A new Steam update has upgraded the audio codec for Steam's voice chat function to improve call quality. Valve have also been talking about plans to follow up the recent addition of a screenshot taking function, with a video recording feature, which should hit Steam soon.
The Steam voice chat upgrade was announced on Steam . The service can now use the SILK codec, technology originally used to power the popular voice chat service, Skype . The upgraded system should improve call quality. It will use slightly more bandwidth than ordinary Steam chat, but should be better than running a separate program alongside your game.
As well as the upgraded audio functions, it looks as though Valve will be adding video recording features to Steam in the near future. The news comes from Valve fan Political Gamer's visit to the Valve offices . While there he spoke to Valve CEO Gabe Newell. Political Gamer says that he "confirmed that Steam will get a video recorder very soon."
Steam video isn't the only news to come from Political Gamer's visit to Valve. He also discovered that Valve are making Meet the Medic , and photographed a wall of extraordinary new concept art that doesn't match the style of any of their previous games.
The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.
