Valve Officially Launches TV-Friendly Steam Big Picture Mode [Slashdot]

[DP ServBot]

An anonymous reader writes "Valve on Monday announced the public release of Big Picture, Steam's new mode that lets gamers access their games on a TV, in over 20 languages. Big Picture lets you use a traditional gamepad (as well as a keyboard and mouse) to access the complete Steam store and Steam Community from the comfort of the couch in your living room." http://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=Valve+Officially+Launches+TV-Friendly+Steam+Big+Picture+Mode%3A+http%3A%2F%2Fbi t.ly%2FUbWBra) http://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fgames.slashdot.org%2Fsto ry%2F12%2F12%2F03%2F2145253%2Fvalve-officially-launches-tv-friendly-steam-big-picture-mode%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebo ok) http://www.gstatic.com/images/icons/gplus-16.png (http://plus.google.com/share?url=http://games.slashdot.org/story/12/12/03/2145253/valve-officially-launches-tv-friendly-steam-big-picture-mode?utm_source=slashdot&utm_medium=googleplus)

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[PreZZ]

Its the most useless thing ive ever seen... you can use the gamepad to launch games and THATS IT, its just a GUI that launches your game. I tried games that said they were gamepad compatible, and it didnt work or change anyting, it launches the game as you would normally on steam so if it didnt work before, its not working now. Talk about false advertising... and of course games like gta4 and batman only work with the xbox controller, I bought 2 receivers for my pc and both failed in 6 months, no way im buying another one.

[dgdgagdae]

It's a new UI that's TV friendly. That's all they're saying it is. What exactly were you expecting?

[BetaWolf47]

and of course games like gta4 and batman only work with the xbox controller, I bought 2 receivers for my pc and both failed in 6 months, no way im buying another one.

That's also not true. Why do so many people think that so many games only support the Xbox 360 controller? Any controller that supports XInput, like the Logitech F series, will work with it. Try a Logitech F710 or something if you don't like the Xbox 360 controller.

[PreZZ]

It's a new UI that's TV friendly. That's all they're saying it is. What exactly were you expecting?

Universal gamepad support with button mapping... they have a list of games with full gamepad support , I have a thrustmaster firestorm 3 controller and a ps2 adapter, both have wrong button mapping and sticks are all wrong or not working.

heres what it says on steam: FULL
CONTROLLER SUPPORT

Games with Full Controller Support will work without a keyboard and mouse on hand, from installation to play and beyond.
*All sale titles are fully controller-supported.

And when i launch arkam city, I have to close big picture for the game to start, so yes this thing is a mess. and USELESS

[sheath]

The 360 receivers junk pretty quickly, but it is an extremely simple solder job to fix it permanently.

[PreZZ]

The 360 receivers junk pretty quickly, but it is an extremely simple solder job to fix it permanently.

Yeah these things would need a national recall, everyone I know who bought one, its not working anymore.

[PreZZ]

oh and btw l4d2 is listed as a fully compatible game, but you cant look up and down on the controller???? no options to choose analog stick for looking up and down!

[dgdgagdae]

Yeah these things would need a national recall, everyone I know who bought one, its not working anymore.

I bought my 360 wireless controller for PC years ago, and it's still working fine. It doesn't get a whole lot of use, admittedly, but I've never had problems with it.

[dgdgagdae]

Universal gamepad support with button mapping... they have a list of games with full gamepad support , I have a thrustmaster firestorm 3 controller and a ps2 adapter, both have wrong button mapping and sticks are all wrong or not working.

heres what it says on steam: FULL
CONTROLLER SUPPORT

Games with Full Controller Support will work without a keyboard and mouse on hand, from installation to play and beyond.
*All sale titles are fully controller-supported.

And when i launch arkam city, I have to close big picture for the game to start, so yes this thing is a mess. and USELESS

Valve never said that all games were suddenly and magically going to get controller support. And who said anything anywhere about button mapping? I think you're mad because Valve didn't give you what you wanted, but that's not at all what they're advertising. If it's useless, then don't use it. It's just a new UI, the old one still works.

[Zthun]

Universal gamepad support with button mapping... they have a list of games with full gamepad support , I have a thrustmaster firestorm 3 controller and a ps2 adapter, both have wrong button mapping and sticks are all wrong or not working.

heres what it says on steam: FULL
CONTROLLER SUPPORT

Games with Full Controller Support will work without a keyboard and mouse on hand, from installation to play and beyond.
*All sale titles are fully controller-supported.

And when i launch arkam city, I have to close big picture for the game to start, so yes this thing is a mess. and USELESS

It's full controller support for the UI, not for the individual games. What you're asking for is a bit unreasonable. Steam only distributes games, value doesn't have a programming say in all of them.

[Kitsune Sniper]

A lot of games will require the Xbox pad, or a suitable replacement. My older Logitech pad doesn't work properly on many games, and others flat out don't recognize it as a USB device. And you still have to configure the pad in the game. That's up to the dev. It won't do it for you automatically in most cases. What gamepad are you using?

Also, this mode is a bit of a problem if you have lots of games, like me. :P

[PreZZ]

I just dont see the point of BIG PICTURE, its buggy and laggy and doesnt do shit! lauching the game normally from steam is exactly the same, only it doesnt crash!! I hate pc games for all the control issues, ill keep playing fps and rts only with kb and mouse!

[alec006]

Did you ever think, hey that huge HDTV I have would be perfect for playing some Steam games on that aren't on console and only available on the PC platform. Some people like controllers, some people like a keyboard and mouse for PC games.

I can see the point of this new service from Valve, it's simple, it's trying to let people that aren't computer savy connect their computer to their HDTV, so they can play games on their TV. Can you do that already, of course you can by going into your monitor settings and setting up an external display, but, what about people that don't know how to do that?

What about people that just want it to work, you know, easy like a hotkey, or like most of the technology we use today. No technical bullshit, change this setting, output this resolution, set this as a primary monitor, you get the point, least I hope you do.

And for people who are bitching, oh I like keyboard and mouse, well guess what you can STILL use them, hey got a wireless keyboard and mouse, your set now aren't you, hey all I have to do is launch the game and it just works, sounds good to me.

Is it buggy, of course it is, it just came out, do you expect it to just work the first day, you do? Well remember this, Valve is a company in a modern age where the idea in the industry is just, oh we will patch it later, and have our customers beta test it for us.

But for people that actually know how to change all those settings already, they're not going to use this most likely, so why complain, don't like it, don't use it.