanima me prvi hands on.



Vazno >

Trackpads, by their nature, are less physical than thumbsticks. By themselves, they are “light touch” devices and don’t offer the kind of visceral feedback that players get from pushing joysticks around. As we investigated trackpad-based input devices, it became clear through testing that we had to find ways to add more physicality to the experience. It also became clear that “rumble”, as it has been traditionally implemented (a lopsided weight spun around a single axis), was not going to be enough. Not even close.

The Steam Controller is built around a new generation of super-precise haptic feedback, employing dual linear resonant actuators. These small, strong, weighted electro-magnets are attached to each of the dual trackpads. They are capable of delivering a wide range of force and vibration, allowing precise control over frequency, amplitude, and direction of movement.

This haptic capability provides a vital channel of information to the player - delivering in-game information about speed, boundaries, thresholds, textures, action confirmations, or any other events about which game designers want players to be aware. It is a higher-bandwidth haptic information channel than exists in any other consumer product that we know of. As a parlour trick they can even play audio waveforms and function as speakers.

Nije to touchpad kao u mobitela, ovdje pod prstima imas "mehanicki" osjecaj ko da upravljas gljivama..

Inace kako god bilo, za Steambox zeljno iscekujem jos vijesti, ali kontroler se sigurno uzima zbog TitanFalla, da ga mogu igrat komotno na TVu i bit konkurentan ekipi na misu i tipkovnici..

@Skvikki imas PM

[Skvikki]

Ovaj koncept kontrolera je nešto novo i baš bih ga volio isprobati. Ako je netko ima stariji HP ProBook ili bilo koji Lenovo laptop vjerojatno je koristio trackpad. Samo je ovaj naravno veći i sa feedbackom. Trackpad reagirao na jačinu dodira. Osobno se nisam nikada navikao na gljivice za bilo što osim fifu/PES. RDR mi stoji već mjesecima neigran, a moja zbunjenost sa gljivicama je jedan od razloga. Volio bih vidjeti leži li mi ovaj trackpad koncept bolje.

Riba, nisam dobio PM ili nešto krivo radim. Na Steamu sam "spectator", na avataru je Yugo.

EDIT: Možda sam krivo shvatio što je trackpad na kontroleru. Ako je isto što i touchpad na laptopima koji reagira na "povlačenje" prsta, a ne na pritisak (jačinu pritiska) kao Lenovo trackpoint onda mi je koncept manje shvatljiv. Najbolje probati uživo.

[ribafish]

Svi developeri koji su probali su jako jako zadovoljni novim kontrolerom

http://kotaku.com/valves-controller-has-been-tested-here-are-some-impre-1415579308

"It's tough to grok the touch feedback until you try it out," he said in an e-mail. "You pick it up, and, for the first few minutes, you're mostly just moving your thumbs over the trackpads and marveling at what you're feeling."


Lambe had played a first-person shooter with Valve's new device. It seems that the haptic feedback of the trackpads made a big impression. The idea of that feedback is that it's supposed to create the feeling that the trackpad has edges on it, perhaps the outlines of buttons, if that's how it is programmed for a specific game. Those trackpads are sensitive to movement and pressure.P

"This sounds weird, but it's almost like rolling two weighted trackballs that are too large to actually fit into the controller," Lambe said as he tried to explain what it's like to have one's thumbs on those two trackpads. "For camera controls, slide one thumb to the right, and you'll feel this ticking, like you're turning a physical control. Flick your thumb quickly, and this imaginary physical thing reacts like something with weight to it—the 'trackball' continues to roll for a bit, eventually coming to a rest. And since it's all controlled through the software, the same trackpad then becomes more like a mouse or a laptop trackpad when you're navigating through menus. Dynamic!"

"He told us that the controller haptic feedback was uncanny," Cheng said, "and that using the trackpad really did feel like pressing buttons."
...
He replied: "It's familiar enough to be accessible (I believe they tried less conventional designs before they went with a form factor similar to existing gamepads), but much more precise for (say) anything WASD+mouselook."

Nitko od nas nije probao taj haptic feedback pa ni neznamo sta ocekivat, al ja sam jaaako zainteresiran i jedva cekam probat..

