Steam Link and Steam Controller now available to Pre Order

[Firejack]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk8ZoWcvY2s

for ppl like me good review

Hold on. He is playing FPS games and isn't using the Gyro for fine-targeting

He's completely missed one of the great features of the controller!

For FPS the best setup seems to be analogue stick for movement, right trackpad for other movements (turning, looking around etc) and gyro for fine-targeting (Aiming down sights etc)

Still waiting for mine to arrive. But let me dig out a video with someone using the above setup.

Here you go:
https://youtu.be/GKuO9M0WuMg

As you can see. The gyro adds another level of precision to FPS games.

 

[Skeeter]

Just looks like an incredibly fiddly way to be less accurate than a mouse, tbh.

A pretty cool feature though. I imagine it could be used well in other game types?

 

[Mark A]

He mentions it works really well in GTAV. I do the same as him, constantly switching between my kb/mouse for on foot first person and then switch to the pad for 3rd person in the vehicles. So this pad would be a good compromise to do both.

 

[Nismo]

Anyone with any further impressions now it's been in their hands a few days?

How are the community-sourced profiles doing?

 

[Seanspeed]

Hold on. He is playing FPS games and isn't using the Gyro for fine-targeting

He's completely missed one of the great features of the controller!

For FPS the best setup seems to be analogue stick for movement, right trackpad for other movements (turning, looking around etc) and gyro for fine-targeting (Aiming down sights etc)

Still waiting for mine to arrive. But let me dig out a video with someone using the above setup.

Here you go:
https://youtu.be/GKuO9M0WuMg

As you can see. The gyro adds another level of precision to FPS games.

This is interesting, but I imagine works best when using a monitor close up. Fine aiming with gyroscopic controls on a more distant screen will probably be a bit more finicky.

Having to have the controller basically aimed at the screen is also not terribly ideal.

Might be cool to play around with, though.

 

[maun]

Forgive my ignorance, but is the idea for this thing to be able to stream from your gaming rig to another room etc?

so for instance, i could stream FM2015 to my living room etc?

 

[chef-borjan]

Forgive my ignorance, but is the idea for this thing to be able to stream from your gaming rig to another room etc?

so for instance, i could stream FM2015 to my living room etc?

Thats exactly what it is for. FM2015 would be a great example for this, you wouldn't really have to worry about an extra few milliseconds of lag.

 

[Jae-So]

Hold on. He is playing FPS games and isn't using the Gyro for fine-targeting

He's completely missed one of the great features of the controller!

For FPS the best setup seems to be analogue stick for movement, right trackpad for other movements (turning, looking around etc) and gyro for fine-targeting (Aiming down sights etc)

Still waiting for mine to arrive. But let me dig out a video with someone using the above setup.

Here you go:
https://youtu.be/GKuO9M0WuMg

As you can see. The gyro adds another level of precision to FPS games.

Wow I didn't know about this gyro stuff - Thank you for sharing!

I don't even like KB/M when at my desk - so much so that I have a Razer Hydra (motion controls) for FPS games, Nostromo for RPGs and Xbone pad for everything else.

This looks like a decent controller for living room gaming especially with the gyro for FPS. Alternate between this and the Xbone pad depending on the game.

 

[ryryryan]

Having played with the controller for a while now, I have to say that I love it. Not perfect, but its a superb start.

I managed to complete a full FTL game with complete ease, forgetting that I was even using the controller. Which in my eyes is great praise.

I also got through a fair bit of Portal Stories Mel with it too. Had to make some tricky portal placements which would have been easier with the mouse but I still managed alright.

Got it up and running with Elite too. Not sure how truly playable it is but its certainly more customisable and better than Xbox 360 one. Guess I'm just too used to my X52 Pro

Negatives of controller - feels cheaper than Xbox/dualshock. Extended thumbstick use had my thumb hurting, its a bit too low. My right trigger can sometimes become a bit rattly as it moves the bumper above it. Doesn't happen much but its a bit annoying.

