Steam’s New Content Delivery System

Steam is cleaning the gunk out of its gears with a new content delivery system, upgrading its download rates and streamlining its publishing process. The new system boasts a larger aggregate bandwidth, meaning Steam will be able to more easily cater to large demands worldwide, and an HTTP delivery system.

Updates are getting tuned up in a big way — instead of re-downloading an entire file to install one update, the new system will only download the changes made to the file, because that’s what an update means. It will also be possible to update to a game while playing it.

Valve has written new tools for developers and publishers to simplify their behind-the-scenes processes and ship products faster, promising that publisher-side updates will also be streamlined, which is something EA in particular has been quietly vocal about changing.

The new system will be applied to "more and more" content over time, beginning "soon" with the release of Dota 2 later this year. You can try it out now by downloading an HD trailer from the Steam Store.

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Battlefield 3 Might Not Come To Steam

EA has posted a list of the digital retailers expected to carry Battlefield 3, and it appears one high-profile service hasn’t made the cut. We’ll give you a hint: It’s recently been involved in a small-scale scandal with EA, and it rhymes with "Scream."

Steam, which recently removed (and reinstalled) a bevy of EA games from its site due to supposed contractual infringement, is not listed among Battlefield 3‘s digital retailers. EA’s new digital service, Origin, is mentioned first, but so are other online distribution sites such as Direct2Drive and GamersGate. EA has said it will offer games on all download sites and that Origin is not an attempt to compete with Steam, which has over 30 million unique users.

EA Support describes its complicated back-door relationship with third-party download sites, mentioning one distributor in a specifically vague manner: "When a download service forbids publishers from contacting players with patches, new levels, items and other services – it disrupts our ability to provide the ongoing support players expect from us. At present, this is the case with only one download service. While EA offers its entire portfolio to this site, they have elected to not post many of our games. We hope to find a mutually agreeable solution to this issue soon."

We have contacted EA for more information on Battlefield 3‘s online availability.

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Lucasarts Classics Now Available On Steam

Starting today, the following classic Lucasarts games will be available on Steam.

Indiana Jones® and the Fate of Atlantis
Indiana Jones® and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure
LEGO® Indiana Jones: The Original Adventure
LOOM™
The Dig®

This is excellent news because, well…actually, hold on a second. Would it be weird to confess that I had a mad crush on Sophia Hapgood from Fate of Atlantis? It would. Okay, never mind. Let’s move on, shall we?

Also available are a handful of, uh, not quite classics.

Star Wars Battlefront® II
Star Wars Republic Commando®
Star Wars Starfighter™
Armed and Dangerous™
Thrillville®: Off the Rails™

The really good news is that Lucasarts has made it clear this is just the first round. So there’s no immediate need for the obvious "Hey what about {insert Full Throttle or the name of your favorite X-Wing, TIE Fighter, or Jedi Knight game here}?"

Conspicuously absent is any reference to the price of the games, which probably means Lucasarts intentionally didn’t mention it so guys like me couldn’t kvetch about what we think is too high a price point. In other words, I’m guessing $20 a game, but with some sort of package deal available.

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Left 4 Dead 2 Multiplayer Demo On Its Way, Pre-Order Bonus

Doug Lombardi has told Joystiq that a multiplayer demo for Valve’s Left 4 Dead 2 is planned for both the Xbox 360 and PC. According to Valve’s PR guru, users who pre-order the upcoming zombie survival title at "participating retailers or [via] Steam" will gain "advanced access to the demo," which will eventually land on both platforms for all users prior to the game’s November 17 launch.

Speaking with OXM at a recent London preview event, Lombardi discussed the strength of Left 4 Dead‘s "word of mouth," which has presumably fueled the need for a demo to the sequel. With groups calling for a boycott of Left 4 Dead 2 due to lack of content support for the original title, a demo may be the best way for Valve to prove why it believes its sequel warrants a full price tag. Although, strong pre-order numbers tell us the game is already on pace to decimate sales charts like a zombie tank.

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Steam Launches Dawn of War II Demo

Are you curious how PC strategy game Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II turned out, but aren’t quite willing to drop $50 on the title to find out for yourself? Thanks to a new demo and temporary discount, you’re in luck.

