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  • Goat Simulator Launch Trailer Parodies Dead Island

    Dead Island was one of the biggest disappointments of 2011. The game itself wasn’t bad – it was actually quite good. The disappointment came from how amazing the debut trailer was compared to the final game. Well, one of the most anticipated games of 2014 has recreated Dead Island’s debut trailer and I have a feeling the final game won’t disappoint.

    Goat Simulator – the PC game born from a game jam and the Internet’s hopes and dreams – now has a launch trailer to go with its release date of April 1. Just like in the Dead Island trailer, we see a goat lying on the ground as it cuts back to previous events featuring the goat getting into all kinds of mischief and mayhem. While it’s not exactly heart breaking, it’s a perfect parody.

    Alongside the trailer, the game also has this new warning:

    Disclaimer: Goat Simulator is a completely stupid game and, to be honest, you should probably spend your money on something else, such as a hula hoop, a pile of bricks, or maybe pool your money together with your friends and buy a real goat.

    Goat Simulator may be a completely stupid game, but it has captured our hearts. There’s just something incredibly appealing about destroying stuff as a goat. There’s no doubt in my mind that Goat Simulator will be one of the best selling games on Steam when it launches April 1.

    Image via GamersPrey

  • Gauntlet Brings Its Unique Brand Of Co-Op Dungeon Crawling To PCs This Summer

    In 1985, Midway introduced the world to co-op dungeon crawler Gauntlet. It was one of the first games to get co-operative play right as players had to work together to get through the countless dungeons. Midway made a number of sequels since its initial release, but none really came close to being as good as the original. Now WB Games is going to take a crack at it.

    WB Games announced this morning that it’s working with Arrowhead Game Studios to bring back Gauntlet to PCs this summer. The new incarnation of Gauntlet maintains the core gameplay of the original as four heroes enter a dungeon looking for treasures as they make their way through waves of fantasy-themed enemies. Unlike the original, however, the dungeons this time around are procedurally generated so no two gameplay sessions will be the same.

    “To us at Arrowhead, Gauntlet is one of the most defining games from our childhoods, and it’s amazing to be able to work with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment on a brand new version,” Johan Pilestedt, CEO of Arrowhead Game Studios. “Gauntlet is one of the original and best known video game properties and we are looking forward to creating a fresh, yet true to the original, take on a multiplayer masterpiece.”

    Interestingly enough, Gauntlet is the first title in what is being called the WB Games Vault portfolio. The new initiative will see WB Games publishing a number of new games based on existing properties as well as new IP. If that’s the case, we better start petitioning WB to make a new Smash TV.

    Image via WBGamesUK/YouTube

  • ‘Deus Ex: The Fall’ is Coming to PC

    ‘Deus Ex: The Fall’ is Coming to PC

    Square Enix today announced that Deus Ex: The Fall will be coming to PC on March 25. The game will be available through Steam on that date and will cost only $10.

    The Fall is an ambitious first-person action game that Square Enix released for mobile platforms in 2013. The game is set during the same time period as Deus Ex: Human Revolution, but features a different cast of characters. The Fall puts players into the role of Ben Saxon, a British mercenary whose goal is to investigate a global drug conspiracy.

    As with most mobile and handheld games ported to PC (of which there have been quite a few lately), The Fall will have plenty of upgrades and changes for its re-release.

    The first major improvement is that the game’s micro-transactions have been removed, with the game’s economy rebalanced to take this into account. Presumably this will make The Fall a more complete experience that PC players expect, though it is also a tacit admission that the mobile version was skewed in favor of encouraging in-app purchases in the first place.

    The game’s visuals won’t get a full upgrade from their blocky mobile origins, but PC gamers will have to option to use higher resolutions and anti-aliasing.

    The Fall on PC will take full advantage of mouse/keyboard or gamepad controls. With this in mind, the game’s design has been altered to take into account the more accurate controls. Enemy AI has been “adjusted,” presumably for greater challenge. Auto-targeting has been removed and the size of the aiming reticle has been reduced.

