Let's talk about SHIELD

[bendrexl]

So currently, when I launch Steam from my SHIELD, it (obviously) launches in Big Picture mode.

However, when quitting Steam from the shield, the option displayed (by the Steam client) is "Stop Streaming".

Seems like Steam is already 'aware' that it is being streamed to a remote client, even in the current revision?

[Scobee]

I know this is a year old, but what do you mean it launches in Big Picture on your shield? Are you talking about NVidia SHIELD? Can you play games on it?

[davew_uk]

With a suitable Nvidia graphics card and the Geforce experience software you can stream games from your PC to an Nvidia shield tablet or handheld. Compatible games are automatically added to the game list that appears on the tablet, and you can manually add other games or apps in GFE yourself. It is also possible to launch Steam directly and use that as a game launcher instead. It always goes straight into BPM ready to use with a controller. That's what the original post was referring to. Somehow, steam knows it is being streamed when it started up in this way and gives you a handy option to stop streaming when you are done.

There is also an open-source android version called Limelight that will do all of the above on *any* suitable android device, not just Nvidia, I use it on my Nexus 7 (2013) and it is pretty awesome. Not quite as good as Steam IHS as fewer games work (and only one controller is supported) but being able to play Crysis 3 on the sofa on a tablet is pretty mind-blowing.

It would be awesome if Steam IHS could stream BPM in the same way instead of running it locally on the client, that would be really handy for those of us with low-end HTPCs as streaming clients.

[Scobee]

Originally posted by davew_uk:

It is also possible to launch Steam directly and use that as a game launcher instead. It always goes straight into BPM ready to use with a controller.

This is the part I don't understand. I have a Shield. I understand streaming through NVidia game hub from my PC. It works great. But you guys are making it sound like I can install Steam from the Play Store on my Shield then launch it and it will run in BPM. This is simply not true, so I must be misunderstanding something.

[Scobee]

So I figured out what you guys meant. From within the NVidia hub on the shield, you go to "My PC Games" and there is an entry for "Steam" (I actually have two). This launches BPM. Pretty cool.

[Leo]

My pet peeve is that SHIELD would launch Steam into BPM but will not exit it when finished. I run a headless windows gaming machine and I prefer not to have BPM running consuming extra energy and obstructing the desktop when I need to remote into it.

[Scobee]

When I went to exit BPM I got the normal dialog except it had an additional option: "Stop Streaming".

[bendrexl]

I don't have my Shield any longer, but when streaming connected and picked up my games properly, it was a really cool experience.