I tried out the beta of Steam’s new Big Picture mode and was quite impressed. The interface is much cleaner than the 360 dashboard.
Also, they’ve been adding “Full Controller Support” to a few games. 13 games so far. I take it this means games that are guaranteed to work completely with the controller (menus included), compared to the regular “Controller Enabled” games. Hopefully the majority of controller-based games will be upgraded with Full Controller Support over time.
I prefer to play games on the couch using a controller. I find it more relaxing. Although this was possible before on the PC, it wasn’t particularly seamless, as it still required the mouse to start the games or navigate through menus. Big Picture appears to be a good step forward for bringing the console experience to Steam, but with the higher resolutions, mods etc, that make PC gaming great. Looking forward to seeing Big Picture mode improve as more games support it. Hopefully they’ll add support for movies and multiple players in the future too.