General Discussion [ Page 30 ]

My Review Of Valves Steam Controller - A Great Couch PC Experience

Valve is making a big push into the living room and the new Steam Controller is a large part of that. As reviews pour in what I've read hasn't left me with a good impression. Based on some reviews you might think Valve is insane and the new controller is an abysmal failure but i'd like to offer a different perspective.

Valves new Steam controller is amazing at some things and meh at others. Overall though, it provides a great middle ground that doesn't prefer one PC game type to another, which I think gives people a skewed impression.

So let's talk about what the Steam Controller doesn't do well to get that out of the way. In my opinion the Steam Controller isn't great... Read All

Wick wrote on 11/21/2015 at 09:39pm

Ooooo! I'd love to take a look at it sometime. Thanks for sharing!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/21/2015 at 09:58pm

No problem! One hitch is that I am borrowing it and need to return it next Tuesday so my time with it is limited.

Travis Admin wrote on 12/31/2015 at 07:13am

I'm going to chime in with a full review, but my experience with FPS games is the opposite of yours. It's not quite as good as M/KB but it's better than a 360 or PS3 controller. I was amazed after 5 minutes of Portal 2 just how much easier it was to control than a 360 controller.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 12/31/2015 at 05:14pm

The Portal games aren't really considered FPSs, due to a large absence of the S part of that acronym. Anyone use the Steam controller in a CS:GO or TF2-type environment? I've heard that the gyroscope is the secret feature that shines in FPSs, making the Steam controller even somewhat competitive(?).

Travis Admin wrote on 12/31/2015 at 05:16pm

Yeah Portal isn't an FPS, but it's great to get used to first person gameplay. (just mentioned that in my own review actually)

And I've heard that too, that the gyro's fine-tuned aiming can give people an edge. I still haven't gotten used to that, but it is neat.

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Mystery Science Theater 3000 Turkey Day Is Coming

Mystery Science Theater 3000 recently achieved it's crowdfunding goal on Kickstarter for three new episodes. It's a little under halfway to it's further goal to full fund a full 12 episode season if the nerd crowd so desires. Either way we will be getting new episodes which is an awesome thing. If you were alive in the 90's you may have caught this show on Comedy Central and later on the SciFi Network. One yearly staple was MST3K Turkey Day where Joel and Bots would select 6 episodes to show over the course of Thanksgiving and record a new video segment to kickoff each episode. In the last couple years Turkey Day has been something they've continued through streaming... Read All

Jack & Rich Review The Steam Controller. "It's A Spork"

In the latest episode of Previously Recorded Jack and Rich don't paint a very good picture of the Steam controller. After watching a couple hours of Rich playing games he doesn't look like an easy person to please but I do respect his opinion. Both seem to think the Steam Controller was a good idea that hasn't quite hit it's stride yet. I've read some reviews that speak well of it but I haven't heard anyone say it's a slam dunk win and something they love using.

I plan on getting a Steam Machine soon but am a bit nervous of the prospect as the Steam Controller is a large part of what makes the Steam in the Living Room work.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 11/14/2015 at 11:10pm

Yeah, I've been watching these 2 attempt to use the controller, and they've not seemed very happy. I was hoping that as they spent more time with it they'd enjoy it better. But that doesn't seem to be the case. I think their review is pretty even-handed and informative.

Hopefully in the future, 1) the controller gets refined, and 2) games get designed with the controller in mind, so as to make it a more useful controller.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 11/14/2015 at 11:18pm

And the spork analogy is on fleek

Travis Admin wrote on 11/15/2015 at 07:27am

What on earth is a "fleek?"

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/15/2015 at 12:49pm

Yeah. Feel like I am missing some important

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 11/15/2015 at 03:35pm

You guys obviously need more Nikki Minaj twitter feed in your life ;)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/15/2015 at 05:53pm

Fleek: "On point."

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fleek

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Help Bring Back Mystery Science Theater 3000 - One Of The Greatest Shows Of All Time

Back this on Kickstarter!

