[SOLVED] Simple interface for a gaming PC

[Richard Treanor]

Hi everyone,

I am planning on building a PC for my brothers for gaming, but i would really like it to be simple for them to use as neither of them have any experience using a PC. can anyone suggest a nice simple interface for windows that acts almost like a PlayStation or Xbox home screen, if possible somewhere that i can add apps and games from different sources and can be controlled with a controller instead of a mouse and keyboard. i will continue to search online as well and update if i find anything suitable.

any suggestions are greatly appreciated

Thank you

 

[richiestang_78]

Steam.

The new Steam interface is about as simple as it gets. Honestly the same goes for most of the game launchers these days. Of course you can also just simply make a desktop shortcut for the games.

 

[Frag Maniac]

The only problem with Steam is they now have enough competition to make it hard to get some AAA titles on their platform.

Not too long ago I saw a game browser app that was open source as far as I know, and people were saying it was looking to be a pretty good one. Not sure what it was called though.

 

[hang-the-9]

Hi everyone,

I am planning on building a PC for my brothers for gaming, but i would really like it to be simple for them to use as neither of them have any experience using a PC. can anyone suggest a nice simple interface for windows that acts almost like a PlayStation or Xbox home screen, if possible somewhere that i can add apps and games from different sources and can be controlled with a controller instead of a mouse and keyboard. i will continue to search online as well and update if i find anything suitable.

any suggestions are greatly appreciated

Thank you

If you want stuff to be controlled with a game pad, just get them a console. There is pretty much 0 need to have a computer if you are going to be using with a controller. I've seen 4 year olds using computers without much issue.

 

[Third-Eye]

Hi everyone,

I am planning on building a PC for my brothers for gaming, but i would really like it to be simple for them to use as neither of them have any experience using a PC. can anyone suggest a nice simple interface for windows that acts almost like a PlayStation or Xbox home screen, if possible somewhere that i can add apps and games from different sources and can be controlled with a controller instead of a mouse and keyboard. i will continue to search online as well and update if i find anything suitable.

any suggestions are greatly appreciated

Thank you

Steam set to start with Windows and directly into big picture mode would be as close to an "easy" or console experience on PC as you are going to get. It can be navigated with an Xbox 360 or Xbox One controller or other third party controllers. I would just try to get your brothers used to the Windows interface since they will likely need to use Windows to fix any possible issues or run games that don't work in big picture mode because of their own launcher.

 

[Richard Treanor]

If you want stuff to be controlled with a game pad, just get them a console. There is pretty much 0 need to have a computer if you are going to be using with a controller. I've seen 4 year olds using computers without much issue.

Hi thanks for you comment , they currently have a PlayStation but are always looking to use my PC, but they don't know how to control it and aren't great with mouse and keyboards, they both have learning difficulties and i want them to feel comfortable using the PC with out any assistance.

Steam set to start with Windows and directly into big picture mode would be as close to an "easy" or console experience on PC as you are going to get. It can be navigated with an Xbox 360 or Xbox One controller or other third party controllers. I would just try to get your brothers used to the Windows interface since they will likely need to use Windows to fix any possible issues or run games that don't work in big picture mode because of their own launcher.

I had thought of steam but i wasn't sure if i could get big screen mode to load at boot and use acontroller to navigate it, must give this a try, do they still allow you to add games and applications from external sources to the library, would really like to add retroarch to the list as they love the classic Mario games?

 

[Frag Maniac]

If you want stuff to be controlled with a game pad, just get them a console.

You can never cover a broad spectrum of games with just "a" console though. A Nintendo console locks you out of any PS4 or Xbox exclusives, and vice versa. Even though there's a not ton of console titles available on PC yet, it's still the only platform that offers such variety.

 

[Third-Eye]

I had thought of steam but i wasn't sure if i could get big screen mode to load at boot and use acontroller to navigate it, must give this a try, do they still allow you to add games and applications from external sources to the library, would really like to add retroarch to the list as they love the classic Mario games?

You can still add other games from outside of Steam, but unless you can navigate with a controller in that game, it may not function properly without a mouse when running from Steam Big Picture mode.

 

[TJ Hooker]

I am planning on building a PC for my brothers for gaming, but i would really like it to be simple for them to use as neither of them have any experience using a PC.

May I ask how old they are? Getting used to using a PC is probably something they're going to want to do sooner or later.

 

[hang-the-9]

You can never cover a broad spectrum of games with just "a" console though. A Nintendo console locks you out of any PS4 or Xbox exclusives, and vice versa. Even though there's a not ton of console titles available on PC yet, it's still the only platform that offers such variety.

You can't play PC games efficiently with a controller, unless they are ports of console titles. And not having access to some specific games is not really a deal breaker, it's more of a "I want it" thing, that is a waste of money to setup a system just because you have 5 shooting games but you want to play some other 6th one. At least that is my adult view on things LOL, I'm not about to spend money on separate hardware to play a game I can't play with what I have.

 

[Frag Maniac]

You can't play PC games efficiently with a controller, unless they are ports of console titles. And not having access to some specific games is not really a deal breaker, it's more of a "I want it" thing, that is a waste of money to setup a system just because you have 5 shooting games but you want to play some other 6th one. At least that is my adult view on things LOL, I'm not about to spend money on separate hardware to play a game I can't play with what I have.

Actually there's quite a lot of games available on PC that work well with a controller. I've not done extensive testing on it, because the only time I used a gamepad was when my friend asked me to play on his PS4. But I have seen enough forum chat on PC gaming forums where people play PC games all the time with controllers and have no trouble. Jedi Fallen Order is a prime example of a game where the PC version actually works better with a gamepad than KB/M, and there are countless others.