Overall though I'm super happy with it. Just wish in home streaming was a bit more reliable, too many times I have to pop upstairs to fix something on the computer (also elite seems to be crashing. Now sure if its streaming or the game. May need driver update). The actual streaming is awesome when it works though, I stream on to my surface and game on the sofa while the gf is watching TV. (I did buy pretty expensive router though to get it working so smoothly, was not so great over WiFi before)

 

[FoxEye]

Just looks like an incredibly fiddly way to be less accurate than a mouse, tbh.

A pretty cool feature though. I imagine it could be used well in other game types?

For some of us (of advanced age ) it's all about comfort. Mouse and kb tends to be the least comfortable control method of all.

Unless you're seriously into MP gaming, most of us can get by with a controller. Esp for SP games, where AI typically sucks

Obviously high-level MP FPS gamers will /never/ ditch their m/kb, but were these devices really ever targetted at them?

 

[Skeeter]

So I've done some more testing of the Link.

I grabbed a GB switch to bypass the 100MB connection through my router and it made a tiny difference. However Rocket League was still stuttery as hell. However, I spotted that the whole interface was stuttery rather than just the game. It even seemed to make the interface laggy after I've exited the game, so I thought there must be something odd happening on my PC.

So I updated the drivers, disabled Afterburner which was giving me an FPS overlay, and disabled Shadowplay, so that there was nothing likely to lag my PC. And it worked, RL was playable. Its not perfect and there's still small amounts of stutter and slow down that make it feel a bit weird to play, but I spent a good couple of hours punting balls about from the comfort of my sofa which was great.

But I also had a random freeze at one point, and during my testing of settings at one point the link connected with sound but no picture.

So it seems overlays and things can affect your experience in some games, and its not quite as stable as I'd like, but for slower paced games its going to be great. I've bought Stick of Truth in the sales so that should be ideal.

 

[MaDMaX**]

So I've done some more testing of the Link.

I grabbed a GB switch to bypass the 100MB connection through my router and it made a tiny difference. However Rocket League was still stuttery as hell. However, I spotted that the whole interface was stuttery rather than just the game. It even seemed to make the interface laggy after I've exited the game, so I thought there must be something odd happening on my PC.

So I updated the drivers, disabled Afterburner which was giving me an FPS overlay, and disabled Shadowplay, so that there was nothing likely to lag my PC. And it worked, RL was playable. Its not perfect and there's still small amounts of stutter and slow down that make it feel a bit weird to play, but I spent a good couple of hours punting balls about from the comfort of my sofa which was great.

But I also had a random freeze at one point, and during my testing of settings at one point the link connected with sound but no picture.

So it seems overlays and things can affect your experience in some games, and its not quite as stable as I'd like, but for slower paced games its going to be great. I've bought Stick of Truth in the sales so that should be ideal.

can you expain the 100mb connection thru your router, i dont understand what that means, is that what you get wired hense grabbing a gbit switch !

be interested to know how wireless Ac to Ac performs, i cant beleive they stuck in a pretty reasonable wireless adapter then nobbled the link with 100 Mbit/s Fast Ethernet !

i used steam stream to play black ops , from my main pc upstairs onto my dell latptop, with both pc and laptop using wireless AC, and was bolled over by the performance so much so to think i might play some games on my Tv that then lead my sheltered! life to discover the link! but im thinking i might just use the laptop or buillt/buy a cheap mini pc least i can then add Gbit ethernet and AC wireless

 

[Trox]

Skeeter, that's quite a poor experience but you raise issues I've never seen with the same games. RL has been as smooth as it is on the PC. I can only think it's network/host PC steam stream issues. Although, the only overlay I use is Steams and geforce experience shadow play (which doesn't show up on link anyway, don't know why).

I played through Ryse start to finish as well with both the controller and the link. Well impressed so far!

In the week I've used it I had one issue where the screen went green on game load, restarting the host steam client resolved the problem.

Hopefully the problems you have can be sorted out, the next game I'll work through is the 2nd Batman hoping it'll play through as good as Ryse did!

 

[Kamakazie!]

Had these since the 16th so had a bit of time with them. In short they are everything I expected and I'd highly recommend both if your usage fits with their intended purpose.

