The Valve and Steam Platform Discussion Thread

[tuluse]

Didn't they already do special portal levels for that one controller thing? Could just be that.

 

[LESS T_T]

Ars Technica's Kyle Orland released new and updated Steam Gauge data: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/03/steam-gauge-measuring-the-most-popular-steam-games-of-2014/

There are many more interesting charts and an entire ranking.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Ars Technica's Kyle Orland released new and updated Steam Gauge data: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/03/steam-gauge-measuring-the-most-popular-steam-games-of-2014/

Just to use myself and my knowledge as a reference point, I have three titles on that image in my library: Insurgency, Goat Simulator and Expendabros.

Expendabros was a promotional freeware release.
Insurgency had a metric fuckton of keys given out as part of a humble bundle deal, meaning everyone and their grandmother have it by now.
Which leaves Goat Simulator as the only real commercial product of the three.

If 2/3ds of the titles taken from one example show 'shenanigans' such as the ones I mentioned, there's reason to doubt that any of these figures make any sense.

 

[LESS T_T]

Just to use myself and my knowledge as a reference point, I have three titles on that image in my library: Insurgency, Goat Simulator and Expendabros.

Expendabros was a promotional freeware release.
Insurgency had a metric fuckton of keys given out as part of a humble bundle deal, meaning everyone and their grandmother have it by now.
Which leaves Goat Simulator as the only real commercial product of the three.

If 2/3ds of the titles taken from one example show 'shenanigans' such as the ones I mentioned, there's reason to doubt that any of these figures make any sense.

Yeah, most titles on that image are free games, well, naturally.

Here's a chart for most played games excluding free-to-play games.

 

[Ulminati]

I'm also somewhat interested in Valve's "Steam Link" in-house Streaming box, since it'd be a cheap solution to just hook up to a TV in another room or while working out while using the power of a gaming PC without having to buy expensive hardware or lug the PC around.

I wonder if it'll also handle non-steam games launched through steam. I'm mildly interested in using my big box to run something at max settings, but streaming it to my laptop hooked up to the TV in the next room.

Here's a chart for most played games excluding free-to-play games.

Divinity: Original Sin ahead of THI4F, Hoarderlands and CoD:AW?

 

[LESS T_T]

This is from Orland's GDC presentation:

In last year's Steam Gauge data Skyrim was owned by 5.9 miliions.

 

[Havoc]

What the hell is Unturned? First time I'm hearing of this.

 

[Infinitron]

What the hell is Unturned? First time I'm hearing of this.

Minecraft + Zombies = Epic Win: http://store.steampowered.com/app/304930/

 

[Havoc]

Zombies. No wonder. I don't care about zombie games. Nor Minecraft. It's 2015 for god's sake.

 

[Zed]

What the hell is Unturned? First time I'm hearing of this.

Minecraft + Zombies = Epic Win: http://store.steampowered.com/app/304930/

Minecraft has zombies...
So I guess it's just Minecraft.

 

[Dexter]

http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/03/04/gdc-2015-how-valves-portal-vr-demo-sold-me-on-vive
http://tommyrefenes.tumblr.com/post/112739516902/vr-isnt-a-gimmick-anymore
http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/04/a-history-of-valve-vr/
http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/04/valve-steam-vr-initiative/

Currently, the HTC Vive is the only virtual reality headset that's part of Valve's Steam VR push. That's not because it's the only one, but because it's the only one we know about thus far. "You should think of the Vive as the first in the same way there are multiple Steam Machines," Valve president Gabe Newell told me this morning. In other words, Steam VR is an open platform supported by Valve. "We're building tools and hopefully they're valuable to hardware partners who want to do it. In some cases, we'll take the leadership role in shipping stuff. But we're really just building tools for other people to continue. So you'll see more headsets."