  • ‘Year Walk’ is Coming to Steam on March 6

    ‘Year Walk’ is Coming to Steam on March 6

    One year ago an Swedish indie game developer named Simogo released an iOS mobile title called Year Walk. The odd, horror-ish game was unlike almost any other mobile game at the time, combining first person exploration, puzzle solving, and a bit of surrealism.

    The game went on to be a small cult hit among indie game fans, and now Simogo will be bringing the title to today’s largest indie game platform. The developer today announced that Year Walk will be released for PC through Steam on March 6.

    Year Walk is set in 19th century Sweden and puts players through the experience of an ancient Swedish practice called year walking. Players will roam through the woods during their vision quest, encountering odd animals, puzzles, and even the supernatural.

    Simogo will be adding extra content for the Steam release of Year Walk. The studio is promising new updated art, a map, a hint system, steam achievements, and an integrated version of the Year Walk companion app that was released alongside the mobile game. New puzzles and new locations have also been added to the game.

    None of these new features are part of the Steam announcement trailer that was released today. Instead, the trailer sets the tone for the surreal nature of Year Walk:

  • Steam Holiday Sale Has Begun, ‘Arkham Origins’ Half Off

    During this year’s Black Friday holiday shopping weekend, PC gamers were treated to this year’s Steam Autumn Sale. As expected, this sale was a small taste of the much larger sale that was to come.

    Today Valve launched its 2013 Steam Holiday Sale. Prices on a huge selection of PC games are at the lowest level they will be at until next year’s Steam Summer Sale begins. The sale will continue throughout the holiday season, ending on January 3, 2014.

    Like other big Steam sales, this year’s holiday sale highlights a selection of nine daily deals that feature heavily discounted popular games. These games will rotate on a daily basis, while four other flash sales will rotate every eight hours. Gamers can also vote for the community’s choice sale, which will change every eight hours along with the flash sales.

    The first set of daily deals includes big games from this year such as Batman: Arkham Origins, BioShock Infinite, and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.

    This year’s holiday sale also shares a particular feature that debuted in this year’s Steam Summer Sale. By purchasing games, voting for community’s choice sales, and crafting game badges gamers can earn snow globe trading cards. Ten snow globe cards, in turn, can be crafted into a snow globe badge that will provide players with a special in-game item, an emoticon, a profile background, and Steam level XP.

    Like the Steam Autumn Sale, today’s date matches the one given in a leaked memo from October that purportedly gave the dates of this year’s autumn and holiday Steam sales. By matching the correct dates and the correct names of this year’s end-of-year Steam sales, the memo has all but been confirmed as a legitimate leak.

  • Steam Machine Gets The Teardown Treatment From iFixIt

    Earlier this month, Valve sent out 300 Steam Machines to lucky beta testers across the U.S. While the chances of you getting one were incredibly slim, one of the iFixIt team members somehow managed to get his hands on one. Of course, that means they also tore it apart to see just how repairable Valve’s new console/PC hybrid is.

    It should be noted that Valve sent out a number of different Steam Machines to its 300 beta testers. Some were equipped with the very latest graphics technology and processors while others featured older GPUs from Nvidia’s GTX 600 line. In the case of iFixIt, they received one of the more powerful units that came with a GTX 780 and an Intel Core i5-4570.

    The Internal hardware is confirmed as being pretty powerful, but what about its I/O panel? In the Steam Machine iFixIt received, the I/O panel featured a PS/2 port for a keyboard or mouse, two USB 2.0 ports, four USB 3.0 ports, HDMI, DVI and DisplayPort outs, a S/PDIF out, eSATA, ethernet port, Wi-Fi and 3.5 mm audio in. In short, the Steam Machine will be able to handle all of your display needs.

    As for the motherboard, the Steam Machine only has one PCI slot for the video card, two RAM slots for a total of 16GB, and the CPU socket. Considering this is a mini-ITX board, it’s not surprising to see it not have a lot in the way of expansion. That being said, the motherboard can support up to two SATA hard drives, but it only ships with one.

    So, how’s the repairability of Valve’s first foray into hardware? iFixIt gives it a score of nine out of 10, and it’s not at all surprising considering that the Steam Machine is just a PC. The only two issues they had with the Steam Machine was that it was hard to remove the RAM due to the tight fit and that reassembly could be an issue without a manual. In comparison, both the PS4 and Xbox One received a score of eight out of 10.

