Valve has made a handful of legendary games. They have an awesome digital distribution system, with DRM that people actually seem to like (compared to it’s alternatives). They have a great reputation, mostly from making great games but also because they have do things like regularly updating Team Fortress 2 with new items and weapons (and bots!!!) at no added cost.

But that’s not why I’m jealous of Valve at this particular moment. I’m jealous because all Valve has to do is post an update like this for Portal:

Changed radio transmission frequency to comply with federal and state spectrum management regulations

And they get a response like this. 64 pages of posts in 4 hours. Posts full of people scouring Portal for clues of how to use the radios recently scattered across the game, as well as trying to decipher the beeps they emit (morse code, some are thinking).

I suppose, there being a new TF2 update, I should post a little about it. I would be playing it right now but my computer can’t connect to VALVe’s inventory servers, which means no weapon switching and possibly no weapons drops at all.

I got on a little last night, I was able to see my inventory and the crafting page, though I wasn’t so brave as to try crafting while the inventory servers were overloaded. I played 1-2 hours and got 20+ items, including the Eyelander (sword), Targe (shield), and the Direct Hit (launcher with faster rockets). I’m really glad they dropped all three, as these were the three items I was most anxious to test.

I haven’t talked about Steam, the amazing service/store for PC games in a while, and without looking at my archives none of the previous articles I’ve written may have survived the latest redesign.

So for those that don’t know, or do know but just love hearing about it, Steam is a program that you install to your computer. It is the brainchild of Valve Corporation, the creators of the Half Life franchise and the Left 4 Dead (soon to be) franchise. I’m a big fan of their games, and am awaiting the release of Half Life, Episode 3 with baited breath.

So what’s so great about Steam?