Joel Hodgson has been talking about bringing back Mystery Science Theater 3000 and today he launched a Kickstarter to fund new episodes. MST3K holds a special place in my addled 90's heart and to this day remains one of my most beloved shows of all time. I am currently making my way through the whole show and I just finished season 6's Village of The Giants featuring Timmy Kirk, Beau Bridges and Ron Howard. It's a strange go-go dancing film where Ron Howard invents a growth putty that causes the town bullies to grow to giant size and they use their new power to rule the town. It features one of the strangest movie intros I've seen with a car crash and immediate mud... Read All

Blizzard is restoring their classic games to glory

Blizzard is hiring a new Senior Software Engineer for classic games. Starcraft, Warcraft III, and Diablo II will be optimized for new operating systems! Unfortunately, the even older titles aren't included in the list, but these three are amazing to see.

http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/careers/posting.html?id=15000XZ

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/04/2015 at 09:28pm

Sweet!

jdodson Admin wrote on 11/05/2015 at 02:20am

Yeah, this is really nice to see. They've also mentioned this in an interview somewhere that they wanted to go back and make their classic titles more available. You can get many of the old SNES games now and hopefully they bring back Warcraft: Orcs and Humans as well as Warcraft 2.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 11/05/2015 at 03:53am

And Diablo I and Hellfire (though Hellfire might be difficult since it wasn't made by Blizzard). I'd love to be able to play that one. I played the hell out of D2, but skipped D1 and it's near impossible now.

jdodson Admin wrote on 11/05/2015 at 04:56pm

Impossible to run or to play because it's so hard? If the latter, you are correct, Diablo is really hard.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 11/05/2015 at 10:56pm

The former, actually. You can kinda get it running but the graphics break often making things unplayable because you can't see what's going on.

JaBo wrote on 11/05/2015 at 11:36pm

"Combat hacking to improve multiplayer."

lol - this can be read with two inflections that mean different things.

We need to be able to hack people up in combat for better multiplayer OR we need to protect against hackers so multiplayer is better.

jdodson Admin wrote on 11/06/2015 at 02:45am

Hahaha yeah. I think the latter

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 11/06/2015 at 03:46am

To put it into context, like transitioning zones. It messes it up. I've tried like three times and I've never even gotten to the actual gameplay because the graphics screw up.

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3 Died On Halloween - The Seven Stages Of Console Grief

I was at the PIGSquad Halloween Horror Game Marathon when my wife texted me the news. My PlayStation 3 finally passed and it is a sad time around our house. It's been doing strange things for the past month so we kind of saw this one coming. Rebooting spontaneously and constantly needing to check itself for errors,it wasn't too happy in it's last days. Every time we'd boot it the "jet engine cooling system" would rev up and loudly proclaim it was in pain. It's nice to see it finally be at peace.

Over the last few years we've used the PlayStation 3 to play DVDs and Bluray films. I imagine that hurt 3 and deep down, 3 couldn't find a way forward knowing I had moved on to... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 10/31/2015 at 06:58pm

You gonna replace it? I still found it to be the most affordable, capable Blu Ray player so even though I don't game on it as much as I used to, I replaced mine.

But gone are the saves. The games I played since cloud saving came around are fine, but 100% completion of LittleBigPlanet 1 and 2, I will miss you. My various Rock Band and Guitar Hero careers (which took a damn long time, mind) are at an end. GTA IV, Niko's life in New York has been erased from time. Red Dead Redemption, God of War 3, one set of Fallout 3 and Oblivion saves (but I have plenty of others on other platforms)... the list goes on.

Rest in peace, progress. You're still in my memory, but I can never revisit you again. Not the way you were.

Travis Admin wrote on 10/31/2015 at 07:00pm

3D-capable Blu Ray player, that is. You can get some cheap ones, but it seems the 3D ones are above $100, and I replaced my PS3 for $112

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 10/31/2015 at 07:04pm

It's in a better place.

My fondest memories of 3 definitely include watching RedLetterMedia movies.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 10/31/2015 at 10:05pm

My PS3 started acting up years ago.. It would shut itself off, even after only being on for a minute or so. Then it would have to check for errors. That was years ago, I can't say how many though. I thought it would die soon. However, it's still alive and seems to be doing fine now. I haven't really been using it, especially since I got my new PC. I was using it with the PS3 media player. Vinny's used it for various games including, but not limited to, Minecraft and Terraria.

Some of my best memories of it are especially of playing Fallout New Vegas, Red Dead Redemption, Skyrim, Oblivion, GTA IV, GTA V, and Batman Arkham City.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 11/01/2015 at 05:27pm

Rest in peace PS3.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 11/01/2015 at 06:49pm

Alas, poor Jon's PS3. I knew him well.

I'll always remember that one time we played Borderlands. And that other time we played RAGE and Unreal Tournament. Those were the days.

Farewell old friend, may you find peace in that big games room in the sky.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/01/2015 at 10:23pm

> You gonna replace it? I still found it to be the most affordable, capable Blu Ray player so even though I don't game on it as much as I used to, I replaced mine.