    Image via iFixIt

  • Gabe Newell Talks Coding In Google Hangout

    When you hear the name Gabe Newell, what immediately comes to mind? For most of us, it’s probably Valve, Steam, Half-Life or some combination of the three. Not many would immediately equate Newell to coding as it’s easy to forget that he’s a programmer first and lord of Valve second. That’s why Google recently invited Newell to speak to computer science students as part of the Hour of Code – a campaign dedicated to getting students interesting in coding and computer science.

    In the below Google Hangout, you’ll get to hear how Newell got into coding and how having knowledge in computer science greatly impacted his life. If you’re already a coder, you’ll want to check it out to get more insight into one of the most famous programmers of our time. For those who aspire to be coders, Newell might just inspire you to bust open that C++ or Visual Basic book and start studying.

    Oh, and those of you wanting to hear about Half-Life 3, you’re not getting it here. You will still want to watch the video though. You might just learn something.

  • Valve Is Now An Official Member Of The Linux Foundation

    Valve Is Now An Official Member Of The Linux Foundation

    It’s no secret that Valve sees Linux as the future of PC gaming. After all, the company is building SteamOS on top of Linux. Now the game developer has cemented its commitment to the platform by joining The Linux Foundation.

    So, what does Valve joining The Linux Foundation mean for both? For Valve, it allows the company to have a say behind the development of Linux. In other words, Valve will now be able to influence the direction that Linux heads in, including better support for games.

    “Joining the Linux Foundation is one of many ways Valve is investing in the advancement of Linux gaming,” said Valve’s Mike Sartain. “Through these efforts, we hope to contribute tools for developers building new experiences on Linux, compel hardware manufacturers to prioritize support for Linux, and ultimately deliver an elegant and open platform for Linux users.”

    As for Linux, it will now gain a lot more credibility among gamers. Linux has never been all that popular among PC gamers, but that has been slowly changing as of late as more developers start to build native Linux ports of their titles. As more gamers adopt Linux through SteamOS or other distributions, Linux adoption will undoubtedly rise as a result. Gamers are already the driving force behind Windows 8 adoption, and a similar situation could work out if gamers flock to Valve’s SteamOS platform.

    “Our membership continues to grow as both new and mature entities embrace community development and open technologies,” said Mike Woster, chief operating officer, The Linux Foundation. “Our new members believe Linux is a strategic investment that allows their markets to evolve as quickly as possible to achieve long-term viability and competitiveness.”

    Aside from Valve, The Linux Foundation welcomed Cloudius Systems and the HSA Foundation into its ranks today as well. Cloudius Systems is developing an open source operating system to handle virtualized cloud workloads while the HSA Foundation develops open-standard architecture for heterogenous parallel computing.

    [Image: Steam]

  • Steam Autumn/Spring Sale Has Begun

    Steam Autumn/Spring Sale Has Begun

    Fresh off the new console launches, Valve today launched its annual Autumn Sale. The sale should come as a relief to gamers who spent tons of money on a new console only to find the launch titles lacking.

    Actually, the sale isn’t entirely an Autumn Sale. A close look at the bottom of the Steam Store page will show that the event is also a Spring Sale for those living on the southern half of the planet. Though the steam mascots are nowhere to be found, the background at the top of the page also features a Team Fortress 2 Heavy and Demoman enjoying the colorful leaves on a leisurely hike together.

    The Autumn/Spring Sale will last from today until December 3. The first batch of “Daily Deal” sale games include Skyrim, Antichamber, Sleeping Dogs, Rogue Legacy, and Outlast – all for less than $10. There are also four games in the “Flash Sales” category, which will change every eight hours. Current Flash Sale games include Space Hulk, HammerWatch, Crysis 2 Maximum Edition, and Castle Story.

