Tag Archives: Steam

Train2Game News Steam Game Discoverability

Posted on by

Valve logoValve has made some major changes to the way users discover games on its digital distribution platform Steam.

The new Discovery Update revamps the store’s home page and presents recommendations based on past purchases, recent gameplay and friend recommendations.

Also new is the curators list. Users can create their own list of games, based on a sci-fi theme for example, and recommend games based on their tastes for other players to see and subscribe to.

Steam will still retain some of its more traditional elements however, such as displaying popular new releases, recently updated games and top sellers. Users though will now be able to customise their homepage to display which of these categories they want to see.

Game searching has also been updated, and now allows users to discover titles by entering a tag or a basic description of a game they would be interested in playing.

Through a new traffic data analytics system, developers will be able to see where their game is appearing on the store, how many times it has been shown, and if those impressions have resulted in game page views.

The revamp is Valve’s response to the growing number of games being released on Steam. Since January, 1,300 new titles have been added to the marketplace, a significant increase on previous years and more than a third of the store’s total lifetime releases.. In total there are now more than 3,700 games on Steam.

Source: Develop

Train2Game News Gauntlet modernised

Posted on by

image

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE) announced today that the release date for Gauntlet, the fully modernized reboot of the classic dungeon crawler, has moved to the 23rd September, 2014.

The additional time was needed to fine-tune details in order to bring gamers an even more robust multiplayer experience.

Gauntlet is still set to arrive on Steam for Windows PC and will offer full support for SteamOS and the upcoming Steam Machines in 2015.  As a thank you for all fans who pre-ordered the game, WBIE has added a special in-game item as a bonus: The Spawn of Kerthull, a special Wizard’s Robe made from dead imps, who are children of the greater demon, Kerthull.

In addition, WBIE and developer Arrowhead Game Studios today released a new video that takes an in-depth look into the heroes, game modes and lore of the game.

You can view the video here

Train2Game News Maya LT 2015 on Steam

Posted on by

Maya LT 2015Maya LT 2015 will be made available through Steam, Autodesk has announced. The feature set will allow Valve’s community of 65m gamers – as well as the developers and artists among them – use the animation and modelling tools to create 3D game assets.

These can then be used to personalise games and import user-created assets into compatible Steam titles, such as the hugely popular Dota 2. Assets created can also be used in any games users are developing.

Purchasing Maya LT through Steam will also give developers and gamers a full commercial Maya LT licence, allowing them to export any assets create with the tool to games for PC, console and mobile.

The licence will available to purchase through Steam on Tuesday, April 22nd.

“The Valve community is unique because it includes a very engaged mix of both gamers and developers working together to mod titles and generate content,” said Autodesk’s director of games solutions Frank Delise.

“We’re engaging with the community on day one by participating in forums, answering questions and offering custom tutorial content for Dota 2 fans. We can’t wait to try new things with the community and see how they push Maya LT to its limit and beyond.”

Train2Game News Sandbox Game Maker

Posted on by

Sandbox ChurchPlatinum Arts Sandbox Game Maker is now on Steam Greenlight and needs your positive votes to become available for all.

The game maker features in game editing, coop editing, dynamic lighting, crossplatform support and advanced networking with the goal of adding visual scripting and many more features. Users will be able to rapidly create games of many different genres and require little to no prior coding experience. Sandbox is available for Windows, Linux and Mac and is based on the Cube 2 Engine.

The developer, Mike, originally started the Project in 2007 because he wanted the kids in his before and afterschool program to be able to create more than just 2D art on the computers, he wanted them to be able to create worlds and stories. He wanted them to be able to unleash their imaginations and walk around in what they created. Mike ended up releasing the project online and it ended up taking off and now is being used worldwide.

Mike said “The project is free and open source and will always have a free and open source version but to help fund the development and new features a Kickstarter and Steam Greenlight Project has been started to help fund a commercial version. The commercial version would be too intensive graphically for schools but I’m hoping to port over a lot of the core features so that everyone can benefit if the commercial version is a success.”

