Using Steam Big Picture as a Console

With less time to dedicate to multiplayer games these days, I’ve been thinking about getting a console. After all, the last one I owned was a SEGA Dreamcast, which I really enjoyed. I used to be a very loyal SEGA fan, and had almost all their consoles except the Master System. And after they stopped making consoles, I never picked one up again. Now that I want to explore “couch gaming” again, it makes sense to look for something I can plug into the TV.

But instead of moving back to consoles, I stayed on the PC platform. As a gamer, I’ve always been fond of Steam. As a distribution platform, it was a pioneer in its space. Having your entire game library in one place, being able to make digital purchases, and even register physical copies to access them digitally was brilliant when it first came out. Of course, other companies picked up the idea and twisted it into something that now represents a lot of what’s wrong with the gaming industry, but that’s a different post. This one is about Steam, and how Big Picture mode can give you a pretty solid console-like experience.

Since I already have a dual-boot gaming laptop that I use on the go, with Ubuntu for work and Windows mostly sitting there unused, I decided to give Steam’s Big Picture mode a proper try, paired with a PS5 controller. And honestly, I was pleasantly surprised. Big Picture mode is really good. You get quick, clean access to your entire game library, and controller support (especially with the PS5 controller) works great on both Windows and Steam.

I picked up some more arcade-style games and had a great time with them. Streets of Rage, Mortal Kombat, and Worms turned out to be great options not just for solo sessions, but also for playing with Catarina, some old friends, or anyone who drops by and feels like gaming. We also played It Takes Two, and that was easily the best gaming purchase I’ve made since StarCraft 2: Legacy of the Void over 10 years ago. I guess now I just need to expand my single-player library a bit.

Of course, console exclusives are still out of reach unless you go down the emulator route. That said, I’ve never really cared much about exclusives, so I don’t feel like I’m missing out. Emulators, on the other hand, have been great for revisiting older games. We even played a bit of SSX Tricky, which Catarina used to enjoy playing, and it still holds up surprisingly well.

As for hardware, I know Steam launched the Steam Machine again this year. I did consider it, but my gaming laptop is already on par spec-wise, so I’ll probably skip this version. I’m also a bit skeptical about how SteamOS performs compared to Windows. I’d love to be proven wrong there, but for now I’m not fully convinced. I spent quite a bit of time tweaking a previous gaming laptop running Ubuntu, tuning Lutris and Proton to get the best performance possible. While I managed to get decent results, I still couldn’t run everything reliably, and even native titles didn’t quite match Windows performance. That said, a Steam Machine is still just a PC. There’s nothing stopping you from installing Windows on it if you really want to. Realistically, it doesn’t even have to be a Steam Machine. Any small form factor PC would do the job.

The Steam Deck is a different story. That’s something I’m quite interested in picking up eventually. Not just for gaming on the go, but because it’s a very tinkerable device. The fact that it supports booting from memory cards opens up a lot of possibilities. Since SteamOS is Arch-based, it could be fun to explore. Or even turning it into a portable Kali box for field use. Though realistically, typing on a Steam Deck doesn’t look particularly enjoyable, so that part would probably need some external help. It’s also a bit of a shame that the newer wireless NIC doesn’t support monitor mode.

While I’ll always be biased towards PC, and my console experience is mostly limited to professional use in tournaments and brand activations, I really enjoy this setup. The laptop stays closed under the TV, connected via ethernet and HDMI. I can wake it over LAN through Home Assistant, and Windows is set as the default boot option in GRUB. From there, it’s basically two clicks into Steam Big Picture, one of them from the controller itself.

It may not be a PS5, or whatever console is trending right now, but honestly, for what I want, this setup performs quite well.