Valve Launches Steam Streaming Beta Service

When it comes to streaming games onto other devices, consoles have that option. For example the GamePad for the Wii U basically allows games to be played on the smaller screen instead of the TV, and Sony has something similar except with the PS Vita. Well it looks like Valve wants to bring that kind of streaming functionality to PC gamers as they have recently launched a beta program in which gamers are able to stream games from one PC to another via Steam. This service is currently in beta and is only available to a select few who have been invited to take part in the beta testing process.

Basically what it does is that Steam users will just need to install the client on their computer, adjust the amount of bandwidth they’d like the stream to consume (in case there are other people at home who need the internet as well) and they’re good to go. This could be a particularly useful feature, especially for those who might have laptops that might not be powerful enough to play certain games, or where it might get too hot if intensive graphics are required. By streaming games from a PC to a laptop, for example, it would require less computing power compared to rendering the graphics on the laptop itself.

Valve admits that one of the drawbacks to the perform of their streaming service, versus something like Sony’s PlayStation Now where everything is done in the cloud, would be the host network. No word on when Valve will launch their service to the public, but if you’re interested just hit up Valve’s website and sign up for the beta.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Gaming
Tags: Steam (Valve), Valve