Valve announces 'big screen' technology

Steam owner Valve has announced that it has developed a new "big screen" technology which will allow access to Steam content on televisions, with added navigation and controller options to match.

Details of the new service are scarce, but a Valve statement said that more details would be shared with partners and publishers during meetings at this week's GDC.

"Our partners and customers have asked us to make Steam available in more places. With the introduction of Steam on the Mac, and soon in Portal 2 on the PS3, we've done just that," said Valve marketing VP Doug Lombardi.

"With big picture mode, gaming opportunities for Steam partners and customers become possible via PCs and Macs on any TV or computer display in the house."

As part of those meetings, Valve also plans to share data collected on the microtransaction which the company introduced to Team Fortress 2 last year, something which is now shared via the Valveworks SDK.

"We've come to understand what type of content sells well in TF2's in-game store, and the various price points at which players value this content," said Valve designer Robin Walker.

"Our players are continually teaching us what works and what doesn't. Much of this feedback can be generalized to other titles on Steam, so we're looking forward to sharing what we've learned with partners at GDC. We're also interested in seeing partners get up and running with their own in-game economies, so they can collect game-specific data to inform their design decisions."