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Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

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Re: Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

#461
post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd like to have an honest conversation about this, but imo Valve is no better than the iOS app store: it aggressively rent seeks and has essentially destroyed the shareware model (which was the best way to discover software in the 80s-90s). It has also willingly been complicit in underage gambling via loot boxes for more than a decade now. I think Gabe Newell is a visionary for building Steam in 2003, way before Job…

> imo Valve is no better than the iOS app store You can't buy the top search result position on Steam. That alone sets them far apart for me.

Steam is also cross-platform.

But sadly still essentially all-DRM.

Re: Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

#462

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't disagree with most of your statement, but Valve has and continues to make lots of money from loot boxes in both CS and TF2. Just want to point out that they do do stuff like that too.

I agree that turning CS into a casino wasn’t a tasteful choice on Valve’s part but as someone who has played CS at least once a week for decades I can understand that they needed to find a way to cover server costs somehow. I paid $15 dollars for CS:GO and have clocked 4,500 hours in the game. I don’t gamble but I’d rather those who choose to fund the server costs than Valve charge a monthly subscription to everyone.…

They didn't need to cover server costs for CS 1.6. I wonder why that is? Hint: CS 1.6 wasn't designed from the ground up as a microtransaction vehicle so could have servers run by the community unlike CS:GO where centrally run servers are needed to make microtransactions work, not the other way around.

Re: Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

#463
post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd like to have an honest conversation about this, but imo Valve is no better than the iOS app store: it aggressively rent seeks and has essentially destroyed the shareware model (which was the best way to discover software in the 80s-90s). It has also willingly been complicit in underage gambling via loot boxes for more than a decade now. I think Gabe Newell is a visionary for building Steam in 2003, way before Job…

> it aggressively rent seeks I don't know about the rest of your claims ("shareware was the best way to discover software" is really a personal opinion), but this is just factually false. Unlike iOS, where you cannot publish an app unless you pay the 30% cut, there is nothing that prevents you from developing and a Windows/MacOS/Linux game yourself. You can simply choose to not use Steam - but the benefits of develop…

The real value Steam "provides" are the network effects. That's rent seeking.

Re: Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

#464

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't disagree with most of your statement, but Valve has and continues to make lots of money from loot boxes in both CS and TF2. Just want to point out that they do do stuff like that too.

Maybe hot take in this age, but loot boxes for cosmetics aren't a problem when you can get cosmetics by just playing.

Almost every game that has lootboxes, even only for cosmetics, is super stingy with cosmetics you can earn in-game through normal gameplay.

Re: Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

#465

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are headed Apple/Microsoft way though with SteamOS and Steam Deck/Machine.

I can see why you might think that but I believe that's actually insurance against Microsoft going the Apple route and hamstringing Steam in the process. They needed a near first class platform that would never be used against them to exist and they needed the switching cost for end users to be near zero. By leveraging pre-existing FOSS projects they managed to avoid the vast majority of the development costs which w…

The best insurance against monopolistic behavior is to get there first.

Re: Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

#466

Can anyone share their experience enjoying the two pads they put on their controllers? I have a Steam Deck and love it, but the only experience I have with those pads is “dammit I accidentally touched the pad again.” If I want a mouse, I just connect a Bluetooth mouse. I thought for sure everyone knew it was a flop and we’d never see it again, but obviously that’s not right since they are back. What am I missing?

I've always been a M+KB player and especially for FPS games I've always found it impossible to aim with the sticks, so the trackpads really helped in this regard. Especially for older games that may not natively support joysticks it was a game changer (I recently played Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay)

Re: Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

#467

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I downloaded from here and I instantly get a pop-up about requiring Rosetta. https://store.steampowered.com/about/

Odd if true. It's clearly a universal binary, not sure what's going wrong for you. $ file steam_osx steam_osx: Mach-O universal binary with 2 architectures: [x86_64:Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64] [arm64] steam_osx (for architecture x86_64): Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64 steam_osx (for architecture arm64): Mach-O 64-bit executable arm64

This appears to only be in the Steam beta - the version available for download still requires Rosetta. There doesn't seem to be a direct download for the beta - you have to opt into it after installing Steam.

Re: Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

#468
Does the release of the controller mean that valve solved the issues with the supply chain of their announced products? I know that the main problem is the rising prices of memory chips, but I would hope this leads to an announcement about the Steam Machine and (I'm still hoping...) HLX/HL3

Re: Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

#469
post #383
post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could say the same thing about AT&T, Bell Labs, etc. There’s a lot of precedent here, but most saliently, how you become a monopoly is not really relevant. They absolutely are one. But I’m being already aggressively downvoted with no counter arguments so the Gaben fanboys are here. (Defending a deca-billionaire is hard work, after all.)

What’s your solution then to them being a monopoly? How would you meaningfully break them up? While they outperform the sales of Epic and Gog I’m not sure how they’re abusing their position or how they’re keeping others from entering?

> How would you meaningfully break them up?

You could separate the storefront from the distribution platform / client. Valve's ~30% cut is often justified by the visibility being on the Store gives you but you can't opt out of that while still reaching the captured audience that definitely don't want yet another client software bloating up their system.

Re: Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

#470
post #452

Even if Valve and Steam is great and overall a blessing for the PC space, I don't like the direction they take with this controller. It only works with Steam, it can't work on a desktop OS without it, despite standard layout. It is a subtle move towards a walled garden.

I wish people stopped spreading misinformation like this. No the controller works for any game, outside of steam, without steam launched. The only restriction is that to configure the controller, you need steam. Otherwise, you can select a profile for desktop use that is mkb or a generic gamepad, and run your games through that. Of course, you won't have many of the modern features, since XInput does not support anyt…

> No the controller works for any game, outside of steam, without steam launched.

Can you provide any evidence for this claim?

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