Svaka cast Valveu na hrabrosti i inovativnosti da izbaci ovako nesto jer sta ce nam jos jedan "obican" kontroler, PS i xboxov su vec tu i rade svoj posao odlicno..

[dr_Primus]

E sad...
Još kad bi SteamOS kao svoj API za grafiku koristio Mantle umjesto OpenGLa, portanje sa PS4 bilo bi iznimno jednostavno... X86 CPU i AMD GCN grafika.
Nažalost mislim da ništa od toga jer je nVidia partner Valveu.

No... Bilo kako bilo... Neka nam daju Steam Machine koji košta kao XBOne i može vrtiti pCars i AC u 1080p60 3D sve na max i ja sretan
I još HL3 da imaju ko ekskluzivu i predviđam odličan uspjeh na tržištu

[sagitarius]

Ja necu kupiti XboxOne, ali ovo hocu.

Dok nisam vidio najavu, razmisljao sam i o kupnji PC-ja i mozda Xbone jednog dana, ali nakon ove najave - a ocito se sve sprema za islazak 2014 - polako supljam novcice u prasicu i skupljam za ovo iduce godine u nekom casu.

Strasno me zanima kako ce to funkcionirati i hoce li neki veliki igrac - poput Samsunga ili LG recimo - uskociti u ovo i ponuditi to citavom svijetu kroz svoje trgovine.

Od svega sto je najavljeno u adnjih par godina, ovo mi se cini kao prava prava "velika" stvar za gaming nakon sto je Microsoft lansirao Live.

Okej, tu negdje je i OculusRift, ali kako Gabe ima ozbiljne novce u Oculus projektu, nekako mi se cini da ce to sve zajedno biti vrlo povezano za kojih 12 mjeseci.

Ono sto ce za sve nas biti pitanje je podrska za volane, ali otompotom. polako.

[ribafish]

Ono sto ce za sve nas biti pitanje je podrska za volane, ali otompotom. polako.

Logi/TH/Fanatec imaju drivere za linux tako da nema problema sto se tog tice..

[dr_Primus]

Ono sto ce za sve nas biti pitanje je podrska za volane, ali otompotom. polako.

Logi/TH/Fanatec imaju drivere za linux tako da nema problema sto se tog tice..

Jesi ti 100% siguran za fanatec? Gledam po njihovom websiteu i nigdje ne vidim linux...
A i ako budu podržani... kaj sa FFom?

Btw... back on topic... Ovaj steam controller mi se čini najvećom revolucijom (u pozitivnom smislu) od uvođenja analognih stickova na N64... mogućnosti su nevjerojatne... Već si vizualiziram PES 2015 kod kojeg desni touchpad koristiš za trikove i driblinge kao dosad... A ako stisneš trigger kao modifier da ti se pojavi mali kursor na terenu sa kojim si možeš povući igrača da ti utrči tamo gdje želiš... Tko je igrao PES na Wii (mislim da je bio 2008) zna o čemu pričam

[ribafish]

Jesi ti 100% siguran za fanatec? Gledam po njihovom websiteu i nigdje ne vidim linux...
A i ako budu podržani... kaj sa FFom?

Btw... back on topic... Ovaj steam controller mi se čini najvećom revolucijom (u pozitivnom smislu) od uvođenja analognih stickova na N64... mogućnosti su nevjerojatne... Već si vizualiziram PES 2015 kod kojeg desni touchpad koristiš za trikove i driblinge kao dosad... A ako stisneš trigger kao modifier da ti se pojavi mali kursor na terenu sa kojim si možeš povući igrača da ti utrči tamo gdje želiš... Tko je igrao PES na Wii (mislim da je bio 2008) zna o čemu pričam

Da, izgleda da sluzbeno jos nema drivera, al mislim da je moguce Fanatec prebacit u "logitech mod" pa ga tako koristit.. To je naravno u krajnjem slucaju jer sam siguran da ce ponudit i sluzbene nativne drivere..

iRacing je od prije par mjeseci dostupan na linuxu i macu i njihov glavni covik je rekao da su poslali mail svim proizvodjacima volana u vezi drivera za te platforme, a sigurno ce i ostale kompanije (Kunos, SMS, SimBin....) koje imaju svoje voznje na steamu napraviti "pritisak" na Log/Fan/TH u vezi drivera prvenstveno za linux/steamOS..

