Cyborg Posted February 24, 2010 Report Share Posted February 24, 2010 February 23, 2010 -- Valve announces 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. This opt-in beta is available immediately to all Steam users. If users already have Steam installed on their computer, they can take part in the beta by clicking this link and then selecting "UI Update" under Beta Participation. If they don't have Steam installed, they can download it here. To preview the new Steam client without taking part in the beta, a complete rundown of the new features is available here. Increasingly, the most effective way of reaching new gamers is through the existing players of a game. With the new Steam release, gamers will now be able to see which games their friends have purchased directly within the Steam storefront. 25 million gamers create a highly effective and knowledgeable source of purchase suggestions. News outlets now have the ability to reach the Steam community through the new client's News aggregator functionality. Those organizations interested can contact Doug Lombardi at lombardi@valvesoftware.com. With users purchasing more and more games through Steam, new methods of library management were needed. The new client introduces library customization tools to help gamers sort, group, and find games in libraries which for some hardcore players contain hundreds of titles. In addition to having lots of games, gamers needed methods of tracking all of their achievements in a standardized cross-game fashion, which is now possible with the new release. "We made hundreds of changes to the Steam client as a result of customer feedback on the interface, performance, and functionality," said John Cook, Director of Steam Development at Valve. "For example, we swapped out the Internet Explorer rendering engine with WebKit, which gives us a bunch of size, stability and performance benefits. This release of Steam leaves us well prepared for another year of strong growth." I am in the public beta and have downloaded the client. So far here are things I have noticed... Pros Great new look and better spaced out You can see which games people on your frnd's list owns and also whenever you check the info about a new game, it shows if any of ur frnds already has the game. The Library interface is unrecognizable, lots of new add-ons and information. Feels really good. Cons Feels a bit sluggish at times and freezes occasionally for a few secs Community section is the same old Store page seems a bit dull at some portions I hate those huge fonts displaying the different segments of the Steam client like Store, Library,etc. All in all, looks and feels awesome and will def get better with each passing day. This overhaul was long overdue but it came n functions great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aftrunner Posted February 24, 2010 Report Share Posted February 24, 2010 Updated my client and it looks very slick indeed. Much better than the old interface. But its still very unstable. Lots of freezing and crashing. You might wanna avoid it for a couple of days until valve sort it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spindoctor Posted February 24, 2010 Report Share Posted February 24, 2010 i'm holding off on updating... been hearing that people are having to redownload games including modern warfare 2, which is 11gb and would take days to download for me :/ hopefully they'll iron out some of the issues in a few days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aftrunner Posted February 24, 2010 Report Share Posted February 24, 2010 I am now really regretting downloading this. It updates itself everytime I reboot the PC, I think it basically downloads the whole beta client every time its rebooted. Time to reinstall the f**ker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nash Posted February 24, 2010 Report Share Posted February 24, 2010 i'm holding off on updating... been hearing that people are having to redownload games including modern warfare 2, which is 11gb and would take days to download for me :/ hopefully they'll iron out some of the issues in a few days. Imagine downloading AVP all over again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spindoctor Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 Imagine downloading AVP all over again how big is avp anyway... the folder is now 16.7gb in size and the download doesn't show any signs of stopping Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyborg Posted February 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 DONT UPDATE this client yet. Acting really weird. I did the mistake of installing this beta in one of my frnds cafe computers and some 18 games are being updated/downloaded again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarketTantrik Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 how big is avp anyway... the folder is now 16.7gb in size and the download doesn't show any signs of stopping Its a 16 GB download. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john117 Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 DONT UPDATE this client yet. Acting really weird. I did the mistake of installing this beta in one of my frnds cafe computers and some 18 games are being updated/downloaded again. You gotta love the beta software .. seriously guys don't touch the beta even with bargepole , its a clusterf**k right now , crashes to desktops ,tries redownload games again and again , and many more issues. Luckily read the comments before installing , I have some 60 gigs of steam games installed .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spindoctor Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 Latest update of the beta fixes: 2/24/2010 - Fix Arial Bold font for menus not being found and menus rendering empty - Fix a common crash rendering web pages - Fix for apps that have already been downloaded re-downloading on initial beta opt-in - Fix for a common failure discovering HTTP proxy settings which prevented Store/News/Community pages from loading - Fix for text on Windows 7 with higher than normal DPI settings getting clipped vertically - Fix for a texture memory leak in the in-game overlay that could lead to crashing after a while now i'm curious to try it out. edit - ah what the heck. trying it now. edit 2 - god damn it's AMAZING Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aftrunner Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 ^^Talk about famous last words. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricky87 Posted February 26, 2010 Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 I have this question, what information do I need to give to someone apart from Cash/bank transfer for them to buy the game for me on STEAM since i don't have a credit card or a paypal account? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyler Posted February 26, 2010 Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 You can ask someone to "gift" you a game on Steam. You can pay them via Cash/bank transfer and they can buy the game using their credit card (Steam only supports credit cards). Both of you will need Steam accounts and will have to be on each other's friend lists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricky87 Posted February 26, 2010 Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 You can ask someone to "gift" you a game on Steam. You can pay them via Cash/bank transfer and they can buy the game using their credit card (Steam only supports credit cards). Both of you will need Steam accounts and will have to be on each other's friend lists. Ok but I can't add anyone yet because I don't have any games in STEAM and it says to add a a friend I must have at least 1 friend..and if I pay you the money sometime soon when the game releases will you buy it for me?? Can you try adding me on STEAM..my ID is Fidayen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricky87 Posted February 26, 2010 Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 Someone please add me on STEAM MY account name is Fidayen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spindoctor Posted February 26, 2010 Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 i'd add you but i liked modern warfare 2 so you probably don't want to be my friend anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricky87 Posted February 26, 2010 Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 i'd add you but i liked modern warfare 2 so you probably don't want to be my friend anyway Please dont start that, You like that game and I dont like it..period. Right now, I need someone to get me a game on STEAM and add me as a friend..the game is not out yet but will be in coming weeks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aftrunner Posted February 26, 2010 Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 Just send Friend requests to everyone whose Steam ID you see here. Whats the big deal? Mine is Aftrunner. Add away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricky87 Posted February 26, 2010 Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 Just send Friend requests to everyone whose Steam ID you see here. Whats the big deal? Mine is Aftrunner. Add away. You please send me a friend request, STEAM does not allow me to add anyone because I dont have any games in STEAM yet.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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