A love letter for the original Steam Link: I regret taking you for granted

Back in 2018 I managed to nab a physical Steam Link when Valve was flogging them for £2.50 here in the UK ($2.50 in USD). I was actually buying a Steam Controller for my

then-partner and spotted the bargain while browsing through the Steam website, so I purchased the gadget on a whim. That little black puck has since left such a good impression on

me that every alternative service has paled in comparison.The Steam Link is fairly straightforward. It’s a wireless box-shaped dongle that plugs into your TV’s HDMI port,

allowing you to stream games directly from your PC over your home internet connection. I had great success using it over Wi-fi, seeing barely any detectable lag, but you could also

connect the device directly to your network via ethernet for a more stable connection. It even has three USB 2.0 ports for you to hook up wired controllers, mice, keyboards, or

headsets in case you don’t have the luxury of owning a load of wireless peripherals.Having all those ports allowed me to crack out the old, wired gaming controllers for couch

co-op when friends were over. Bliss. Image: ValveI’ve had access to both a computer and various gaming consoles over the years, so I’ve never considered having an allegiance to

either side of the PC vs console debate. But there are some titles that just feel better to play sitting on a couch with a controller. The physical Steam Link gave me the best of

both worlds: I could play The Witcher 3 or Skyrim with all of my mods enabled from the comfort of my living room, or walk over to my bedroom to play World of Warcraft directly on

the same PC.The Steam Link app has caused me issues despite its apparent superiority over its predecessorThe aforementioned ex-partner got the Steam Link when we split, by which

point Valve had discontinued the gadget and removed its listing from its Steam platform for good. The Steam Link app was released on Android as its replacement in 2018 (later

followed by a version for iOS in 2019,) and can be downloaded directly onto most smart TVs. It functions similarly to the original Steam Link and, on paper, offers some advantages

over the now obsolete box (such as regular software updates, and support for 4K streaming where the Steam Link was capped at 1080p). But I’ve still experienced numerous

connectivity issues and abysmal latency while using it – and now I’m yearning for the dongle again.The Steam Link app allows you to remotely adjust settings and controls, but I

find it constantly crashes if I spend too long in the Steam app menu. Image: Alice Newcome-BeillFor example, on the days when it does work, the stream randomly freezes or crashes