Android Support

[VietQuang]

I would kill for this controller to have proper Android support. I own an Android phone and the NVidia Shield TV. I would love for this controller to be truly compatible. Perhaps even a way to map the gamepad to the touchscreen.

[God Ginrai]

if they just made the controller default to showing up as an HID gamepad, it would already work with android and many other devices.

[VietQuang]

Originally posted by God Ginrai:

if they just made the controller default to showing up as an HID gamepad, it would already work with android and many other devices.

Yeah, that works too.

[Tiber Septim]

Hello. There's already a guy who tried this here: https://github.com/ynsta/steamcontroller but it's not finished yet for Android and from what he said it requires a rooted device

[Green Orange]

Valve will never actively support android, thats one the biggest future competitors. Even Microsoft sees this as a big risk for both their Windows and xbox gaming communities.

SteamOS, steamcontrollers, steammachines, steamlink are all created to counter the trends like:
1) Windows having a windows marketplace
2) Android gaming becoming increasingly populair
3) Android coming to more tv's and devices
4) Android games available on Chromeos
5) ChromeOS becoming more populair every year, especially on school and companies.
6) etc.

Quit a competative market, actually don't see how Steam can survive this. Its getting more and more convenient for people to buy their games in the default marketplace of their market place instead of installing a other marketplace (e.g. Steam) first. And if people take the time to do that, they need to know of its existing in the first place to even consider it.

So steamcontrollers on android probably never going to happen.

Just like bringing steam streaming to android never will happen, which is technically easy Especially if they decided to give the steamlink a android OS (or opensource variant). Then they could even use the same code base.

[EmperorFaiz.wav]

Steam is definitely not going to fail in the long run thanks to the popularity of Dota2 and CS:GO. Until Google Store start selling AAA games and ChromeOS enable to support them, Valve got plenty of time to expand beyond HTPC and VR.

Of course there is no official support for SC on Android but that doesn't mean someone wouldn't not make it possible like Hori showed.

[cammelspit]

Android? Does anyone actually think Android is or ever could be a real competitor? LOL

Linux could be that, not Android. Even with Linux tho, there is ZERO reason to worry about that in the foreseeable future either, unfortunately.

[EmperorFaiz.wav]

ChromeOS might though. Is there even a ChromeOS compatible game from either Steam, Origin or even GOG?

[Green Orange]

Originally posted by cammelspit:

Android? Does anyone actually think Android is or ever could be a real competitor? LOL

Linux could be that, not Android. Even with Linux tho, there is ZERO reason to worry about that in the foreseeable future either, unfortunately.

Android already is! LOL

Do you think al those people gaming on their android phones and tablets are at the same time gaming on their game consoles and pc's? Obiously NO. Are you sure not one of the casual gamers is content with only gaming on android and there for not buying games from a different platform? No. Its obious that android has influence.

Also my remark was broader then only android, because android is only one of the factors. The windows market place is another one getting more populair everyday.

Is steam in danger right now? No. But the trend is bad and valve knows it and is acting accordingly.

[EmperorFaiz.wav]

I'm gonna wait for Android port of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and CS:GO.

[cammelspit]

Originally posted by EmperorFaiz.apk:

I'm gonna wait for Android port of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and CS:GO.

Yeah, I love playing GTAV on my phone. -_-

[Green Orange]

Originally posted by EmperorFaiz.apk:

I'm gonna wait for Android port of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and CS:GO.

w/hat do those games have to do with gaming on android being a potential succes or not?

[Green Orange]

Originally posted by cammelspit:

Originally posted by EmperorFaiz.apk:

I'm gonna wait for Android port of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and CS:GO.

Yeah, I love playing GTAV on my phone. -_-

Why would gaming on android being restricted to phones only? :S

Think outside of the box guys. There is more stuff there.

[Green Orange]

Interesting coincidence, just announced: http://www.mi.com/en/mibox/#overview

69 dollar, kinda cheap for a 4k gameconsole on android. Obiously not comparable to an pc, but still an interesting option for people without a game pc or game console.

Also reading about a new 4k device from google, but that one isn't announced yet, only rumors.

[cammelspit]

I think you are missing the point. Android stuff typically uses ARM CPUs and tile based GPUs. These are both kinda bad for gaming even when they are powerful. For the foreseeable future, there will still be a market for dedicated gaming PCs and that isn't going to change in out lifetimes and probably not even our children's lifetimes. The one and the only way this could happen is if their line between ALL gaming devices breaks down. At that point, there will be no android, iOS, PCs, Consoles or anything else for that matter. All devices will be cloud based and play all the same content. But like I said, this is at least 50 to 100 years away. Till then, Android is simply not a viable gaming platform. It cannot and will not replace PCs Windows/Linux and no one on the planet is actually thinking they would or even could. That 69$ Android console cannot actually game at 4K so being able to display in 4K is meaningless for anything but movies. Android is not a threat nor will it ever be because of its massive disadvantages both practically and architecturally, that is just the way it is. Hate to burst your bubble so hard but that is just my professional opinion.

[Green Orange]

Dude... take it easy with the textwalls.

Originally posted by cammelspit:

I think you are missing the point.

Thats an asumption from your side. I asume differently, lets call it my hypothesis, sounds nice and science-ish.

Android stuff typically uses ARM CPUs and tile based GPUs. These are both kinda bad for gaming even when they are powerful.

Your knowlegde is out of date, there are quit a few android device running x86 architecture.

For the foreseeable future, there will still be a market for dedicated gaming PCs and that isn't going to change in out lifetimes and probably not even our children's lifetimes.

Its already changing, you just didn't pay attention enough. Its in quit a few trendmonitors.

P.s. I never said there isn't a market for pc gaming, neither have I said that in the future there won't be one. I do think its getting more competition and doubt it can keep its current share.

The one and the only way this could happen is if their line between ALL gaming devices breaks down. At that point, there will be no android, iOS, PCs, Consoles or anything else for that matter. All devices will be cloud based and play all the same content. But like I said, this is at least 50 to 100 years away.

Thats a fair assumption on your part, could go either way. I believe the market will loose quit a bit on new platforms like Android and other smart devices. Its also going to loose on future consoles generatioins like xbox and playstation, all wil take on more and more tasks that currently are taken on by pc's.

Till then, Android is simply not a viable gaming platform. It cannot and will not replace PCs Windows/Linux and no one on the planet is actually thinking they would or even could.

you are asumming a lot, unless you have working crystal ball ;).

Also we where not talking about replacing pc's, but competing platforms for gaming. You are steering in a completly new directions, which is interesting, but out of scope of this discussion. Stop doing that, your text wall is full of it.

That 69$ Android console cannot actually game at 4K so being able to display in 4K is meaningless for anything but movies.

You misunderstand the marketing term of that console, probably badly translated. its a 4k capable device, that doesn't mean it can game in 4k. Although it problably runs snake fine in 4k, so strictly speaking it can.

Android is not a threat nor will it ever be because of its massive disadvantages both practically and architecturally, that is just the way it is. Hate to burst your bubble so hard but that is just my professional opinion.

Architecturally speaking I believe you are wrong, but lets hear you facts about why android and its almost vanilla kernel are architecturally speaking at a massive disadvantage. Very curious about that one. I'm kinda noticing the oposite on my development laptop.

About you profesionalism... I'm used to professional opinions to be based on facts, yours seem to consist out of personal opions, just like mine because we are at best trendwatching, hardly a exact science. This is just a funny discussion, nothing more. Certainly not professional.