Have you got a monster gaming rig, but sometimes wish you could kick back and play your games from the comfort of the sofa? If so, Valve have some good news for you in the form of a new Steam streaming feature.
The PC gaming giant brought their In-Home Streaming service out of beta today and made it available for all Steam users. The new feature allows gamers to run demanding titles on their main gaming PC, but stream it to other potentially less powerful systems.
As well as opening up the possibility of running the latest AAA titles on an aging laptop while sat on the sofa, this latest move from Valve aligns perfectly with their ambitions to take control of the living room. Valve are keen to expand their Steam platform away from the desk and onto the TV, and the new service will support this ambition alongside their “Big Picture” interface and upcoming Steam Boxes.
At the moment the streaming service does have some limitations. Currently only Windows (Vista and later) machines can function as the host PC, but you are able to use any OS X, Linux or MS system running steam as the receiver. Valve are also recommending that systems are connected via ethernet, but there have been some success stories of people using wireless N networks.
It’s clearly early days for the technology, but the potential for utilising old kit in new ways is exciting. If you’d like to read more about the new feature, check out Valves announcement here.