The Steam Community
Well well well. 🙂
Back in 1996, two Microsoft executives quit their spectacularly high-paid jobs, formed a games company and made the best game ever. Twice.
They didn’t like the way retailers were throttling the industry’s creativity, so they cut them out. They did like what a lot of mod teams were doing, so they hired them. They published any game they liked through their digital distribution network, however commercially risky, and saved several independent developers in the process. Their revolution was so successful that today, major publishers like Eidos and Atari come to them to sell their games online. Now they’re gearing up to do it again, by turning Steam into a giant gaming community.
The teaser’s headlines:
- Free.
- “One-click matchmaking, both for new games and existing ones such as Counter-Strike. You’ll be able to jump straight into a game with players of your skill level, with no history of griefing, by pressing a single button.”
- A Halo 2-inspired party/clan system. “[Group] members can see when others are playing a game, join them, or schedule a match for a specific date and time. They’ll also have a dedicated chat channel to talk to each other on regardless of what game they’re playing, even between rounds.”
- “A personal gamer page that’s accessible via the web, with embarrassingly detailed stats about what you play, how much you play it, and what kind of player you are.”
Details are due at some point this week in PC Gamer UK, though whether they will be in the print or online edition first, or both at once, isn’t clear.
Turns out that the Steam interview won’t be published in print until 7 June — hopefully it’ll appear online before then!
It didn’t make the June 7th issue either. I will definitely have the details next month though, regardless of PCG! 🙂
19 Responses to this post:
Comments
Ortzinator Says:
It would be nice to have a replacement to Xfire’s stats, although I never use Xfire. But then I’ve never used Steam’s IM either.
Garry Newman Says:
Looking forward to this.
King2500 Says:
Me too… 🙂
smfE Says:
Sounds pretty cool, hope it’s gonna be a success world wide :).
Tom Edwards Says:
So much for this week. I’ll pick up the print copy tomorrow, if I can find the right edition.
Tom Edwards Says:
What a waste of six quid. Although to be fair the Halo 2 review was quite entertaining.
ATimson Says:
At least the cover art for the next issue shown on the website is… quite distinctive. A shot of a ministrider from HL2E2, with the headline “The VALVE Issue” superimposed.
The UK version looks a lot nicer than the US one. 🙁
Tom Edwards Says:
That’s the issue I bought. It is pretty nice. 🙂
ATimson Says:
So it’s the “Valve Issue”, but the interview isn’t until the next one? That’s, uh, disappointing.
Tom Edwards Says:
Andy Simpson Says:
I think in that same interview they mentioned something about custom content going up on the Steam Community too.
I really want them to release some more information abouit it.
Newb. Says:
I’m very exited for this. I mean, I just found this article on a google search, but I really want this. I use Xfire frequently, but what Valve wants to do with it is amazing.
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