Duration: 2:23:16

75 views

0

For this episode, here are the games I'll be playing:

0:04:18 - Antichamber
0:21:38 - Beathazard
0:29:13 - Borderlands 2
0:51:00 - Dust: An Elysian Tail
1:38:30 - Thomas Was Alone
1:50:52 - Half-Life 2

I was one of the lucky 300 people chosen to test the prototype Steam Machines and Steam Controllers that Valve developed last year. So far, I would say the experience has been quite good, and because I already have a capable gaming PC, I never felt the urge to give up testing and just install Windows on it.

But I had no way to capture any footage. I could have installed some Linux-based screen recording software, but I was determined to not introduce anything outside of what I could get from Steam while beta testing, just in case doing so might introduce problems unrelated to Steam OS and potentially destabilize the system. If there were bug reports to file I wanted to be sure there was no nagging question in the back of my mind whether it was actually Steam OS or something else that I had installed. And there have been several bugs over the year, it certainly wasn't perfect right from the start, nor is it yet. But it's getting really good.

Now that my capture box is finally working, I plan on having several episodes and one-offs foccused on playing games on Steam OS and using the prototype Steam Controller even though it is the 1st gen. I do hope Valve will be swapping it out for the latest prototype prior to retail release so that we have a chance to test and provide any further feedback. The controller does work great, and in most situations (please ignore my terrible playing in this episode, I was focused more on quick-ish demos, rather than trying to actually play the games.) My hope is to give a good representation of what the controller, and Steam OS can actually do in a variety of gameplay situations.

I haven't yet decided if I will change what I normally do for future demos, and rather than record and comment simultaneously, instead pre-record gameplay, and record the voice over afterward. I may experiment with it and see, but I will probably ultimately stick with what I've been doing.

Steam Machine specs:
Intel Haswell i5 4570 3.2GHz w/ 16GB DDR3
Asrock Z87E-ITX
Zotac GTX 780 3GB (and I'm sorely tempted to swap it out with the 670 in my main gaming PC...)
1TB Hybrid SSD/HDD

Headset/Mic:
Steelseries Siberia V2 USB
Sometimes I use a Rock Band USB mic, but mostly just the headset mic.

Video/Audio recording:
Open Broadcaster Software
Nvidia ShadowPlay
Elgato GameCapture HD
Audacity
Mumble
TeamSpeak

Video editing:
Lightworks
Blender