Dec 20, 2010
Star Ruler Update Released
Star Ruler - Valve
Updates to Star Ruler have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

Fixes:
  • Dry Docks could get stuck fetching resources from another planet in the system.
  • Asteroids in normal systems would be destroyed instantly instead of when they ran dry.
  • Missiles were not consuming proportionate amounts of ammo.
  • Multiplayer clients could crash when holding alt.
  • Default level health gain was 1.25 instead of the intended 0.25.
  • Repeat mode was crashing after completion.
  • Choosing to auto-update would crash the game.
  • Multiplayer clients were not loading the galaxy map.
  • Certain xml files would not load from mods.
  • Certain AI designs did not have enough power and would go disabled.
  • Ships would sometimes run out of control even though they had a surplus available.
  • Internal Defenses subsystem would not get unlocked.
  • Fixed various designs being mis-localized or unstable.
Changed:
  • The IRC window can now be minimized.
  • Updated translations: French.
Added:
  • /who can be used to list users in the IRC.
  • The IRC can now be opened via the escape menu.
Balance:
  • Computers generate a bit more control to make up for their large power consumption.
  • Torpedo bays no longer gain bonuses from coolant systems / targeting sensors.
Removed:
  • Legacy 1.0.1.2 and 1.0.1.4 games are no longer supported.
Dec 20, 2010
Steam Holiday Sale On Now
Announcement - Valve
The Steam Holiday Sale is on now through Sunday, January 2, 2011. Gamers may save up to 80% on select titles, with daily and week-long savings on featured titles, publisher game packs, and compilations.

In addition to the usual savings specials, each day of the sale will feature a special Holiday Bonus on one select title. The twist: Players must qualify for the Holiday Bonus by owning another Steam game.

For example, the first Holiday Bonus is Portal - save an extra 10% if you own Half-Life 2. If you already own the title, Steam will automatically detect this and offer you the 10% savings during check out.

Meanwhile, titles kicking off the traditional savings include:

F1 2010 50%
Battlefield Bad Company 2 66%
Fallout 3 (Game of the Year) 33%
The Deus Ex Collection 85%
LEGO Batman 75%
Peggle & Peggle Nights 60%
Prince of Persia (Franchise) 75%
Portal 75%
F.E.A.R. (Franchise) 75%
Titan Quest Gold 75%
Super Meat Boy 75%
Oddworld's Oddboxx 50%

Steam is a leading platform for PC and Mac games with over 30 million accounts worldwide and over 1,400 games. For more information, please visit www.steamgames.com
Dec 20, 2010
The Polynomial Update Released
The Polynomial - Space of the music - Valve
Updates to The Polynomial have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:
  • Free Christmas-themed content.
  • Added a button to pause music.
  • Bugfixes for older ATI cards.
Dec 18, 2010
Garry's Mod Update Released
Garry's Mod - Valve
Updates to Garry's Mod have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

Garry's Mod
  • Fixed crashing on startup
Dec 18, 2010
Now Available - Battlefield Bad Company 2: Vietnam
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam - Valve
Start playing now! Battlefield Bad Company 2: Vietnam is now available on Steam.

Get ready for a whole new war, as DICE's massively popular online shooter Battlefield: Bad Company 2 makes the journey back to the 60's and the infamous Vietnam war.

Dec 17, 2010
Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike: Source, Day of Defeat: Source and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch Updates Released
Counter-Strike: Source - Valve
Updates to Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike: Source, Day of Defeat: Source and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

Source Engine Changes (CS:S, DoD:S, TF2, HL2:DM)
  • Improved sv_pure:
    • Materials / Models / Sounds / Animations are more comprehensively protected.
    • Switched from CRC to MD5 hashes for stronger per-file validation.
    • Fixed some issues between custom files and server whitelists over level changes.
  • Added HL2:MP to the list of dedicated server games when starting a server via the Tools tab in the Library

