Articles about Steam

If you play PC games, you surely know of Steam. If you aren't such a gamer, please know that it is a video game delivery and management platform for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It is a great way to purchase games, and unlike using Microsoft's Windows Store, games can take full advantage of your hardware.

Valve is not satisfied with Steam only being for games, you see, and the company is focusing on other media too. Today, Valve announces that Lionsgate movies will be distributed through its delivery solution. More than 100 films, including the wildly popular Hunger Games series, will be available on Steam for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

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When you think of a gaming PC, two things probably come to mind -- Microsoft Windows and desktop computers. In other words, gamers don't typically target laptops for playing their favorite games, and even when some do, they will likely aim for Windows 7, 8, or 10. Thanks to Steam, however, Linux-based operating systems are a legitimate option for gaming.

If you want a Linux-based gaming laptop, your choices are slim. Yes, you can buy a Windows laptop and replace the operating system with Ubuntu or another OS, but that isn't the best experience. Ideally, you want a machine that was designed and sold with Linux in mind. Enter the Ubuntu-powered System76 Oryx Pro. This beast of a gaming laptop can be configured with some jaw-dropping specs. The one I have been testing features an Intel Skylake Core i7 processor, 32GB of DDR4 RAM, NVMe SSD and NVIDIA graphics, including G-SYNC. Are you salivating yet? Read on for more specs and my impressions.

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Way back in early June we learned of two manufacturers for Steam Machine gaming computers. One of those was Dell who, at the time, had a very brief window open for pre-orders. Those customers are still waiting now, more than four months later.

But things are getting closer and, as of today, Dell has opened up pre-orders for everyone. So far the machine has not leaked out and no review units have been issued. Dell points out that "Up until now only a select few inside the halls of Alienware and Valve had the chance to experience the Alienware Steam Machine in all its glory".

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Powerful open-source screenshot tool ShareX has been updated to 10.3 with new scrolling support, enabling the capture of full web pages or anything else larger than your screen.

The technique works much like many similar tools: select the "Scrolling capture" type, choose the window and wait as ShareX grabs it for you.

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PC gaming has historically been a Windows-affair. For the most part, this works rather well. After all, Microsoft's operating system is easy to use and has incredible hardware compatibility. With that said, Windows does have a fair bit of overhead both from a performance and price perspective.

For many people, a Linux-based operating system makes more sense as it is free in cost while being lightweight from a performance perspective. In other words, the modular nature makes Linux ideal for focusing on gaming. Valve's long-promised Steam Machine concept was designed with this in mind, and after a long wait, you can finally order one.

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If you want to chat about the relative merits of Kickass Torrents, it seems that Steam chat is not the place to do it. The censoring of words deemed offensive is nothing new, but gamers have found that any messages they post which included references to Kickass Torrents or the URL http://kickass.so are stripped.

Like the Pirate Bay, Kickass Torrents has fallen victim to domain name seizures, but even though the site has been taken offline, it would appear that Steam does not want its users to discuss it. A ban on mentioning the site has been described by some gamers as "covert censorship".

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A son of mine, I’m not saying which one, borrowed from my desk a credit card and -- quick like a bunny -- bought over $200 worth of in-game weapons, tools, etc. for the Steam game platform from steamgames.com, which is owned by Valve Corp. Needless to say, the kid is busted, but the more important point for this column is how easily he, for a time, got away with his crime.

I would have thought that vendors like steamgames.com would not want children to be buying game stuff without the consent of their parents, yet they made it so easy -- too easy.

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Anyone who fancies the idea of building their own gaming box can head over to the Valve website can grab themselves a beta copy of SteamOS. The Linux-based operating system is available for anyone to download free of charge and coincides with the shipping of 300 prototypes of Valve's Steam Machine devices to specially selected testers. The OS and boxes have both been designed with pure gaming in mind -- but the system requirements are quite specific.

