Hasta La Gadget!

Valve, as many of you already know, recently rolled Steam Big Picture Mode out of beta. For those who need a refresher, Big Picture Mode takes Steam and makes it play nice with larger screens, upping the resolution and allowing users to navigate the Steam interface using a controller. Despite the relatively simple idea, it would appear that Big Picture Mode has taken off, with Valve boss Gabe Newell telling Kotaku that the response from users has been “stronger than expected.”

Looking into the not-so-distant future, what’s on deck for Valve is rolling Steam for Linux out of beta. After that’s done, Valve wants to make Big Picture Mode compatible with Linux. Doing those two things will apparently pave the way for Valve to develop its own hardware for the living room. Newell suggests that PC manufacturers will begin releasing packages aimed at the gamer, which would be computers that players could hook up to a TV and use to run programs like Steam.

It would appear that Newell counts his own company among the ones that will be releasing these PC packages, which he points out will compete with the console world’s next generation offerings. Unfortunately, don’t expect Valve’s hardware – if it ever comes into existence, that is – to be an open system. “Well certainly our hardware will be a very controlled environment,” Newell said. “If you want more flexibility, you can always buy a more general purpose PC. For people who want a more turnkey solution, that’s what some people are really gonna want for their living room.”

Of course, we’ve been hearing for a very long time that Valve will one day begin creating gaming hardware of its own, and we have to remember that Gabe Newell is a man who likes to talk about the future of technology, especially as it relates to games. In other words, this doesn’t necessarily count as confirmation that Valve is actually working on the oft-rumored Steam Box, but it is something fun to think about. We’ll just have to wait and see how this whole thing unfolds, so stay tuned.

Newell talks Big Picture Mode, teases “turnkey” Valve PCs for living rooms is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

PC players who love playing on the big screen rejoice, because Valve has officially launched Steam Big Picture Mode. Big Picture Mode has been in beta since September, but now it’s ready for prime time, with Valve rolling the feature out to everyone. For the uninitiated, Big Picture Mode makes Steam and the games it offers compatible with larger screens, meaning you can hook up your computer to your TV and play your PC library from the couch.

It gets even better though, because Valve has decided to celebrate the official roll out of Big Picture with a sale. The sale will be going on until December 10, with all of the games on sale coming with full support for controllers. By “full support,” Valve means that you can use a controller for everything – including the installation process – making them the perfect choice for Big Picture players.

In all, Steam lists 41 games with full controller support, and another 386 games with partial controller support. If you pick up a game with partial controller support, be aware that while they’re compatible with controllers, they may need a mouse and keyboard at times. In any case, there are plenty of games that are primed and ready for Big Picture mode, so you should have no lack of titles to play on the big screen.

Notable titles that have been discounted for this sale include a number of games in the LEGO series, Castle Crashers, Sonic Generations, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, and Braid. That’s just the tip of the iceberg though, with many games being discounted by as much as 75%. Even if you aren’t planning to play these titles in Big Picture mode, this is still a good time to snag a few deals you missed during the Steam autumn sale. Are you planning to take advantage of Steam Big Picture mode?

[via Steam]

Steam Big Picture Mode officially launches, Valve celebrates with sale is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

For years now, we’ve used the Crysis series to determine how good a PC is at a glance, with enthusiasts today still asking “But can it run Crysis?” when you bring up your PC’s technical specifications. It looks like Crysis 3 will continue the series’ trend of demanding a lot of power, as Electronic Arts has released the PC requirements for the incoming game. Luckily, EA has share the requirements two months before Crysis 3 launches, which is good since it sounds like some of us will have to spend some time upgrading.

Electronic Arts has shared three sets of requirements: minimum, recommended, and high-performance. We imagine a lot of users will be able to meet the minimum system requirements, but if you want to go for high-performance, you’ll need the latest and greatest. You’ll also need a machine running DirectX 11 regardless of your hardware, so you Windows XP users are being left out in the cold with Crysis 3, sorry to say. Here’s the full list of requirements straight from EA:

Minimum system operating requirements:

• Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8
• DirectX 11 graphics card with 1GB Video RAM
• Dual core CPU
• 2GB Memory (3GB on Vista)
• Example 1 (NVIDIA/Intel): NVIDIA GTS 450, Intel Core2 Duo 2.4 Ghz (E6600)
• Example 2 (AMD): AMD Radeon HD5770, AMD Athlon64 X2 2.7 Ghz (5200+)

Recommended system operating requirements:

• Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8
• DirectX 11 graphics card with 1GB Video RAM
• Quad core GPU
• 4GB Memory
• Example 1 (NVIDIA/Intel): NVIDIA GTX 560, Intel Core i3-530
• Example 2 (AMD): AMD Radeon HD5870, AMD Phenom II X2 565

High-performance system operation requirements:

• Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8
• Latest DirectX 11 graphics card
• Latest quad core CPU
• 8GB Memory
• Example 1 (NVIDIA/Intel): NVIDIA GTX 680, Intel Core i7-2600k
• Example 2 (AMD): AMD Radeon HD7970, AMD Bulldozer FX4150

So Crysis 3 is going to be one power hungry game, but did we really expect otherwise? The footage we’ve seen of the game has looked great so far, and if you’ve got the hardware to crank everything up to maximum settings, then you’ve got some beautiful visuals to look forward to. Of course, Crysis 3 requires some really expensive hardware to look its best, so beautiful visuals may not be worth it in this case.

