The Valve and Steam Platform Discussion Thread

[karoliner]

Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind - April 15, 2019 – 20:00:00 UTC
Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones - August 8, 2019 – 18:00:00 UTC
Atomic Heart - June 20, 2019 – 18:00:00 UTC

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Disco Elysium - March 12, 2020 – 18:00:00 UTC

Sure as fuck hope that's a placeholder.

 

[Spectacle]

Btw, the new client will be web(-tech)-based, like Steam Chat and Discord.

Good riddance. Steam client always was garbage.
Hopefully this will be something fast, not that garbage that takes seconds to open up store, community and other features of it.

Brotip: The new steam client will be slower than the one we have now.

 

[Joined on the 4th of July]

Disco Elysium - March 12, 2020 – 18:00:00 UTC

Sure as fuck hope that's a placeholder.

March 12, 2019 in Epic Store!

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

If that's the case it would change the direction the gun's being pointed, that's for damn sure.

 

[LESS T_T]

Looks like the Devotion incident will also jeopardize the GabeN's grand plan of launching Steam China this year: https://old.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/auuf00/steam_game_is_now_a_banned_word_on_chinese_social/

“steam game” is now a banned word on Chinese social media

posts containing this word will not be sent due to local law

example

 

[Viata]

Life is funny.

 

[Infinitron]

Somehow this change exposed release dates that devs/pubs filled in, that they probably supposed are not public.

Data for some games Codex interested. Of course these can be placeholders, but some dates pretty specific.

The Outer Worlds - August 6, 2019 – 18:00:00 UTC
Disco Elysium - March 12, 2020 – 18:00:00 UTC
Spire of Sorcery - March 7, 2019 – 14:00:00 UTC
Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind - April 15, 2019 – 20:00:00 UTC
Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones - August 8, 2019 – 18:00:00 UTC
BIOMUTANT - July 1, 2019 – 17:00:00 UTC
EITR - August 1, 2019 – 16:00:00 UTC
Desperados III - September 30, 2019 – 17:00:00 UTC
Hollow Knight: Silksong - June 12, 2020 – 21:00:00 UTC
Atomic Heart - June 20, 2019 – 18:00:00 UTC
The Sinking City - March 21, 2019 – 08:00:00 UTC
Mount & Blade 2 - December 31, 2019 – 23:00:00 UTC (Yeah, very obvious placeholder it is.

)

You can browse more at SteamDB.

a few games I'm looking forward to, hope these aren't bamboozle

Colony Ship: A Post-Earth Role Playing Game - November 30, 2020 – 14:00:00 UTC
Realms Beyond - February 28, 2020 – 16:00:00 UTC
The Iron Oath - March 23, 2020 – 19:00:00 UTC
Griftlands - November 1, 2019 – 17:00:00 UTC
BEAUTIFUL DESOLATION - September 16, 2019 – 16:00:00 UTC
EITR - August 1, 2019 – 16:00:00 UTC
Overland - June 6, 2019 – 17:00:00 UTC
Dark Devotion - April 1, 2019 – 18:00:00 UTC
TUNIC - July 1, 2020 – 20:00:00 UTC

Druidstone: The Secret of the Menhir Forest - February 18, 2019 – 18:00:00 UTC
Operencia: The Stolen Sun - March 29, 2019 – 09:00:00 UTC
Iron Danger - August 30, 2019 – 17:00:00 UTC
Phantom Brigade - December 31, 2021 – 17:00:00 UTC
THE WAYLANDERS - April 2, 2020 – 16:00:00 UTC
Burden of Command - August 1, 2019 – 10:00:00 UTC
Stoneshard - March 29, 2019 – 02:00:00 UTC
Monomyth - January 1, 2020 – 05:00:00 UTC
SpellForce 3: Soul Harvest - April 26, 2019 – 17:00:00 UTC
Wellspring: Altar of Roots - January 1, 2020 – 20:00:00 UTC
Encased - July 1, 2019 – 17:00:00 UTC
Alaloth - Champions of The Four Kingdoms - December 23, 2019 – 17:00:00 UTC

Too bad there's no Wasteland 3 Steam page yet.

 

[toro]

Order motherfuckers! Do you have it!?

