Valve is adding support for built-in streaming from Steam!

Valve is adding wide support for built-in streaming from Steam with Steam Broadcasting, the developer announced today. With Steam Broadcasting, players will be able to broadcast and watch live gameplay streams with friends or broadcast gameplay to the public.

The feature gives Steam users an alternative to third-party streaming services like Twitch and Ustream.

Valve says Steam's new broadcasting feature is "designed for ease of use, allowing anyone to view a friend's game by simply clicking on 'Watch Game' on their Friend's profile or Friend's List to open a window into their gameplay - no game ownership, special fees, or additional apps required."

Steam Broadcasting is part of the Steam beta client, and users will need to opt-in to use the feature and update their privacy settings in order to broadcast. Broadcasts from Steam are available to watch through the service's community hub.

Currently, Steam Broadcasting supports a handful of web browsers: Google Chrome, Apple's Safari and the Steam client itself. Since the service is still in beta, Steam Broadcasting doesn't feature support for archiving players' livestreams or monetizing them.

More details about the Steam Broadcasting beta are available in a FAQ published by Valve.

SOURCE Steam and Polygon

Steam Controller

Here is your first look at the Steam Controller, which was unveiled by Valve today marking their third and last announcement for this week. The Steam Controller does away with thumbsticks and replaces them with trackpads, which gamers thumbs will sit over. There is also a touchscreen located in the center. The controller will feature rumble support and has various buttons surrounding the touchscreen as well as around and below the trackpads. Valve has stated that the Steam Controller was designed to work with the entire Steam library. The Steam Controller will be comparable to a high-end PC gaming mouse. More details about the controller will be released in the future. Overall, it seems as if Valve is ready to take on the gaming hardware giants and we believe their success depends on a huge Steam library with continued discounts, future support from developers, simple user accessibility, and competitive console pricing.

SteamOS

Valve has announced its first of three surprises of the week with the unveiling of SteamOS. The Linux based operating system will be free to download for Steam users and will be available for living room based machines. SteamOS is part of an initiative by Valve to move Steam onto the big screen without sacrificing cost for the consumer. 4 key features for SteamOS include In-Home Streaming, which allows any machine running SteamOS to stream games running on a computer to a TV. Family Sharing will allow multiple users to take turns playing a game on a single account while earning their own achievements. Media Services is still in the works but will use the function of many media services to stream music and video with Steam and SteamOS. Lastly, Family Options will allow parents to have more control over what titles are played by whom with a parental control system. Steam OS will be available soon, although Valve has not given a specific date. The next announcement coming from Valve will be on Wednesday, September 25, 2013 at 10AM PDT.

SteamBox?!

Valve Corporation has announced big news is on the way for the gaming world next week. 3 separate announcements will be made next week, one of which was given a teaser that the video game developer gave out stating the "Steam Universe is Expanding." This could relate to the long rumored SteamBox, which would be an actual gaming console that would run Steam based games. If true, depending on the price points given as well as the library of games available, we could see this "SteamBox" stir up the industry real quick. The reveal will come on Monday, September 23, 2013 so you can expect us to update you all when the announcement breaks. #SteamBox