Technology & Gaming Editor
Steam has made the official announcement of their first foray into the world of living room gaming. Yes, Steam Big Picture came out a year ago but that was more of a half-step with a focus on living room gaming. But Valve has taken the living room concept and really taken it to a new level with their latest announcement: Introducing the SteamOS.
SteamOS is a little piece of software based on the Linux platform that is designed to optimize your experience for gaming in the living room, and, according to steam’s website, ‘a free stand-alone operating system for living room machines’. It will have at its core all the features that the original Steam app has, as well as four new features: In-home streaming (so you can play games straight on your TV with no hassle), steam family game sharing, family options and online media services, for playing music and videos and such.
But aside from these features are SteamOS’ focus on ‘openness’ – essentially allowing customers more freedom to participate in the creation of the games. You guys know Steam Workshop? Everybody loves Steam Workshop. For those who don’t know, it’s a feature on Steam that allows users to create and display their own personal modifications to a game to other users. In other words, it’s a medium for sharing your ideas with fellow gamers. SteamOS appears to be aiming for increasing this kind of accessibility even more than it already has.
The Verge reports that the SteamOS was mainly a response to Microsoft’s Windows 8, which became a contender (and competitor) for PC sales with the introduction of its built in app store. By creating the SteamOS, Valve will continue to have a heavy hand in PC gaming – and in the near future, console based gaming.
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