Controller: Finally a controller that does a decent job in FPS, flexible enough for a wide variety of games and fantastic for 3rd person shooters.
There's still quite a few bugs and features to be sorted, but the updates are rolling in quickly and it seems like there are iterative improvements in the way people are using the functionality on an almost daily basis. I've never been a big controller user so the learning curve hasn't been too harsh, however for those that are, give yourself a good amount of time because it will be weird at firatfirst.
Also, most of the top used profiles for popular games are terrible. Especially FPS.

Link: I've replaced my media centre with this and a firetv. Whilst I wish I could stream on the FTV instead of a separate vox, I am really pleased with the move.
There are quite a few, particularly olderolder games, that are still not working properly, but ones that do are great. I'm running through a gig-e switch but my PC is currently stuck connecting through a 100mb router and so far streaming has been super smooth, Rocket League included.
My current bug bear is not seeming to be able to get it to stream 1080p as my monitor is 16:10, even if iI set the game toto a lower 16:9 res it's still not displaying full screen on my TV.

 

[Skeeter]

can you expain the 100mb connection thru your router, i dont understand what that means, is that what you get wired hense grabbing a gbit switch !

Yeah its wired, and my router is only 100mb. So it was PC -> 100MB Router -> Link. And now its PC -> 1GB Switch -> Link.

Its made no noticable difference, the bitrate needed for streaming 1080p is nowhere near 100mb anyway, which is why the Link has only got a 100mb port. It was more an exercise in just eliminating the Plusnet router being pants.

Skeeter, that's quite a poor experience but you raise issues I've never seen with the same games. RL has been as smooth as it is on the PC. I can only think it's network/host PC steam stream issues. Although, the only overlay I use is Steams and geforce experience shadow play (which doesn't show up on link anyway, don't know why).

This is my issue with In Home Streaming, and has been since it first arrived a couple of years back. Its inconsistent. Some people have no issues, some people have some, some people have never got it working. I've had completely different experiences using the same games on different machines.

The whole thing seems flaky enough for it to not feel 'finished', if that makes scene? And the randomness of issues makes them very difficult to diagnose. As I've said I've had some games play flawlessly. The stats on screen shown when playing RL show 60FPS and tiny/insignificant latencies, but it plays as if its running a lot slower. That makes me think its my PC, but theres zero support out there to help me figure out why.

 

[Phal]

For some of us (of advanced age ) it's all about comfort. Mouse and kb tends to be the least comfortable control method of all.

How is a mouse and keyboard uncomfortable? Maybe you need a new one? Or a new chair lol

For me, the controller and link box is for exactly what they've advertised it for... Playing in your living room.

Wireless controllers that you can sit on your sofa and use with the box that sits snuggly near your TV and doesn't look too weird next to your other black electronics.

 

[Trox]

...
This is my issue with In Home Streaming, and has been since it first arrived a couple of years back. Its inconsistent. Some people have no issues, some people have some, some people have never got it working. I've had completely different experiences using the same games on different machines.

The whole thing seems flaky enough for it to not feel 'finished', if that makes scene? And the randomness of issues makes them very difficult to diagnose. As I've said I've had some games play flawlessly. The stats on screen shown when playing RL show 60FPS and tiny/insignificant latencies, but it plays as if its running a lot slower. That makes me think its my PC, but theres zero support out there to help me figure out why.

Yea, it does seem that way. I've also used it since it's release, streamed to my HTPC which caused me hassle with input lag. Racers were a mess to handle on it and Street Fighter just put you at a disadvantage.

I didn't think the link would improve that much on what I had with the HTPC, but it did. Racers feel decent and I can play Street Fighter without feeling the input lag.

Kinda makes me dread the day I upgrade my gaming rig in case I loss how good the Link is right now lol

 

[Vonhelmet]

I've only got an iMac for gaming at the moment, which is doing the job following ditching my 360, but I'd like something better and I'd like to be back in the living room with it. I think I'll pick up a Link to tide me over until I build a dedicated gaming PC to go under the telly.

 

[Skeeter]

When it works, the Link is great. I've cleared a whole cupboard that used to have a 360, PS3 and HTPC and replaced it with a Steam Link and a Fire TV

 

[tracertong]

I am interested in the link but would like to know how it performs with the following games - Pro evo 2016 , Elite Dangerous , Dirt Rally and Metal Gear V.

Any comments of your experiences would be appreciated.

thanks