*** Valve Steam Machine ***

My Steam controller turned up today. Initial impressions are decent. Its definitely not as comfortable to use as the 8bitdo Ultimate 2. I've got big hands and the analog sticks are a bit harder to reach, but no big deal really. The trackpads and Steam shortcuts are super useful for when I'm using the PC with my OLED TV (which is quite often now).

Another thing I've gotten used to with the 8bitdo are the triggers that you can switch to a much shorter throw for FPS games. I'll miss that.

Overall though, first 30 minutes playing some Pragmata - its nice.
 
Spleen Sauce said:
My Steam controller turned up today. Initial impressions are decent. Its definitely not as comfortable to use as the 8bitdo Ultimate 2. I've got big hands and the analog sticks are a bit harder to reach, but no big deal really. The trackpads and Steam shortcuts are super useful for when I'm using the PC with my OLED TV (which is quite often now).

Another thing I've gotten used to with the 8bitdo are the triggers that you can switch to a much shorter throw for FPS games. I'll miss that.

Overall though, first 30 minutes playing some Pragmata - its nice.
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Nice. I'll be picking one up as soon as my reservation allows!
 
Spleen Sauce said:
My Steam controller turned up today. Initial impressions are decent. Its definitely not as comfortable to use as the 8bitdo Ultimate 2. I've got big hands and the analog sticks are a bit harder to reach, but no big deal really. The trackpads and Steam shortcuts are super useful for when I'm using the PC with my OLED TV (which is quite often now).

Another thing I've gotten used to with the 8bitdo are the triggers that you can switch to a much shorter throw for FPS games. I'll miss that.

Overall though, first 30 minutes playing some Pragmata - its nice.
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What do you make of the haptic feedback ? Is it good ? Do you miss not having adaptive triggers ?
 
xaldub said:
What do you make of the haptic feedback ? Is it good ? Do you miss not having adaptive triggers ?
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The triggers on the Ultimate 2 and not adaptive like on the PS5 controller if that's what you mean? They're just switchable so that they're essentially buttons instead of triggers.

Haptics I'll test more later on.
 
Mine arrived late last night. Wasn't expecting it, will try over the weekend.

Already seen reviews its not very good for stuff like Retroarch but still plenty of time for that to be addressed.
 
JetMars said:
Got my controller as well today, struggling on how to map the back buttons to use in games like battlefield. Need to look further into it.
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Basically you want to customise it and map them to the keyboard key/combo that matches the mapping within the game. You’ll find you can’t just map it directly within the game itself.
 
Good news for hopeful future steam machine owners, Valve has just hit the steam deck with a massive price increase

The base model Steamdeck OLED was $549, it's now $789, a 43% price increase

The 1TB model was $649, it's now $949, a 46% price increase

In a statement Valve blamed high memory and storage costs: "These new prices reflect the current state of component costs and other global logistical challenges across the industry as a whole"
 
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Thats very expensive for a handheld that was showing performance limitations soon after release of the LCD version 4+ years ago.

Not paying those prices without a significant hardware bump.
 
Grim5 said:
Good news for hopeful future steam machine owners, Valve has just hit the steam deck with a massive price increase

The base model Steamdeck OLED was $549, it's now $789, a 43% price increase

The 1TB model was $649, it's now $949, a 46% price increase

In a statement Valve blamed high memory and storage costs: "These new prices reflect the current state of component costs and other global logistical challenges across the industry as a whole"
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Just saw this and am shocked at the level of the price increases. I understand Valve is tiny versus ASUS and others in terms of economies of scale, but this is madness.

The Steam Machine will be dead on arrival I think.
 
Lots of talk of the Steam Machine price being leaked at $1200 so probably £1200 with tax no way it’s going to sell at that price if true.
 
xaldub said:
Yup, with the SD now at £779 there is little chance of the Steam Machine being launched at a price which represents good value. Really makes me wonder what the PS6 and Xbox's next console will be priced at !
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I am slightly more optimistic for the PS6 for several reasons. 1) It is a more traditional console, 2) Sony is a much bigger player and 3) Hopefully RAM/SSD prices will have calmed down a bit by the time it launches. Not to mention Sony ate some additional costs on the PS5 when it launched around covid so perhaps they will do the same again.... (he says optimistically). It will definitely be expensive versus the base PS5 at least.
 
Absolutely Clueless said:
I am slightly more optimistic for the PS6 for several reasons. 1) It is a more traditional console, 2) Sony is a much bigger player and 3) Hopefully RAM/SSD prices will have calmed down a bit by the time it launches. Not to mention Sony ate some additional costs on the PS5 when it launched around covid so perhaps they will do the same again.... (he says optimistically). It will definitely be expensive versus the base PS5 at least.
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Also the potential positive impact of PS6 handheld and Helix is rumoured to be more powerful/premium. That said with regards to the Steam Deck news...just horrible. It doesn't feel like Valve are eating any of the cost of the component increases, but who knows.
 
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$1000 or an underpowered handheld PC is absolutely insane, even with an OLED screen. Feel like gaming as a hobby might have peaked and have one last hurrah with the release of GTA VI this year. Consoles that release at £500 and only ever increase in price, a distinct lack of console exclusives despite being over 5 years into the lifecycle of the consoles and the constant squeeze on people's wallets from every facet of life is making it harder and harder for the casual audience to justify the purchase. PC gaming was a solid answer to the above but the sociopathic desire for AI has pretty much killed it for the foreseeable.
 
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Moothead2 said:
$1000 or an underpowered handheld PC is absolutely insane, even with an OLED screen. Feel like gaming as a hobby might have peaked and have one last hurrah with the release of GTA VI this year. Consoles that release at £500 and only ever increase in price, a distinct lack of console exclusives despite being over 5 years into the lifecycle of the consoles and the constant squeeze on people's wallets from every facet of life is making it harder and harder for the casual audience to justify the purchase. PC gaming was a solid answer to the above but the sociopathic desire for AI has pretty much killed it for the foreseeable.
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And if consoles are unaffordable then you try PC gaming and if PC gaming is unaffordable then you try Mobile phone gaming but now even Mobile phones is becoming harder as entry and mid range model production gets canned for only selling high margin top of the range models
 
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