That's a really great question. I am not sure right this minute. I am going to try and see if I can open it up and see anything obvious. If I can't fix it and I really don't think I'll be able to, I am edging to just buying a nice Sony wifi Bluray player. As much as I'd like to get another PS3 or PS4 I really don't play console games anymore.

I set aside all my PS3 games the majority are on the PC. In fact, the games I enjoyed most like Borderlands, Fallout 3, The Orange Box, Borderlands 2, Rage and UT3 would be the only ones I'd want to play again and I own many of those on PC already.

Looking at a brand new PS3 they seem to start around $250 and might dip less depending. That's more than i'd want to spend for a device I only use to watch DVD and Bluray. If I go used that would be fine but it would just break again. I only know one person (well now with Greg 2) that still have their original PS3, they usually all break. So a used one isn't a great option, it's just a ticking clock till death.

So right now a fancy Bluray player but I could go another direction.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 11/01/2015 at 11:26pm

$250? Damn! Anyway, when I researched the issue with my PS3, I came to the conclusion that the issue has to do with the thermal paste on the processor. I also had mine standing vertically, which isn't recommended, so I set it down horizontally. I did find some solutions to that issue, but none of them seemed simple. Those solutions also said that they could only extend the life of the PS3 for a little bit more until it happened again.

Travis Admin wrote on 11/02/2015 at 03:54am

Start around $250? The most expensive I can find is $219 at Best Buy.

Since you already have a hard drive you can just get a 12gb for cheap and pop in the old drive. The key is finding one now, I think I lucked out. If you're ok with refurbs you can still get them way cheap.

But yeah, if 3D isn't a factor, you can get a Blu-Ray player for like $60

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/02/2015 at 06:07pm

I just checked the 12gb has no HD mounting tray, so that option is out. I didn't check Best Buy I checked Amazon and for the new quieter PS3, they start at $250 if I want to put in my old HD. Refurb and used are not an option i'd do.

Travis Admin wrote on 11/03/2015 at 04:23am

"I just checked the 12gb has no HD mounting tray, so that option is out."

You can buy a mounting tray for $6, but you don't even need the tray.

Travis Admin wrote on 11/03/2015 at 04:25am

More detail: The mounting tray just means the piece of metal the drive sits into so that you can easily slide it in and out of the PS3. The 12gb PS3 has the ports for the hard drive, just no mounting tray. But the tray itself is super cheap.

However, all you need is a piece of something non-conductive to make a wedge, or even a piece of electrical tape to hold the drive in securely. But if you don't want to live dangerously you can just buy the cheap one.

Proof: I have a 12gb PS3 and my hard drive is living there quite happily.

Travis Admin wrote on 11/03/2015 at 04:27am

This dude goes super high-tech :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWrI6U7fMvI

Travis Admin wrote on 11/03/2015 at 04:59am

And yeah, oddly, Amazon is about the most expensive option in this case. That's very odd.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/03/2015 at 05:15pm

That's all really good to know, thanks Travis. That does make the whole prospect cheaper. Still wondering what the chances i'll ever play a game on it again are?

Good thing Portal 2 came with a free Steam copy

Travis Admin wrote on 11/03/2015 at 07:41pm

Eh, if Portal 2 hadn't come with a free Steam copy, you definitely would have gotten it one of the few times they gave it away for free. Gotta love Valve :D

JaBo wrote on 11/05/2015 at 11:46pm

I have a backwards compatible (PS1 and PS2) 60GB HD original PS3 still working fine. My cousin took great care of it and I bought it off him a year and half or two years ago. There's hope!

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Happy 30th Birthday NES - One Of The Best Gaming Systems Of All Time

On October 17th the Nintendo Entertainment System turned 30 and to ring in the occasion CygnusDestroyer made a video showcasing the original 17 games in original NES launch lineup. Funny to consider it's been that long that I obsessed over getting one. I remember the Christmas morning opening it up and being able to finally play Super Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt whenever I wanted.

Stream Steam Games To Your PC or Android With Moonlight

http://moonlight-stream.com/images/steam_framed.png

I just found an awesome open source project that allows you to stream Steam games to any PC, Amazon or Android device called Moonlight. If you have an NVidia card setup with the NVidia experience for streaming, Moonlight is an open source client that can connect to it. Want to stream your PC library to your Android phone or tablet? You now can.

