Steam in your Living Room!

For many years now, there have been rumors that Valve was going to get into the console business. This week, Valve has made 3 announcements making these rumors a reality. They have announced a home console called the Steam Machine, a custom Linux-based operating system called Steam OS, and a brand new controller unlike anything else on the market.

The first announcement was for the Steam OS. This is a Linux based operating system that can be used on a Steam Machine that will allow you to stream games from your Steam library onto your TV. This operating system is going to be open and can be altered. There will be streaming movie, tv and music services built in - probably Netflix and Hulu, but no official word yet. Family sharing, which I've explained in this post, will also be built into the OS. You'll be able to save games to the Steam cloud, and you'll also be able to customize how you view your Steam library. Each gamer in your household will be able to have their own library view, much like how you change the viewer on Netflix. 

The Steam Machine itself is actually a line of consoles that will have different specifications and will be made by different manufacturers. The Steam Machine is currently in development with existing prototypes. They will be released in 2014 and 300 Steam Machines will be sent out to Steam members for beta testing soon.

The final announcement was a bit of a surprise to some. Steam made a separate announcement about the controller that will come with the Steam Machine. It's really unlike anything I've personally seen. This controller has two trackpads instead of analog sticks and a touch screen in the middle. The controller will be fully reprogrammable based on the game you're playing. The best part is you can use this controller with any game in the Steam library, even the ones that don't currently support a controller. This fully replaces a mouse and keyboard. Also the programming for the controller is Open Source, to make it easier for developers to program their own controls into their games. Steam has been pushing for its members to play more games in the living room, so this controller makes things much easier so you don't have to keep a keyboard and mouse on your coffee table all the time (like I do!).

If you are a member on Steam, you can earn the Steam Hardware Enthusiast badge as a way to sign up for the hardware beta. The requirements are as follows:

•  Join the Steam Universe community group
• Agree to the Steam Hardware Beta Terms and Conditions
• Make 10 Steam Friends (This explains why so many people have been asking for my Steam ID this week!)
• Create a public Steam Community profile
• Play a game using a gamepad in Big Picture mode

Only 300 people will be chosen and the current count of people who have earned the badge is 188,999. The deadline to earn the badge is October 25. If anyone needs more friends, you can add me. My Steam ID is r2d2cupcake. 

Steam Announces Family Sharing Plan

In a big F-you to Microsoft, Steam has recently announced the new feature added to it's digital gaming service - the family sharing plan. You can "share" games on the cloud to 10 designated friends. They can play the games whenever you want, as long as you aren't already playing them. The downside, of course, is that you will not be able to share DLC, which belongs to the original owner of the game.

However, the good outweighs the bad. Sharing your games with friends is a great way to try out games you are unsure about before you spend money on them. Also, it's a good way for indie games to get good exposure and to boost sales.

Microsoft seems to be the originator of the idea. When the XBox One was announced last May, the only decent feature of the console was the family sharing plan. Because of wide public dissent of the majority of XBox One features, however, the good and the bad features were nixed from the console. Perhaps this sparked Valve's interest so the plan could be implemented on Steam.

The sharing plan is currently in closed beta, but will be available to all Steam members soon.

Spend A Year On My Wishlist, Become My New Obsession...Towns!

 

I've ended up with a really awesome game on this weekend's Steam sale called Towns. The game was originally part of Steam's Project Greenlight and was developed by Xavi Canal and Ben Palgi. It was originally released about a year ago and has been on my wishlist for just as long. You take the sterotypical concept of an RPG and you flip it and reverse it.

Saints Row IV Hotdog Suit, Here I Come!

Hello, World! I would just like to make an announcement that I finally cracked and bought Saints Row IV. I knew I would though.

The Humble Origin Bundle!

Even cooler things happening than Deadpool today (Sorry, Deadpool). It's the Humble Bundle!! Be sure to go to HumbleBundle.com and get yours today!!

Okay, enough excitement. What is a humble bundle anyway? Basically, the website offers you somewhere around 5-8 games in a bundle, you decide how much you want to spend on it, and the amount you decide on goes to charity. Usually humble bundles are indie games, but this week it's all EA games. You get codes for Mirror's Edge, Dead Space 1 and 3, Burnout Paradise, Medal of Honor, and  Crysis 2 Maximum Edition. If you spend more than the average amount, which as of right now is $4.71, they will throw in Battlefield 3 and Sims 3 Starter Pack, which has the base Sims 3 game and High End Loft and Late Night expansions. This is seriously a great deal, even if you're only excited about one game in the bundle. I'm a cheap bastard and I spent $5 and got everything. You also get the codes for each game separately, so I gave out the codes to the games I already had to people I know. They can be used on Steam or on Origin, except for Battlefield 3 and Sims 3.

So what are you waiting for? Get your Humble Bundle now!