Steam Controller, Steam Link and Steam Machines Now Available for Pre-order

+Valve have announced the following:

A limited quantity of orders will be shipped October 16th, weeks in advance of our official launch. Pre-order now and be among Steam Hardware's first wave of users."

The controller can be pre-ordered for £39.99 on the +Steam Store.

Steam Link is also £39.99.

Two Steam Machines are also listed: +Alienware's and +Syber's. However, the prices are listed in US$ and there is no add to cart option if you are connecting to Steam Store from the UK.

So it appears as if the controller and the Link are available to pre-order in the UK, but Steam Machines are not yet available to pre-order in the UK.

Verdun 1914 - 1918

Another interesting title has been released for Linux.

 

Verdun is a first person multiplayer squad shooter set during WWI, attempting to strike the right balance between realism and gameplay. From +M2H and +BlackMill Games this looks like a well-executed breath of fresh air for FPS fans who feel they're growing tired of copycat games.

This is from the official website at www.verdungame.com:

Verdun is the first multiplayer FPS set in a realistic First World War setting. The merciless trench warfare offers a unique battlefield experience, immersing you and your squad into intense battles of attack and defense.
The game takes place on the western front between 1914 and 1918, in one of the bloodiest conflicts in world history. The developers were inspired by the infamous Battle of Verdun France in 1916, The game includes many historically accurate features such as realistic WW1 weaponry, authentic uniforms and maps based on the real battlefields of France and Belgium.
The Frontlines game mode is unique in its tactical complexity. The realistic trenches are challenging to fight in and require tactical cunning to capture and defend. The Entente and Central Powers strive to gain control of frontline sectors. In one battle you're rushing the enemy trenches in an offensive battle in order to gain ground, In another battle you might be defending your recently conquered ground against an enemy counter-attack.

FEATURES:

• Realistic World War 1 gameplay: Authentic weaponry with realistic bullet physics, skill based weapon handling, poisonous gas with a claustrophobic gas mask experience and artillery barrages
• Tactical squad-based FPS: Unique squad leveling system, distinct squad types and roles, voice chat
• True trench warfare: Real-time dynamic frontline with momentum-based attack and counter-attack gameplay
• Authentic World War 1 setting: Typical WW1 music and style, historical battlefields set on the Western Front
• Challenging game modes: Team-based Frontline and skill-based Rifle Deathmatch

Currently available on +Steam for £15.29. Will you be buying it?

Pillars of Eternity: March 26th Release Date - Linux, Mac and Windows simultaneous release

Obsidian's Pillars of Eternity is due to be released on 26th March 2015 on Linux, Mac and Windows, distributed via +GOG.com - DRM-Free Games and +Steam.

Main features:

• Play as any one of six races: Human, Aumaua, Dwarf, Elf, Godlike and Orlan.
• Utilize five core skills to overcome any situation: Stealth, Athletics, Lore, Mechanics and Survival.
• Deep character customization: Build a character as one of eleven classes such as Barbarian, Chanter, Cipher, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Priest, Ranger, Rogue and Wizard.
• Sculpt your own story: Side with various factions using a reputation system, where your actions and choices have far reaching consequences.
• Explore a rich and diverse world: Beautiful pre-rendered environments laced with an engaging story and characters bring the world to life.

The game is inspired by the likes of Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale and Planescape: Torment, and was funded through crowd funding (it raised $3,986,929 and became the highest funded crowd sourced video game on Kickstarter at the time). This model has allowed the developers at Obsidian to make the game the way they wanted, rather than be restricted by publisher demands, as +Joshua Sawyer explains in a Reddit AMA with with Obsidian, here.

Whilst unashamedly based upon the aforementioned classic games, such as a pausable real-time system and fixed isometric gameplay with 2d pre-rendered backgrounds, it will not be based on D&D rules and will have an original plot and setting, all thanks to the freedom that Obsidian had as a result of the crowd funding model.

I think this game could do really well in terms of Linux sales alone, and I'm pleased to see it has a simultaneous release on all three major PC platforms.

Will you be buying it on release day?

Steam Controller - will it be love or hate?

So, the folks at +Valve and +Steam have listed the Steam controller in all its glory on the Steam Store and the Steam Universe site.

According to Valve, the controller will be available from November 2015 for $49.99. 


Some tech journalists have had a try out and reported mixed feelings. The consensus seems to be that it's a bit, well, unusual. Whilst I've not picked one up yet, I have to say that I do fear that they might only succeed if the games are designed around the controller. Harking back to the Nintendo64 (what do you mean you weren't born then!?) with it's new-fangled, tri-pronged, analogue/digital hybrid gamepad this took some getting used to, but N64 games (e.g. Super Mario 64, Goldeneye, Pilotwings 64, Turok) felt like they had been designed with the N64 gamepad in mind (in fact, some had been). Soon, it felt like this gamepad was the most natural way to control a game, especially Super Mario 64. In my humble opinion, it's the best controller I've ever used, but let's not get on to that now. If you revisited Super Mario 64 on the Wii with the Wii's classic controller, you'll know how it just didn't feel right - this demonstrates how important it is for the game to fit the controller.

It takes practice and perserverance to get used to a new control input, particularly if the new design is radical. The change from digital d-pads to analogue sticks took some getting used to but of course, all console makers were on the same band-wagon, so it created its own momentum, and was unlikely to fail - everyone wanted the new generation of 32 or 64-bit consoles back in the '90s, and the new analogue gamepads that came with them.

My concern is that regardless of how good the design is of the Steam controller, and of how much potential it might have for better control than the Xbox360 controller, I believe its success (i.e. how many are sold) depends as much upon first-rate marketing as it does AAA games being designed specifically for the Steam controller.