    It’s also worth mentioning that today’s date, November 27, is the same one pegged as the start date for the Autumn Sale in a memo leaked nearly one month ago. With the dates for the Autumn Sale being dead on, gamers will likely have just over two weeks before the Steam Holiday Sale begins. The memo puts that sale as being from December 19 until January 2. It also states that the game discounts seen on items that are not part of front-page promotions will be the same during both sales.

  • Here’s The First Third-Party Steam Machine

    Here’s The First Third-Party Steam Machine

    Earlier this year, Valve announced that it would be getting into the “console” market with the Steam Machine. As its name implies, it takes the PC and stuffs into a box that even the PC illiterate can understand. For now, the only Steam Machines in existence are those built by Valve, but third-party manufacturers will start releasing their own hardware next year. We now have our first look at one of the first Steam Machines out of the gate.

    Boutique PC manufacturer iBuyPower announced this morning that it will release a Steam Machine in early 2014 that looks very similar to the recently released PS4. It will also feature similar specs with the machine packing a multi-core AMD CPU and a discrete Radeon R9 270 GPU. It also comes equipped with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a 500 GB hard drive and an internal power supply. All of it will cost $500 – the same price as an Xbox One.

    So, what are we looking at here in terms of performance then? The iBuyPower Steam Machine should be able to compete on an equal footing with the PS4 or Xbox One, and at times even exceed those machines. Valve and other developers will help that along as games are optimized for the Linux-based SteamOS. With the proper drivers and optimizations, a Radeon R9 270 and AMD FX CPU can output 1080p visuals at 60FPS in all but the most demanding of games.

    As more Steam Machines are announced, expect them to get even more exotic and expensive as PC manufacturers cram the most high end parts they can possibly find into as little space as possible. Valve is already sending out prototypes equipped with Intel i7 CPUs and Nvidia GTX Titans so it’s not out of the realm of possibility to see some Steam Machines costing thousands of dollars. Still, it’s nice to see the first machine out of iBuyPower is targeted towards the console market with a sensible price matched with decent performance.

    The iBuyPower Steam Machine will be available in early 2014 for $499.

    [h/t: Polygon]
    [Image: Polygon]

  • Valve Introduces Steam Reviews, Beta Goes Live Today

    Are you one of the many jaded, cynical gamers that just can’t trust game critics anymore? Do you find more truthiness in the words of your fellow gamer? Well, you will be pleased to know that Valve is now introducing a new system in Steam that lets users write and curate reviews for every game on the service.

    Valve announced today that its bringing crowdsourced game criticism to Steam through a new feature called Steam Reviews. As the name implies, it’s simply a way for gamers on Steam to review the games that they play. Steam Reviews will be displayed on the store page for every game on Steam, and feature reviews that are voted as helpful by the community.

    At first glance, it may seem like Valve is merely upgrading the games recommendation system on Steam and making them public. For some, that will certainly be the case, but it will be a whole community unto itself for others. A community that’s moderated by the reviewers themselves so that the best reviews as voted on by the community are seen first while those reviews that simply consist of shallow praises or criticisms are pushed to the bottom.

    Another potential game changer in Steam Reviews is that every review will also tell you how long the reviewer has played the game when they wrote the review. Unlike traditional game criticism where the reviewer’s time with the game is rarely ever documented, Steam Reviews give players a better picture of what that particular critic’s experience with the game was like. If they say the game is trash but only invested an hour in what is a 70 hour RPG, you can assume with certainty that they didn’t give it the time it deserved and the review will be pushed to the bottom.

    Steam Reviews also encourage the game’s developers to get involved by letting those who make the games on Steam respond to these reviews. Here’s how Valve says its works:

    Q. I’m a game developer. Can I respond to reviews?
    A. Yes, when you post in the comments of reviews on your product, your comment will be flagged as being from the developer.

    Developers and users alike can flag reviews that they deem offensive or abusive, but Steam will not remove valid criticism just because somebody doesn’t like another gamer’s opinion. Developers and users should both keep that in mind when they want to get emotional over somebody not liking a game.

    If you want to see what Steam Reviews are all about and write a few reviews of your own, check out the landing page.

