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Upcoming Steam Link App Will Let You Play Steam Games on Your iPhone, iPad and Apple TV
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You run Steam on your PC or Mac, from it you stream to your Steam Link app on your device.
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No but there’s supposedly a rather big rework of the main Steam app and likely coming with that.
[doublepost=1525930270][/doublepost]The high requirements and no internet option is interesting. I’ve been beta testing GeForce NOW for a few months and it runs over the Internet and works quite well. I mean, you need a solid connection but still. Guess their compression technology is better than Valves.
Civ 6 is available on the iPad. Graphics quality (after adjusting to retina) is actually very good.
[doublepost=1525945889][/doublepost]Why always the limitation to WiFi only - i have 300 gigabytes pr month on my phone and 4G that almost everywhere is 50/50 MBit - but WiFi sucks most places.
Valve today announced the upcoming launch of the Steam Link app, which is designed to allow Steam users to play Steam games on the iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV using either a 5GHz network or a wired Ethernet connection to a host PC or Mac.
Because of the requirement to stream via an Ethernet connection or a 5GHz network, it won't be possible to play Steam content on the go, but it will be handy for accessing a Steam library while at home on alternate devices or while at a friend's house or another location with a high-speed wireless connection.
Steam Link will launch during the week of May 21, and in addition to being compatible with Apple devices, it will also be available for Android devices that include phones, tablets, and Android-enabled TVs. Steam Link has previously been available for dedicated Steam Link peripherals and some Samsung TV sets.
The Steam Link app will include support for both the Steam Controller and Made for iPhone controllers.
Steam also plans to introduce a Steam Video app later this summer, which will let users play Steam movies and shows on their Android and iOS devices using a Wi-Fi or LTE connection. Valve has been offering movies and TV show purchases for some time now, and that content is currently not available on mobile devices.
Article Link: Upcoming Steam Link App Will Let You Play Steam Games on Your iPhone, iPad and Apple TV
Same goes for the podcast app- it will take me seconds on 4G but minutes on WiFi to download a show - but if it is above 100 megabytes apple wont allow me to download it unless I activate my slow WiFi - this is so “no no no let me show you What you really want- obviously you need a guardian “
Dialup modems (and cable, and DSL, and Fiber) all measure in bits per second or, way back when, baud.
A 14.4 kb/s modem meant 14,400 bits per second. Those were not kibibytes or kibibits either, but plain vanilla kb kilobits.
The Nimbus was the cheaper option (I put the prices in the order I listed the controllers in my post).
I've heard what you're saying about PC games with the Steam Controller before... but I just can't wrap my head around it. There's no way that a touch pad (that's what those things amount to, correct?) can replicate mouse precision.
I hate to be "that guy" who hates to be "that guy" who hates to be "that guy" but it's actually written either kbit/s or kbps. 14.4kbps = 1.8kb/s. https://www.google.com/search?q=14.4+kbps+to+kb/s&oq=14.4+kbps+to+kb/s and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modem#List_of_dialup_speeds
My first computer in 1996 had one of these bad boys! Upgraded to 33.6 and thought I was blazing.
I hate to be "that guy" who hates to be "that guy" who hates to be "that guy" who hates to be "that guy", but, user 1234 was correct.
I had it originally written as 14.4KB/s as in bytes, rather than 14.4Kb/s as in bits, because I'm a great eegit.
It doesn't, not entirely, but to my hand it is more precise than a thumb stick. That said it's really not a replacement for a controller even in something like an FPS. Even if a shooter doesn't technically support controllers, the Steam Link will let you remap the mouse and keyboard controls so it does. That usually works pretty well because lots of shooters do support controllers, so those control schemes are already pretty well defined.
I guess when I was talking about it being better for games without controller support baked in, I'm meaning stuff like Civilization or Total War. In that case the touch pad feels much more precise and natural for controlling a mouse than a thumb stick. In addition to the touch pad, the Steam Controller also includes some different inputs that help make it feel more like a mouse, and make it easier to map controls for stuff like strategy games to the controller itself. For those games, the Steam Controller is a clear win.
But yeah, if you're not gonna be streaming stuff like that to your Apple TV, Nimbus all the way. The controller's feel is excellent and it's apparently cheaper anyway.
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Holy cow do I know a lot of 30+ year old children...
