Steam News

Madballs in... Babo:Invasion Update Released

November 3, 2009, 5:19 pm - Valve - Product Update

Updates to Madballs in... Babo:Invasion have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

New Features

• Night of the Chompiis !!! - the first map of our new 4-player Co-op Survival mode, is now available! And includes a new Chompii mutation - the Spider-Chompii !
  
• Weekly Missions - the weekly mission system is now in place - new missions (to unlock character skins) each week! This week's skin - Obsidian Magmor! Note - check the status of your missions / collected skins via the new Collectibles section in the Unlocks screen.
  
• Dedicated Server enhancements - you can now see and participate in chat from the Dedicated Server console (useful for debugging, or letting folks that you're going to do server maintenance, etc.). We've also updated our Server Guide doc.
  

• Hallowe'en skin fixes! D'oh - we fixed a defect that caused folks to lose their hard-earned Hallowe'en skins - to compensate we've extended the Hallowe'en promotion (until Nov 12th) with minimal mission times (5 minutes / 15 minutes)
  
• Weapons tuning - we've tuned up the Slicer a bit (faster traverse) and Striker weapons (especially Harpoon mode - faster re-fire, less kickback, more lethal damage) to make them more competitive in combat - give 'em a try. The Riffer incendiary nail got a bit more fire aftertouch as well. More updates to come over the next week on these...
  
• Smaller updates! We've re-packaged things so that on average you'll have a lot less to download each time we update the game (which is important, 'cause we keep adding new features! )
  
• Achievement checks! MiBI now does extra checks to ensure that it keeps your Steam achievements and MiBI unlocks in sync with each other
  
• Special unlocks - info on the Slicer and Striker weapon unlocks have been added to the new Special unlocks section
  
• Voice chat controls - we fixed a defect where voicechat could get unmapped from the keyboard and/or 360 controller (especially troublesome since there was no way of adding it *back* to the 360 controller). You need to hit [Defaults] on the Controller config menu (just this once) if this issue has already affected you though
  
• No more duplicate servers - we are no longer showing servers twice if they're located on your local LAN
  

Darkest of Days Update Released

November 3, 2009, 2:53 pm - Valve - Product Update

Updates to Darkest of Days have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

Version 1.05

New Features:

• New gameplay mode: Instant Action is now available to players who have completed the story campaign.
  

• Localization fixes for international release
  

Left 4 Dead 2 Demo Open Access

November 3, 2009, 1:44 pm - Valve - Press Release

Available Now to All PC Gamers via Steam

Nov 3, 2009 - Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Half-Life and Counter-Strike) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced the availability of the Left 4 Dead 2 demo to all PC gamers via Steam.

The Left 4 Dead 2 demo features gameplay taken from "The Parish" campaign, set in the New Orleans French Quarter. Playable by 1 to 4 players over local or Internet connections, the demo features all the new boss infected zombies and many of the new melee weapons included in the full product.

L4D2 promises to set a new benchmark for co-operative action games and become one of 2009's marquee titles. Set for release on November 17, the title adds melee combat to enable deeper co-operative gameplay, with items such as a chainsaws, frying pans, axes, baseball bats, and more.

With the AI Director 2.0, L4D's dynamic gameplay is taken to the next level by giving the Director the ability to procedurally change weather effects, world objects, and pathways in addition to tailoring the enemy population, effects, and sounds to match the players' performance. The result is a unique game session custom fitted to provide a satisfying and uniquely challenging experience each time the game is played.

Adding new Survivors, boss zombies, weapons, and items, Left 4 Dead 2 offers a much larger game than the original, featuring more co-operative campaigns, more Versus campaigns, new Survival maps, and the new competitive game mode, Scavenge, all available at launch.

To get started, please visit the L4D2 Demo Page

SpellForce: Platinum Edition Now Available

November 3, 2009, 12:34 pm - Valve - Product Release

The SpellForce: Platinum Edition is now available on Steam and includes three titles SpellForce: The Order of Dawn, SpellForce: Shadow of the Phoenix and SpellForce: Breath of Winter.

Dragon Age: Origins Available in North America!

