Rejoice, PC streamers – the latest client update for Steam finally brings Broadcasting into the mix.

Steam Broadcasting is similar to services like Twitch. You can essentially live-stream your gameplay to friends or worldwide to other players. Since the feature is directly embedded into Steam, you won’t have to rely on a third party service to stream.

Valve also announced that its FPS counter is out of the beta stage and can be used for accurately counting frames during gameplay. You can check out the full details on the client update here, which also includes bug fixes for Big Picture and Linux users and other optimizations.

How will Steam Broadcasting affect games like Dota 2 which usually run on a two minute delay to prevent cheating? We’ll find out in the coming weeks but for now, let us know what you think of the new streaming tools and FPS counter for Steam in the comments.

Considering all the talk about the Steam Box, fueled by Valve’s push for Big Picture – which allows for living room gaming on your TV with controller support – will we finally see Valve unveiled its plans for an audience primarily catered to by consoles?

And more importantly, will this provide some kind of impetus for Half Life 3? We know, we know – it’s long been the same old song and dance, and Valve itself stated that the game is currently in “bits and pieces” with no discernible form. But one thing is for sure: if the Steam Box is real, Valve will be looking for a killer app. This was the case when it launched Steam to coincide with the release of Half Life: Episode 1, or when it made Portal 2 exclusive to the PS3 among consoles to facilitate the introduction of Steam.

Will third – or whichever time this is – be the charm? We’ll find out soon.

Valve has always taken a different approach, scoffing the norms and pretty much running away with success as a result. If they pioneered the idea of story in first person shooters, then they also turned a simple concept like first person puzzle gaming into a successful one. They seized upon the beauty that was Counter-Strike and helped foster a community of mod-makers. They recognized the need to go digital, and then later, the opportunities that their digital platform presented for independent developers. They saw the market for PC gaming in living rooms and released Big Picture for Steam.

However, as with any form of innovation, it is bound by the laws of the console market. And the console market, since the introduction of the Xbox, the rise of the Wii and dominance of AAA blockbusters, has undergone a massive change. There’s no more room for middle of the ground developers; innovation has to be on a larger, more commercial scale; and for all that is holy, unless you work at Arkane Studios or Telltale Games, that hot new property of yours better have multiplayer – any kind of multiplayer, so long as it can be marketed to the Call of Duty crowd. Who doesn’t want that market?

Nonetheless, there are certain tenets that have been repeated. Nintendo announced it’s Wii U console much in advance – in fact, it’s been the same with every single console till. Rumblings and rumours, followed by an official announcement, then a year to ready the console’s titles and release plans, after which we usually see it 6-8 months later – this has been the norm. For example, the Playstation 2 was announced officially in March 2009 but wouldn’t be released until a year later in Japan (October 26th 2000 for North America). The Playstation 3 took even longer, with an official announcement on May 16th 2005 at E3 and an official launch of November 11th 2006 in Japan and November 17th in North America. PAL versions of the console didn’t arrive until March 2007. The Xbox 360 is perhaps the only exception, having been announced in March 2005 and releasing in November 2005. But this was done to get ahead of Sony and came with a price in the form of the Red Ring of Death. To think that Valve would both announce and release it’s console within the span of a few months is ludicrous.

If E3 2013 is the year that Microsoft and Sony ready their next big console efforts, then wouldn’t it make sense for Valve to also make some sort of announcement regarding it’s Steam Box? Let’s face it though: E3 is a mecca for rumours. Remember when Bungie split from Microsoft and signed with Activision, prompting rumours of their next game appearing at E3? How about when the former heads of Infinity Ward formed Recoil Studios? E3 was again marked as the day we’d see their creation shine. Neither of the two incidents occurred, but hey, maybe at the next big convention, right?

For that matter, let’s look at the technology. The Valve economist who first revealed details about the next generation hardware, stated that “it’s not a small deal to see a virtual but highly realistic alien stand beside a real human in the same room with you, walk around the room and wink at you. And all that without a screen, a projector or even a computer near you”. In other words, computer generated holography. And while there are plenty of hobbyists and researchers using the same, it’s a long way off from being used, much less developed, commercially and at an affordable price.

Let’s say there are still some kinks to work out. If Valve really does announce it at, say, E3 2013. Then once again, we’re looking at another year of hype, readying launch titles, optimization of engines (which Valve has stated it’s doing for the next generation), testing with Big Picture, and much more – and a year is being optimistic. If announced in E3 2013, then E3 2014 is when we see it for all it’s worth. After that, look for another few months of marketing and securing distribution. Once again, that’s a very big “if”.

