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Valve's Steam Box made official as 'Steam Machines', beta coming soon, final hardware in early 2014

By Shawn Knight, September 25, 2013, 1:00 PM Filed in Gaming

Valve on Wednesday announced Steam Machines, a hardware beta for the company’s upcoming planned takeover of the living room. In the second of three announcements this week, the company said they are working with multiple partners to bring a variety…

Valve's SteamOS promises to bring PC gaming to the living room

By Shawn Knight, September 23, 2013, 1:45 PM Filed in Gaming, Software

In the first of three scheduled announcements for this week, Steam has unveiled a free operating system designed for the living room that the company promises will combine the rock-solid architecture of Linux with a gaming experience built for the…

Valve expected to showcase Steam Box hardware next week

By Shawn Knight, September 17, 2013, 9:00 AM Filed in Hardware, Gaming

Valve co-founder Gabe Newell recently reignited talk of a Stream Box during a keynote at LinuxCon 2013. As part of his speech, Newell promised to offer more information about the hardware opportunities Valve sees for bringing Linux into the living…

Steam turned 10 today. Remember when it sucked?

By Luke Plunkett, September 12, 2013, 8:01 PM Filed in Gaming, Software

Birthdays are normally a time for celebration, but you know what? People heap adulation on Steam every day of the year. So let's flip it, and spend today remembering when Steam was new, and was just about the worst thing…

Steam Family Sharing will let you lend entire game library to 10 others

By Tim Schiesser, September 11, 2013, 7:31 PM Filed in Gaming

Ever wanted to share your Steam games with your friends and family? Well soon you'll be able to, with Steam set to launch a limited beta of Family Sharing next week, a service that will allow you to share your…

Former Valve executive now heads Microsoft's PC gaming division

By Shawn Knight, August 15, 2013, 7:00 AM Filed in Microsoft, Gaming

Microsoft recently hired Valve’s former director of business development Jason Holtman. The executive, who had been with Valve for eight years, will now lead Microsoft’s PC gaming and entertainment division according to Holtman’s LinkedIn page. …

Valve grants Half-Life modders access to game engine to build standalone co-op version

By Shawn Knight, July 17, 2013, 5:30 PM Filed in Gaming

Half-Life fans, rejoice! It’s been nearly 15 years in the making but the time has finally come. The Sven Co-op team, responsible for the dated (but still updated) Half-Life co-op mod, has been granted full access to build a standalone…

Valve launches 'Pipeline' to help teens interested in game development

By Shawn Knight, July 15, 2013, 7:00 AM Filed in Gaming

Valve recently created a new program called Pipeline designed to help build a connection between the company and students interested in pursuing a career in the gaming industry. If you’re a teenager interested in working on the next hit video…

Steam's annual summer sale is now live

By Shawn Knight, July 11, 2013, 3:45 PM Filed in Gaming, Tech Deals

Steam’s summer sale is now live, offering deep discounts of up to 75 percent on a number of popular titles through July 22. The annual event is a favorite among PC gamers as it’s a great opportunity to score hit…

Steam: Something Next-Gen Consoles Could Learn From The PC

FEATUREBy Luke Plunkett, June 20, 2013, 3:15 AM Filed in TechSpot, Gaming

The PS4, Xbox One and Wii U are all very different consoles, but there's one thing I wish all three had in common: their digital pricing. Something they could learn from the PC.

Steam gets a lot of credit for rejuvenating the PC gaming market, and there's one area it deserves more praise than anywhere else: its regular, highly-discounted sales.

Steam beta code points to game sharing feature

By Jesse Schoff, June 19, 2013, 6:00 PM Filed in Gaming, Software

Amidst yeas and nays bumbling about the interwebs on the latest next-gen console news, a rumor emerges concerning our old, reliable friend, Steam. Word has it that the newest Steam Beta has code within it pertaining to game sharing.