    [Image: Steam]

  • Steam In-Home Streaming To Enter Beta Soon

    Back when Valve first announced SteamOS, it said that users would be able to either play PC games on its own Steam Machines hardware or stream games from another PC in the house to the television. While Steam Machines won’t go on sale until next year, Valve is now letting interested users register for the Steam In-Home Streaming beta.

    Valve recently unveiled the community for the Steam In-Home Streaming beta. You’re required to join this Steam Group if you want to participate in the In-Home Streaming beta as participants will be chosen at random from the group later this year.

    While the Steam Group doesn’t divulge any details as how Steam’s In-Home Streaming works, screen caps of the beta client have been uncovered by Polygon. It looks like a pretty standard set-up where users can stream gameplay from any connected devices on their local network. It also has a number of settings to help improve performance, from limiting bandwidth and framerate to disabling hardware acceleration.

    As for the other Steam OS projects, Valve will be soon be shipping out 300 Steam Machines to those who won a chance to test the company’s beta hardware. These machines will be powerful enough to play PC games on a television without the need for streaming. They can, however, be used to stream content from your main gaming PC. In fact, some Steam Machines will be marketed as cheap streaming boxes for your main PC.

    [Image: Steam]

  • Valve Demos Its New Steam Controller

    Valve Demos Its New Steam Controller

    Earlier this month, Valve announced its intention to enter the hardware market with Steam Machines complete with Steam Controller. If you haven’t seen it yet, you should really check it out. It’s wild, and totally out there – just like Valve.

    Now, you may be wondering – how the hell do I play games with that thing? Well, Valve is here with a video demo that shows how the controller is used in a variety of games. What you’ll first notice is that the controller’s gamepads can be configured on a case-by-case basis. In a first-person game like Portal 2, the two gamepads can be configured to act like a mouse and keyboard. In a more PC-centric game like Civilization V, one trackpad is configured to act as a mouse while the other is configured to act as directional keys.

    Like all other new controllers, people are going to be skeptical until their get their hands on it. PC gamers are going to be even more skeptical as no other controller in history has ever matched the precision of a mouse and keyboard for PC-centric games, like turn-based strategy titles. Valve obviously thinks they have finally reached that level of precision, but we won’t know for sure until next year when the first Steam machines launch.

    If you want to test drive a Steam Machine and the new Steam Controller sooner, be sure to get your name into the running for one of 300 Steam Machine prototypes. You can find out more about that here.

    [Image: Valve/YouTube]

  • Valve To Host Steam Dev Days In January

    Valve To Host Steam Dev Days In January

    There’s no denying that Valve is a major force in PC gaming. After all, the company singlehandedly revived the PC gaming market with Steam. Now it’s entering the gaming hardware and operating system markets, and it wants developers along for the ride.

    Valve announced today that it will be hosting the first ever Steam Dev Days on January 15, 2014 in Seattle. The two-day event will give developers a chance to learn from each other and from Valve about how to best utilize the Steam platform for their games. As an added bonus, developers will also get a chance to check out some Steam Machine prototypes.

    Here’s the official event description:

    Steam Dev Days is a two-day game developer’s conference where professionals can meet in a relaxed, off the record environment. Developers will share their design and industry expertise, participate in roundtable discussions and attend lectures by industry veterans on topics ranging from game economies to VR, Linux/OpenGL, user-generated content and more. Developers will also have direct access to Valve’s Steam Team, and will be given a chance to test-drive and provide feedback on Steam OS, prototype Steam Machines and Steam Controllers.

    You’ll notice that the above description mentions that Valve’s dev conference will be “off the record.” According to the official FAQ, that means no press is allowed at the event. It’s a decidedly different approach to other game developer conferences, like GDC, where the press is not only allowed in, but encouraged to report on the talks and roundtable discussions. Of course, this is Valve we’re talking about here. The company is pretty reclusive as far as the press is concerned, and it’s not surprising to see its developer conference go the same way.

    If you’re a game developer and like the idea of Steam Dev Days, you can register for the conference today for $95. That’s an incredibly cheap price for a developer conference that promises to have a lot of great info for the game developer.