You can view a whole list of the features at http://www.sandboxgamemaker.com/

To support the project on Greenlight visit http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=229323214

Train2Game News: Valve to stop Greenlight

Posted on by

GreenlightValve hopes to render Steam Greenlight defunct by gradually eroding the blockades between small developers and Steam publishing.

Steam Greenlight launched in August 2012, designed as a system to enable small developers to attain Steam publishing rights via community voting.

Greenlight allows users to vote on game projects and concepts posted by indie developers that they would like to see published on Steam. The highest voted software is then considered by Valve for a global Steam release.

But reports from Valve’s Steam Dev Days event on Wednesday quote Valve boss Gabe Newell as saying the firm is looking to make the voting system ‘go away’. Newell’s revelation was Tweeted by various attending developers, including Hot Blooded Games CFO and Marketing director Dave Oshry.

“Our goal is to make Greenlight go away,” Oshry quoted Newell as saying. “Not because it’s not useful, but because we’re evolving.”

Newell reportedly spoke of breaking down the barriers between developers and Steam publishing, potentially opening up the platform to more indie developers and their games, perhaps in similar ways to Apple’s iTunes App Store.

Greenlight suffered a troubled launch, being initially plagued with spam posts containing fake projects and ‘jokes’, or requests for titles such as the Origin-only Battlefield 3 or ‘Half-Life 3’.

Valve announced on Wednesday that Steam has grown to 75 million registered users, up 15 percent in the three months since its October announcement of 65 million users.

The firm also revealed significant changes planned for the Steam Controller, which will reportedly lose its central touch screen and gain traditional face buttons, and its plan to bring music, TV and movies to SteamOS before its final public launch.

Source: CVG

Train2Game News: New Steam update

Posted on by

SteamThe new Steam update will now allow users to toggle whether they want to be able to download games whilst still playing another game or not.

The update also lets you choose what time of day future updates will occur.

The full list of updates are below:

General

  • Add ability to limit what time of day Steam is allowed to automatically update apps
  • Add option to let other games download while a game is running (this is a per-game setting)
  • Add download regions for Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Ottawa in Canada
  • Add ‘Copy all text to clipboard’ context menu option in the System Information dialog.

Steam client UI

  • Improve downloading status text at the bottom of the main window

Big Picture

  • Added ability to opt into game betas and edit launch options
  • Added Inbox item under Linux if your machine requires a reboot due to OS level updates
  • Fix infinite loop of Cloud sync error dialogs on game launch
  • Fixed mouse cursor being visible during startup animation even if it hadn’t moved

Linux

  • Fix paste pasting stale text.
  • Fix Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V in client-hosted web page text controls.
  • Fix incorrect foregrounding of a blank window in some silent startup cases.

Train2Game News: Steam reaches new milestone

Posted on by

SteamSteam has had an incredible year this year with their Valve digital distribution service with a rise of 30% of users.

Sixty five million users are now on Steam marking a new milestone for the company. This number has been reached with thanks to 2013 seein the introduction of Family Sharing, Steam Trading Cards, Early Access and the introduction of Linux support.

Steam also passed it’s 10th birthday this year with many more in sight thanks to the announcements of the company’s movement into gaming hardware with the 2014 launch of various Steam Machines, its new operating system SteamOS, and a Steam Controller featuring dual trackpads and haptic feedback.

“The main goal of Steam has always been to increase the quality of the user’s experience by reducing the distance between content creators and their audience,” Valve boss Gabe Newell explained.

“As the platform grows, our job is to adapt to the changing needs of both the development and user communities. In the coming year, we plan to make perhaps our most significant collaborations with both communities through the Steam Dev Days and the Steam Machines beta.”

I imagine that Valve and Steam will continue to go from strength to strength through their eleventh year and on wards.

