While Oculus started off with a focus on seated virtual reality experiences, Valve has always focussed its efforts on ‘room scale’. At the moment, SteamVR supports two Base Stations for detecting 12×12 feet playspaces. With SteamVR Tracking 2.0, this will be upgraded to support four base stations and up to …
Read More »This is what CS:GO’s updated version of Dust2 looks like
Yesterday it came to light that Valve would be putting out an updated and refined version of Counter-Strike’s most iconic map- Dust2. At the time, we only had one screenshot to look at but now, Valve has released a full look at the new version of the map, which makes …
Read More »Valve won’t be hosting Steam Dev Days this year, despite teasing in 2016
At Steam Dev Days 2016, Valve mainly focused on hardware, gathering developers and walking them through new tools for virtual reality. This is also where we got our first peek at Valve's upcoming ‘Knuckles' controllers for the HTC VIVE. At the time, one Valve developer teased that software announcements would …
Read More »Valve is cracking down on ‘fake games’, removes almost 200 titles from Steam
This year, Valve has been on a mission to be more transparent and turn Steam into a better place for gamers. Part of that involves cracking down on low-effort and poor quality titles being dumped on Steam. Yesterday, Valve began doing just that, taking close to 200 games off of …
Read More »The binned fantasy co-op game Valve could have been working on
It's been a heartbreaking slew of what-could-have-beens concerning Valve lately, with Half-Life's lead writer having revealed his plot behind Half-Life 2: Episode 3 just last month. Now, artwork from former employee Drew Wolf suggests that fans might have missed out on a four-player co-op fantasy game. Wolf released details on …
Read More »Valve won’t censor customers engaging in ‘review bombing’ but will add historical data to Steam
Whenever there is a major controversy surrounding a game or a developer, we often see fans resort to ‘review bombing'. This is essentially where players flood a game's Steam page with negative reviews as a way to get their point across. Sometimes these negative reviews aren't relevant to the game …
Read More »LG’s upcoming SteamVR headset has been spotted in the wild
We have known for several months now that LG is planning to follow in HTC's footsteps by releasing its very own SteamVR headset. Now it seems we could be edging closer towards a launch, as the headset was recently spotted being shown off at an event in South Korea. The …
Read More »Steam on track to top record number of games released in a year
Valve has a trend of releasing more and more games per year, with 2016 seeing the release of what was nearly 40 percent of Steam’s entire library. Having already passed 3,000 titles this year, 2017 is on track to surpassing a record breaking 5,000 games. The staggering numbers are thanks …
Read More »Half-Life’s lead writer just revealed the plot behind Half-Life 2: Episode 3
Ever wanted to know what was set to happen in Half-Life 2: Episode 3? Well Valve's former lead writer is happy to oblige...
Read More »Valve is cracking down on trading card bots and fake games by denying Steam keys
Valve has been making plenty of changes to Steam over the last year or so but it looks like the company is prepared to clamp down even further as this week, it was revealed that soon, Valve will begin denying developer requests for batches of keys to their games. This …
Read More »Valve’s Steam Link app for Samsung Smart TVs has left beta
Update: Today, Valve announced that it's Steam Link app for Samsung Smart TVs is no longer in beta. This means anyone with a 2016 or 2017 Samsung Smart TV should be able to download the app and start streaming PC games directly to their TV. Supported controllers include: Steam Controller. …
Read More »Valve’s first new game in years is a Dota card game called ‘Artifact’
Last night, Valve’s annual Dota 2 tournament, ‘The International’, kicked off and it seems the studio had something rather special to show off- a brand new game. It’s called Artifact: The Dota card game and unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be quite what the audience wanted as the initial reaction …
Read More »Steam launches 1,000 games since Direct debuted
Steam launched its new Direct service in June, taking over from the now defunct, community driven Greenlight. Instead of relying on votes from users, Direct gives developers the chance to get their games on Steam for a $100 fee. At the time of the big change, Valve were unsure of …
Read More »Valve balances CS:GO pistols, starting with the Tec-9
CS:GO has once again taken back the second spot on Steam’s Game and Player Statistics, showing the enduring popularity of the competitive shooter. In a bid to further ensure longevity, Valve has announced plans to change many of the pistols in the game, starting with the Tec-9. The Tec-9 is …
Read More »Almost two decades later, Valve is still patching Half-Life
While Valve might be keeping us in the dark when it comes to future game releases, the company has no gripes with going back and patching up its older games. While most developers would leave a game behind after a few years on the market, Valve has generated a cult …
Read More »40,000 accounts hit with VAC ban immediately after Steam Summer Sale
