Steam has announced a new service for us! You can now (by opting into the beta) watch what your friends are playing, and that's awesome.
It sounds great in theory, but how well will everyone's internet hold up? As this will send additional packets across the internet, so it won't be for those with slow internet.
For the privacy concious amongst us, who probably don't use Steam anyway, the first time someone asks to watch, you get presented with a Steam pop-up asking if you want to do it.
I look forward to watching you all fail, horribly. Sadly it seems like it's not available on Linux yet. Their FAQ states this:
QuoteSteam Broadcasting is currently supported through the Steam Client on Windows 7 and Windows 8. Support for Linux, OSX and Windows Vista will supported in the future.
If you try to watch a game from someone on Linux this happens:
QuoteSteam Broadcasting is not currently supported on Cheeseness's system
Too bad, I can't watch aliens destroy Cheese in XCOM yet.
See the full page on Steam here. Copied below:
QuoteStarting today you can watch your friends’ games with the click of a button via Steam Broadcasting, now available in beta. When you see a friend in game, simply click on "Watch Game" from their profile or from the Steam Client Friend's List to open a window into their gameplay -- no game ownership, special fees, or additional apps required.Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
The beta is open to everyone on Steam who wants to participate by opting in to the Steam Client beta through the Steam Settings panel. For the time being, concurrent viewing may be limited as the beta is scaled up to support the broader audience.
As always, we want your feedback and ideas on how to make this feature better. Make sure to check out the Steam Broadcast discussions and FAQ, and let us know what you think!
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Kallestofeles Dec 3, 2014
Saw this yesterday, it is an Excellent addition to Steam platform.
The main selling point for me (regarding this feature) is the ability to check my friends playing something I'm not familiar with and when I like what I see, I'll buy the game myself. So I think this is an excellent addition to Steam.
Let's just hope Linux gets its love soon enough and we'll be checking on each others' failures in the near future. :D
The main selling point for me (regarding this feature) is the ability to check my friends playing something I'm not familiar with and when I like what I see, I'll buy the game myself. So I think this is an excellent addition to Steam.
Let's just hope Linux gets its love soon enough and we'll be checking on each others' failures in the near future. :D
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This is the next level of stalking. Well, fine, I am not really against it, but I doubt I will be using this. One possible use case that could be interesting is if they made it possible to seamlessly record your entire game, and share "funny moments" with the community. I bet a lot of people would be into that.
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Cheeseness Dec 3, 2014
QuoteToo bad, I can't watch aliens destroy Cheese in XCOM yet.For clarification, I destroyed all the aliens tonight. 3 missions, 28 kills, 3 captures and no losses \o/
It doesn't look like we can watch games at the moment either. I attempted to use Steam's browser to view a stream, but tried to update some stuff and failed (I spotted some people talking about this on the Steam forums - it might be related to certain Steam mirrors, maybe?).
Hopefully we'll see this soon. Even in beta, it makes me sad when platform parity isn't present.
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I think this is a really cool feature. I don't see why this should take more of your bandwidth than doing the same via Twitch etc, or Youtube for that matter. It might however eat a chunk of your computing power, I should think.
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Yeah, no, this is not something I'd enable.
I'd get far too self-conscious and blergh all over the game.
I'd get far too self-conscious and blergh all over the game.
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Segata Sanshiro Dec 3, 2014
What isn't clear to me is that if someone wants to watch me play, do I have to give them permission? I'm guessing so.
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This isn't for me. If anyone wants to watch me play a game, they'll have to come watch my monitor.
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Cheeseness Dec 3, 2014
Quoting: Segata SanshiroWhat isn't clear to me is that if someone wants to watch me play, do I have to give them permission? I'm guessing so.From some experiments I did yesterday with getting a friend running Windows to stream, they get a little notification that they have to allow their game to be streamed (I'm not sure if the stream is then publicly viewable or not, but at least a player will never wind up in a situation where they don't realise they have an audience).
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Segata Sanshiro Dec 3, 2014
Quoting: CheesenessQuoting: Segata SanshiroWhat isn't clear to me is that if someone wants to watch me play, do I have to give them permission? I'm guessing so.From some experiments I did yesterday with getting a friend running Windows to stream, they get a little notification that they have to allow their game to be streamed (I'm not sure if the stream is then publicly viewable or not, but at least a player will never wind up in a situation where they don't realise they have an audience).
Ah right, well I guess that's ok then :). If they add a few more features to it, maybe it could replace Twitch.
From what I can see with all these latest steam developments is that they're basically building software for consoles (SteamOS) and features for it - ie. Steam is moving away (and has already moved quite a bit) from being a purely digital distribution software to being a full-fledged gaming experience like consoles have.
I get kind of excited thinking about SteamOS on the same terms as Android - an OS for third parties to use and do as they wish with... If the same thing happens with gaming hardware that happened with mobiles, essentially we're in for one hell of a ride :), but at the moment we're still at that stage where each manufacturer makes their own software for their own devices. Lets hope this whole thing gains traction.
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Who can watch your games?
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=6730-TOAK-6497#2
Yeah, I used twitch a little bit, but this is certainly much more convenient if it works well. Especially since it streams to browsers so anyone can watch it without the Steam client or game client.
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=6730-TOAK-6497#2
QuoteThe first time a friend requests to watch your game you'll be presented with the broadcast privacy settings. To make a change at any time, access the Steam Client's Settings panel and select the Broadcast tab to view your privacy settings.
Available settings:
Only friends I invite can watch my games
Friends can request to watch my games (default)
Friends can watch my games
Anyone can watch my games (public broadcast, can be found in the game hub)
Yeah, I used twitch a little bit, but this is certainly much more convenient if it works well. Especially since it streams to browsers so anyone can watch it without the Steam client or game client.
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