Unfortunately, upgrades feel expensive and doled out in an unintuitive way. The system actually performed well when games were set to medium/low detail settings, but improving each of those specs would no doubt make for a more versatile, zippier system. If the base model, with a Core i3 CPU, 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive, sounds skimpy to you, it did to me as well. However, by adding a mouse and navigating to the Windows 8 desktop, you can install other apps, including gaming platforms, and we were able to install EA's Origin app and play Titanfall with no problem. The company says it's open to other PC game distributors, such as EA's Origin, developing Alpha-friendly hub software, but for now, it's Steam only. In fact, the only options available in the Console Mode are a power button, a few settings, a help screen and Steam.
It's hidden in the help menu, but pressing all four trigger buttons and clicking the left analog stick will give you a temporary mouse pointer that's inelegant, but functional in a pinch.Įven though the Alpha is no longer officially a Valve-endorsed Steam Machine, it's still designed primarily for playing games through Steam and its Big Picture mode. In the Console Mode, the only input you should need is a gamepad, but a few game crashes and in-game pop-ups (such as the in-game overlay from Ubisoft) required a mouse.
The default view is called Console Mode, but a more traditional Desktop Mode is also available, as long as you have a mouse plugged into the Alpha.
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