Valve has a lot more up its sleeve than Steam Machines and that finicky touch-based controller they showed off a few months ago. The Half-Life developer is also working on a new service that will allow you to stream games between two computers, and as luck would have it, any Steam user can sign up to enter the beta right now.
So what's the deal with all of this? Here's what Valve has to say:
We are currently in the early stages of testing Steam in-home streaming. There is a huge variety in home hardware and network configurations, and we would like your help in learning about what works best. If you’re interested in helping out or would like more information about in-home streaming, please join the Steam In-Home Streaming community group and stay tuned for details on a beta coming soon to Steam.
And how does it work? Simple: you have two computers, one of which is hooked up to your TV. The second computer, which is elsewhere, plays the games and streams them directly to the first computer.
But why do that at all? Well, maybe you have two computers and don't feel like your main rig taking up space in your living room and prefer to have a smaller computer (say, a laptop) hooked up to your TV.
If you'd like to sign up for the service, just head on over to this Steam group and join it.