Valve announces Team Fortress 2 update made entirely by fans

By Dave LeClair, May 20, 2013, 2:00 PM Filed in Gaming, Industry News

Valve is pushing out its 356th update for its free-to-play Team Fortress 2 since the game shipped in 2007. But this is not just some standard refresh filled with bug fixes and tweaks. Instead, the update brings a slew of new…

Valve experimenting with biofeedback to improve gameplay

By Shawn Knight, May 7, 2013, 2:30 PM Filed in Gaming

Game developer Valve is currently researching a number of different methods to innovate in the industry – thinking outside the box, if you will. Chief among them is collecting biofeedback that can be used to determine how a player is…

Valve's Early Access program lets you play in-development games

By Shawn Knight, March 21, 2013, 8:30 AM Filed in Gaming

Valve has announced an Early Access program that will allow PC and Mac gamers to purchase and start playing new titles while they are still in development. The company said a number of prominent titles have embraced this development model…

Team Fortress 2 will be the Oculus Rift's first official game

By Shawn Knight, March 19, 2013, 8:30 AM Filed in Gaming

Team Fortress 2 will be the first official game to support the Oculus Rift according to Valve programmer Joe Ludwig. The company is planning to release an update that will allow gamers to play in VR mode sometime within the…

Capcom, Valve unite to create Resident Evil 6 / Left 4 Dead 2 crossover

By Shawn Knight, March 18, 2013, 7:30 AM Filed in Gaming

What do you get when you take two of the most successful survival horror franchises and put them in a blender? We aren’t entirely sure either but we’ll find out soon enough as Capcom and Valve have decided to create…

Xi3 now accepting pre-orders for Piston 'Steam Box' Console

By Shawn Knight, March 11, 2013, 8:30 AM Filed in Gaming

Xi3 Corporation is now accepting pre-orders for their Piston Console, a cube-shaped PC built using modular construction. Perhaps more importantly, however, it’s the same system that Value’s upcoming Steam Box is based on. The company has set a pre-order price…

Valve's Steam Box game system to begin testing in 3-4 months

By Rick Burgess, March 6, 2013, 3:30 PM Filed in Hardware, Gaming

Valve CEO Gabe Newell told the BBC its upcoming Steam Box gaming system will be ready for testing within "three to four months". The Steam Box is Valve's answer to game consoles, with which it hopes to offer a "dumbed…

The business of gaming: nickels, dimes, and quarters

By Cliff Bleszinski, March 6, 2013, 1:34 AM Filed in Gaming

The video game industry is just that. An industry. Which means that it exists in a capitalistic world. You know, a free market. A place where you’re welcome to spend your money on whatever you please… or to refrain from spending that money.

Latest Steam numbers show Linux, Mac gamers almost equal

By Rick Burgess, March 5, 2013, 3:00 PM Filed in Gaming, Software

The numbers from Steam's February hardware and software survey have been published and the results show an interesting development -- Linux platforms now accounts for about 2.8 percent of Steam's users. That may not sound like much, but to put…

Ubisoft and EA pair up, offer each other's games online

By Rick Burgess, February 22, 2013, 6:00 PM Filed in Industry News, Gaming

Electronic Arts and Ubisoft are teaming up, each company planning to offer the other's library of games across their respective Origin and UPlay services. The move could be interpreted as a shot fired across Valve's bow -- the mind behind…

Valve co-founder Gabe Newell publically addresses layoffs

By Shawn Knight, February 14, 2013, 8:30 AM Filed in Gaming, Industry News

Yesterday brought rumors that Valve may be preparing extensive staff cuts after the company fired Jeri Ellsworth the day before. One site said they confirmed that several employees had been let go – as many as 25 – in what…

German consumer group sues Valve over the resale of Steam games

By Matthew DeCarlo, February 1, 2013, 8:30 AM Filed in Gaming, Software

The Federation of German Consumer Organizations (Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband e.V. or VZBV) has sued Valve for not allowing Steam users to resell their games. Speaking about the policies of Valve's digital distribution service, VZBV project manager Carola Elbrecht said that if…

Valve launches Steam Guides, opens Left 4 Dead 2 Workshop

By Matthew DeCarlo, January 18, 2013, 4:30 PM Filed in Gaming, The Web

Continuing its focus on community engagement, Valve has added a new feature to its distribution platform that lets users create and share game guides. Called Steam Guides, the section can be found via the Steam Overlay or from any Community…

Valve has declined movie offers for Left 4 Dead, Half-Life

By Shawn Knight, January 16, 2013, 11:15 AM Filed in Gaming

During a recent interview on The Nerdist podcast, Valve boss Gabe Newell said his company has declined offers from Hollywood movie studios on a few different occasions. Specifically, filmmakers have been interested in adapting hits like Half-Life and Left 4…

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