    [Image: Valve]

  • Valve Reveals Steam Machine Prototype Specs

    Last week video game developer Valve, the company behind the Steam online marketplace, unveiled its vision of bringing PC gaming to the living room and TVs. This announcement included hardware called “Steam Machines” that would run SteamOS and be controlled with the new Steam Controller.

    Along with the announcement, Valve revealed that 300 lucky gamers will get the chance to test out its prototype Steam Machine. Today, Valve revealed a bit more about that beta initiative, including what hardware the machines will come with.

    It turns out that the 300 prototypes will not have consistent hardware. Each could be slightly different from another, though all of them are relatively high end gaming PCs (and some will be really high-end gaming PCs). Each will have an Intel processor and an NVidia GPU. They will also come with tons of RAM and a hybrid 1 TB/8 GB SSHD hard drive. The full specs, from the Steam Universe group announcement:

    GPU: some units with NVidia Titan, some GTX780, some GTX760, and some GTX660
    CPU: some boxes with Intel i7-4770, some i5-4570, and some i3
    RAM: 16GB DDR3-1600 (CPU), 3GB GDDR5 (GPU)
    Storage: 1TB/8GB Hybrid SSHD
    Power Supply: Internal 450w 80Plus Gold
    Dimensions: approx. 12 x 12.4 x 2.9 in high

    The prototype machines will be fully upgradable, so users who get the GTX660 can pop in their own Titan if they so choose. It also seems that the prototypes will come packed in a relatively thin square box, similar in size to a slightly wider and thicker PlayStation 4. Valve stated that it is not yet ready to post photos of the prototype box, “because they’re not finished enough.”

    Valve also emphasized in this announcement that the prototype is not meant to be the only Steam Machine, stating that other manufacturers will release Steam Machines focused on factors such as a low price or a small form factor. Valve will be creating a system to rate the strengths and weaknesses of different Steam Machines, though details on that will come later. Also, for those who already have nice gaming PCs Valve teased that it is working on a streaming solution to bring SteamOS to their living rooms.

  • Is Half-Life 3 Actually Under Development?

    Throwing the caution of attracting the ire of the The Answer Is No Twitter account, the idea of actually getting to play Half-Life 3 makes one take risks when it comes to article title conventions. The idea of the game actually seeing the light of day is point of extreme consternation of video game fans around the globe. Of course, if you’re making a sequel to a game that’s been called “Best PC Game Ever” by PC Magazine, it going to draw a lot of interest. In fact, the wait for Half-Life 3 has led to the creation of some pretty successful social media accounts that focus on this disturbing lack of more Gordon Freeman content.

    But thanks to a couple of occurrences, there maybe room for hope. First came the news of the title being registered for a trademark Europe. That, alone, was reason enough to get the “where in the hell is Half-Life 3” crowd active. Today’s news, however, may just get those wheels of anticipation turning at an overdrive rate. Rock, Paper, Shotgun has the details:

    There is a thing called Jira that Valve uses for project management. Everything they do is tracked on it, and last night it accidentally went public and OHMYGOD THERE’S A HALF-LIFE 3 TEAM ON IT! No Ricochet 2 team, however.

    It’s the second indication in as many days that suggests Valve has decided to focus on Gordon’s journey, following the discovery of a trademark registration. The list has a core of ten developers (called “Half-Life 3 Core, that has Minerva modder Adam Foster, Counter-Strike’s Jesse Cliffe and others, as well as a further 46 in the “Half-Life 3” group…

    Does this mean it’s time to start clearing your calendar of anticipation of the Further Adventures of Gordon Freeman? Considering the distinct lack of news recently, this could be the ray of hope people can legitimately hang their hat on; but then again, this could be just another chapter in The Further Adventures of the Most Desired Piece of Vaporware Ever.

    Adjust your “want” levels accordingly.

    [Lead image courtesy of Valve]

  • Odd-Looking Steam Controller Announced by Valve

    On Monday, Valve announced SteamOS, a new PC operating system tuned specifically for gaming. It followed-up that announcement on Wednesday with the reveal of Steam Machines, new hardware from Valve and its partners that will take advantage of SteamOS. Today Valve revealed the final piece of its living room strategy: the Steam controller.