Spire of Sorcery - March 7, 2019 – 14:00:00 UTC
The Sinking City - March 21, 2019 – 08:00:00 UTC
Stoneshard - March 29, 2019 – 02:00:00 UTC
Operencia: The Stolen Sun - March 29, 2019 – 09:00:00 UTC
Dark Devotion - April 1, 2019 – 18:00:00 UTC
Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind - April 15, 2019 – 20:00:00 UTC
SpellForce 3: Soul Harvest - April 26, 2019 – 17:00:00 UTC
Overland - June 6, 2019 – 17:00:00 UTC
Atomic Heart - June 20, 2019 – 18:00:00 UTC
BIOMUTANT - July 1, 2019 – 17:00:00 UTC
Encased - July 1, 2019 – 17:00:00 UTC
Burden of Command - August 1, 2019 – 10:00:00 UTC
EITR - August 1, 2019 – 16:00:00 UTC
The Outer Worlds - August 6, 2019 – 18:00:00 UTC
Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones - August 8, 2019 – 18:00:00 UTC
Iron Danger - August 30, 2019 – 17:00:00 UTC
BEAUTIFUL DESOLATION - September 16, 2019 – 16:00:00 UTC
Desperados III - September 30, 2019 – 17:00:00 UTC
Griftlands - November 1, 2019 – 17:00:00 UTC
Alaloth - Champions of The Four Kingdoms - December 23, 2019 – 17:00:00 UTC
Mount & Blade 2 - December 31, 2019 – 23:00:00 UTC (Yeah, very obvious placeholder it is. )
Monomyth - January 1, 2020 – 05:00:00 UTC
Wellspring: Altar of Roots - January 1, 2020 – 20:00:00 UTC
Realms Beyond - February 28, 2020 – 16:00:00 UTC
Disco Elysium - March 12, 2020 – 18:00:00 UTC
The Iron Oath - March 23, 2020 – 19:00:00 UTC
THE WAYLANDERS - April 2, 2020 – 16:00:00 UTC
Hollow Knight: Silksong - June 12, 2020 – 21:00:00 UTC
TUNIC - July 1, 2020 – 20:00:00 UTC
Colony Ship: A Post-Earth Role Playing Game - November 30, 2020 – 14:00:00 UTC
Phantom Brigade - December 31, 2021 – 17:00:00 UTC

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Colony Ship: A Post-Earth Role Playing Game - November 30, 2020 – 14:00:00 UTC

FAKE NEWS. It's not a Thursday.

But seriously, games that far off must be using placeholder dates.

 

[LESS T_T]

Hey, I hope they do one last sale. They have some Lionsgate movies I wouldn't mind owning:

Not all non-gaming videos are gone yet, but Lionsgate movies are definitely gone.

 

[Latro]

Spire of Sorcery - March 7, 2019
Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind - April 15, 2019 – 20:00:00 UTC
Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones - August 8, 2019 – 18:00:00 UTC

ooh hope that's real

 

[LESS T_T]

Pity, Devotion could be the Taiwan #1:

#10 - Far Cry New Dawn
#9 - FINAL FANTASY XV WINDOWS EDITION
#8 - Dying Light Enhanced Edition
#7 - JUMP FORCE
#6 - Grand Theft Auto V
#5 - Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege - Year 4 Pass
#4 - Far Cry New Dawn
#3 - PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS
#2 - Devotion
#1 - Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm

Dawn of Man, it is.

#10 - 隐形守护者 The Invisible Guardian
#9 - Devil May Cry 5
#8 - DEAD OR ALIVE 6 Digital Deluxe Edition with Bonus
#7 - 隐形守护者 The Invisible Guardian - 6至10章,终章
#6 - Expansion - Hearts of Iron IV: Man the Guns
#5 - IEM 2019 Katowice CS:GO Major Championship Viewer Pass
#4 - Grand Theft Auto V
#3 - Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm
#2 - PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS
#1 - Dawn of Man

And what's that The Invisible Guardian? Apparently it's Chinese-only interactive movie thing:

 

[LESS T_T]

Gradual changes continue, now the store widget wears the new flat UI theme:

 

[unfairlight]

Guess the UI update is right around the corner, then. This style is not even on the actual store page yet.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

amazing graphics.

they almost look like real humans.

 

[Alienman]

STEAM IS DOWN. THE END IS HERE!

BRING OUT YOUR DEAD!

 

[Alienman]

Can't log in, and after a while it seems to crash the client. GoG, where art thou?

