Steam fans that want to play on an even bigger screen now can.
Valve has now activated Steam‘s Big Picture mode for the public, letting you play your favorite games in glorious HD on their big screen TVs, with a controller instead of a keyboard and mouse (though the option is there if you’d rather do things more traditionally). They’ve even written up a handy how-to guide, available here.
To celebrate, they’re holding a sale on over 30 Big Picture compatible games, up to 75% off in some cases. Highlights include deals on Left 4 Dead 2, Portal 2, Transformers: War For Cybertron, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Sonic Generations.
The service works on both PC and Mac; all you have to do is connect with an HDMI cable. It even comes with a new web browser designed for televisions and game controllers, which allows you to browse during gameplay and, according to Valve, works with chat services too.
As for which specific controllers to use, Valve recommends an Xbox 360 controller, Logitech’s F710, or Razer’s Onza. Whether or not you can use a controller paired to your computer via Bluetooth – like PS3 or Wii controllers – is for the moment unknown.
