Them's fightin' words!

Steam isn't always perfect, but it's a hell of a lot better than any other platform I've used (Origin and Impulse).  Their sales continue to be outrageous and the platform has turned me on to a ton of games that I never would have played otherwise.  They continue to be one of the only ways for indie publishers to get any notice at all, and they continue to push the boundaries with new technologies like Steam Greenlight.

The availability of software is also an interesting development, and one that I think was a long time in coming.  At the moment, the selection is anemic and there honestly isn't a single thing I need to have, but I can see the software store expanding exponentially over the next year or two.  There are several products I wouldn't mind buying through Steam (e.g. WinAmp, WinRAR, a permanent copy of Vuze Pro, etc) that I would rather not buy individually.

That said, I've never had to deal with support directly, but I fully believe the reports of it being less than desirable.  You have to keep in mind, however, that Steam has 54 million users with up to 5 million concurrent users at any given time.  That's a hell of a user base to support.  That doesn't excuse their poor support, but it does put it in perspective.


-b0b
(.../fanboy.)

Free copy of Plants vs. Zombies if you don't already have it.

http://i.imgur.com/DxjjH.jpg


-b0b
(...free!)

Xbox first? I am not sure Dawnguard is even out on my PS3 yet....still

I received an extra Dota 2 invite today on Steam.  Does anyone want it?


-b0b
(...weee!)

A scary mod for L4D:

Gabe Newell kinda-sorta confirmed that Valve is busily working on a new game engine, Source 2.  Based on the limited details Gabe gave, it's apparently a totally new engine as opposed to an update to Source (which was itself an update to GoldSrc, the engine developed for Half-Life).

He also seemingly confirmed Valve was working on Ricochet 2.  Ricochet was a crappy Tron-esque disc throwing game that will almost certainly never see a sequel, and Gabe has referred to Half-Life 3 as "Ricochet 2" in the past.




-b0b
(...things that make you go "hmmmmm".)

We definitely need to have our annual New Year's(ish) LAN.  I'm going to be gone for 2-4 weeks in January/February and I'm not sure exactly when that will occur, but I'll definitely make a post as soon as I find out.


-b0b
(...in freakin' Georgia of all places.)