News Valve switches on Steam remote downloading

Valve has flipped the switch on Steam remote downloading from any web browser or mobile device.

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/gaming/2012/05/17/vale-steam-remote-download/1

 

Neat new functionality.

 

This is great, but I don't think it will be a hugely popular feature. Still, it's nice to have the choice. Then again I don't leave my PC on during the day (silly SLI power draw), and I rarely buy new games so perhaps I'm not the target demographic...

 

Regardless of how well-used it will be, it's another nice touch to a system that seems to understand what it means to listen to the customer.

 

Any tech savvy person would VPN / WoL / RDP and access the client directly to start the download off. Apart from Folders, who leaves their PC on all day drawing power? Not me, besides... I have a 50Mb cable connection so I'd just make a cup of coffee while I wait.

 

They might, but if the option was there to control it via this system, I'd rather use that.

 

My computer is off most of the time but its not hard to power it up on the way out the door and kick of the downloads on the bus. I can't leave it on at night because its right beside my head in bed but VM day time cap is big enough that you'd get most of a download done and ready for getting home from work.

Whilst I could RDP etc its waayy too much effort for steam downloads and this will hopefully be easier to work on a smart phones tiny screen.

 

Unfortunately not all that many people can/want to set something like that up. I shall be using this feature often.

 

Fixed that for you

I'm tech savvy but I've got way better things to do with my precious free time than set up something like that just to download games. This remote feature is far more straightforward to set up and use, avoids the manifold security holes that an inexperienced user might inadvertantly open in trying to set up more general remote access of the type you describe, and can only be a good thing, but you seem to be bashing it just because there exists a highly technical and not particularly user friendly workaround to achieve a similar result.

 

This sort of stuff is handy, I used do it with my PS3 over remote play, I have much faster internet now so the need is not so great but Steam games are much bigger so would be nice to do this on PC, can you make a PC remote power on like you can with PS3?


Would be particularly handy as I often see a deal on here and buy it through my phone, would be nice if my PC fired up downloaded it and powered off when done so when I get home I can just fire it up, due to work /family I get limited gaming time, waiting for download is a pain.

 

The XBox marketplace has done this for a while... buy something and the download will start when you turn it on [or straight away if it's already on]...

would i use the feature? unlikely, don;t have a compatible phone and if i'm on a pc it's usually my pc so i'll just buy it through steam but it's a nice option to have.

 

i don't think it's on by deafult, there's also an option for it to not turn off until any downloads have finished

I was actually referring to having the download for your new purchase start as soon as you signed in to steam, or straight away if your pc is already on/signed in to steam.

 

I still prefer to order and receive a DVD - quicker install times and I prefer "the sense of ownership" - (Queue the spanner brigade!)
Also, if you rebuild your PC approx every 6 months like I do, having a DVD to hand (BF3, Batman, etc) means you dont have to download them all again - at most just updates and patches.

 

It is possible to backup pretty easily through Steam.

Good functionality IMO, but not really a big feature. The appeal is obvious, however!

 

How can it cause security issues when your are accessing though an encrypted tunnel? It takes only a few minutes to setup and it has other uses besides just downloading your games remotely. I'm not bashing it, merely pointing out you can do a lot more with VPN/WoL/RDP, after all.... it's not too different to actually being sat infront of your PC.

 

I can understand the quicker initial install (for bigger games anyway) as I have a slow net connection. As for having to reinstall games every 6 months?! Steam is better for this in a major way. Just install Steam to a different drive (not your system drive, usually C, then when you nuke your Windows install, just run the relatively tiny Steam installer, point it to your Steam folder, and you're done. Everything completely sorted - MUCH easier than reinstalling all your games again from DVD. I say this as someone who did that back in the day (probably about 10 years ago now).

 

Just remember your games saves aren't backed up with steam before blowing your saves away

 

Brilliant idea. Never thought of that!

 

I managed to 1/2 set it up a month ago. I found an app which sends a magic packet waking the pc from sleep. Then you could log in with your RDP app of your choice and download your steam games from there. You could also put the pc back into sleep with it. THe problem was i never got it working outwith my local network. Damn router permissions!