    The controller itself is the oddest-looking video game controller to be revealed since Nintendo’s Wii controller. Instead of the joysticks that have become standard on modern controllers, the Steam controller has dual trackpads. According to Valve, the large, circular trackpads will allow for a higher input fidelity than joysticks. The trackpads also feature “super-precise” haptic feedback to provide players with physical context. The intention is to make traditionally PC-centric genres such as real-time strategy a real possibility using a controller.

    The second most noticeable oddity about the Steam controller is button placement. Instead of the traditional four-button diamond formation for the right side of the controller, A, B, Y, and X buttons are placed on the inside edges of the touchpads. The four trigger buttons on the top of the controller appear to be fairly standard, but the device also has two large buttons on its rear side. There are a total of 16 buttons on the Steam controller, with both trackpads and the center touch screen clickable.

    The touch screen just mentioned will have a high-resolution display. Developers will be able to use the screen however they like, and touching the screen displays an overlay on the main gaming screen, allowing players to use it without looking down.

    The Steam controller has been designed to work with Steam’s entire back-catalog of games. To accomplish this, Valve has created a “legacy mode” that allows controller buttons to be easily mapped to a standard keyboard. In addition, Valve has stated that it will release some sort of tools to allow modders to open up the controller and hack around with it.

  • Valve Announces Steam Machines, Will Ship Out 300 Prototypes This Year

    On Monday, Valve announced the first step in its plan to take over the living room – SteamOS. Now an operating system is all well and good, but it needs hardware to run on. That’s where the next step comes in.

    Valve announced this afternoon that it intends to enter the hardware market with Steam Machines. The company says that it’s partnering with hardware manufacturers to bring a variety of Steam Machines to market in 2014. Before that, however, it wants some of its most dedicated gamers to test out some prototypes.

    While these products are still in development, we need your help. As always, we believe the best way to ensure that the right products are getting made is to let people try them out and then make changes as we go. We have designed a high-performance prototype that’s optimized for gaming, for the living room, and for Steam. Of course, it’s also completely upgradable and open.

    There are 300 of these prototype Steam machines up for grabs, and Valve will be giving them out this year to a few lucky Steam users who fulfill some requirements. First, you’re gonna need to join the Steam Universe community group. After that, you must agree to the Steam Hardware Beta Terms and Conditions. Once that is out of the way, you’ll have to make 10 Steam friends, create a public Steam Community profile and play a game using a gamepad in Big Picture mode.

    You have until October 25 to compete all the above. If not, you’ll be locked out of the drawing for good. If you do happen to complete all the above in time, you’ll be given a badge that marks you as eligible to receive one of the Steam Machine prototypes.

    If you aren’t selected for the Steam Machine prototype beta, you’ll have to wait until 2014 like the rest of us. At that time, Valve’s unnamed hardware partners will begin to release Steam Machines for public consumption. We don’t know what the hardware will look like yet, but it might be pretty similar to what we saw at CES earlier this year.

    [Image: Steam]

  • Valve Announces SteamOS, Brings Your PC To The Living Room

    Last year, Valve attempted to bring Steam to the living room through Big Picture. It worked well enough, but it required you to plug your PC directly into a TV. With its next breakthrough, Valve will now bring your PC to the living room through a dedicated operating system.

    This afternoon, Valve announced SteamOS – a Linux-based operating system that will bring all of your PC titles to the big screen. Valve will be doing this in one of two ways. The first is OTA streaming from your PC. In other words, you’ll use SteamOS to stream games powered by the PC in your bedroom to the TV in the living room.

    The second, and much more exciting option, is SteamOS itself. It will be a native option where the games run on SteamOS. Think of like Valve building a version of Linux that’s specifically made to play games. Valve says that it’s already “achieved significant performance increases in graphics processing” with SteamOS, and now it’s working on audio performance and input latency reduction.

    Of course, any operating system is only as good as the support it has. Unlike other players in the PC scene, Valve has the kind of clout to announce something like this and have developers already working to support it. As such, Valve says we can expect the first native SteamOS games to launch sometime next year. We’ll even see the usual AAA blockbusters that usually only support Windows supporting SteamOS as well.

