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Steam in-home streaming is live for all users
Steam's in-home streaming service is available to all users starting today – for now, the hosting computer must be a Windows PC, but Valve says SteamOS, Linux and Mac OS X hosting is coming soon. Users with multiple computers on the same network are now able to play PC games on lower-end computers, and play PC games on Mac OS X, SteamOS or Linux. Yes, Dark Souls 2 on your Macbook Air. To stream, users must log into Steam on a Windows PC (for now), and then log into Steam on another computer on the same network. Then check out your Steam library and start streaming some games. Once a game is installed on one computer, there's no need to install it on the other streaming computers. As Steam describes it: "When you play a game using In-Home Streaming, video and audio are sent through your home network from your high-end gaming PC to another device in your home. From here, your keyboard, mouse, and controller input is sent back to the remote computer." Steam's breakdown of the in-home streaming service can be found here. [Image: Valve]
Invites issued to testers as Steam in-home streaming enters beta
Though Valve Software missed its initial 2013 estimate, the company has now begun beta testing its in-home game streaming service. As its name suggests, this initiative will allow users to stream and play any game from one PC to another as long as both are on the same network. Valve hopes that this will speed adoption of Steam Machines by alleviating the hassle of moving your current favorite games from your PC to the new device. If nothing else, being able to stream games from an extant computer to another gadget will save users the hassle of having to re-download hundreds of gigabytes of video game data. Invites to the beta test have been issued at random to members of the Steam Homestream community. If you have yet to receive an invitation, don't fret: Valve will be adding more participants to the test as time rolls on. For more details on Steam in-home streaming, have a look at Valve's official FAQ.
Steam In-Home Streaming locks down the host computer
Valve has published a Q&A on Steam In-Home Streaming, the company's experiment on streaming games from one PC to any other in the house – specifically, the living room. While the Q&A is light on info, it does at least clarify two points regarding computer functionality while streaming and playing streamed games over the internet. While it's engaged in streaming, no one will be able to use the original PC serving games through In-Home Streaming. "No, your computer is dedicated to running the game and input is coming from both the remote client and the local system. It would be very confusing if someone were trying to use the computer at the same time," the Q&A reads. In addition to that, Internet streaming is "currently" not supported. You'll have to rely on local network streaming to enjoy the functionality when the beta launches before year's end. Steam In-Home Streaming is one piece of a three-pronged solution Valve has proposed for getting PC games into the living room. The company hopes to create an open gaming network, combining streaming with customizable Steam Machines and a Linux-based SteamOS. The In-Home Streaming beta will be opened to random Steam users pulled from the In-Home Streaming community group.
Steam In-Home Streaming beta opens this year
Steam will begin the beta for its home streaming system this year – what's left of this year, at least – with candidates chosen at random from members of the Homestream group on Steam. In-Home Streaming will allow users to stream games from one computer to any other in the same house, Steam says. Steam In-Home Streaming is the backbone of Valve's Steam Machines, its customizable gaming hardware, and SteamOS, its Linux-based operating system. With all of these pieces, Valve hopes to create open, in-home gaming networks connecting the desktop to the couch.
Gamers can now apply to beta test Steam's In-Home Streaming service
A big part of Valve's steamy vision of the future will be the ability to play full-fledged PC games on a relatively small living room machine, by streaming them to the Steam client from a main gaming PC in another room. (Much like Remote Play on the PS4 and Vita, or NVIDIA's GameStreaming from a PC to its Shield handheld.) Although the SteamOS and Steam Machine projects are still a long way off, Valve says it'll start beta testing of this particular feature by the end of this year. Testers will be randomly selected from among members of the relevant Steam Community group, so join up at the source link to put your name in the hat.