That's an important distinction. Valve handed off the announcement of its VR headset to HTC, a company known for making phones and a bizarre, strangely attractive camera. But Valve also undercut HTC's news by announcing its own VR initiative a week earlier. It's become clearer across the past two weeks that, while the HTC Vive is a big push for Valve, the bigger picture of SteamVR involves Valve setting up an ecosystem with free tools for any company to use. "Build it and they will come," in so many words.

"To be honest, we're going to make our money on the back end, when people buy games from Steam. Right?" Newell said. "So we're trying to be forward-thinking and make those longer-term investments for PC gaming that are going to come back a couple years down the road."

The long term for Valve, at least when it comes to VR, is a combination of its Lighthouse technology and the Steam ecosystem. It's also, naturally, wireless technology; an evolution of the Steam Link streaming box the company announced last week.

"The way that you'll eventually connect with HMDs will look like a successor to Link, 'cause you want to start decoupling from wires and stuff like that," Newell said. Currently, wireless, streamed VR isn't possible. Well, at very least, it's not possible with any tech that's not far out of the reach of consumers.
In the near future, however? It's simply a question of keeping the stream latency low enough (below 20ms) and the frame rate locked to a relatively high rate -- issues that depend on networking solutions more than VR headset technology. Newell explained:

"Can you maintain that [low latency over wireless]? That may end up being a WiFi router problem as much as anything else, where we may have to go to other spectrums. We're doing research on 60GHz spectrum, implementations of those kinda things. Because you're right, at some point you have to solve it. But the nice thing is it's a 'once you've solved it, you're done' kinda problem. It's not an ongoing task. The brain doesn't change. The brain is always stuck at 20ms; you don't have to go progressively faster to improve the experience."

 

[Baron Dupek]

http://store.steampowered.com/sale/steam_machines

Will wait until 75% off, then buy 2 of them and leave them lying around my apartment doing nothing.

 

[Alienman]

Not impressed at all, and having a hard time see any uses for a machine like that. I mean for that amount of money/power

 

[Kane]

http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meld...m-Ueberblick-2569237.html?hg=1&hgi=0&hgf=true

 

[Astral Rag]

http://store.steampowered.com/sale/steam_machines

 

[Kane]

i might actually get a brix if its price drops to 400 or so. that one has a sweet size.

 

[Bruticis]

All I know is that Gumby says VR is shit. When Gumby speaks, people listen.

7:35 AM - Lord Gumblert entered chat.
7:35 AM - Lord Gumblert: i just used the occulus rift
7:35 AM - Lord Gumblert: the mobile version
7:35 AM - Lord Gumblert: with the samsung note 4
7:35 AM - Lord Gumblert: at my friends house
7:35 AM - Lord Gumblert: it was shit
7:35 AM - Lord Gumblert: the only good thing was 2 horror games
7:35 AM - Bruticis: your friends house, the samsung or the rift?
7:35 AM - Lord Gumblert: but he doesn't have the gamepad controller so i could move
7:35 AM - Lord Gumblert: only look around
7:36 AM - Lord Gumblert: but it's still shit
7:36 AM - Lord Gumblert: the samsung occulus rift VR system
7:36 AM - Lord Gumblert: isn't that exciting
7:36 AM - Bruticis: but not his house?
7:36 AM - Lord Gumblert: he was trying to get porno to work
7:36 AM - Bruticis: well theres a silver lining at least
7:36 AM - raw: http://store.steampowered.com/sale/steam_machines
7:36 AM - Lord Gumblert: the porno didn't work so i went home
7:36 AM - Lord Gumblert: i think with the porn
7:36 AM - Lord Gumblert: u look down
7:37 AM - Bruticis: hmm
7:37 AM - Lord Gumblert: you're the guy and u have sex acts performed on "you"
7:37 AM - Lord Gumblert: if u follow me
7:37 AM - Bruticis: what catagory was the porn?
7:37 AM - Lord Gumblert: so the point of view is the head of the guy
7:37 AM - Bruticis: gonzo?
7:37 AM - Bruticis: bdsm?
7:37 AM - Bruticis: azn?
7:37 AM - Bruticis: anal?
7:37 AM - Lord Gumblert: i dont know he tried to download some preview thing but it dodn't work
7:37 AM - Lord Gumblert: VR is shit
7:37 AM - Lord Gumblert: my glasses wouldn't fit inside the VR unit
7:37 AM - Lord Gumblert: so it was blury
7:37 AM - товарищ евдк: ...
7:38 AM - товарищ евдк: gumby is a porno pioneer
7:38 AM - Lord Gumblert: its not very good except for a horror game
7:38 AM - Bruticis: did you try removing the lenses?
7:38 AM - Lord Gumblert: i didn't see the porno yet
7:38 AM - Lord Gumblert: once he gets it working i'll check it out
7:38 AM - Lord Gumblert: it should affect my eyesight because on close sighted
7:38 AM - Lord Gumblert: i can see upclose
7:38 AM - Lord Gumblert: not far away
7:38 AM - Lord Gumblert: but the VR is so good it fooled my eyes
7:38 AM - Bruticis: isn't that near sighted
7:38 AM - Lord Gumblert: i dont know i've had theglasses since 2006-2007
7:39 AM - Bruticis: close sighted means you cant open your eyes
7:39 AM - Lord Gumblert: when i was addicted to wow

