Steam Client Beta update adds new features, including notes and ability to watch films while you play

Valve has released a new update for its Steam Client Beta.

This update adds a swathe of pretty nifty features and improvements, including the ability to pin windows from the overlay, so they appear on top of the game while in-game. This means that, in Valve's words, "yes, you can watch movies while you play games if you really want to" (although, I think it really meant this feature to be more for things like guides and notes).

As for those notes, this update adds a Notes app. The app does pretty much everything you would expect it to. It lets you take down notes about your game, and comes with "rich text formatting, the ability to have multiple notes per game, and can even be used in offline mode". Your notes will be saved per game, and are then synced to other PCs that you are logged into.

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In addition to these features, there is also a new toolbar, which you can use to open different apps and such whilst gaming. This means you can chat with friends, check out achievements or guides, and so on.

There is also the Game Overview section here, which Valve calls a "one-stop shop" to see what is going on in any given game. "For example, it shows what achievements you have in progress, which friends are playing the same game, top guides, news, and more," Valve explains.

Valve has also made its Steam Client notifications "richer and more useful" with this update. Now, the green button will only light up when there is "truly something new" for you to check out. Meanwhile, the tray view is now limited to new notifications only.

Last but not least of these bigger changes (Valve has also been tinkering with other bits and pieces, such as visual and usability improvements across Steam) is the Screenshot Manager. This has been completely refreshed with the update and you can now "choose from large or small thumbnails, view recent screenshots rather than by game, and you can manage online screenshots as well as local screenshots". Handy.

You can read more, and opt-in to the Steam Client Beta, by following this link here.