[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Hands-On With Steam's Big Picture Mode here

[rwoodward]

I guess I'm not sure exactly what this product does. From the story I'm guessing it's intended to let PC gamers who want to play PC games on their big screen TV using a console style controller use a console style interface on their PC? That seems like a relatively limited market. I would think one of the reasons most PC gamers *are* PC gamers because they prefer the mouse and keyboard interface. How is this an advantage over just using your HDTV as a monitor with your PC controls and interface?

[Cheysan]

Quote

I guess I'm not sure exactly what this product does. From the story I'm guessing it's intended to let PC gamers who want to play PC games on their big screen TV using a console style controller use a console style interface on their PC? That seems like a relatively limited market. I would think one of the reasons most PC gamers are PC gamers because they prefer the mouse and keyboard interface. How is this an advantage over just using your HDTV as a monitor with your PC controls and interface?

When you're playing in very high resolution on a very large screen, the text can get pretty small. It's not the most comfortable experience out there for people on televisions, as they aren't as close as people who play on monitors are. Part of the streamlining takes this into account, and makes everything very large and visible, while still maintaining a neat and navigable layout.

Also, if someone has a PC hooked up to their TV for the purpose of gaming, a gaming session could now be done without ever having to bother with a mouse. A controller will get the whole job done, though a keyboard is still most welcome for typing, in my opinion. It's one less peripheral to have lying around that you aren't using.