Evo i iR intervju, na 13:15 se prica o podrsci za volane na linuxu/macu >

Interview with iRacing President Tony Gardner by Inside Sim Racing

[ribafish]

[Tomivav]

Hahahaha!!!

[Skvikki]

Još malo mišljenja developera o Linuxu i novom kontroleru u intervjuu na www.rockpapershotgun.com .

“For developers who are already using a cross-platform engine like Unity, supporting SteamOS should be no problem,” he reiterated. “But for developers like myself who write our own technology, Linux has historically been an unappealing platform to support because of its small market share and troublesome number of distributions. I am optimistic that SteamOS will help Linux penetrate the mainstream, but I also hope that it will improve the state of Linux development across the board, and not just see developers targeting a strict subset of Linux configurations for SteamOS compatibility.”

“It’s different from what either [console gamers or PC gamers] are used to,” he explained. “It’ll be interesting to see what console FPS players think of it. I was able to grab the controller and exceed my ability to aim with a gamepad within about 5 minutes. Will the controller allow those console FPS players to exceed their gamepad FPS skills?”

“I think it’s friendly to both [players from console and PC backgrounds], but some PC games, like our own grand strategy games, will need some work before it’s natural to play with controllers.”

Inače, cijeli 2K katalog je trenutno na popustu od 33% do 75%. XCOM: Enemy Unknown je besplatan ovaj vikend pa tko ima komp, a želi probati igru dostupna mu je.

[Skvikki]

Evo i detalja o prototipima mašina: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamuniverse#announcements/detail/2145128928746175450

The 300 prototype units will ship with the following components:
GPU: some units with NVidia Titan, some GTX780, some GTX760, and some GTX660
CPU:   some boxes with Intel : i7-4770, some i5-4570, and some i3
RAM: 16GB DDR3-1600 (CPU), 3GB DDR5 (GPU)
Storage: 1TB/8GB Hybrid SSHD
Power Supply: Internal 450w 80Plus Gold
Dimensions: approx. 12 x 12.4 x 2.9 in high

Poprilično moćne mašine. Moram priznati da nisam očekivao takvo nešto. Ovako bezveze nabacano u jednom našem (jeftinijem) šopu ispada oko 9000 kuna i to srednja varijanta. Komponente su otprilike gađane. Vjerujem da će konačne mašine biti ipak nešto slabije i jeftinije jer ne vidim zašto bi netko platio preko 1000 dolara za PC koji je namjenjen za više-manje isto što i PS4 koji košta više nego duplo manje.

So for our own first prototype Steam Machine ( the one we're shipping to 300 Steam users ), we've chosen to build something special. The prototype machine is a high-end, high-performance box, built out of off-the-shelf PC parts. It is also fully upgradable, allowing any user to swap out the GPU, hard drive, CPU, even the motherboard if you really want to. Apart from the custom enclosure, anyone can go and build exactly the same machine by shopping for components and assembling it themselves. And we expect that at least a few people will do just that. (We'll also share the source CAD files for our enclosure, in case people want to replicate it as well.)

And to be clear, this design is not meant to serve the needs of all of the tens of millions of Steam users. It may, however, be the kind of machine that a significant percentage of Steam users would actually want to purchase - those who want plenty of performance in a high-end living room package. Many others would opt for machines that have been more carefully designed to cost less, or to be tiny, or super quiet, and there will be Steam Machines that fit those descriptions.

[ribafish]

Steam Controller Demonstration

Izgleda da je jako precizan, bit ce savrsen za ono sta meni treba..

[Skvikki]

Obećavajuće. Dobro je što će raditi out-of-the-box na Linuxu pa će mi potencijalno u potpunosti zamjeniti miš i tipkovnicu na HTPC-u. Možda i starog uspijem naučiti kako koristiti XBMC bez mene. Svakako bih ga volio isprobati prvo zato šaljite friend zahtjeve (podatke razmjenimo preko PM-a), treba mi još dva frenda da uđem u krug potencijalnih beta testera!