Another interesting point: Though we hear plenty about Valve’s hardware, why haven’t we heard anything about other developers working on it’s console? Unless it’s simply a medium for countering the monopolization of technology by Microsoft and Apple, which could mean that will have an architecture very closely resembling the PC (also more or less known). But how about the original Xbox? It had the same kind of architecture, which made it an attractive option for PC developers. Microsoft still had to rope in outside developers to make games for its console. If a console is really what Valve is after, how come there aren’t any other developers involved in it? Valve might be capable of a lot, but in this day and age, multiplatform titles and exclusives are where it’s at, and this is only achieved via hooking up with other developers.

Maybe Valve already has a plan for this. Maybe it’s already well on the way towards roping other developers, or just finding ways to have all Steam games, present and future, optimized for the Steam Box. There’s a lot to be positive about with Valve’s console, for sure, but to say that we’ll see so much development befitting a AAA console in the next year to coincide with a release is wishful thinking.

“I think in general that most customers and most developers are going to find that [the PC is] a better environment for them. ‘Cause they won’t have to split the world into thinking about ‘why are my friends in the living room, why are my video sources in the living room different from everyone else?’ So in a sense we hopefully are going to unify those environments.

“Certainly our hardware will be a very controlled environment. If you want more flexibility, you can always buy a more general purpose PC. For people who want a more turnkey solution, that’s what some people are really going to want for their living room. The nice thing about a PC is a lot of different people can try out different solutions, and customers can find the ones that work best for them.”

He also confirmed that Valve is working on a new game engine with planned support for PC and next-generation consoles stating that, “Hopefully that’s going to give us some interesting opportunities on the game side.”

Source: GIBiz

To use Big Picture, all you have to do is connect your PC to your TV (or transmit your PC display wirelessly to your TV), and click on the “Big Picture” icon that appears when you fire up Steam.

Valve has also announced a week-long Steam sale for controller-friendly titles like Portal 2, Alan Wake, Limbo, Mark of the Ninja, Orcs Must Die 2 and many more, with over 30 games being on sale. Some titles with partial controller support will be on sale as well, which will end on December 10th at 10 AM Pacific Standard Time.

Source: GIBiz

So really, to say that it doesn’t matter right now is a bit of an overstatement. Look at the shooters that developers have been churning out this year. Does any single one of them, except Far Cry 3, approach the brilliance that Half-Life 2 delivered?

Concept art that has been doing the rounds for a while now shows the Borealis, embedded in an icy canyon, with Combine Advisers floating hither tither (there are plenty of nods to the ship within the most recent Valve game, Portal 2, as well).

Everyone mimics Call of Duty, even non-FPS developers, hoping to cash in on a modicum of success. Innovation is dying a slow death. Wouldn’t a game like Half-Life 3 be most necessary, to reignite the industry and pave the way for a new age of brilliance?

Well, that’s just it. For all our needs and wants, Half-Life 3 isn’t the future. It’s certainly what we want, in this instant, but as soon as it’s over, we’ll just be pining for the next one. It might not seem at all possible but we are gamers after all. We don’t devour games so much as meticulously pick them apart, byte by byte, again and again, until it makes us past the point of crazy. After which we go back and do it all again. After completing Half-Life 3, the hype will be on for Half-Life 4. And then 5. And then 6. And so on until Valve decides to just monetize the sumbitch and release a yearly sequel.

It’s the long run that deserves a closer look.

Steam Greenlight.

News has been circulating for a while now about Valve’s “Steam Box”, the latest indicating that it’ll be unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. Couple this with the current Big Picture, which is bringing PC gaming to living rooms in a way that makes Xbox Live and PSN look perfectly antiquated by comparison, and Steam Greenlight, which is serving as an excellent medium for independent developers to have their games featured and distributed via Steam in ways that make Microsoft’s current policies look downright muggish by comparison. Let’s not forget the Source 2 engine which is reportedly in development.

Valve is quickly becoming more than just a developer who survives from paycheck to paycheck, living in fear of a bigger publisher that only cares about the bottom line. Compare companies like EA pressure the founders of Bioware so strongly due to negative fan response, which in itself was utterly asinine, that they retire – to Valve’s Gabe Newell, who’s famously pissed off the entire PS3 fan base time and time again before trolling everyone and announcing Portal 2 for the console.

Image courtesy: Deviantart.

They know they’re in a position to deliver big on innovation. Heck, they love it. So while we may complain about when Half-Life 3 will be announced and subsequently when it will be released, ask yourself this: What if Half-Life 3 is only part of the plan? What if it’s just another cog in the machine, along with Big Picture, for its Steam Box? Conspiracy-talk, sure, but Valve has proven time and time again that it’s more than capable of living up to the hype.

