Hands-on review: Steam Link

If there was any shred of doubt before, it's gone now: Valve is committed to taking PC gaming to the living room, and not just through its seminal Steam Machines.

"It's a good, better, best scenario," says Valve boss Gabe Newell. "And Steam Link is the good option." Launching alongside the Steam Controller in November and priced at $49 (about £33, AU$64, though no formal international prices have been given), it's hard to argue with him.

So what makes Valve's book-sized streamer so special?

Steam Link acts like a bridge between your PC and any TV, monitor or display in your home. Link will (ahem) link into your home network via a wired connection or Wi-Fi, recognize Steam running on any PC on the network, and stream any game on your PC through a low-latency connection.

Impressively, Newell told me that the stream will be 1080p and 60 frames per second, though failed to mention what sort of network bandwidth users would need to reach those specs.

Design

Speaking of specs, Steam Link is a diminutive, book-shaped streamer that's no bigger than a DVD case. Yet the box possesses the internal components to crunch 1080p visual data at imperceptible speeds.

Newell told me it's designed to sit flat either on your media shelf like a set-top box, or can be tucked away behind the TV. "Behind," he says, "and possibly one day inside."

The design is compact enough to easily attach to the back of most LED TV sets should manufacturers make that space available. And, because almost all of the ports - two USB 3.0, HDMI-out, a DC-in power and Ethernet - are located at the back of the box, they should be easy to access once installed. There's also one side USB 3.0 port, though that shouldn't be an accessibility issue.

Beyond standard Ethernet, the Link comes with built-in 802.11ac wireless that should have more than enough zip to deliver the "low-latency" performance Valve expects come November. (That, of course, assumes you're rocking a matching AC router.)

That's good. But what's 'better' and 'best?'

Steam Link represents the bare minimum you need to buy to expand PC gaming to other parts of your crib. It's cheap, quick and accessible, but it also requires owning a gaming PC somewhere in your home to work properly. Which means it's good, but there's always better.

Those without a gaming PC are best served by investing in one of the many Steam Machines available this autumn - or the $549 (£449, AU$699) Alienware Alpha, available right now. Steam Machines are Newell's 'better' option because they give the player internal storage and processing, which mostly put the kibosh on latency in-game.

The "best" option that Newell's referring to is the lot of high-end Steam Machine rigs, like the Falcon Northwest Tiki and Origin Omega. Going all-in on one of these nets you a fully upgradeable rig, support for the most powerful discrete GPUs and the ability to dual-boot more than a single OS with ample storage.

Control, command, conquer

So, what exactly are the USB 3.0 ports for? We (incorrectly) assumed they're solely for the new Steam Controllers. Newell was quick to point out that these extra slots could be for either controllers or, what he said is more likely, a mouse and keyboard.

The latter, while a tried and true staple of PC gaming, sounded slightly wrong to use on a new platform. After getting the chance to try the new Steam Controller with the Link at GDC 2015, what I saw both excited me and raised a few questions.

Playing The Talos Principle on Steam Link confirmed everything I had hoped about Steam's little streamer. I didn't notice a hint of lag or dropped frame. The experience, in a perfect test environment at least, was flawless. If only the same could be said for the Steam Controller.

It took some time to adjust, and even after I acclimated still found it difficult to aim in Unreal Tournament using the haptic touchpad. Whether what I handled turns out to be the exact version of the controller we get when the Steam Link launches in November, however, remains to be seen.

Early verdict

Streaming boxes are always tough to test in a show floor environment due to high volume of network traffic or the developer 'tuning' the wireless network for the best possible speeds. That said, overall I was nothing but impressed with the Steam Link.

It delivers the speed and quality you'd expect with a name like Steam, and all for a price tag that most gamers can agree on. What more could you want?

from TechRadar: All latest feeds http://ift.tt/1EmSIfQ

via IFTTT