The opportunities for gamers right now in the market are immense. It won’t be wrong to say or claim that most of the gamers also like to get some money back from their gaming experience. Some of them go for gaming competitions whilst the majority of the gamers are trying out their luck on online streaming.
As most of the people are streaming their gaming videos right now, it is necessary to understand the importance of good gaming gear. You need a proper gaming gear setup before you think of streaming your games.
You’d get a lot of help from online guides that teach you about streaming your games on YouTube, Twitch, Mixer, DLive and Facebook gaming as well. However, most of these guides will tell you about the technical side of the story like the overlays, scene selection, chatbots, etc.
However, just a few of them will tell you about the right choice and the importance of gaming gear. Great gaming gear is what sets you apart.
Now, if you’re looking to upgrade your streaming setup then you have come to the right place. We’re here to list down all the things and equipment you need in order to start streaming with full authority and keep your audience engaged throughout.
Gaming Gear for Streaming
A webcam
Logitech Streamcam
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It is important to understand that people are not only interested in watching recorded videos. They will certainly be more intrigued to see you doing your thing right in front of them. For that to happen, you’d need good streamcam and here is what you need.
Rack up a camera and in the game stream, you can pull the feed into your favorite streaming apps. Only beware of not messing too much with the game’s view.
A good gaming webcam will surely provide you great value for your money because it will give your audience a very good and smooth platform to see what is exactly happening on the spot. It may be a great move that you pull off during your game and it can be your victory celebrations as well. Both of these things will attract a plethora of people.
The best option to achieve all of this is Logitech Streamcam as it provides you with 60 frames per second along with a whopping result of 1080p. It can be placed anywhere on your computer’s top and also on a tripod if you have one.
This camera’s strengths are its autofocus capabilities and the abundance of setting tweaks that you can create in Logitech’s Capture software.
This camera can also be used in both landscape and portrait modes-making it ideal for capturing footage for Instagram, Facebook and other sites that don’t fit the normal 16:9 layout.
Another thing that sets this camera apart is its capability of working through different angles. It will make things look extremely interesting as you’d be able to show off your face, hands and also your fingers on the keyboard while you’re typing. It will surely tell the people how great a gamer you are by watching all of the aforementioned footage.
Suitable lighting
Elgato Key Light Air
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If you’re paying a lot for a webcam then you must understand that in order to achieve the best possible stream, you must have a cool lighting system in place as well.
If your lighting system is good, you can expect a consistent and smooth webcam feed that will give you great results and will help people see what exactly is going on. Things are going to look horrible if you just have a single light in the room and some of the colors are popping around your face. We can’t even imagine a scenario like that.
The Key Light Air LED panels from Elgato are a great option to consider. They are cool looking little light panels that can reach 1,400 lumens and handle a spectrum of cool to warm colors from 2,900 to 7000K.
The cool thing is that you can manage and operate these lights through the software on your computer. They have an app as well where you can take care of them with just a finger touch. Also, they have the Elgato Stream Deck for this purpose.
They are pretty simple and managing them for you won’t be a great problem. They are very adjustable and easy to manage. A simple and tiltable head and height adjustable pole will surely bring them into the right place and it doesn’t matter what you’re doing at that particular moment.
They have a range of diffusers through which they’re filtered in and that is perhaps the best thing in these lights. They won’t blind you with a lot of light when you’re playing and streaming. However, you will have a soft and gentle light on your face that won’t be disturbing at all for you.
A green screen
Elgato collapsible green screen
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Okay, so if you have got a good webcam along with a good lighting system then, the next step is to arrange a green screen. The green screen is perfectly suitable to remove the extra things that you don’t want to be shown on the big screen.
It will make your messy room look like a picnic spot. It will also minimize the distraction coming through your webcam.
With the addition of a Chroma Key Filter, you can disappear every irrelevant thing on your computer and make the webcam simply portray you and your chair. You can also show anything else you want to on the big screen.
Green screens can usually be a bit of a hassle because you need to not only get the light right, you also need to make sure the green screen panel is flawless and crease-free for the best performance.
A perfect idea is the collapsible green screen by Elgato. It’s huge, but it rolls up to a sturdy base that can be kept out of the way when you’re not using it.
This green screen from Elgato will give you the ease of use as it won’t bother you to think about setting up a material screen or doing anything extreme such as painting a whole freaking wall. It is pretty strong and durable as well as huge enough to cover your camera’s angles. Also, it is big enough to stand in front of it.
It is extremely easy to be taken anywhere because it provides you a perfect solution and it is easy to roll it up and also easy to bring it out again when you’re ready to use it.
A high-quality microphone
Blue Yeticaster
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Here comes the most interesting part. You’d have noticed that gamers usually communicate with their audience when they’re playing. It is because some of the viewers also like to listen to you when you’re applying your magic in a certain game.
Some are watching your videos because you can entertain them through your communication. So the moral of the story is that you’d need a good quality microphone in order to communicate effectively.
High-quality microphones will cut-off the noise that surrounds you and it will only focus on the sound that’s coming out of your mouth. It will also produce good audio quality. Here, if we’re talking about streamers, then we’d only recommend the Blue Microphone from Yeticaster.