 

[Outlander]

So, uh... guys go to each others houses to watch porn together...

*awkwardness overload*

 

[Cowboy Moment]

Apparently, putting a phone into a headset doesn't result in the best VR experience, who could have foreseen this shocking revelation?

 

[Caim]

So, uh... guys go to each others houses to watch porn together...

*awkwardness overload*

You don't watch hardcore porn together whith your friends while you all jack off?

What are you, some kind of queer?

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Question: What are the "definitive" versions of Half-Life 1 and its expansions out there?

I remember there being the original commercial releases, the "Source" releases sometime around HL2's release, and then the Black Mesa mod which is mostly complete, but only covers the original game and not the expansions.

Are there any other releases in-between there that I've missed?

 

[Spectacle]

So, uh... guys go to each others houses to watch porn together...

*awkwardness overload*

I suppose it could be a novel use for VR. Find some cock-hungry gay dude who will suck you off, and use VR goggles to replace him with a hot babe.

 

[tuluse]

Question: What are the "definitive" versions of Half-Life 1 and its expansions out there?

I remember there being the original commercial releases, the "Source" releases sometime around HL2's release, and then the Black Mesa mod which is mostly complete, but only covers the original game and not the expansions.

Are there any other releases in-between there that I've missed?

Black Mesa does it own thing. It's not strictly a remastering. HL Source also changes some things, but to a lesser degree. However, Valve has worked to make the originals play perfectly on modern systems and resolutions, so you can just play them.

 

[A horse of course]

Question: What are the "definitive" versions of Half-Life 1 and its expansions out there?

I remember there being the original commercial releases, the "Source" releases sometime around HL2's release, and then the Black Mesa mod which is mostly complete, but only covers the original game and not the expansions.

Are there any other releases in-between there that I've missed?

Ignoring obscure differences between the retail Sierra version vs. later releases and such, the regular HL/OpFor/BluShift release on steam is the "definitive" version, combined with the community-patched HD models fixes (you can find instructions on the steam forums). This is the best balance of vanilla-faithful art directon and mod compatibility. HL Source is incompatible with mods, though there is some content made specifically for it (typically HD model packs and such). I wouldn't recommend it as it's effectively just Half Life with some physics and pretty water effects.

Black Mesa plays very differently to the original HL and makes adjustments to several maps (cutting out certain segments, for example). I disliked it, personally, but whether you want to play it or not I'd categorize it as a historical curiosity rather than a substitute for the original.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I've already played Black Mesa, found it alright.

The reason I'm asking is because I own an old compilation that includes all the Sierra published Half-Life titles (the "Generations" pack) and was wondering if I could be considered "sorted out" with that alone.

They should work on modern OS's, so I should be good...right?