One cool thing about Moonlight is I was able to get my Steam games to stream to my television through my existing Nexus Player. After installing Moonlight on my Nexus Player I paired it with my PC and could start streaming games. It detected the games on my PC and after that was able to near seamlessly stream Borderlands 2 to my... Read All

Cheerful Ghost Roundtable: S3 E6 - Hallowon't

Welcome to the Cheerful Ghost Roundtable Halloween special. We talk about what we've been playing, if it's good to release two triple a games at the same time a few retro games and the new Star Wars trailer.

This is a shorted Roundtable as we take off a bit early to stream a bit of Telltales the Walking Dead which you can watch below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HE42nZac-Y

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 10/22/2015 at 08:38pm

Tim, there are other Final Fantasy games for the PSP you might want to check out. We may have talked about them long ago, I've forgotten. I refer to FFVII: Crisis Core and FFI and FFII. There's also Dissidia, but I'm not sure if I'd recommend it and its sequel. I spent a lot of time playing the first one, though. Oh and there's also FFIV: The After Years, which I also have.

That's cool, Jon, that you have Kirby's Dream Land. I remember playing that on my Gameboy, too. I'm not sure if I still have the cart for it. Oh and there are some Final Fantasy games for the original Gameboy as well, but again I'm not sure I'd recommend them, though I have them.

I don't recall the original Gameboy having a wall charger. I do remember the Super Gameboy, the SNES cart that lets you play Gameboy games.

As for the new Star Wars trailer, I think it looks cool. I also wonder where Luke is. I think I read that he may be in hiding. Also, I liked the newer movies for the first three episodes. I'm not saying they're the best movies ever, but I liked them. I realize many people don't though.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 10/23/2015 at 01:54am

> That's cool, Jon, that you have Kirby's Dream Land. I remember playing that on my Gameboy, too. I'm not sure if I still have the cart for it. Oh and there are some Final Fantasy games for the original Gameboy as well, but again I'm not sure I'd recommend them, though I have them.

I played Final Fantasy on Gameboy and at the time thought it was OK. It didn't standup to FF Mystic Quest or FF 2/IV, FF 3/VI but it was fun enough.

> As for the new Star Wars trailer, I think it looks cool. I also wonder where Luke is.

IT'S THE MYSTERY OF THE STAR... AGES? But yeah, I don't know either. I think it may be a significant plot point of the new film.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 10/23/2015 at 02:08am

You know what, I was referring to a different Final Fantasy game and didn't specify that. Final Fantasy Legends, I think is the series I really meant when talking about the Gameboy games. I didn't really like them, but I didn't give them much of a try. Weapons were used as consumables, I didn't like that.

As for Mystic Quest, I was disappointed with that one. It seemed to be too short. However FFII and III on the SNES are awesome! I do have those carts and their later ports. I paid about $50 or more for each of them (the SNES carts) maybe 15 years or so ago. I have no idea what happened to the SNES I used to have around that time, too, though I have a suspicion about how it disappeared.

As for Star Wars, one of the "teaser" trailers had Luke talking about how his parents had the force "and so do you." I don't know if he'll be in the movie, but it makes me think that he or Leia (did I spell that right?) had a kid (or more) and that's one of the main characters in the new movie. Seeing as how I wasn't disappointed with EpI-III, I probably won't be disappointed with VII either.

Travis Admin wrote on 10/23/2015 at 02:14am

Luke is confirmed to be in the movie, but we don't know in what capacity he'll appear.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 10/23/2015 at 02:18am

> As for Mystic Quest, I was disappointed with that one. It seemed to be too short.

I played Mystic Quest after Final Fantasy II/IV and I was disappointing with it to a point, but finished it because it was a fun simple adventure. The biggest bummer was that Adam had Final Fantasy III/VI and hew as playing it and I was borrowing Mystic Quest from him. Again, it was fun but I really wanted to play III

And yeah, Luke is confirmed as he was in the now iconic shot of the cast meeting before shooting the film.

http://rack.3.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE0LzA0LzMwLzVhL3N0YXJ3YXJzZXBpLmZhNjQ4LmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTk1MHg1MzQjCmUJanBn/bffc1745/1e5/star-wars-episode-7-cast-announce.jpg

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 10/23/2015 at 02:23am

Mystic Quest was a simple adventure. I'm not saying it was bad, but after having experienced many of the other FF games at the time I played MQ, I expected more.

Thanks for the Luke confirmation!