This is a powerful, reliable and versatile microphone system combined with a stylish impact brace and a compact boom arm.
All of these features will allow you to achieve great sound quality and you take this microphone close to your mouth. It will produce great sound along with the cancellation of noise around you.
A boom arm also means that your mechanical keyboard is out of the way and that’s not what you’re picking up every keypress. To boost things more we would suggest adding a pop filter.
There is another option in the name of Yeti X that has Blue’s Voice program allowing you to tweak your microphone output live and make it sound even better on the fly.
A great gaming headset
Check this to choose the best and most suitable one for you: Best Headsets For Gaming: Durability, Features And Budget (January 2022)
A good gaming headset is what makes your gaming experience and streaming experience worthy. You wouldn’t want your speakers to produce all the sound and let your mic pick every other sound that surrounds you and make your stream extremely disturbing.
A decent headset will also make your noggin look cool, It will give you something to talk to your viewers about and, of course, it will also benefit you while you’re playing your favorite games.
When you are not tracking your microphone already, a headset may also be a safe substitute for listening to your own voice and keeping the tone in check. Most modern headsets often have a good microphone installed so if you don’t want a dedicated microphone setup, that’s a good choice as well.
Comfy seating
Corsair T2 Road Warrior
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When things go well with your streaming efforts, you’ll probably be able to play away and entertain the masses for hours. And you’d certainly need a good and comfortable seat for that. To ensure that you can proceed without experiencing back pain or another discomfort, it’s pretty necessary to have some decent seating.
The most exposed part to the audience will be your face and your chair on which you’re sitting. So why not get a decent one and get value for your hard-earned cash? You’d find many stylish gaming chairs on the market right now and they look pretty interesting as well on the screen.
However, if you’re sitting on a plastic chair or a bench then yes, the emphasis will be entirely on you, but it won’t be too comfortable for you to last for an hour or two.
The Corsair T2 Road Warrior has an attractive style and is a figure-hugging gaming chair. It has supportive lumbar support and a neck cushion covered with an ultra-soft microfibre, 4D adjustable arm rests and can be positioned in all kinds of positions.
It is also a fantastic looking kit piece and also for it will look completely fascinating in your background.
Capable Monitor setup
Check this to choose the best and most suitable one for you: Best Monitors For Games/Professionals To Buy – Price & Performance (February 2022)
For your streaming performance, getting your monitor setup correct is pretty critical. It may look like a no-brainer but when it comes to your display, there are actually a few things to bear in mind.
Firstly, the most important streaming services only accept footage from 16:9. We really like ultra-large gaming monitors because they give you a wider, more realistic view of things, but usually, they are either 21:9 or 32:9 formats.
If you attempt to stream this way you will soon find that you are running into trouble. The stream will either have black bars to make up for the difference in thickness or will be crushed and extended depending on the setup.
None is ideal either. And for video, opting either for a 4k display downscaled to 1080p or 720p for video streaming or a 1080p monitor is preferable.
Ideally, we would like you to have a couple of monitors. The first one is to enjoy your game properly and the other one for chatting and getting engaged with your viewers.
You can also use it to track your streaming applications, access your devices and apps with ease a lot more. The monitors do not always have to be the same but it helps to have more than one.
You’ll see the largest streamers have multi-monitor setups of 3, 4, 5 or more monitors. That may be unnecessary when you start out, but two are really convenient and handy for you when you’re steaming your games.
A monster gaming PC
Having a capable Streaming Machine
Check this to choose the best and most suitable one for you: Best RAM For Gaming – Budget To Most Powerful Ones
When you get into streaming, you can find that it can be more challenging than you might expect. It’s all very well playing games but at the same time streaming 1080p video and maybe recording will put a bunch on your Machine at the same time.
If your gaming machine is not up to it, you will find your stream struggling and that could lead to dropped frames, problems with lags or pixels. There are a few things you can do to perk up your stream, from changing bit rate settings to making sure you have a wired link rather than Wi-Fi or some other connection.
However, upgrading your Desktop setup could help too. You could create a new monster gaming machine from scratch or just upgrade your CPU, RAM and graphics card for a bit of an improvement in performance overall.
Easy streaming controls
Corsair K95 Platinum XT
Check this to choose the best and most suitable one for you:
List Of Best Gaming Keyboards To Buy In 2022 – Performance, Durability And Price
List Of Best Gaming Mouse To Buy In 2022 – For All Budget Ranges
After you’ve mastered the fundamentals of streaming, you’ll soon start trying to spice it up with scenes, transitions, emotions and all kinds of other stuff in order to keep your viewers amused.
You will also soon learn that if you had the right resources, you could make it all happen much faster without alt-tabbing out of the game to deal with streaming software or other commands.
Whether you want to incorporate those controls with your current setup, the Corsair K95 Platinum XT is a respectable option for a gaming keyboard. Also, you’d realize that it is not just another gaming keyboard because it has got the dedicated Blue S keys that are compatible with Elgato Stream Deck software and will allow you to get things done with just a single keypress
If you’re a video game streamer then trust us, this Keyboard will make your life a lot easier. You have multiple keys on it and you can simply use them for turning on or muting your mic, they can also be used for changing between scenes and also for starting and stopping the recording of your game. There’s a separate key to adjust the lighting as well.