Jun 28
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Jun 19
While Steam users aren’t allowed to resell their digital games, it’s been spotted in the code of the latest beta update that digital gaming service may soon get the ability to share games with friends, allowing users to give access to certain games to friends if they aren’t currently playing them. The lines of code
May 16
Valve’s Steam platform has earned the loyalty and respect of many desktop gamers because of its progressive online marketplace and social network. The frequent deals and discounts help too. Recently Valve launched a new meta-game designed to keep its members locked in to Steam. It’s called Steam Trading Cards.
The idea is to collect a complete set of certain cards. To complete a set, you have to spend time playing the supported games and trade cards with other Steam members. Note that you can’t complete a set just by playing or trading alone; you have to do both to be the very best.
When you complete a set, you can use them to craft a badge. These badges are unlike the normal Steam badges. They come with random goodies such as emoticons, profile backgrounds and even DLC or game coupons. If you collect the same set multiple times, the badge of that set levels up. The badge’s image and title changes with each upgrade.
Crafting or leveling up badges also levels up your Steam profile. When you level up, you earn non-tradable items such as extra slots on your friend list. Here’s a demo of the crafting courtesy of YouTuber PlaysVidyaJames:
Steam Trading Cards is still in beta, so as of now it’s only tied with 6 games – DOTA 2, Half-Life 2, Portal 2, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Don’t Starve. I guess the Beta status also explains the errors and hiccups in the video. Are you ready to play a game about your gaming habits? Then sign up for the Steam Trading Cards Beta on Steam. Read the FAQ as well while you’re at it.
[via GamesRadar]
May 16
Similar to Microsoft’s reward and achievement system for the Xbox, Valve has come out with their own reward system for PC gamers on Steam, and they’re calling it Trading Cards. It’s launching in beta and it lets you earn rewards for playing Steam games. The Trading Cards will add to your “Steam Level,” as well as the ability to earn rewards by collecting achievements.
The FAQ to the new Trading Card system is a bit confusing, and we recken you’ll have to try it out first before you can really understand it, but Valve says that Trading Cards can be collected in order “to earn items that help you customize your profile and show off your gameplay.” Each game has its own set of trading cards, for which you can earn up to half of them by playing the game, and the other half need to be collected by trading with other users.
Each user will also have “badges” on their profile, and these represent the trading card sets that you’ve collected. Badges also earn you rewards, like profile backgrounds, emoticons, and the chance to earn coupons for things like game discounts and DLC. Whenever you earn another complete set of trading cards, you can “upgrade” your badge.
For the time being, Trading Cards is only available for a select number of games, which include Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Team Fortress 2, Dota 2, Portal 2, Half-Life 2, and Don’t Starve. However, as with any beta program, more games will be added on in the future over the next few months, with eventually all Steam games hopefully supporting Trading Cards, although there was nothing said about support for all games.
Frankly, we’re surprised that Valve has taken this long to introduce a rewards system for Steam. In the past, the company has introduced items that you can trade with other users, including nifty hats in games like Team Fortress 2, but a rewards system is a long time coming. Even if it’s something a bit strange such as Trading Cards, Valve is hoping that gamers will become a bit more invested in their Steam accounts.
VIA: Ars Technica
Steam Trading Cards is Valve’s reward system for playing games is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
May 15
Valve Announces Steam Trading Cards
Posted in: Today's Chili
May 10
You already know that Half-Life 2 for Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC and OS X is excellent, but have you tried it on Linux? Well, yes, technically speaking, you couldn’t actually play that version until this week when it launched on Steam for Linux, but our question stands! Yeah, that’s what we thought. Now that that’s straightened out, we might warn you about the beta nature of HL2‘s Linux launch. Like other Valve titles recently released to Steam for Linux, Half-Life 2 is merely a beta for now. Should you already own a copy for another platform, it’ll show up in your Steam library as available for download like any other crossplatform game. Of course, you’re probably too tied up with Half-Life 2‘s recently added Oculus Rift support on PC to think about a plain old keyboard/mouse experience. And hey, we can’t blame you for that.
