The Steam Review

Five mods have been given special access to the Steamworks SDK and will be releasing future versions over Steam.

It seems like this gets at least one mention every month. It’s a bit of relief to see that it still exists!

Valve’s forthcoming puzzle game Portal will feature a system for importing and loading fan-made maps, according to Eurogamer’s recent preview.

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?

Garry’s Mod, the Source-powered physics sandbox famed across the games industry, is to be sold over Steam for $10 US. What does the move mean?

Today, Steam doesn’t achieve much more sitting in your system tray than shortening start-up times. But that residency is a hugely important resource for developers of coming-generation MMOs and user-driven games, to the point of outright success or failure. Why, and how?