Steam, the super popular games store and social platform for Windows, OSX and soon to be Linux, has just launched its ‘Big Picture Mode’ to the masses in the form of a public opt-in beta.
Big Picture mode is designed to move your PC to the living room by completely overhauling Steams heavily mouse and keyboard oriented user interface for use with a controller or game pad, a la Xbox Live. While controller oriented, the new UI fully supports your existing mouse and keyboard inputs and of course doesn’t need to be used on a TV, but if you’re navigating the new UI on your desktop, it’ll probably slow you down. It does look much prettier though!
How To Enable Steam Big Picture Mode
- Open your Steam client
- Click ‘view’, followed by selecting ‘settings’ in the drop down menu
- Navigate to the ‘account’ tab
- Under ‘Beta Participation’, click change and from the drop down, select ‘Steam Beta Update’
- Restart Steam when prompted
- Hit the big ‘Big Picture’ button in the top right hand corner of the Steam window
- Enjoy!
Below is Valve’s trailer for Steam’s new Big Picture mode. Make sure to stick around for my full overview of Big Picture Modes features!
