Got Steam? Have you got multiple computers at home (or wherever you usually do your gaming)? Are they networked? If you answered “yes” to all of these, then this news might interest you.

Three months ago, Valve enabled ‘Family Sharing’ for all Steam users, to allow customers who know each other to share their libraries of games among one another (with some restrictions). Today Valve have launched a feature that takes it even further, letting users stream installed Steam games on any machine with any other computer on the same local network.

By logging into the same Steam account on two connected computers, Steam will now allow a remote computer to install, launch and play games by streaming them from the computer they were first installed on, allowing less powerful computers and laptops to stream games from a high-end gaming computer (for example) and enjoy the games just like they were installed on that computer, but with performance closer to that of the high-end computer since it’ll do all the work instead. Assuming a solid internet connection, this potentially means even an old junker can now play top-end Steam titles with little effort required.

Games can be transferred from the host computer to another – and vice versa – at any time, even mid-play. Bandai Namco Games has even stated that with a proper set-up, gamers might even “forget” they’re playing the game remotely instead of locally – or so claims a quote attributed to the company on Steam’s in-home streaming page.

While the feature at the moment is restricted to Windows-based PCs, Steam state they will attempt to introduce it to MacOS and Linux versions of the system in the future – given the company’s desire to improve gaming on non-Windows PCs, I expect we’ll hear about this very soon indeed. We assume this will also include SteamOS, being a Linux variant of Valve’s own design – if so, the new Streaming capabilities open up a whole realm of possibilities. Raspberry Pi-based SteamOS Gaming Computer for little more than the cost of a screen, keyboard and mouse, anyone?

The Indie Game Show with DJs Digmbot and PredictedCyborg
Sunday night, 6pm til 9pm GMT, 1pm til 4pm EST.

On the Indie Game Show this Sunday…

Dead Shark TriplePunch!

Currently working on Epigenesis, a game they describe as an ‘FPS Ball/Domination Game’ on their Twitter and takes place in a future where two teams work their way across platforms high above to score goals against their opponents.

We’ll be joined by Calle Boström (@deadsharkcalle) to talk about the game, field the questions from the IRC and talk about the usual Inide Gaming topics.

Dead Shark TriplePunch Website: [x]

The Game: [x]

Click the link for your player to tune in:

Join us both on the website and in IRC @ irc.sanitarium.fm 6667 for indie gaming discussion and your chance to ask our guests questions!

Space Hulk is a game that involves a team of Terminators being pitted against a species of alien called Genestealers and is set inside spaceships. It’s dark, it’s multiplayer compatible and now it has a co-op mode.

The new campaign called Harbringer of Torment is set for four players to take part in a single match, co-ordinating three teams of Terminators against a forth player controlling all of the Genestealers and taking place over 5 levels. The story behind the campaign is simple: a derelict is on a collision course with a populated planet and because its path cannot be altered the Terminator teams have been sent in to deal with the infestation of Genestealers on the ship. What’s more, it comes with bug fixes and is a free update to the game.

The new campaign has been in the works now for several months according to Full Control, owing to the fact that the new option to play co-operatively meant a major overhaul of the multiplayer system, including a multiplayer lobby so gamers can see matches that still require people to join them to complete the 4-player line-up. And each of the 5 stages have been designed with multiplayer gaming in mind.

As Space Hulk is currently one of the games on sale over at the Humble Store in their Spring Sales for only £3.99/$4.99, now could be the time to pick it up cheaply if you and your friends want a game that involves turn-based gameplay and shooting evil aliens/murdering human invaders.

Early Access is one of those topics that’s talked about a lot in gaming right now. The pros, the flaws of such a system and where lines ought to be drawn if they’re not already. Right now Steam is the only digital-distribution platform that offers Early Access and now GOG are saying that they haven’t ruled out doing something similar – only under their own terms.

If they ever offered a system similar to Steam’s it would be curated by CD Projekt, says its co-founder Marcin Iwinski, in an attempt to protect consumers from the threat of ‘hit and run’ early release games. This really doesn’t come as a surprise as curation is something that exists on GOG anyway, as they feel that they are responsible for what gets sold to the gamers who come to them looking for games to buy.

Iwinski has said that while the uncurated approach has worked well for Valve with Steam, they would always be going to take any sort of GOG Early Access down the path that GOG has always taken. But it is going to be fair too. “If you’re unhappy [with your purchase] and they’re constantly updating it, that’s fine,” he elaborated. “But if you’re unhappy and they just took your money and ran away like typical hit and run there is somebody who has to be on the hook for it.”

Sounds good. With Steam having recently had to refund all customers of Earth: Year 2066 due to that game’s problems and dishonesty from its creators, GOG’s idea of ‘Early Access’ does sound appealing. What do you think?

Earlier brought along a fine example of why you shouldn’t really believe everything that you see on the Internet…

Far Cry 4 was announced last week by Ubisoft so they could begin the ball rolling on hype for the game before E3 came along and the game’s announcement potentially got swallowed up amongst the other news that would be coming out of that event. Set in a region of the Himalayas called Kyrat, a place of breathtaking scenery and wildlife under the rule of a tyranical self-appointed king, players were going to have to use their wits and whatever they could to get through the game.

So when a trailer surfaced this morning, claiming to be Far Cry 4’s first trailer and showing a fly-over of mountains surrounded by blizzard which ended with the camera supposedly flying into the mountain before showing the game’s title, some certainly thought that it was Ubisoft releasing a little more information to follow up on the announcement of the game last week.

However that wasn’t the case. First the trailer got taken down from Youtube by their copyright infringement system, and then a little research proved that the trailer was a fake, the footage ripped from a BBC advertisement for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. What a shame.

What we do know for sure though is that Far Cry 4 is due out on November 21^st. So we should be getting some real trailers online soon.