The Steam Summer sale is usually a good opportunity for cheaters to pick up cheap copies of multiplayer games on alternate accounts. Fortunately, it looks like Valve has managed to keep on top of it this year, with 40,000 VAC bans being handed out on the 6th of July, the …
Read More »Valve’s new ‘Knuckles’ VR controller offers full finger tracking, starts shipping to devs
Late last year, Oculus launched its own Touch Controllers. These were a significant step up for virtual reality, improving on both the traditional gamepad and even the wands that come with the HTC Vive. However, Valve isn't too far behind and this week, the company began shipping out its own …
Read More »Valve has lost another one of its veteran writers
It looks like Valve has lost yet another writer as this week, Jay Pinkerton parted ways with the studio. Since the start of 2016, we have seen several writers leave Valve's offices for various reasons, all of which previously worked on the Half-Life series. This time around, it is Pinkerton …
Read More »Valve will charge $100 for Steam Direct submissions
It has been several months since we first heard about Valve's plans to phase out Steam Greenlight and replace it with a new service known as ‘Steam Direct'. One of the key changes with Steam Direct was originally going to be the price of submitting a game to Steam, which …
Read More »Valve will tackle Steam’s ‘fake game’ problem by placing limits on trading cards
Last week, Valve began its series of community posts outlining the future of the Steam Store. The first post focussed on recommendations and improving discoverability. This week, Valve is turning its attention to what it calls ‘fake games' and the ‘bad actors' that produce them. Valve has sussed out that …
Read More »Valve opens up about Steam recommendations and upcoming store changes
As we learned earlier this year, Valve is planning some significant changes to the Steam Store at the moment. One of the key changes has been Steam's recommendation algorithm, which Valve has now fully detailed in a new update, going over the Steam Store's ‘philosophy' and the tech behind it …
Read More »Germany finally takes Half-Life off the naughty list
Almost two decades. That’s how long it took for German authorities to finally take Half-Life, the original and all its offspring, off its list of censored media content. Germany, a country known for its openness, political correctness and proactive federal authorities has always taken a very aggressive approach towards media …
Read More »Valve launches stats page to be more transparent about support requests
Over the years, Valve has faced quite a bit of criticism over customer support. Things have improved quite a bit with the introduction of refunds but there is still room for improvement. Now in order to be more transparent about its support efforts, Valve has launched a new support stats …
Read More »The last remaining Half-Life series writer has left Valve
Back at the start of 2016, Marc Laidlaw, the lead writer on Half-Life and Half-Life 2 departed from Valve. It was a shock at the time but the writers behind Half-Life 2 Episode One and Episode Two remained. Now this year, those writers have also left, meaning there are no …
Read More »Valve opens up about upcoming Steam changes, will crack down on fake games
It looks like Valve is finally looking to crack down on ‘asset flippers' and address concerns regarding the quality of games flooding the Steam store on a daily basis. Similarly to how Valve decided to get more involved with the press earlier this year, Valve has also begun consulting with …
Read More »Valve is making more changes to Steam User Reviews
Steam User Reviews are often a useful tool for many looking to pick up a new game on Steam but there are ways to exploit the system. For example, there are some developers out there that will gift copies of their games in exchange for positive reviews. As a result, …
Read More »Valve plans to refocus its efforts on software, next wave of games inbound
Now that virtual reality is out there and in consumer hands, more companies are choosing to invest in it. In fact at GDC right now, LG is showing off its very own SteamVR-supported competitor to the HTC Vive. So with all of this new hardware coming in, Valve plans to …
Read More »Valve is gearing up to release Source 2 but it won’t be useful for everyone
Valve has been working on its Source 2 engine for a long time now and while the engine has popped up in the likes of Dota 2, we have yet to see a game truly showcase what the new engine is capable of. Fortunately, it seems like Valve is currently …
Read More »Valve to appeal $3 million fine from Australian Federal Court
Back in December, an Australian federal court ordered a $3 million fine against Valve after finding that the company had breached Australian Consumer Law between 2011 and 2014. This had been an on-going case for some time and was a huge factor in Valve's decision to finally start offering refunds …
Read More »Valve announces Steam Audio, aims for more realistic spatial audio
A while back, Valve acquired Impulsonic, a peculiar move for a company that doesn't delve into sound all that much. However, now we know why as today ‘Steam Audio' was announced, which is intended to usher in a new generation of spatial audio. Steam Audio has been in development for …
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