If players feel the Steam controller is restrictive, either before buying or after, and revert to keyboard and mouse, then it's doomed.

I really hope that as we draw nearer to November we hear the media singing this controller's praises, and developers announcing they have built their game control mechanics around the Steam controller.

I, for one, am hoping this is the successful birth of a new generation of control pads, as we saw in the 1990's with digital to analogue.

Bioshock Infinite now available on Linux

Following the recent news that Steam for Linux now has over 1000 games in its catalogue, Linux gamers can now buy the acclaimed Bioshock Infinite from Steam.

Ok, so it's two years old, having originally been released for Windows, PS3 and Xbox360 in 2013, but nonetheless this is great news for Linux gamers, adding yet another AAA title to the roster of available games.

The Linux version runs in a wrapper as explained here at Boiling Steam which means it has been made to run on Linux in a similar way that The Witcher 2 was. By the look of early reports it appears as if it has been very successful and even modestly specced machines should be capable of running the game at a fair whack.

Steam lists the minimum requirements as needing an NVidia/AMD OpenGL 4.1/DirectX 10.0 level compatible video card, with an Intel Core 2 DUO 2.4 GHz / AMD Athlon X2 2.7 GHz processor.

Recommended specs are an Intel Core i5 3GHz (or similar AMD processor) and
NVidia/AMD OpenGL 4.2/DirectX 10.1 level compatible with 2GB of video RAM.

HTC Vive Linux compatibility

The HTC Vive VR headset has recently been announced.

Until further details arrive, we do not know its full specifications. Some headline features are listed at http://www.htcvr.com/ such as:

• A 1,200 by 1,080 pixel screen in front of each eye
• Refresh rates of 90 frames per second
• Wide field of vision
• Headphone jack on headset
• Gyrosensor, accelerometer, and laser position sensor combine to precisely track the rotation of your head on both axes to an accuracy of 1/10th of a degree
• Ergonomic VR game controllers in each hand allow you to use virtual objects and interact with the virtual world
• HTC and Valve have partnered with Cloudhead Games, Dovetail Games and Fireproof Games
• Expected consumer release date: Holiday 2015 (I've no idea which holiday HTC refers to, but I'm assuming July/August)

What hasn't yet been confirmed is the Vive's Linux compatibility. Of course, assumptions abound when devices such as this are released with partial specs (free advertising anyone?), but part of the fun is guessing how things might work.

At present we know that the headset will use the SteamVR API. As Steam VR supports Windows, Mac and Linux, it's reasonable to assume that the Vive will work with all platforms.

VR-compatible games however are another issue. Each game will still need to be available for the underlying platform. So, for example, Dovetail Games Fishing is, at present Windows only. So this isn't playable on a VR headset plugged into a Linux PC running Steam. Half Life 2 will be though, as this has a VR mode, and is available for Linux.

It will be interesting to see which, if any, currently Windows-only VR games will be released on Linux in the near future. If Steam still has commitment to SteamOS it would be surprising if a good proportion new VR titles aren't released for Linux.

Steam-ish machine

Steam Machines' future is reported to be in peril as a result of delayed releases and Windows 10/Valve announcements (http://www.pcworld.com/article/2877281/why-the-steam-machine-revolution-may-fizzle-out-before-it-even-starts.html). However, my Steam(-ish) machine is here right now, and here's a report.

A quick recap: my linux (Ubuntu-based distro) HTPC sits in my lounge in ye-olde case (13 year old, Evesham X case), next to the television. I chose components to get a good balance between performance, low noise and low-power usage. The CPU is an AMD FX-8300 and GPU is an Nvidia GTX-650. This means the system can run games such as The Witcher 2, and Metro Last Light at medium/high settings, yet can be left running 24/7 without high power usage and too much noise (HDD soon to be replaced by SDD, and GPU fan to be replaced, which should reduce noise to practically inaudible).

Steam for Linux is installed on this PC, and runs absolutely fine in Desktop mode. However, Big Picture Mode frequently crashes, usually when viewing video, so I rarely go into Big Picture Mode, which is a problem, as Desktop mode is so hard to read on my television from about 8ft away. This is a real shame as Big Picture mode's layout is very good as part of a living room PC. Big Picture Mode also seems to be very resource-hungry, even after lauching a game; so much so, that when launching Metro or The Witcher 2 from BPM, the frame rate is so low the game is unplayable. Switching to Desktop mode and launching those same games resolves the issue.

I use an Xbox 360 wired gamepad to play most games now. Any games that require mouse and keyboard, particularly FPS, range from virtually impossible to slightly clunky with a Logitech K400 keyboard, as it has a trackpad, and a small one at that. Fortunately, most WASD games I've seen being released on Steam these days, support gamepads.

So what is the experience like compared to dedicated gaming consoles? Well, I'm sorry to say, that whilst I get on well enough with Steam Desktop version (as long as I sit close enough to read text!), Big Picture Mode just doesn't feel as sound as I'd like it to be. Admittedly, my machine is configured to do a lot more than just run Steam, but when I trim down running processes to test Steam I still come across the same issues; the main ones being Big Picture Mode crashing, and its resource-hogging. Once these are resolved, I would be quite happy to boot into Steam BPM by default.

The range of games is on Steam for Linux is growing larger and larger all the time - Steam is now listing 939. With recent major titles such as Metro, Dying Light, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Football Manager, Sid Meier's Civilization series, and The Talos Principle, to name a few, the quality is getting better too. Hopefully this year will see more and more AAA titles being released on Steam for Linux, as this will surely prompt Valve to iron out those bugs on Big Picture Mode sooner rather than later.