Valve announced yet another new Steam feature today: Game Guides. The community-driven addition aims to give Steam users not only the means to create their own guides, walkthroughs and how-tos, but also publish them to the masses. As most bleeding-edge features from Valve, Steam Game Guides is currently in beta.
In a Steam forum post, Valve UI designer "Alden" explains that Game Guides will let users upload and insert images, screenshots and YouTube videos either from their computer or their Steam cloud. Additionally, intrepid guide writers may enlist the help of fellow gamers by inviting them as collaborators.
Steam Game Guides joins a growing list of new features tacked onto the digital distribution service. In fact, Valve announced yesterday the debut of the Steam Community Market (Beta) which gives players a way to sell their digital in-game goods for Steam Wallet funds (i.e. cold hard cash). Other Steam additions spanning the past several months are Big Picture, Greenlight, Linux support and the ability for developers to publish non-gaming titles.
Aspiring guide writers will likely want to visit this forum post first, but at the very least must join the Steam Community Beta Group. Once you're part of the gang, go to the "Game Hub" for any Steam games you play and have a look under the "Guides" tab. Users will see a "Create a Guide" button for getting started.
Here's a prime example of a community-made guide: Red Orchestra 2: HoS Combat Field Manual.