Valve announces new Steam client for 2010

Valve has announced a new version of Steam, which is immediately available in public beta.

In the last 12 months, Steam has grown 200%. There are now 25 million users, 1000+ games, 12 billion player minutes per month, and 75 billion Steam client minutes per month. To accommodate this growth, a new Steam client has been created.

[dxmnecro]

Finally! I just hope it's actually easier to use and not some over graphical mess.

[Genesis5]

Actually I just updated it's pretty slick. I like it. Very easy to navigate. Nice different views for your game files.

[Bnet343]

Yes, I just got it too. I like the way it tells you how many gamers are online. Definitely needed an aesthetic change after all these years. Valve rules. Just need Half-Life 3 ...

[pangitkqb]

I have to give the Changes Valve has made to Steam a solid "two thumbs up." It provides more information - on games and Steam as a platform alike - than the current standard and is intuitive to use and browse.

Gotta hand it to Valve for providing an excellent service.

[toaster]

I've been tinkering with it myself. Everything is now more streamlined and easy to access. I love the new Description View mode for games. The info and game news/description is very helpful with achievements and whatnot. I have 50+ games so Grid view is useless to me.

Store is mostly the same layout but looks nicer and cleaner. Smooth interface shows useful info.

My only gripe is that it looks a little Zune-y.

[evrfighter]

diggin it.
Though I never knew I had 72 full games on steam =\

[Tarmgar]

I love the new look! So much more flush thatn the older version. I think I'll have to stick with this one :). I know it's a beta, but here's to hoping I don't find many bugs with it so I can enjoy it fully.

[ATi_Elite]

OMG STEAM! just another perfect example that PROVES PC gaming is DEAD. Only 25 million users, that's it? Only 25 million users with NO TV commercials? No Advertising! How lame. If PC gaming was still relevant Steam would have 25 Billion users. Epic FAIL. (sarcastic LOL)

Napolean Total War
Stalker Call of Pripyat
Natural Selection 2
Starcraft 2
World of Warcraft: Catalysm
Star Wars The Old Republic
Command and Conquer 4
Supreme Commander 2
Forged by Chaos
Star Trek Online

just pure examples of the PC having NO GAMES.

[TheIneffableBob]

The new design is beautiful, and I absolutely love the WebKit rendering engine for the browser.

[solar]

gonna fool with it tomorrow. well obviously after some battlefield.

[Letros]

Sexy! The best thing that happened to PC gaming just got a face lift! I was just thinking today Valve should update the UI, this is really impressive!

[darkequitus]

Slick

[Pjuice]

glad to see how much pc gaming is growing 200% in 12 months nice!

[pangitkqb]

All this talk of "PC gaming is dead," but I've never seen any numbers to back up the claim.

On the contrary, numbers like this point to a healthy, robust even, community that is growing, not shrinking.

:D

[Myst]

Sadly mine won't connect to the steam network so I guess I'll update tomorrow.

[TheIneffableBob]

Try deleting your ClientRegistry.blob. That might fix it. The update has some bugs at the moment, but that's to be expected since it's a beta.

[Myst]

+Bubbles+

Thanks a million that fixed the problem and it's updating as I type this out. Once again thanks.

[MajesticBeast]

Wow the new Ui looks good.

[KingKiff]

Were are all the haters???

the word "steam" usually brings them out in droves...

P.S. PC gaming will never die, the consoles will just become PC's lol.

[champ21]

Steam is a really good social platform. I see more and more ppl online all the time, mostly the "ingame count is rising week on week" this shows a healthy community.

Forget about the rest of pc gaming, steam alone challenges xbox live when it comes to users logged in (both currently peak around 2.5million). Considering Steam itself is not all PC gaming is, PC still is the largest online platform and its free.

Steam even in its current state has features that are on the wish list for PSN and Xbox live, cant wait to see what they add in this beta.

Another plus using PCs for gaming in general aside the superior graphics and experience is the lower cost of gaming on the PC platform and its Backward compatibility. Few years from now when the xbox 360 and ps3 are dead, the next consoles might not support the current games bought, While pc users will be maintaining their decades worth of games bought, which personally i think is awesome. The software itself is a large investment and all of it going away with the coming of a new platform is sad.