The demo, showcasing the game’s single-player mode, is now available for download from the Steam digital distribution service. As per usual, it’s free of charge, requiring only that you have a (free) Steam account, and an Internet connection through which you can pull down the file.

If you complete the demo and find yourself wanting more, Steam is also offering the game with a 25 percent discount until Monday, April 20. Instead of its regular $50 price tag, the game will only set you back $38 — a definite bargain for one of the most innovative action-strategy titles of 2009.

Image courtesy THQ

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Empire: Total War Out Now on Steam

The Creative Assembly”s Empire: Total War is now out via Valve”s Steam digital distribution service for roughly $50 dollars. The game is the latest in the Total War series, started by TCA with Shogun: Total War, in June of 2000. In Empire: TW, every projectile is precisely plotted for maximum realism during combat. Not to mention it is the first Total War game in which naval combat is featured in real-time!

Suffice it to say, we are excited…Official Release:Empire: Total War from The Creative Assembly and SEGA is now available via Steam, a leading platform for the delivery and management of PC games with over 20 million accounts worldwide, as well as retail outlets around the world. Empire is the latest in the award-winning Total War strategy game series and the first to extensively utilize the Steamworks suite of Services for both development and marketing purposes.

For multiplayer support in both the electronic and retail versions of the game, Empire: Total War leverages Steamworks for Achievements, statistics, authentication, matchmaking, and support for the Steam Community. On the marketing side, Steamworks was used to fulfill a variety of promotional offers.

Left 4 Dead sales increased by 3000% During Steam Sale

Left 4 Dead saw a 3000% increase in sales during its Steam sale last weekend. Valve’s Gabe Newell revealed the stunning figure during his DICE keynote, in which he also announced the digital distribution service saw its customer base increase 1600% that same weekend. G4 noted that the Valve overlord believes those figures broke the game’s launch sales.

Steam has certainly been experimenting with numerous sales lately. Valve has even hired an experimental psychologist to maximize buzz and marketing around the online retail sales. Wait, now Valve doesn’t just want our wallets, they want our braaaaaaains too? Taking the whole zombie thing a little seriously, perhaps?

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Steam Update Adds In-game Web Browsing

Valve today released an update to Steam that includes the final version of the in-game web browser from December’s beta patch.

A "Web" tab at the bottom of the in-game overlay opens up the generic browser. Highlighting, copying and pasting is supported, but right-click is apparently disabled.

The rest of the update adds random fixes to various games and Steam systems.

The full patch notes follow:

• Updated game overlay web browser to support generic web browsing, including web sites that use flash
• Fixed games list scrolling behavior with pageup/pagedown and mouse wheel
• Fixed GTA4 backups not restoring correctly
• Fixed several cases where matchmaking …

Source: ShackNews.com

Mayfair Plans Expansion For Martin Wallace’s ‘Steam’

Martin Wallace’s Steam, due out from Mayfair on April 2nd, not only includes a number of variations of the game in the core box, it also sets the stage for play with both past and future expansions and variants.

The core game (see “Mayfair to Release New ‘Steam’”), now $55 MSRP, will include a full color, double-sided map board of two different geographic areas at the beginning of the railway age. The map of the northeastern U.S. and adjacent Canada is best used for three to four players; the map of the lower Rhine and Ruhr region is best for four to five players. Pieces for six players are included; a variety of current and future variant and expansion maps can be used for the game.

Other components include:

• 130 double-sided track tiles (of 15 types)
• 8 “New City” tiles
• 24 Wooden player tokens (in six colors)
• 96 wooden goods cubes (in five colors)
• 8 “New City” tiles
• 7 “Action” tiles
• 18 “City Growth” markers
• 52 gold and silver money tokens
• 1 turn marker
• 1 cloth goods bag
• Full color rules booklet covering both the basic and standard games

Source: icv2.com

EA Games Coming Soon to Steam

EA has accepted the warm embrace of Steam and will begin using the digital distribution service.

Following reports that Spore was crawling out of the primordial ooze to Steam, Valve announced today that several of the latest EA titles are available now, with many more coming over the next couple weeks.
Available now:

• Spore
• Spore Creepy & Cute Parts Pack
• Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
• Mass Effect
• Need for Speed Undercover
• EA Sports’ FIFA Manager 2009

Coming Soon:

• Mirror’s Edge
• Red Alert 3
• Dead Space

Source: Joystiq.com

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