Valve announced plans to bring a version of their Steam client that would work best on big TV screens way back in March 2011 at the Game Developers Conference. Since then the company has been pretty quiet about their plans but this week, Valve revealed that a beta of the Steam "Big Picture" mode is due to launch in early September.
The time frame was announced during the latest episode of Spike TV"s GTTV, which focused on Valve"s current and future plans. While the Steam "Big Picture" mode wasn"t shown, the episode did film mockups of what the interface will look like. While the mode can still use the typical PC mouse and keyboard setup, the interface has been designed to work best with a PC-based game controller in mind.
Some believe that the Steam "Big Picture" mode is a trial run for Valve to get its Steam service on a console-like hardware device.
The episode also reveals a couple of other interesting Valve projects, including one where the company will release a documentary following DOTA 2 players as they compete for the 2011 DOTA 2 Invitational Tournament. That documentary will be released later this year.
Source: GTTV | Image via Spike/GTTV