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Steam Broadcasting Now Open To Everyone
jones_supa writes: The beta test phase of Steam Broadcasting feature has been completed. It is now available to everyone by updating the client to the newest version. The feature allows users to watch and stream games to and from users on your friends list. Right-clicking the name of a friend who is in-game offers the option to "Watch Game." This will send a request which needs to be accepted by the player so that the spectator can hop in. A chat is also included. Steam Broadcasting was first announced late last year as an alternative to third-party streaming services like Twitch, Ustream and Hitbox.
Just don't turn it on. Easy peasy.
Settings, Broadcasting, change "Privacy Setting" to "Broadcasting disabled."
Although I'm pretty sure you have to explicitly choose to start broadcasting, although once you start, I could easily see Steam continuing to broadcast even after you left the game.
You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
except corporate websense doesn't block /. whereas kotaku is, and earns me dirty looks from by boss when he is asked to review the audits...
I've found Steam's broadcasting feature to be quite handy for getting a handle on the basic mechanics of games with a steep learning curve, such as Crusader Kings II. If you tell a player you're watching him for the purposes of learning the game, he will often slow down and explain his actions.
I also like to watch FTL. It's fun to be a back-seat starship captain, and many of the players like it too, as having an extra set of eyes and ears can be helpful for catching things you might overlook: "Uhh, dude ... Your ship is on fire ... ".
It isn't open to everyone. It doesn't support any web browsers other than Chrome and Windows 8Internet Explorer. They won't be competing with Twitch anytime soon with those restrictions.
Who the hell wants to watch other people play games when you could be playing them yourself?
That's what I said. But then I started watching a few streams. You can pick up tactics, skills, ideas from streams. You can also help out new players, or watch a game you're interested in buying. It has it's uses.
I know what I'll be doing.
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
i just dont get it TBH, i guess im just old now (29 haha) but i find the idea of watching other people that I dont know...play a game does nothing for me. I dont mind watching my friends play because, they are my friends. but I dont understand why people would want to watch people play a game. that to me is the definition of lazy. because you have got to be seriously lazy if you cant be bothered to pick up a controller to play and instead sit around watching people play.
Even worse is watching people talk about watching other people play games (like that south park season finale made fun of)
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
The day I got Civilization 2 my friends sat around the Playstation all weekend to play it and shoot the shit. It's pretty much the same thing, except now I'm 1500 miles away when I bitch about Ghandi. And by the way, that South Park was a 2-parter.
...I dont understand why people would want to watch people play a game. that to me is the definition of lazy. because you have got to be seriously lazy if you cant be bothered to pick up a controller to play and instead sit around watching people play.
I have 2 kids. You can't "watch the kids" and play a video game (the types I enjoy playing anyway) effectively at the same time. One or the other is going to suffer. Watching someone play a videogame is not a substitute for playing myself but it passes the time while the kids watch Frozen (again). Playing video games really needs 95% of my attention. If I had 80% of my attention available, I would watch a TV show or Movie. Watching others play video games is a background media, something to do when I can only devote 30-50% of my attention to leisure.
Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
I adore watching speedruns. Okay, it's not the Olympics, but it's still fun to watch someone demonstrating a lot of skill.
Also to make streaming more personal--I remember that Zork: Grand Inquisitor had a multiplayer mode. It's your standard Mystlike first-person puzzle game, but you could let someone be a backseat driver, talk to you, point at things. It's not for everyone, but if you actually liked playing those games as a group and someone's moved across the country...yeah, pretty nice.
I found out by accident (when the kids tried to stream a game on my computer while I was doing something else), that if you log in multiple locations at the same time, you can remote control the other by streaming a game from it, then on the computer to be controlled, alt-tab to the application you want to share.
My son took over my game from me (trying to play a kids game on steam, only the appropriate ones are loaded, and if you are logged on multiple times, the most recent is "primary" and the rest secondary, and you can stream a game from the primary, but not run it locally, unless you go offline.
After figuring that out, I've played with it some as a remote-control program. Steam RDP.
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While you can watch streams on Linux and OSX, you can't broadcast with those OS's, not yet anyway. Minecraft's built in streaming doesn't work on Linux either, and Linux users still don't have that promised OBS port.
Does it help if I do this? I know a LOT of people who watch other people play sports and somehow that is OK.
"i just dont get it TBH, i guess im just old now (29 haha) but i find the idea of watching other people that I dont know...play SPORTS does nothing for me. I dont mind watching my friends play because, they are my friends. but I dont understand why people would want to watch people play SPORTS.
Even worse is watching people talk about watching other people play SPORTS (Sportscenter?)"
Watching someone golf will never tell you that your problem is under (or over) rotation of the wrists (a common problem). As that detail is hard to see in someone else swinging. Watching games seems mostly like that for me. I see you are spinning around and jumping in a physics-defying move. But I don't see that your fingers work together to adjust aim when jumping in a second-nature way so as you jump up, you target down to keep the crosshairs on the same target.
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