Interestingly, Valve’s internal Steambox is powered by Steam’s Linux version; it wouldn’t be hard to imagine Valve scaling up its Linux game library ahead of the retail debut of various Steamboxes (or Steamboxen, if you will). That remains to be seen, of course, as Valve’s made no official announcement regarding that project’s availability.
Via: OMG Ubuntu
Source: SteamDB
Apr 25
Valve’s Steam digital distribution gaming platform has added support for gaming subscription plans, allowing gamers the ability to manage their subscription-based games through the gaming service. The new feature offers a simple way to sign up for games and manage payments. The first and only game so far to use the new feature is Darkfall Unholy Wars.
More games will follow in the future, but for now, only Darkfall Unholy Wars is compatible — most likely to just test out the new system before rolling it out for more games. The service will allow you to manage subscriptions of all your Steam-based subscription video games through Steam itself, which is certainly nifty, and should give gamers a bit of flexibility and control.
To sign up for a Steam Subscription Plan, you’ll have to find a subscription-based game in the Steam store, and from there you just select the plan that you want and purchase the plan (rather than just a one-time fee for most games). It seems it’s a lot simpler than buying individual plans for multiple subscription-based games.
You can also cancel subscriptions from your Steam account, and Steam will list all of the subscriptions that you have. From there, you can just select the one you want to cancel and you’ll be all set. That same page will also let you renew subscriptions. Currently, Steam doesn’t offer the chance to gift a subscription plan, but we’re guessing they’ll come out with that sometime in the future.
Gaming subscription trend expands as Valve joins the party is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Apr 19
The cost of a botched operation? £6.99 on Steam thanks to Surgeon Simulator
Posted in: Today's Chili 
Clumsy wannabe sawbones: warm up your hammers and hatchets, because Surgeon Simulator has arrived on Steam. The infamous game challenges players to save patients’ lives with an array of coarse tools and an apparent case of the DTs, and was prototyped in a mere 48 hours during the Global Game Jam back in January. After being greenlit by Steam, it’ll be up for grabs later today at £6.99 (about $11) with extra features like a “fiendishly difficult ambulance mode” that brings extra quarts of gore, along with new operations like a kidney or brain transplant and a new soundtrack and visuals. There’s a lineup of desperate patients — they’d have to be — waiting at the source link and the video after the break.
Filed under: Gaming
Source: Bossa Studios
Apr 05
If you’re familiar with the Alienware X51, you know you’ve only had it available with Windows software out of the box until now – now you’ll find Ubuntu leading up the show. This machine brings on a rather small form factor you can use to replace your gaming console – if you dare – a possibility made even more real now that Valve’s Steam gaming interface works with Linux natively. You know good and well you’ve wanted to try it since that bit was announced.
Ubuntu is being pushed with this machine as an ideal environment for gamers of all kinds, specifically because of its low-weight abilities. You’ve got an extremely clean build with this operating system right out of the box, with only the basics loaded immediately – you choose what you want when you want it – you also get Ubuntu-specific interfaces through Ubuntu’s Software Center, with “thousands of free applications” at your fingertips.
Several builds are ready for gaming action with the Alienware X51 this week, the least expensive of these starting at a cool $599 USD. You’ll be able to ramp up to $1,049 with the largest of the collection – it’s still tiny, it’s just got a 3rd Gen Ivy Bridge Intel Core i7 processor under the hood instead of the smallest model’s Core i3. These systems also come with NVIDIA GeForce GTX graphics processing architecture for top-notch graphics delivery.
Alienware X51
Front-Height: 13.504″ (343mm)
Rear-Height: 12.54″ (318.5mm)
Depth: 12.52″ (318mm)
Width: 3.74″ (95mm)
Have a peek at the Alienware X51 right this minute and consider Ubuntu for your next-generation gaming beast. Let us know if you’re planning on buying one of these builds now, and be sure to note if you’ll be jumping in with Ubuntu Linux or if you’ll stick with Windows for the foreseeable future.
Alienware X51 Ubuntu Linux compact gaming PC unveiled is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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