Valve Looks to Steam Power Your TV [Feb 28, 2011, 1:52 pm ET] – Share – Viewing Comments
Valve announces their plans for this week's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, CA, indicating they have ambitions for their Steam content delivery service to make its mark in the coveted living room space. They reveal an upcoming "big picture" mode, "which will offer controller support and navigation designed for television interaction," saying this: "will enable gamers to enjoy Steam and their library of Steam games on more screens throughout the house." Details will be revealed to attendees at the GDC, and in the meantime, here's what Valve marketing VP Doug Lombardi says about this: "With big picture mode, gaming opportunities for Steam partners and customers become possible via PCs and Macs on any TV or computer display in the house."
The press release is vague enough that it could be some sort of OnLive/Gaikai streaming service, but I don't find that very likely at all. This sounds more like presenting Steam in a much more HTPC friendly way.
I have a pretty modest HTPC that I primarily use to stream media off a NAS. It's powerful enough that I can run Mass Effect 2 at max settings on my 1080p Plasma, and I've done local co-op on Street Fighter 4 as well. It works great once the game is running (and yes, you can use a mouse/keyboard just fine from a couch/comfy chair with some preparation), but using Steam is an absolute chore at 1920x1080 on a 50 inch display from 15 ft away. So an improvement there would be absolutely awesome for me.
HTPCs are a niche market but genuinely great. I'd love to see more local co-op/split screen in PC games as a result of a big platform like Steam catering to that market.
I have a pretty modest HTPC that I primarily use to stream media off a NAS. It's powerful enough that I can run Mass Effect 2 at max settings on my 1080p Plasma, and I've done local co-op on Street Fighter 4 as well. It works great once the game is running (and yes, you can use a mouse/keyboard just fine from a couch/comfy chair with some preparation), but using Steam is an absolute chore at 1920x1080 on a 50 inch display from 15 ft away. So an improvement there would be absolutely awesome for me.
HTPCs are a niche market but genuinely great. I'd love to see more local co-op/split screen in PC games as a result of a big platform like Steam catering to that market.
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