Steam could be coming to a television near you.
In a pre-GDC announcement, Valve has teased a new technology related to Steam that it’ll be bringing to the show. Steam’s “big picture” mode will apparently take the digital distribution service from your PC to your television set.
Valve isn’t all that forthcoming with specific details on the mode, but says it’ll “offer controller support and navigation designed for television interaction.” Valve VP of marketing Doug Lombardi says: “With big picture mode, gaming opportunities for Steam partners and customers become possible via PCs and Macs on any TV or computer display in the house.”
More will be revealed at the 2011 Game Developers Conference, which runs from February 28-March 4. Valve will also talk about the success of Steam’s microtransaction marketplace and how it’ll integrate Steam into the launch of Portal 2 for the PlayStation 3.
I can only guess at what Valve has in mind for “big picture” mode. Unless I’m missing something, it’d presumably need some kind of external box hooked up to a television to sling the Steam signal from a PC to said television. It’ll be intriguing to see what Valve has in store.
