Docking station
Although it has become a trend that PC
gamers lay the graphical superiority on console users, the simple joy of
slouching lazily in front of a hyper HDTV is so hard to deny. Unfortunately,
dragging your PC into the living room is not easy to do – although you are
successful in finding the right cables and an unobtrusive place in your entertainment
center for the PC case, and the couch is not a good place for a keyboard and
mouse. Solution? The Edge – or at least Razer has made you believe in it. The
docking station is the foundation when the company refers to the “home console
mode”, which converges on the attempt to connect a HDMI-equipped cradle with
the Edge’s Lazer Launcher software. Physically, the $100 dock seems to be
simple, with a groove on the front and the connectivity options stand in line
in the back. Three USB 2.0 ports, an HDMI-out plug, audio out, audio in and a
power connector running around the cradle’s rear side, from left to right. Just
adding power, TV out and your favorite Xinput supporting gamepad, you have
already been ready for the game.
The
docking station
From here, Razer hopes to see you run your
PC games, potentially avoiding the typical headache when playing computer on
TVs. A brave suggestion has been brought up, offering to automatically launched
when the Windows starts up, and give the users an option to go back to the
launcher immediately after closing the game. Giving them most ideal conditions,
you will be like in the heaven of virtual console: DRM-free games are supported
excellently by the gamepad and run smoothly without any complaint, and then
bring the users to a virtual ecosystem of Razer after termination.
Unfortunately, the pop-up dialogs, launchers that are only for games, the Steam
notifications and the matchmaking system based on the Original’s browser (the
battlefield 3) force us to reach our finger to the mouse ore regularly. Even
worse, the launcher some time can be capable of interfering in other programs,
bringing us breaking into the Windows, wait for such a long time just like
waiting for something that never comes.
Two
models of Razer Edge are available now, a standard and a Pro version. Both come
with 64-bit versions of Windows 8 and sport multi touch-capable displays, a
built-in accelerometer, and a wicked matte black paint job.
Disappointingly, the attention has been
moved to the Big Picture mode of the Steam that we re-configure in order to
make them operate with the Razer’s settings. Here, we did a better job, there
is less ads when running games from its own UI 10-foot’s ecosystem. The
experience benefits from Valve’s history with the authority of the content
maker and game developers. There are more cares for the deep detail than that
of the Big Picture. For instance, the Team Fortress 2 pays may time to remind
us of our hobbies. “I notice that you are running under Big Picture” and “GSGameExe.exe
has stopped working”, it said. “Would you like to enable game controller
support? Yes, sure. Unfortunately, even the Valve’s potential of the SteamBox
interface cannot solve the invasive nature of Windows’ flaws, DRM and
game-specific launchers. “GSGameExe.exe has stopped working”, a dialog would
have been launched to announce you. Where is the mouse again?
The
Big Picture mode
The limited input method that you will get
on the tradition console gamepad is not sufficient to satisfy the need of a PC,
no matter have hard it tries to fight against other consoles. In the
pseudo-portable mode of this product, the program starts the game oddly or the wrong
keyboard would be damaged by a quick tap to the touchscreen, but managing the
missing “console mode” is not a kind of normal issue. The easiness in the way
Edge connects to the home screen is such a huge step forward in the right
direction, but it will not release you from the desire of mouse and keyboard.
That means, there are still much space on the backside of the Edge is set to
make room for essential things. A wireless keyboard, couch mouse and we are
helped a lot by the gamepad in preparing for any trouble that might occur
occasionally.
