The Steam Review

A World of My Own was billed as the “iTunes of games” during its announcement. It was a ridiculously big claim, an act of hubris perhaps – but I’ve been talking with Rob Donald of Game Domain International about the technology behind the company’s new distribution system, and it’s more accurate a soundbite than we once thought.

The Steam Community is on track not only to succeed, but to become the most successful network of its kind. Here’s why.

Valve has a chance, right now, to take the initiative. If they make the right moves, we could see the rise of Steam as the de facto platform for online gaming.

Counter-Strike’s in-game adverts are the pilot for a Steam-wide system Valve intend to offer to independent developers rather than use themselves. How does their new offer fit into the indie culture?

The purchase of Ritual Entertainment by casual games developer MumboJumbo, and the subsequent shelving of the SiN Episodes series, comes amid increasingly noticeable industry whispers that Valve’s episodic efforts are returning only lukewarm sales figures. The episodic debate has been very much re-opened as a result, widened further by yet another Half-Life 2: Episode Two delay. What’s gone — and going — wrong?

Hot on the heels of Triton’s recent demise comes news of NeoEdge, a distribution service promising a series of new twists on the Steam/Triton formula. Did I mention that it might be distributing Bioshock?