Steam implements streaming service

[Watcher]

http://steamcommunity.com/updates/broadcasting

It was inevitable that Valve would want a bite out of the twitch pie.

Important things to note

1. broadcasting only occurs if there's a watcher, and automatically ends when the user quits

2. by default it's set to "friends can request to watch your games" and the feature can be turned on to the public or turned off entirely.

3. You need to have bought something on Steam to use it.

4. Only three browsers are supported right now. Steam's own client, Google Chrome, and Safari.

5. You cannot save broadcasts at the moment. It's unknown if Valve will implement a feature to let you save them on their servers.

Thoughts?

 

[c-no]

Sounds rather interesting. What would be the requirements to have a decent stream, even if video quality is low?

 

[Watcher]

Sounds rather interesting. What would be the requirements to have a decent stream, even if video quality is low?

the faq states you can adjust the bit rate and video resolution. I'd assume general bandwidth would depend on your proximity to a Steam server.

 

[Obnoxion]

Looks really neat, it would be fun to watch my friends play games, or in reverse, while we talk about something. But... how much upload speed do you have to have in order to be able to stream your games? The internet connections in my country are infamous for their incredibly low upload speeds compared to download ones.

 

[c-no]

Tried to do the streaming yesterday with Half-Life 2 Episode 1. Not much problems though since it does stream when someone pops in as far as I know. May as well try again with a different game such as Skyrim or Terraria.

 

[Clown Doll]

Thoughts?

Might be interesting if the features develop further, currently I'm not switching out of the Twitch+OBS combo.

 

[Obnoxion]

Might be interesting if the features develop further, currently I'm not switching out of the Twitch+OBS combo.

Speaking of, does that streaming service work with Windows XP? My problem with OBS is, it only works on Vista and newer Windows OSes.

 

[Watcher]

Speaking of, does that streaming service work with Windows XP? My problem with OBS is, it only works on Vista and newer Windows OSes.

What operating systems can I broadcast from?
Steam 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.

It's highly unlikely they'll support Windows XP

 

[c-no]

What operating systems can I broadcast from?
Steam 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.

It's highly unlikely they'll support Windows XP

Considering how XP is no longer supported, chances for it having stream support would be unlikely.

 

[Hyperion]

I wouldnt mind playing duels of the planeswalkers on a stream...