Train2Game News: Valve Steam Machine specs

Posted on by

ValveValve has confirmed the specifications of its Steam Machine prototype boxes, which will be sent out later this year.

300 of the devices will be sent to testers in a closed hardware beta, and will include the also-announced Steam Controller.

“The prototype machine is a high-end, high-performance box, built out of off-the-shelf PC parts,” said Valve in a statement.

“It is also fully upgradable, allowing any user to swap out the GPU, hard drive, CPU, even the motherboard if you really want to.”

“Apart from the custom enclosure, anyone can go and build exactly the same machine by shopping for components and assembling it themselves. And we expect that at least a few people will do just that.”

All of the “high-end, high-performance” boxes will run Valve’s Linux-based SteamOS operating system, but the cases will be made by a variety of manufacturers.

Valve’s list of the internal components of the Machines is as follows:

•    GPU: Some units with NVidia Titan, some GTX780, some GTX760, and some GTX660

•    CPU: Some boxes with Intel i7-4770, some i5-4570, and some i3

•    RAM: 16GB DDR3-1600 (CPU), 3GB DDR5 (GPU)

•    Storage: 1TB/8GB Hybrid SSHD

•    Power Supply: Internal 450w 80Plus Gold

•    Dimensions: Approx. 12×12.4×2.9-inches high

“This design is not meant to serve the needs of all of the tens of millions of Steam users,” added Valve on the details.

“It may, however, be the kind of machine that a significant percentage of Steam users would actually want to purchase – those who want plenty of performance in a high-end living room package”

“Many others would opt for machines that have been more carefully designed to cost less, or to be tiny, or super quiet, and there will be Steam Machines that fit those descriptions.”

Train2Game News: Valve announces SteamOS

Posted on by

SteamOSValve has made the first of three big announcements this week, the first being a free to download Steam Operating System.

This is Valves next big step in bringing their services to the comfort of your front room on a nice big screen. SteamOS combines the rock-solid architecture of Linux with the gaming experience you’ve come to love and expect from Valve.

The idea behind SteamOS is you don’t have to give up your favorite games, your online friends, and all the Steam features you love just to play on the big screen. SteamOS, running on any living room machine, will provide access to the best games and user-generated content available. At the core of the SteamOS is everything you already love about Steam.

Valve have also achieved significant performance increases in graphics processing and are now targeting audio performance and reductions in input latency at the operating system level. Game developers are already taking advantage of these gains as they target SteamOS for their new releases which should see quality of gaming increase even further.

SteamOS will be available soon as a free download for users and as a freely licensable operating system for manufacturers.

Valve’s second announcement is tomorrow at 10am PST.

Train2Game News: SpecialEffect Item in Team Fortress 2

Posted on by

Virtual ViewfinderSpecialEffect today announced that the first of their three premium in-game items for Team Fortress 2 has been released in the in-game store through Valve’s Steam Workshop platform.

The item, called The Virtual Viewfinder, produced as a result of their initiative with SEGA Europe Ltd., is available for purchase for £2.99 in the Mann Co. Store, where SEGA’s proceeds of each sale will go direct to the charity.

Mark Saville, Communications Officer at SpecialEffect, said “This is a huge day for us in terms of how the gaming community is able to support our work helping people with disabilities to play video games. It’s the first in-game donation stream that we’ve had, and we’re excited that gamers now have such a direct and engaging way of helping.”

James Schall, Director of Digital Distribution at SEGA Europe, said, “We’ve been blown away by the support from the community. The wonderful comments across the web supporting what we’ve done are incredibly humbling for the team and now gamers can directly support SpecialEffect and get their hands on some great items in one go.”

He added, “I’m a proud ambassador of SpecialEffect and a huge fan of the way they use technology to enrich the lives of those with disabilities. We enjoy a fruitful and collaborative relationship with Valve based on mutual respect; it’s great to be able to use this relationship to drive awareness and revenue for this fantastic charity.”

Players can purchase the item at:

http://store.teamfortress.com/itemdetails/170966833