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Steam Big Picture Mode beta coming today, trailer released

See the big picture

Words: on September 10, 2012
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Remember that time Valve almost-kind-of-sort-of quietly entered the console market with a new service called Steam Big Picture Mode which would directly compete with consoles in the living room? Yeah, that was crazy. We haven't heard much about it since then, but now Valve has released a new video explaining the service as they get ready to launch a beta.

All around the world, PC gamers who work on computers all day are quietly jumping with glee that they'll finally get to come home from work and play PC games from the couch. It remains to be seen how many players will be willing to run cables from their desktop to their television (or buy a dedicated PC for their TV,) but we're definitely looking forward to giving this a spin when the public beta launches later today.

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PC

Topics:

Big Picture Mode, Steam , Valve

10 comments

  • k1DBLITZ - September 11, 2012 11:14 a.m.

    You guys are missing the "Big Picture". (see what I did there?) This is the first step towards a console steam system.

  • CrashmanX - September 11, 2012 8:30 a.m.

    Did people.... did people actually WATCH the video or READ the article? This is specifically for large TVs or sit a long distance form their couch. It's a UI made for Media Center PCs to be useful with both Keyboard and Controller. Think of it as Steam for Console people.

  • Malakie - September 10, 2012 12:49 p.m.

    I must be missing something... I can just plug my LED TV into the back of my computer with an HDMI cable no problem. I have been able to to do that for years. I am also use a wireless video adapter if I want also. My TV has 10 different ports and connection options and is a smart TV so I see no point. So what am I missing here? What makes this such a big deal?

  • brickman409 - September 10, 2012 5:07 p.m.

    it's just a version of steam that is more designed to be used with a pc hooked up to a t.v. being controlled by a game controller. It's the same thing as steam on your PC hooked up to your T.V. from before but this will make it a lot easier to use.

  • Shadow Of Death - September 10, 2012 11:15 a.m.

    Yeah, largely indifferent about this. I like just using my PC as my multimedia device, and TV+Sound System for Blu-rays mostly. I'm sure some people will find this useful, but not me, and I am constantly logged into Steam (even if I'm not on the computer XD).

  • Redeater - September 10, 2012 11:07 a.m.

    I already use my big screen TV as a second monitor so this looks kind of archaic and clunky to me. .....but yay for everyone else?

  • shawksta - September 10, 2012 11:06 a.m.

    Hmm, I don't know, it's too early to judge but the way I see it, it seems useful to Laptop gamers, but that's it.

  • Redeater - September 10, 2012 11:16 a.m.

    I'm not quite sure how it is going to work but it seems like they are trying to make it easier for people not familiar with computers. Ironically this looks to be a far more complicated method. Who is going to browse the internet with a controller? Jesus, I have to plug my keyboard into my 360 just to redeem codes because I find the controller to be ridiculously slow. Wireless keyboards and mouses have also been around for a while now.

  • shawksta - September 10, 2012 9:23 p.m.

    possibly ,yes ironic indeed, i stand by my statement that its good for Laptops at best

  • CrashmanX - September 11, 2012 8:27 a.m.

    No, they're trying to make it useful to people like myself who have a 42'' TV and sit 8ft away from it. Trying to read the text on there is a fucking pain with Steam. This makes it easy to use and enjoyable to hook up a controller (Wirelessly) to my Media PC and enjoy steam from the couch.

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