    Besides the potential for games, the most exciting thing about SteamOS is that it will be completely free and completely open. That means manufacturers will be able to freely experiment with living room PCs running SteamOS, and software creators will be able to muck around with SteamOS to create their own versions. Valve even hints at some game development features as it says that “gamers are empowered to join in the creation of the games they love.”

    So, when when will the general public be able to try out SteamOS? Valve says that it will be available as a free download soon. It will also open itself to free licensing from hardware manufacturers at around the same time. You can bet that Valve will have its own hardware on offer though.

  • GameFly Opens PC Game Storefront, Gives Away Mafia II

    GameFly Opens PC Game Storefront, Gives Away Mafia II

    For the past few years, GameFly has been the Netflix of gaming. Console gamers interested in trying out the latest games could simply add games to their queue and get them in the mail within a few days. Now GameFly has its sights set on the PC gaming market, and has opened a new digital storefront to cement its ambitions.

    GameFly announced today that it’s launching what it calls GameFly Digital – a Web-based storefront for digital downloads of PC games. GameFly promises over 2,500 PC and Mac games at launch with more titles to be added over the coming weeks.

    “We always wanted to bring the striking design and functionality of our PC client to the web so that everyone could access it from any browser,” said Saujin Yi, GM of GameFly Digital.

    With its entrance into the digital PC game storefront marketplace, GameFly joins an increasing number of digital retailers all trying to compete with Steam. Origin and Green Man Gaming have been able to snag some marketshare away through exclusives and sales respectively, but what does GameFly have to offer over the other guys?

    As part of its press release, GameFly boasts that it makes it easier for consumers to look for PC games with what it calls “Collection.” In short, it’s a curated list of games either from a specific publisher (i.e. Square Enix Store) or a specific series (i.e. XCOM Store). It’s a nice gesture, but it’s not exactly revolutionary as Steam also allows players to look for games by publisher.

    In its excitement over the launch of its new storefront, GameFly neglected to mention that it does have one thing that sets it apart from the rest – Unlimited PC Play. Much like its console rental service, Unlimited PC Play allows PC gamers to download any game as part of the service and keep it as long as they remain a subscriber. Unfortunately, the service doesn’t feature many new games so its appeal is limited. It is, however, something that GameFly may want to highlight in future advertising of its PC store.

    On a final note, GameFly has partnered with 2K Games to launch its new digital storefront. Gamers who choose to buy from GameFly will save up to 80 percent on a number of 2K Games’ titles. As a bonus, players who buy any 2K title from GameFly Digital will get a free copy of Mafia II.

  • Steam Introduces Family Sharing For PC Games

    Valve, the development studio behind the popular PC gaming market Steam, this week announced that it will soon introduce a “Family Sharing” feature into Steam. The feature will be tested in a limited beta starting next week, which can (possibly) be entered by joining the Family Sharing group on Steam. One thousand people from the Family Sharing group will be chosen for the beta.

    Steam Family Sharing will allow people sharing a single computer to share their games across multiple Steam accounts. For example, a married couple would have to buy Skyrim only once for each of them to play the game separately, earning Steam trading cards and achievements on their separate accounts.

    The feature is enabled through each Steam account, with account holders enabling the feature for a specific PC in their account settings. Each Steam account may share its entire library on up to 10 different PCs, though each account’s library may be accessed by only one account at a time. Region restrictions still apply, and publishers other than Valve can still block access to games through their own account services.

    “Our customers have expressed a desire to share their digital games among friends and family members, just as current retail games, books, DVDs, and other physical media can be shared,” said Anna Sweet, an employee at Valve. “Family Sharing was created in direct response to these user requests.”

    Sharing games among accounts is, by nature of the medium, already a feature of home consoles. Microsoft nixed an ambitious (and vague) plan to allow remote family sharing of digital titles on its upcoming Xbox One console when it also did away with a plan for intrusive Xbox One DRM. However, the company has announced that digital titles will be shared among different accounts on a single console. Steam’s new Family Sharing would put the digital service on par with this type of policy, perhaps introducing yet another feature that would be necessary for the long-rumored Steambox console.