Steam’s Big Picture Mode to launch tonight
Steam’s Big Picture Mode – which will scale the portal’s interface and controls to better suit a TV and gamepad – is set to launch later tonight according to Kotaku.The report details several of the changes from the PC and Mac version of Steam that make it more akin to an Xbox 360 dashboard only without ads and featuring several improvements.The most notable of which is probably the lotus flower-shaped rendition of a keyboard. Rather than painstakingly scroll through several tiles on a virtual keyboard, the new design – shown below – divvies characters up into eight groups of four characters, with the clusters set in the eight cardinal directions. The groups are listed alphabetically and proceed in clockwise formation. Once you select a cluster with the analogue stick, you select a specific character with the face buttons. It’s such an elegant solution that it’s a wonder it hasn’t been thought of before. Unless of course you did think of it and never told anyone – in which case you’re probably kicking yourself pretty hard right now.Read more…
