News Valve announces Big Picture mode for Steam

Assuming it is the ability to stream to another TV in your house this would be awesome.

TDU2 on my HDTV downstairs being powered by my gaming PC upstairs. With a 360 pad I can just sit back and relax whilst playing it (added advantage that the game will still look ALOT better than it does on the 360).

 

+1 in my book as have tried using steam on a large TV and it's a nightmare, but to be able to view it decently scaled would be a godsend! Being able to stream it or use a native xbox 360 or any other PC controller to navigate would indeed make things a lot simpler and wish Microsoft allowed Windows to be navigable with more than just keyboard, mouse and fingertips.

 

...Well said. Almost exactly what I was going to say...glad I read through the comments first.

Personally, I'm looking forward to this. One of the main reasons I don't play a lot of my Steam games is that they feel better suited to a TV and controller--mostly console ports like Just Cause 2 and Shank, admittedly--and taking the PC outta the office into the den is a pain in the ass. I would happily pay a hundred bucks for an adapter to allow me to stream Steam games to my non-web enabled TV.

I still wonder about the implementation, though. Do you think it will be some sort of web interface, or a mini console? Most wireless controllers don't do so well transmitting through walls and whatnot, so I think a Google TV-alike device might make more sense--most web TVs wouldn't be able to take input from a controller.

 

Also: HILARIOUS. I lol'd at work.

 

^^ this is golden!

Sounds like Steam trying to directly compete with the consoles, but in a more versatile way. Someone suggested a Steam console, this doesn't sound too far fetched. As this is where the gaming market is shifting.

SteamStation anyone? lol

 

So if big picture mode is enabled, will I still be able to access other programs on my computer not related to steam? What if I want to open windows media player or something and play some tunes while I game?

 

Something tells me NO

 

Why the hell are they wasting time on this when EP 3 is not being talked about? Curse you valve and your useless useful utensil!


Goto 3:10 to see reference.

 

Let's just hope Steam will get consolified


heh

 

For driving I use a steering wheel with pedals. It pukes all over the console-troller. The only thing I can think of a PC user wants to use a console-troller is for platform games. Since the only good platform game for the PC was Rick Dangerous and that was 10 years ago I don't see any use in a c-troller.

Besides that I tried to play with a c-troll but since these things are made for 6 year olds and tiny Japanese people and not big European man hands my thumbs would hurt like hell after 20mins.

Then again if 'they' managed to find a way to stream it to my big screen which hangs on the wall 6 meters away from my pc desk. And then you can navigate the steam menu with your ?tv remote? start a game, and run back to my pc and start playing from my desk and watching the screen 6 meters away from me. With my head turned around like bitch from the exorcist...

(all sarcastic of course)

 

7,5m HDMI
There you go, wasn't that hard, was it?

 

why the hell do people keep comparing this to an HDMI lead.

IT STREAMS TO ANY TV or monitor not just 1

the equivilant would be to have HDMI + USB distribution to every TV/Monitor with usb ports for k/b mouse.
HDMI distribution is extrememly expensive.

 

^ What Adam says. Not once is HDMI mentioned in the article. And someone says it can be done with HDMI (no **** sherlock!) and everybody believes from there on that this is how it works.

If you READ the article like Adam, some others and yours truly.

I think Adam is in the right direction. Maybe streaming to pc using usb or even network. Most modern tv's have network connection. Som sort of VNC springs to mind. Compensate for the delay with controls and you are set.

But you probably need some wireless controls if your PC is in the other room or on the other side of the room (like in my house) otherwise you need extension cords for mouse/keyboard/headphone whatever.

It is probably easier to put my PC next to my big screen connected to my onky receiver for some surround sound. Saves lag, extension cords, hdmi cables or otherwise and much cheaper for a weekend gaming on the bigscreen. And you don't need to stick to Steam for your favorite game either.

 

If I can stream a movie from my iPad (or even iPhone for that matter) to my TV using AppleTV, I'm fairly sure Valve will come up with a way to stream a game from upstairs to downstairs. That thunderbolt tech is kinda rapid ...

 

Reading the article, i suppose it's just software, and not hardware.
(BIG BUTTON FOR BIG CONTROLLER huh huh!)
We'll see if they will see how to connect to your TV, or if you'll have to make that connection yourself.
Even with a network connection, you'll still have to supply a cable.
(now don't tell me "Most modern TV's have a 1080 capable wireless connection", cause they don't)

 

Im one of the unfortunate who can't afford to get a steering wheel =(
the nice GT one I was eyeing up is yet to come into stock again so I just gave up!

I could get the more expensive one so.......

 

that would be awesome.
+++ if I can stream from the desktop PC to the underpowered laptop while sitting in the garden outside of the house . Ok you can already do that with streammygames but the free version has resolution limitations and crash with steam games.

 

So you can play games on your TV without having to pay console tax prices for games
It's not like you'd need high end hardware either. There are plenty of graphics cards/CPU's that can play games at HDTV resolutions.

 

this.

 

If I wanted an Xbox, I would go spend a couple hundred and get one. Instead, I spend a couple thousand every other year for my gaming PC, and I want to maintain the distinction and superiority of the PC as a gaming platform.

Say what you will, I like my games with a KB and mouse. I hate kludgy console interfaces. If developers write for a controller-and-television standard that will eventually be required for this new Steam specification, then we lose. Consoles have the share of the market, which makes me very sad to think that most gamers need assisted aiming and interfaces by Fisher-Price. I don't want that to be the way the tide turns for PC gaming.