Steam’s Big Picture will be released later today

Later today, Valve’s ‘Big Picture’ will be releasing.  What is the Big Picture?  It’s a way to play you’re the games in your Steam library on the big screen.  Through this new and different interface, the Big Picture will configure itself to fit the resolution of the television you want to use it on.  With an Xbox 360 controller and a HDMI cable into your PC, you’ll be able to navigate the Big Picture dashboard and play games on your television.

Anything you can do on your Steam account on your PC can be done with the Big Picture.  You’ll be able to buy games, play games, browse the interwebs, and chat with buddies.  ‘Typing’ is done though a flower-esqu hud, that breaks the alphabet down into 4-letter sections that can each be selected via the A, B, X, Y buttons on the controller.  While this sounds very different, I can see this being very fast and simple after some practice.

If you’re wondering, yes – the Big Picture interface can still be used on your PC monitor.  Why you’d want to do this, I’m not sure.  Maybe the new interface?  Maybe for change? I’m mostly a PC gamer so I get it.  Sometimes the mouse and keyboard just feel more natural.  For everyone else, check out the Big Picture going live later today and turn your television into a quasi-console (with the help of your PC). 

Note: this has nothing to do with the Steam Box.

[Kotaku]

Historian, teacher, writer, gamer, cheat master, and tech guru: follow on Twitter @AndrewC_GZ