The download weighs in at 960MB, and there are reports that the servers are struggling as legions of eager gamers hit the link. But before you rush over to the site and start the download for yourself, take a moment to check whether your rig is up to the task. You'll need a 64-bit processor, but both Intel and AMD will do the job equally well, and 4GB of RAM is also required.

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The video game controller has evolved over the years. However, from the iconic NES and going all the way to the soon-to-be-released PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, they are basically the same; directional pad on the left and buttons on the right. Sure, the number of buttons has increased, and there are now analog thumb-sticks, but overall, the concept hasn't changed -- until now.

Today, Valve announces that it is revolutionizing the game controller with its innovative Steam Controller. This controller is designed to accompany its new Steam Machine hardware and SteamOS Linux distro. Clearly, the company has its sights set not only on your living room, but competing with Sony and Microsoft. Yes, the company is using Linux and a custom-designed controller to compete with PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

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Last year, Gabe Newell of Valve infamously called Windows 8 "a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space". However, this was not just lip service -- the company put its money where its mouth is and released its game-distribution service, Steam, for Linux. Today, Valve takes this a step further and announces a new Linux-distribution called SteamOS.

"As we've been working on bringing Steam to the living room, we've come to the conclusion that the environment best suited to delivering value to customers is an operating system built around Steam itself. SteamOS combines the rock-solid architecture of Linux with a gaming experience built for the big screen. It will be available soon as a free stand-alone operating system for living room machines", says the company.

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After two months of public beta testing, the Linux version of Valve’s popular multiplayer gaming ecosystem has been officially released and is available to download for free from the Ubuntu Software Center.

To celebrate the release, Valve is cutting the price of 50 Linux titles by between 50-80 percent in a week long sale that will end on Thursday, 21 February at 10 AM PST. Games currently on sale include Bastion, Trine 2, Counter Strike Source, Serious Sam 3, and Darwinia.

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Valve Corporation's popular multiplayer gaming ecosystem Steam has officially hit public beta on Linux, specifically for all users of Ubuntu 12.04.

In November, Valve's Linux team launched Steam for Linux in private beta for about a thousand users, and it included support for approximately 25 games. That number now has grown to almost 40, but with the exception of Team Fortress 2, most titles come from indie developers. Steam's most popular titles like Half-Life 2, BioShock, Portal 2, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, all of which are now several years old, are still missing on Linux, and will likely remain so.

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Valve has announced the launch of its Steam for Linux client as a limited access beta. Testers of the invite-only service were chosen from a large pool of applicants (over 60,000 people applied within the first week), with priority given to experienced Linux users.

Initially only available for Ubuntu 12.04+, with more distros to be added in the future, the beta client gives testers access to the free-to-play Team Fortress 2, as well as two dozen additional Steam titles, including Serious Sam 3: BFE, Trine 2, World of Goo, and Darwinia. The beta also includes the Big Picture mode, which allows Steam to be viewed on a TV and interacted with using a game controller.

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It’s fair to say Valve’s boss Gabe Newell isn’t a fan of Windows 8. In fact, the ex-Microsoft man called the new OS a "catastrophe for everyone in the PC space" and, just in case that doesn't make his views clear enough, Valve announced shortly afterwards that it would be working on bringing Steam, its hugely popular games distribution platform, to Linux. A move that prompted me to ask the seemingly unthinkable: Will Windows 8 make Linux the new gaming OS?

I guess we’ll find out the answer to that question soon enough because Windows 8 is now here and, it seems, the Linux version of Steam won’t be too far behind it.

Last Friday, Valve put out an open request for experienced Linux users to apply for the chance to install and test its new Steam for Linux client, stating that it would be notifying successful participants this week, and kicking off the limited beta shortly afterwards.

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Valve Corporation's Steam is the leading digital distribution channel for PC games. With over 1,000 titles available for purchase, an integrated social network and database of open game servers, Steam has attracted more than 25 million users since launching in 2003.

Today, Valve officially announced Steam will be coming to Mac in April, along with Source, the 3D gaming engine used in popular games such as Half Life 2, Team Fortress 2, and Counter-Strike.

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