November 3, 2009, 10:19 am - Valve - Product Release

From the maker of Mass Effect and Baldur's Gate comes the dark fantasy epic Dragon Age: Origins considered to be "one of the most addictive and expansive RPGs of its kind" (Game Informer). Check out the Digital Deluxe Edition which adds new in-game items and much more!

Dragon Age: Origins will be released to other regions on November 6th.

Steam client update released

November 3, 2009, 10:12 am - Valve - Steam Client Update

A Steam client update is now available. To apply the update, click the File menu inside of Steam and then select "Check for Steam Client Updates...". The specific changes include:

Steam Client

• Fixed possible issues when launching the Left 4 Dead 2 Demo
  

Team Fortress 2 Update Released

November 2, 2009, 6:47 pm - Valve - Product Update

Updates to Team Fortress 2 have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

Team Fortress 2

• Added Bill's Hat for players who pre-purchase Left 4 Dead 2
  
• Fixed client-side perf problem after changing levels on Koth_Harvest_Event
  

Nation Red Update and Sale - Save 30%

November 2, 2009, 4:38 pm - Valve - Product Update

Indie developer DiezelPower has updated their arena-based shooter Nation Red with 5 Steam exclusives.

23 Steam Achievements
8 Steam Leaderboards
13 new player perks - Including 'Meat grinder'
New gameplay mode: Strategic
New weapon: Dual Glock
Various gameplay and interface improvements as requested by the Steam community
Plus, a few new extras :)

Everyday Genius: SquareLogic Update Released

November 2, 2009, 11:07 am - Valve - Product Update

A new update for Everyday Genius: SquareLogic has been released.

Included in the update are:

• Various fixes related to Stats & Achievements
  
• Fix for missing "Paint Colors" on some Hidden-Cage puzzles
  
• Support for creating additional player profiles
  

More specific details on these changes:

• Player Profiles: SquareLogic now supports the creation of additional player profiles. Each profile has its own progress, stats, and achievements. However, additional profiles you create are (necessarily) non-Steam profiles, and therefore have a couple of limitations: (1) they store their savegame data locally on your hard drive, not online on Steam's Cloud service; (2) their stats and achievements are NOT uploaded to Steam (only your Steam player profile does that). You can delete and re-create local (non-Steam) player profiles as often as you wish; however, you may never delete your Steam player profile as that exists on Steam itself.
  
• Resetting Stats & Achievements: When you click the "Reset all progress" button on the campaign screen (above the "Achievements" button), you now get a confirmation dialog warning you that if you reset your overall progress, ALL of your stats and achievements will also be reset. If this is a Steam user, stats and achievements will also be reset on Steam. Note that resetting a specific region (like "Ocean") or location (like "Beginnings") will not reset any stats or achievements.
  
• Stat & Achievement Synchronization with Steam: Previously, stats & achievements earned while offline, or during the Demo, would not always properly get set on Steam. It turns out sometimes even when you're online that's the case, for reasons unknown (the Steam API reports the update but it never registers). So we've added code that attempts to re-synchronize your stats & achievements up to Steam whenever it detects they are out of date. The net result is that Steam should usually be up-to-date immediately but occasionally will miss a beat and get updated shortly thereafter (when you solve a puzzle or restart SquareLogic, etc).
  
• Regional Achievements: Achievements for finishing regions (Held My Breath, Cave Potato, Tree Hugger, Llama Mama, Clear Skies, Billions and Billions) and other similar Achievements (Clean Plate Club, Piece of Cake) will now only be awarded when you *actually* earn them. Any of these that you have already earned will now be correctly awarded to you. NOTE: Due to a variety of reasons, we have decided NOT to take away any achievements that have already been awarded to you prior to the patch. Note also that for Clean Plate Club and Piece of Cake you are not penalized for skipping any of the 12 "practice" puzzles prior to the Challenge Puzzle.
  

Happy Halloween! Team Fortress 2 is on Sale - 2 Hours Only!

October 31, 2009, 11:05 am - Valve

Team Fortress 2 is available for only $2.49/£2.49/2,49€ for the next two hours. Offer ends exactly at 1:00pm Pacific Time.

Join in on the fun with in the The Terrifying Team Fortress 2 Haunted Halloween Special Update from October 29th thru November 2nd!

Read the official TF2 Blog Post that explains the madness.