Travis Admin wrote on 10/23/2015 at 02:33am

Mystic Quest was released to be Final Fantasy for Dummies basically, to try to get Americans into the series more.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 10/24/2015 at 12:35am

Right. Still enjoyed it, even if it did have the bumpers on

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Steam Controller Review

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/353370/ss_d2f5e7325666df6119ff1d42be73bac9594c5b1e.600x338.jpg?t=1445019700

First off a little background on me: I haven't been a hard core PC gamer in years. In my limited gaming time I tend to focus more on consoles. I don't consider my self a controller snob. I don't have a favorite controller, and I don't care if a controller feels "cheap" or not.

The unboxing: The controller felt light out of the box. The controller takes two AA batteries. One battery goes into the left handle, the other into the right. This adds a little bit of balanced weight to the controller. The A/B/X/Y buttons feel really small (think mini m&ms).

The setup: This went easy. I plugged the wireless dongle into a free USB slot and I was ready to go. But wait, how do... Read All First off a little background on me: I haven't been a hard core PC gamer in years. In my limited gaming time I tend to focus more on consoles. I don't consider my self a controller snob. I don't have a favorite controller, and I don't care if a controller feels "cheap" or not.

The unboxing: The controller felt light out of the box. The controller takes two AA batteries. One battery goes into the left handle, the other into the right. This adds a little bit of balanced weight to the controller. The A/B/X/Y buttons feel really small (think mini m&ms).

The setup: This went easy. I plugged the wireless dongle into a free USB slot and I was ready to go. But wait, how do I navigate big picture? There was no indications on how I navigate big picture, so it was a little bit of trial and error. My first thought would be that you navigate with one of the touch pads, nope. It turns out you use the thumb stick to navigate with. I would have thought it would be the touch pad (isn't this one of its selling points?).

The controller: I like it. It feels comfortable to me. I really like the grip buttons. The small A/B/X/Y buttons don't bother me. The touch pads are just like a trackpad on my computer. Haptic feedback seems like a gimmick to me. I don't feel like it adds anything.

The games: I tried three games out. Portal 2, Starship Rubicon & Borderlands 2. Most of my time was spent with Borderlands 2.

Portal 2: I picked this game due to it having native steam controller support. The first mode I tried was gyroscope for mouse look. I knew this would be gimmicky, but I wanted to see if my gyroscope worked. Yup, it worked and I quickly turned off this mode. :) I then switched to right touch pad as mouse look and thumb stick as movement. The mouse look drove me nuts, as it was always fighting me and wanting to go to the upper-right. Later on I revisited the game, and it worked fine, so something must have not been set up right. My second visit to the game worked out ok. Again, it feels like I have a trackpad under my right thumb.

Starship Rubicon: I picked this game because of Cheerful Ghost. First up, Starship Rubicon does not recognize the steam controller as a game controller, so I could not use Starship Rubicon's native game controller support. I ended up using the keyboard and mouse setup for the steam controller. It took me a while to figure out how to bring up the on screen keyboard to enter my pilot's name. Once I did, it was a very interesting experience. Left touch pad is your left hand and right touch pad is your right hand. You pick the letter you want and then push the corresponding trigger button to enter the letter. Game control is on par with a trackpad and controller. I find that since I don't know all the keys this game needs that I need to remap the controller as I go. Example: I needed to map the left-shift button. Overall it is better than playing on my macbook air with its trackpad and keyboard (which did not go so well :) ).

Borderlands 2: I used the game controller with mouse setup, which is what steam recommended. This works out fairly well. I find that I am not used to the touch pad sensitivity out of the gate, but I am getting better at it. The right touch pad is your mouse look, while thumb stick controls your movement. The right touch pad is set to trackball mode. I find myself running out of touch pad on occasion as I hit the edge with my thumb. I think I will get better with it over time, as I am already seeing some improvement after a couple hours of use.

Overall I like the controller. I really like the grip triggers. It is a keeper for me.

Travis Admin wrote on 10/19/2015 at 07:42pm

Based on the initial press, I thought this could go many ways, but I'm really glad to hear that it's mostly positive across the board from everything I've read post-launch.

jdodson Admin wrote on 10/20/2015 at 02:00am

Thanks for posting Will. From what i've seen it seems like most people are getting used to it. For the games that natively support it, it's great but for others it's hit or miss. I think Valve wanted to do something different and in that created a bit of a strange device but if more people add support for it in their games I really think it could work out really well.

Wick wrote on 10/20/2015 at 08:36pm

Hm! I wonder why it didn't detect it as a controller for Starship Rubicon. Man, now I want to get my hands on one... :)

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member Post Author wrote on 10/21/2015 at 08:57pm

Fix it Wick! :)

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