[masonkendly]

Valve this announced result of competition in computer industry.every company want to attract people though their product its necessary to bring something different than other company.one good thing of this war is that Coustmer now have many chose and they can buy a comfortable and useful computer in a reasonable Price.

http://www.articlesbase.com...

[champ21]

Now all valve needs to do is advertise steam. If it got 1/5th the adds PSN or xbox live gets, it would do wonders. Considering its already growing so fast just based on word of mouth.

[Letros]

A minor TV advertisement, showing off everything from casual Popcap titles, to a big multiplatform game would be most beneficial for them.

[Stoney22]

"Now all valve needs to do is advertise steam. If it got 1/5th the adds PSN or xbox live gets, it would do wonders. Considering its already growing so fast just based on word of mouth."

Steam most likely is growing on word of mouth. This rapid increase i bet you could put most down to the fact that more and more games require you to have steam in order to play them Moder Warfare 2 is a perfect example of this.
Not to sound like the grumpy old man or anything but this stat of a 200% increase doesn't mean an increase in PC gaming but an increase in the steam community helped by the fact Steam is forced on most of the PC gaming community.

[Letros]

But don't forget the 100% increase every year since its induction, and also the fact that PC gaming is the most profitable platform for gaming. 2010 is just going to widen the gap even futher with titles such as APB, Cataclysm, StarCraft 2, Deus Ex 3, now is a great time to for anyone to get a gaming rig, especially how cheap you could build something superior to consoles. It's not all about Crysis and insane graphics, no other platform has a larger indie crowd, these games are important and good!

[thebudgetgamer]

the only reason i would ever consider buying a windows based computer.

[ps3ftwin]

I started buying most of my games on PC ever since i went steam.

Console games cost about 75usd where i am at(i know its rape). Steam still maintains the US pricing in this region, difference per game is about 30usd. Insane.

My Ps3 now only plays exclusive games, next game on the ps3 will be gow3.

[chak_]

my only concern with steam is EU pricing.

it's a rip off, and need to change. I've currently no reason to buy on steam over retail

[rexus12345]

Steam doesn't set the prices, publishers do, so Steam prices should be the same as your local retail prices, but Steam has several advantages such as you don't have to get out of your home and periodic sales and can drop a games prices as far as 75% (which means 25% of the original price)

[Revvin]

Steam is a business, its essentially a shop so while the publishers set an RRP and may even set a minimum digital download price so they still keep the high street retailers happy Steam could do a lot more to be competitive. I can buy Battlefield Bad Company 2 Limited Edition as a hard copy from an online store for £24.99 yet Steam is selling it at £34.99. I do like the fact that games I buy off Steam means I don't need to put the DVD in the drive but I don't like it so much that its worth £10 extra on the price. They do have some good sales but they could do a lot better.

[uie4rhig]

but i wanted it to utilise the windows decoration :/ bit disappointed but i guess i'll live.. aside from that, looks awesome update.. gna update soon as i receive my new charger :)

[Cernunnos]

Looks awesome... Just sad that Valve owns it, hate giving them money... -.-

And no, PC gaming is not dying, it's the usual fluctuations.

New consoles -> Drop in PC games.
Consoles pass 3-4 year mark -> Huge increase in PC sales.
Rinse repeat.

[micro_invader]

Oooow, shiny.

I really like the design of the "my games" section.

[TABSF]

I there any way to marry a company because I love Valve

[bumnut]

Does anyone know if you can route voice chat to a usb headset instead of chat coming out of the speakers?

thats my main complaint about steam.

[mcgrawgamer]

the only way I play is with a usb headset. make sure you have the right drivers for ya headset and make sure the game your playing has the option set for sound to come thru ur headset...*hope I'm answering your question correctly*

[Revvin]

It looks very slick, I like it a lot. Steam needed an overhaul, its style has remained pretty much unchanged since it launched at it was looking a little dated but this new look brings it right up to date and yet still manages to keep a little of the old look so its not a complete change.

[mivanc]

Will be trying out this beta tonight.

Retail is getting a good butt kicking from STEAM. The deals are just impossible to beat anywhere else.

Good job Valve. Now give us something on HL2 ; EP3 ... the wait is excruciating.

[jy_mrnd]

I just downloaded the beta it looks so much better now.PC gaming for life!