Steam Big Picture Mode beta coming today, trailer released

Remember that time Valve almost-kind-of-sort-of quietly entered the console market with a new service called Steam Big Picture Mode which would directly compete with consoles in the living room? Yeah, that was crazy. We haven't heard much about it since then, but now Valve has released a new video explaining the service as they get ready to launch a beta.

All around the world, PC gamers who work on computers all day are quietly jumping with glee that they'll finally get to come home from work and play PC games from the couch. It remains to be seen how many players will be willing to run cables from their desktop to their television (or buy a dedicated PC for their TV,) but we're definitely looking forward to giving this a spin when the public beta launches later today.

Source : gamesradar[dot]com

Indies angry about Steam Greenlight fees, Valve says its a work in progress

Independent developers were none too pleased to learn that Valve is now charging a $100 fee to list games on Steam Greenlight, a new service which allows users to vote on which games will be offered for sale on Steam.

The fee came into being because lots of fake games and porn titles began clogging the service, and making it difficult to find genuine titles. Valve felt that the $100 fee would discourage trolls, and vowed to offer all the extra revenue to Child's Play to show they're not trying to make a quick buck.

However, some have fired back saying that it amounts to putting an economic stranglehold on the service, ensuring that struggling game designers or poorer people wouldn't be able to list their games. 

Valve has now issued a statement that somewhat addresses the outcry.

"We always try to build quick iteration into our process for development of new features, and Greenlight will be no different. We have a huge list of suggestions from customers and the lessons we've learned from shipping, so Greenlight will definitely continue to evolve over the next weeks and months as we tune the system and add valuable features."

While it's certainly not an admission of wrongdoing, this comment reads like they're saying "whoa whoa, don't everybody get angry just yet. This might not be permanent, we're still evaluating things." We'll be following this story and will update this space if Valve offers any further comment.

Source : gamesradar[dot]com

Valve Will Charge $100 for Steam Greenlight Submissions

Valve has announced that submitting a game to Steam Greenlight will now cost $100. Steam Greenlight was announced in July and allows users to vote on which games they believe should be available for sale on Steam, but in an announcement posted on the Steam Community, Valve says there is “unfortunately a significant amount of noise and clutter being submitted, either as a joke or by fans not fully understanding the purpose of Greenlight.”

In order to cut down on that noise, Valve will be charging a $100 fee for developers to post a game to Greenlight. All proceeds from the fees will be donated to the Child’s Play charity, as Valve says “we have no interest in making money from this, but we do need to cut down the noise in the system.” The announcement notes that anyone who has already submitted a game to Greenlight will not be charged the fee retroactively, but they will need to pay for future submissions.

Valve is also changing discoverability in Greenlight, giving users new ways to find games that relate to their interests. “The next time you visit Steam Greenlight you’ll be shown a smaller, manageable list of games that you haven’t rated,” the announcement says. “This view is a mix of popular games and new games to Greenlight.”

Valve concluded by saying it’s “very interested in maintaining an environment that is fair and beneficial to everyone involved, and one that is fun and rewarding to join” and that it will “keep iterating on this system and updating as we learn more about how the community and developers want to utilize it.”

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

Source : feeds[dot]ign[dot]com

Gotham City Imposters goes free-to-play on PC

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announced today that their fast-paced downloadable shooter, Gotham City Imposters, is now officially free-to-play on Steam.

As of today you can get on Steam and download the title, as well as all of its expansion packs absolutely free. As the game already supports microtransactions, it seems like this will be a fine strategy for helping increase a surely shrinking player base (and also making WBIE some money in the process.) 

The only question that remains is whether the console versions will make the F2P jump as well. Given XBLA's recent propensity toward experimenting with that business model, it seems like this would be a perfect match.

Source : gamesradar[dot]com

Valve fan pitches Half-Life 3 to Valve, gets shut down. Totally worth it though

It was always going to happen. A fan has used Steam's new Greenlight feature to pitch Half-Life 3 to Valve. That's pretty funny. Perhaps not quite so funny considering Valve have already said they expected someone to do it, but hey, it's always fun to see someone say 'sod it' to their community reputation and just go ahead and do something mega-daft.

Above: Oh, Half-Life 3! Valve totally haven't thought of making that

Steam Greenlight is intended to give developers the chance to put their games, ideas and assets up for the community to evaluate and give feedback on, in the hope that new projects will be deemed strong enough to be published on Steam. That's where jokester Sz|Caidus has suggested a game called Half-Life 3.

Unfortunately, the proposal (after being 'heartily laughed at' as promised, no doubt) was taken down leaving no trace that it ever existed. But it is funny, if only because it makes us wonder how much longer we can possibly wait before the real Half-Life 3 gets announced. We've had alleged artwork from Half-Life 2: Episode 3 and so many rumours we've been able to make an entire article out of them. At this rate we'll be telling our great-grandchildren about the two great sequels that never happened: Shenmue III and Half-Life 3. Before all the videogames were sacrificed to the great lizardmen overlords, of course.

Source: NowGamer

Source : gamesradar[dot]com

Steam Updates Groups, Enhances Content Management

Valve has announced more new updates to the Steam Community, making changes to group pages as well as how users manager their uploaded content. Valve says that over 2.5 million groups have been created, and their pages will now receive an entirely new layout, adding a group overview, friend showcase and new group discussions.

Discussions can be public or private and users will have “complete moderator control” over their own groups, including the ability to create sub-forums, add moderators and delete posts. Groups can also list their favorite games and a default language can be set.

Valve has also added a new way to keep track of screenshots, replays, videos linked from YouTube, workshop Items and Workshops on your profile page. All content will be available for users to display or manage, with an image wall that will offer multiple ways to view your uploaded screenshots. Players will also be able to favorite screenshots in order to find them later or share them with friends.

Today is the third day of a week’s worth of Community updates that Valve is rolling out this week. The first update came on Monday with the introduction of Game Hubs. For more details about all of the new features, check out the Steam Community’s official site.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

Source : feeds[dot]ign[dot]com