Shattered Horizon now available on Steam

Square Enix signs up to be part of Steam

"Square Enix's North American and European divisions are the latest to sign a deal with Valve's burgeoning Steam digital distribution and community platform.

Valve said Tuesday that the first Square Enix game to be available to Steam users will be the Unreal Engine 3-powered role-playing game, The Last Remnant.

It will release on Steam on April 9, days after the PC version arrives at retail.

Square Enix will continue to add games to its Steam offerings, Valve said in a statement."

Square Enix Heads to Steam

D.I.C.E. Summit 2009: Gabe Newell's keynote

Newell believes that digital rights management software that is presented as copy-protection gives a game a stink. It leaves customers unsure about how flexibly they can access their games. So they turn to pirates who offer games with fewer strings, he suggested.

“There is evidence anecdotally that DRM is increasing piracy rather than decreasing piracy.” Valve’s solution: battle the pirates by providing better services than the pirates do.

The effectiveness of pirates, he said, is to get content to people who want it more swiftly and easily than the companies who make the content do.

An outfit like Valve, however, can get provide even better service, even by doing something as intrusive as data-mining their customers’ computers — as long as they are transparent about it and can prove to the customer that taking such measures will make the customers’ games better.

Some Steam statistics:

• 20 million people connected
• All major PC publishers on board
• 350+ of the best PC games
• Worldwide in 21 languages
• 100% Year-over-year growth since 2004

About discount sales increase in revenues:

• 10% sale = 35% increase in sales (real dollars, not units shipped)
• 25% sale = 245% increase in sales
• 50% sale = 320% increase in sales
• 75% sale = 1470% increase in sales

The Very Different Gaming World Gabe Newell Wants
Live Blog: DICE 2009 Keynote - Gabe Newell, Valve Software

Escape From City 17 - Part One

PurchaseBrothers (currently down due to too much traffic)

Left 4 Dead DLC to be Free on PC, 360

"Word came from Valve today that the previously announced expansion pack for Left 4 Dead will be free on both the PC and the Xbox 360."

Left 4 Dead DLC to be Free on PC, 360

Left4Dead Survival Pack coming this spring

"The first L4D DLC - called the L4D Survival Pack -- is due for release this spring and introduces a new multiplayer game mode entitled, Survival, plus two complete campaigns for Versus Mode"

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"The first Left 4 Dead release for the Source Software Development Kit (Source SDK) will allow the creation of custom Left 4 Dead campaigns that will be discoverable via L4D's matchmaking system." The SDK update is also due this spring and will be free of charge to all owners of the full PC game.

L4D Survival Pack: New mode, campaigns revealed

Steam Hardware Survey: November 2008

Steam Hardware Survey: November 2008

4x Left4Dead posters in Steam store for $14.99

Left4Dead Movie Poster Pack

Gabe Newell on procedural narrative

"To come up with a theory for how to do narrative in a multiplayer game we started by looking at the players’ different behaviors – exactly how they’re playing, what their actions are, where they move.

We tried to note as many interesting contexts of their actions as possible. Are they moving together as a group or are they splitting up? Is their mouse jerking around a lot, or are they interacting smoothly? Are they agitated or are they relaxed? How much damage are they taking? How accurate is their shooting?

Then, using all that data we tried to come up with a model to tell us how the player is faring in the game.

The data can tell if a player is comfortable or if they are starting to be overwhelmed. Once you have that concept, then you can start to create pacing and events in response to the player."

Gabe Newell Writes for Edge

Darwinia infiltrates Steam

Soon you'll be able to purchase Darwinia through Steam, making it the second game to ever be released through Steam which isn't made by Valve. The first one was Ragdoll Kung Fu, the independent game made by a Lionhead employee. Speaking of Lionhead, their newest game The Movies was recently released, and a nice function in the game is that you can upload the movies you make to their site. That means you can visit the site and upload your movies, download other user made movies and rate them.

Well, back to Darwinia then. Starting from the 14th of December you'll be able to buy it through Steam. Darwinia is a realtime strategy game with a rather unusual concept where you have to help little computer people from a virus infection. The game graphics resemblances retro games as syndicate wars and space invaders in a new 3D perspective, you've to see it for yourself to understand what I mean, I recommend that you download the demo from their website.





Introversion Software
Lionhead - The Movies

Rag Doll Kung-Fu

"Ragdoll Kung Fu, a wild new experience from designer Mark Healey, will be available October 12, 2005 via Steam."

















Ragdoll Kung-Fu is the first game that is released through Stream that is made by any other than Valve themselves. Mark Healey joined forces with Peter Molyneux back in the days of Theme Park, and he's currently working at Lionhead Studios.

I've already tried the game some, and I must say it's actually working really good. I'm glad that there's still some creativity left in the industry and I would definetly buy this along with Monkey Ball and Worms, if they get released for Nintendo DS.

Note: Don't play the game with a low sense touchpad, it's freakin' hard...

Rag Doll Kung Fu
Mark Healey Interview