PC gamers get to enjoy a fresh lick of paint to their Steam libraries today – Valve has announced that September's Steam library redesign beta is now available to all.
With a greater focus on rich artwork, it's designed to give you a better look at the games you're playing – and new games you may want to. A central area now focuses on game news, what your pals are up to and your recent games, while there's the option to create 'Collections' based on certain tag criteria or simply of your own manual choosing.
- See the best Steam games
- Here's how Steam is fixing game recommendations
- It's the game store face-off: Steam vs Epic Games Store
Along the top of the Library tab you'll also see a 'What's New' option, focusing on in-game events for the titles you own, new add-ons or special multiplayer events. You'll also see a little icon appear under a game's artwork to give you an at-a-glance indication if a friend is currently playing.
Note that you might have to open and close Steam a few times before the prompt to update the application appears.
Remote Play Together expansion
The update also expands the reach of Steam's new Remote Play Together feature.
Now all Steam users can take advantage of the feature, not just those running the test beta application. Remote Play Together allows you to host what would usually be an on-the-couch local multiplayer session over the internet, letting those on your friends list join a local multiplayer game as if they were in the same room as you.
Like many game streaming applications, they simply take control of a video stream that you're broadcasting on their local machines – and, for the privacy conscious, note that their view is limited to only the in-game action, not your desktop.
It's a meaty update from Steam, and a much-needed one, given the aggressive challenge its rival the Epic Games Store has delivered over the past year.
- Check out how Google plans to make Stadia faster than local hardware
