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Raspberry Pi and Android become Steam Machines with Limelight

With Limelight, you can turn your Raspberry Pi or your phone or tablet into a Steam Machine on the cheap.

Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
Expertise Films, TV, Movies, Television, Technology
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Richard Trenholm
2 min read

Cutting-edge gaming doesn't require a console or a bag of cash. With Limelight, you can turn your Raspberry Pi or your phone or tablet into a Steam Machine on the cheap.

Limelight, as spotted by The Gadget Show, allows you to stream a game from your PC to other devices, so you can play a PC game in a different room on on a different screen.

Limelight Pi is the software for Raspberry Pi. Currently you can only play with a keyboard and mouse, but as the project develops gamepad controllers could be added too.

Other clever uses of the cheap and cheerful Raspberry Pi no-frills computer include a plywood-encased tablet, the PiPad.

Limelight also allows you to play PC games on any Android phone or tablet -- to prove it, here's a video of a game streaming to the Sony Xperia Z Ultra.

Gaming streaming is so hot right now: Valve's Steam platform will allow you to buy games online and stream them over the Internet to a Steam Machine console. Consoles will be built by manufacturers including Alienware and Origin PC.

Meanwhile Sony has revealed PlayStation Now, which will stream classic PS3 games to the PS4 -- or to Sony Bravia TVs, with no need for a console.

Are Steam Machines the future of gaming? What's the coolest use for a Rasberry Pi? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on the island in the stream that is our Facebook page.