 

[DJOGamer PT]

STEAM IS DOWN. THE END IS HERE!

BRING OUT YOUR DEAD!

Can't log in, and after a while it seems to crash the client. GoG, where art thou?

Steam clearly can't handle the MOTIVATION.

 

[Alienman]

Seems to be fine now.

I was about to go in the street and riot...

Edit:

lol, it died again...

 

[Infinitron]

https://uploadvr.com/valve-employees-vr-2019/

Valve Laid Off 13 Employees, VR Engineers Among Them


Thirteen employees at Valve Corporation were let go recently, including people working in VR.

Images leaked late last year show what appeared to be a Valve-built VR headset. We heard from sources at the time the plan was to ship the headset early this year, potentially with a Half Life prequel game. We don’t know if those plans are different now after recent employee departures.

A statement I received from Valve:

Last month, 13 full time employees were let go and a portion of our contractor agreements were terminated. It’s an unfortunate part of business, but does not represent any major changes at the company. We thank those affected for their contribution and wish them well in future endeavors.​

I emailed Valve founder Gabe Newell for comment prior to receiving the statement. Valve continues to hire for a number of positions related to VR.

Departures
A page on Valve’s website lists a portion of its employees. An archived version of the page from the end of January compared with now reveals nine people employed then who are not listed as working at Valve in March. Searches of Twitter and LinkedIn for those names reveal several profiles updated recently to say they no longer work at Valve.

On Twitter, Nat Brown said he stopped working on VR at Valve on February 7. He had been key to Steam supporting external GPUs. Rob Rydberg was listed by Valve as an employee in January. On LinkedIn, now, he said he left in February after developing “an FPGA-based VR system architecture, allowing for a tethered or untethered VR experience, to make feature and tracking research more cost-effective, while enabling a faster path to productization.”

Other former Valve employees who worked on the Steam Controller and other projects list their work at Valve as ending in 2019. If affected, my DMs are open on Twitter and you can email tips@uploadvr.com with any information. Employees departing companies are often asked to sign mutual non-disparagement agreements. These agreements generally protect both the former employee and the organization. Unfortunately, these agreements often have the side effect of obscuring from public view who made certain decisions and why.

Valve Corporation Background
For those unfamiliar with Valve, there are only a couple hundred employees at the private company and its chief money-maker is the Steam games store. A patent filed in 2015 outlines Valve’s SteamVR Tracking technology. You just arrange around a room what are essentially positional beacons. These “lighthouses” only need power and are usually mounted in the corner of a room for maximum coverage. Compatible objects in the space like headsets, controllers and accessories can calculate their position just by seeing the lighthouses.

In 2016, Valve and its partner HTC beat Oculus Rift to market with hand controls for VR and support for tracking headset movements over larger rooms. In 2017, Microsoft took the same partnership path to the VR market by powering VR headsets made by other manufacturers with Windows-based tracking technology. To find position, this newer technology gathers data using computer vision and mapping techniques from cameras and sensors mounted on the headsets themselves. Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Qualcomm and others each developed their own version of this tracking for VR headsets.

In 2019, HTC’s next VR headsets (Cosmos and Vive Focus Plus) don’t use SteamVR Tracking. We’ve uncovered hints from Facebook that a follow-on PC-powered Rift Sis likely this year featuring the same Insight tracking system as the standalone Oculus Quest. This tracking system might also be capable one day of finger tracking.

Valve, meanwhile, developed a second generation of its lighthouse-based tracking which can precisely locate objects across multiple rooms, or perhaps even warehouses. That might make SteamVR Tracking 2.0 ideal for certain large-scale VR attractions and arcades. Microsoft ‘s tracking technology, however, was recently adopted by VR attraction company Zero Latency and we were super impressed by Oculus Quest’s arena demonstration by Facebook late last year. Today, Rift is often used with OptiTrack or other external camera-based tracking at venues with VR entertainment.

That could change through 2019, though, and we’re curious to see what Valve is planning next with regards to its SteamVR Tracking technology.

We’ll provide updates as soon as we have them.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Learn to code.





...something else.

 

[Metro]

Valve makes games?

 

[Black]

Valve makes games?

The last time they tried they made Artifact so maybe it's better they're not.

Valve Laid Off 13 Employees, VR Engineers Among Them

Karma for killing Rape Day.

 

[Alienman]

Could have been a VR best seller too.