Crysis 3 was accidentally revealed by Electronic Arts earlier this year and is built on CryEngine 3. It’ll be available on Xbox 360 and PS3 as well as PC, but aside from a rather vague February 2013 window, we don’t have a solid release date for the game yet. We’ll let you know when a release date is announced, but in the meantime, let us know if your rig is beefy enough to run Crysis 3 at max settings.

Crysis 3 PC requirements land, get ready to upgrade is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of partying with a bunch of my friends. All of them are pretty big nerds, just like me. If you’re a nerd too, you know that not much changes when a bunch of nerds get a few drinks in them, they just talk about nerdy things louder than usual. Therefore, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to hear that the Steam autumn sale was among the topics that came up that night.

“So what do you think of the autumn sale?” one of my friends asked.

“Not impressed,” I replied. The look his face indicated that he agreed with me.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good deal as much as the next gamer, and I am always willing to spill some serious cash during a Steam sale. I went into the autumn sale thinking that I was going to be buying up games left and right, but we’ve now entered the final day of the sale and so far I’ve purchased two games for a grand total of $17.48. I’m in fine standing with both my bank and my girlfriend as a result, but I can’t help but feel a little underwhelmed.

There have been some good deals, to be sure – earlier in the sale, Skyrim took the stage as a featured deal, and right now Dishonored and Torchlight II, the latter of which being one of my 2012 favorites, are both 50% off. The problem, though, is that there’s going to be another Steam sale in less than a month. It’ll be big too, as Steam holiday sales always are. The autumn sale just pales in comparison to the blowout events that the holiday and summer sales have traditionally been, which leaves me wondering why we even need the autumn sale in the first place.

I understand why the autumn sale exists – everyone is going nuts over Black Friday and Cyber Monday, so Valve holds a sale of its own to net some of the shoppers who have cash and are ready to spend it, provided the deals are good enough. With the autumn sale, however, it’s hard to get excited in the same way I’m excited for the holiday sale. In fact, it feels like the autumn sale is intentionally watered down in anticipation of the incoming holiday sale. It’s shorter than its summer and holiday siblings, there aren’t any publisher catalogs on offer, and the discounts don’t seem as deep. So, what’s the point when the holiday sale is knocking on the door?

Maybe this is all in my head. Maybe the problem is with me and not with the sale itself. With the holiday sale on the horizon, I’m hesitant to spend money during the autumn sale because there’s a feeling that they might be even cheaper in just a few short weeks. Even if I see a deal I know is good on a game I’ve been wanting to play, I question whether or not I should take advantage of it since I know (or at least assume) I’ll spend a lot of money during the holiday sale.

I can’t be the only one who feels that way, can I? I’d be interested to see how many people bite during the autumn sale in comparison to the summer and holiday sales, because I would imagine that the numbers for the autumn sale end up falling short. Valve – and other digitial distribution platforms for that matter – have something of a unique problem here. Most retailers don’t hold a holiday sale on the scale of Valve’s, only hosting massive sales for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Since PC gamers are used to blowout holiday sales and therefore expect them year after year, it makes pulling off an equally impressive Black Friday and Cyber Monday sale a bit trickier for those in the digital distribution arena.

What about you – has this been a great sale for you, or are you like me and feeling a little underwhelmed at the end of it all?

Do we really need the Steam autumn sale? is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

After months and months of waiting, the launch of Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition is nearly here. On November 28 – less than one week from now – Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition will land on PC, Mac, and iPad, introducing an entirely new generation of gamers to what is widely considered to be one of the best games ever made. What better way to celebrate its impending release than with an all new gameplay trailer?

Of course, if you’ve ever played the original Baldur’s Gate, you’ll be familiar with much of what’s shown in the gameplay trailer. The graphics are mostly the same as they were back in 1998, but the folks at Overhaul Games have applied a few tweaks to the Infinity Engine, which most notably includes a reworked inventory screen and a sharper user interface. You can also expect sharper visuals in general, along with support for higher resolutions that you just can’t find in the original game.

There will also be plenty of new content to eat up, including new party members and new areas to explore, so this should basically be a Baldur’s Gate enthusiast’s dream. It’s worth pointing out that footage you see below is from the PC version of the game, but given the fact that Infinity isn’t exactly the most power-hungry game engine these days, it should look more or less the same on other platforms. Check it out below.

As stated above, Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition launches on PC, Mac, and iPad next week. Android users aren’t being left out in the cold, though, as a version for Android tablets (including the Nexus 7) will be launching at a later, yet-undetermined date. Which platform will you be playing Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition on?

Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition hits hard in new gameplay trailer is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.