Valve uses Steam to show players Big Picture

Valve, the creators of the "Half-Life" and "Portal" series, recently released a new view mode for their digital distribution application, Steam, called Big Picture which allows the interface to be displayed on larger screens like those normally found in living rooms.

It wasn't impossible to hook up a PC or Mac to your big-screen TV before Big Picture was introduced, but the layout of an application made for small computer screens didn't translate well to a display that was between five and ten feet away from players.

Big Picture mode changes the entire Steam interface, and does away with all the tiny details normally displayed to users in favor of highly-simplified, large buttons and a virtual keyboard.

All of these new features make gaming through Steam with a gamepad much more accessible than ever before.

Big Picture's virtual keyboard is mapped to gamepads for simple text input

Using a gamepad to play video games on a large TV in the living room. That sounds a lot like console gaming. 

Steam's Big Picture mode is a major step into the home gaming console market, and it only requires players to connect their PC to their TV with and HDMI cable. All of these things are most likely already owned by most gamers, so the initial investment for this pseudo-console is arguably $0.

Not all of the people who play games have a computer capable of running "Skyrim" or "Crysis 2" on even medium settings, but, in the long run, investing a little bit more money into a new computer than a new gaming console is a better investment because computers can be used for more than consoles.

We may be entering an era where Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo have to take on Valve in the console wars, but the features of the Playstation 3 and the next Xbox have yet to be seen.

Big Picture mode also includes a web browser that is also navigable by gamepad.

It could turn out that PCs will remain the go-to devices for more dedicated players and home consoles make the transition to all-in-one entertainment boxes geared toward families and casual players. The technical specs of the next generation of video game consoles has yet to be seen, though, so it's anybody's guess what the next few years will bring for the industry.

GameStop enters the cloud, leaves consoles in the rain

GameStop has bet big on the cloud-gaming market, but has decided to leave consoles out of their game streaming service in favor of tablets, PCs and TVs.

In 2011, GameStop acquired two companies, Spawn Labs and Impulse, and announced that they had plans to create a cloud-based gaming service similar to OnLive that would be used to “compete fiercely” with Steam. The service would allow customers to purchase a game and instantly start playing it on any of their supported devices. It would even allow them to sample games using free trials.

GameStop has demonstrated how their cloud service
might work on their website.

OnLive, an existing on-demand game-streaming service for all Internet connected devices, including consoles, has been rumored to be struggling financially. Could this leave room for GameStop in the market, or does it mean they will also struggle for success?

The service, which is slated for release next year was originally thought to have support for consoles, but GameStop says that their decision to drop support for consoles was due to customer feedback during a closed beta and their success in selling mobile devices like the Nexus 7 tablet and iPad.

Those interested should also look out for a public beta later this year.

The market for console games is still huge and GameStop's choice to omit them from their service could mark a disadvantage compared to possible competitors. Even while the tablet-gaming market is growing, the decision would limit access to games from the major players. 

GameStop has recently begun selling tablets and have stated they may even expand further into the market by creating their own tablet. I’m wondering what else GameStop has in store on their path to “becoming a technology company” instead of just being a games retailer.