Ooooooh, I see what you're saying. Ok, in that sort of case (like an RTS), I can definitely see the Steam Controller having an advantage. I was thinking more along the lines of a FPS or MMO; neither of which I (me personally) could do with a controller. One thing that seemed daunting to me was finding a control configuration for whatever game for the Steam Controller. And now you've really got me pondering some sort of lazy couch gaming with a casually paced RTS, lol.
My big draw for streaming to the TV was that I wanted to play Gang Beasts (and any other local multiplayer-style games) with my friends.
Oooh. I wonder if I could have the Apple TV send it's sound to my AirPods for late night gaming...
I have a nimbus that I've used with Steam Link alternative Moonlight. Only problem is that as of yet, that I know of, Apple doesn't support the R3 and L3 buttons on MFi. Some games that's fine, but some games have finely tuned all of the controller buttons to specific functions, like Dark Souls (no lock on).
I'd guess that the normal Apple TV airpods functionality should work just the same with this app as any other. And yeah, for local multiplayer stuff like Gang Beasts or split screen games like Rocket league or other racing games, I'd recommend the Nimbus.
It sounds like in your case it might make sense to invest in one Steam Controller and then a couple of Nimbus' to round out the selection for when you've got friends over. If you go that route I'd say wait till the Steam Summer Sale, when you'll probably be able to buy a controller directly in Steam for half off. I was actually planning on buying a dedicated Steam Link when that sale started up, but it looks like I might just save that money.
Weird. I've never seen it written kb/s. Nowadays everything is written in mbps or gbps. Did Google program their converter incorrectly then? I had linked to the Google result for the conversion. If you type 1kb/s to kbps in Google, it interprets 1kb/s as 1 kilobyte per second. You should contact Google and tell them they're wrong.
Yeah, I just really wanted to recreate that fun we all had drunk out of our minds playing Mario Party, hence the interest in streaming to the Apple TV and the Nimbus controllers.
When is the Steam Summer Sale, btw?
It's usually toward the end of June, Reddit is claiming June 21st as the start date this year.
Noooo man, I’m not saying you’re wrong! Just that I had KB written originally! big B is bytes, little b is bits!
KB/s, kiloBYTES. Kb/s, kiloBITS. Yes you can also write it as kbps. Either or.
100Mb/s - 100 megabit a second. 100MB/s - 100 megabytes a second.
Jeez. We're confused enough now, just wait until we have to deal with qubits and superposition states.
In case you guys didn't know - MFi controllers do not support L3/R3 buttons (pressing in either of the thumbsticks) and they have no select button. This doesn't seem like a big deal until you figure out that a lot of games utilize them extensively.
If you intend to use Steam Link DO NOT GO OUT AND BUY MFI CONTROLLERS NOW - you will be extremely disappointed when this comes out.
It's very interesting that they mention the Steam Controller (and others) will be supported because up until now the Apple TV hasn't supported any controllers besides MFi.
If you intend to use Steam Link DO NOT GO OUT AND BUY MFI CONTROLLERS NOW - you will be extremely disappointed when this comes out.
It's very interesting that they mention the Steam Controller (and others) will be supported because up until now the Apple TV hasn't supported any controllers besides MFi.
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The difference between theory and practice is that in theory there's no difference and in practice there is.
I've owned a steam link for years, it has 2.4GHz wi-fi but they recommend wired ethernet. The first thing I did when I got it was set it up over wi-fi and load a AAA title. I was getting about 2 frames/second with an input lag in the 3-5 second range.
So I tried it with a wired connection and the performance is flawless. I currently use ethernet over powerline adapters and the performance is still flawless.
So maybe your spec sheet says 2.4GHz is good enough, but the reality is that it is not.
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The hardware steam link has bluetooth as well as 3 USB ports for wired keyboard/mouse/controllers. On steam link you absolutely can use a keyboard and mouse, and it would be pretty crappy if the app version didn't support it.
I've never actually tried that though because for games like Civ6, I'm more comfortable sitting at a desk with my keyboard, mouse, and 4k monitor.
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According to the usual online leaks, June 21st.
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2 FPS with massive input lag sounds like it is actually not enough bandwidth, and it's not handling the lack very well. In practice, I usually see more than 200mbit/s on 2.4GHz wifi (saw that yesterday sending a file), which seems like it would be enough. Idk what you get through ethernet powerline adaptors, would expect it to be worse. Could just be that your wifi is bad.
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