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Steam's 'Big Picture' mode may beta later today

by Alistair Lowe on 10 September 2012, 09:49

Tags: Valve

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We reported last month that Valve was preparing itself for an immanent release of it's Big Picture mode and Linux client betas and, whilst we still have no further details to offer-up with regards to any penguin oriented releases, thanks to the New York Times, we have a date placed on Steam's Big Picture mode, which, is to be released later today, apparently.

"On Monday, the company will begin a public test of a new television-friendly interface, Big Picture, for buying Steam games and playing them on computers in the living room." stated the article. To elaborate further, Big Picture mode is essentially filling the gap that needs to be bridged by Steam in-order to realise Valve's plans of a complete eco-system.

Steam Big Picture Mode

Big Picture mode would allow Steam to be ran as a modal application, where there's no need to show a desktop behind it. Support for TV-sized displays and controllers allows the platform to be wrapped-up into a console, a complete and potentially self-contained eco-system. This is all part of Valve's 'STEAMWORKS' business plan, which the firm revealed back in 2011.

As the beta is released, gamers will essentially be offered the chance to approve of the new system and, provide feedback on its workings. There may not be a huge market for the new mode right now, it's clear that Valve is targeting OEMs, however, there are certainly a fair few gamers out there who enjoy playing on a TV, even with a PC attached instead of a console.



HEXUS Forums :: 6 Comments

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Will be giving this one a shot, with having the Gigabyte SkyVision its ideal for my home setup.

Being able to launch games with the gamepad and easier to see icons it fits nicely with the PC in a front room which is happening more and more.
Sounds like a Metro app to me … I thought Steam didn't approve of Metro ;) Perhaps Windows 8 isn't such a bad thing after all?
Nothing wrong with hooking the PC up to a big TV for some gaming.
So long as it's not an RTS; that be a recipe for disaster :/
I would love to have all my media in one room but my TV is just not up to the task for playing PC games at the moment. I would love to have my water cooled Windows 8 media centre to my living your even an older version and have my pc games and everything else hooked up. Have as PVR, Movies and shows, PC games, Skype and telephone calls, put a fridge and toilet right there and never leave. What a dream. what a smelly dream.
As anyone with a 50-80" TV knows messing with Steam can be fiddly at high res on a massive screen with a mouse and KB when you sit six foot+ away. So ‘BP’ mode is a great idea as some games work best on a massive screen and play great with a console controller and many suit your mainly smaller PC screen and Win7. Hopefully some thought has been given to all of steam not just choosing which game (so Screen shot manager etc) to be more useful on a TV. BP mode will probably also suit touch screen tablets.