Which brings us back to the matter of time. It’s a joke that Valve has its own perception of time, and it could be a while before we even get a sliver of official information on Half-Life 3. So the issue isn’t whether Half-Life 3 exists or doesn’t, or when it’s releasing because those are questions bestowed on typical sequels. The real questions are “How?” and “Why?”. And you can bet that Valve will go all-out with the answers.

(Cover Image from Deviantart).

Tired of having to pay for XBox Live Gold for multiplayer? Want to look into the latest and greatest PC deals from the comfort of your own couch? Valve has just released the Big Picture, an interface which transforms their digital software platform Steam into a living room friendly affair.

Released today, this update will bring a special Dashboard into the proceedings. Fine-tuned for TV, Big Picture features an interface, icons and virtual keyboard set that makes it easy for console gamers to navigate Steam. The biggest impact of this, of course, is that gamers can now experience connect their PCs via HDMI to big screen HDTVs and navigate Steam without bothering with a cumbersome, PC-based interface.

Even more interestingly: For those who don’t want to bother with cables, you can simply connect your PC to output to your HDTV wirelessly using devices like The Air SyncHD. No lugging your PC (or even Mac) to the living room. Now you can simply log into Steam, transmit to your TV and enter Big Picture to play your favourite games on your TV.

Speaking to Kotaku, Big Picture team head Greg Coomer states, “We’re confident in some things that customers want. They want a full-screen experience. They want to be in the living room. They want to use a game controller. They wanna have a social gaming experience. And we have this platform that lets us ship a significant portion of that experience.”

Obviously the virtual keyboard warrants it’s own separate mention. Valve ditched the onsceen keyboard that so many companies employ in favour a lotus-like design. Your ratchet up and down across various combinations of letters using the analog stick and input letters using the face buttons. It looks so weird, and yet so simple. Even Valve is surprised that no one has attempted it before. To make this more sumptuous, Big Picture implements a web browser that’s easy to use with the controller, and you can even switch back and forth between Big Picture and your browser seamlessly.

Other features will include include auto-correct, context awareness — where the browser detects when you want to enter “dot com” to the end of an address – and are even looking to implement cooperative split-screen mode. That means multiple Steam account users can access their individual accounts all from the same space. Sick of playing co-op Dungeon Defenders off the same computer? Now you can output to HDTV and experience the game, with XBox 360 controllers, in style.

Considering this is for all intents and purposes, a “living room” dashboard, the obvious question arises as to whether this is the next step towards Valve creating it’s own home console. “What we really want is to ship and then learn. So we want to find out what people value about that. How they make use of it. When they make use of it. Whether it’s even a good idea for the broadest set of customers or not. And then decide what to do next.

“So it could be that the thing that really makes sense is to build the box that you’re describing. But we really don’t have a road map. And we think we’re going to learn a tremendous amount through this first release,” said Coomer, referencing the Steam Box that’s apparently been in development (and stalled) for a long time.

The obvious question then: Do consoles have a reason to be afraid? Not necessarily. For now, Big Picture is meant purely to put the Steam experience on to television screens. But if Valve follows up and creates its own console, or even ties up with something like the Android-baed Ouya, then there are plenty of reasons for concern. Steam currently has a myriad of discounts, offers, retro releases, exclusive titles, demos, and DLC for it’s customers. Dungeon Defenders, Orcs Must Die 1 & 2 and no, none of them are available for the current breed of consoles.

The best part? It’s all free, including the multiplayer which has been a sticking issue for XBox Live since forever.

Big Picture could function solely as a bridge, but it will allow Valve to tap into a market that Sony and Microsoft have been hoarding for a long time: Console gamers. If it succeeds, and facilitates demand for a console, then you can bet that Valve will do everything possible to take advantage. And unlike PSN or XBox Live, it’s not limited by publishers.

Look at Steam Greenlight. Imagine the amount of indie efforts that will be available on Steam and nowhere else. Anyone, anywhere, can get their games onto Steam, allowing for a vast range of content far beyond typical first person shooters and platformers. There’s also the free-to-play market, which consoles have done next to nothing to exploit. Tribes Ascend, Blacklight Retribution and the Crytek’s upcoming Warface will have a far bigger audience than before and ff Valve doubles down on this, it could become the first major pioneer of F2P console gaming. Big Picture will also be a major coup in the battle against EA’s Origin platform.

Really, the possibilities are endless. So while Microsoft and Sony can sleep easy tonight, the dreamscape might be a bit different in the years to come.