Team Fortress 2
  • Added Medieval Mode, a game mode where players are restricted to using olde weapons.
  • 'Your Eternal Reward' changes:
    • Spies can now change their disguise weapon via 'lastdiguise' while using 'Your Eternal Reward'
    • Already-disguised 'Your Eternal Reward' Spies are no longer forced to switch to displaying the melee weapon when they make a kill
    • Spies no longer play speech lines when making a kill with 'Your Eternal Reward'
    • Sentries no longer track 'Your Eternal Reward' Spies after they backstab someone
  • 'Natascha' changes:
    • Spin-up time increased.
    • Slowdown-on-hit effect is reduced over distance.
  • Added 'The Medi-eval Medic', 'The Hibernating Bear', and 'The Expert's Ordnance' item sets.
  • Added new weapons: 'The Claidheamohmor', 'The Back Scratcher', 'The Boston Basher', 'The Fists of Steel', 'The Amputator', 'The Crusader's Crossbow', 'The Ullapool Caber', 'The Loch-n-Load', 'The Buffalo Steak Sandvich', 'The Brass Beast', 'The Warrior's Spirit', 'The Candy Cane', and 'The Jag'.
  • Added 20 new hats.
  • Added a prototype item testing map, and associated functionality, for contributors to test their work. Further details in an upcoming blog post.
  • Spies can now see TargetID's of players and objects regardless of their own disguise status.
  • Fixed some speech lines continuing after the speaker changes class
  • The Spy 'Sap Auteur' achievement now increments in cases where the Spy was the assister in the building destruction.
  • Fixed the arrow burning effect getting stuck on if you changed class in a respawn room with your arrow lit.
  • Fixed a Flamethrower bug that allowed players to rapidly fake the Pyro's airblast effect.
  • Throwing the Jarate or Milk now returns you to your previous weapon, instead of your Primary.
  • Added leaderboard to track duel wins.
  • Added ability for players to donate money directly to the creators of their favorite community maps.
  • Increased backpack size by 100 slots.
Dec 17, 2010
New Release - Dive to the Titanic
Dive to the Titanic - Valve
Dive to the Titanic is now available on Steam at 20% off.

Dive in your submarine down through the deep 3-D sea to the legendary wreck of the Titanic. Navigate your camera robot through the many decks, rooms and aisles. Discover lost treasures and riches, and upgrade your equipment to complete more challenging missions through the wreck.

Dec 17, 2010
New Release - Winter Voices Episode 2: Nowhere of me
Winter Voices Episode 2: Nowhere of me - Valve
The third chapter of Winter Voices is now available on Steam.

You advance in your adventure alone in the middle of the tundra and attempt to follow a forgotten trail to unveil what is whispered by the voices of Winter.

Dec 17, 2010
Star Ruler Update Released
Star Ruler - Valve
Updates to Star Ruler have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

An IRC has been added to the game to allow players to network, major aspects of the game have been rebalanced (research, weapons, defenses, etc.), analyzers now capture blueprints from disabled ships, the new game window has been greatly overhauled, the game has been greatly optimized resulting in a large boost of FPS, and some new subsystems have been added to the game (listed in the full patch notes).

Fixed:
  • Multiple colonizer modules on one ship now correctly sums the structure count.
  • Crash on return to main menu for mods using tag{} blocks in shipsets.
  • Ships moving to a target that gets destroyed flying towards the quasar.
  • Disabled ships getting station icon on load.
  • Ships following a planet after a transfer order.
  • Loading a game with 0 research rate would lead to an empty sub system / structure list.
  • Crash when constructing ships on a planet / dry dock in deep space.
  • Ships with control but without fuel could still use their thrusters every second tick.
  • Sub Systems did not have their onDeactive binds called when scuttled or retrofitted.
  • Space port trade now happens in the planet tick, leading to less wasted trade rate.
  • Fetch orders were not leaking control to subsequent orders until fetching for the first time.
  • Haulers could get stuck doing nothing waiting for a resource to become available instead of trading in different resources.
  • Superfluous explosion sounds were playing when scuttling / retrofitting or when colonizing a planet.
  • Ringworlds were being constructed at the wrong position.
  • Ringworlds constructed on larger stars (ie the quasar) would appear inside the star.
  • The ringworld structure size bonus was not applying correctly.
  • Using a jumpdrive could render the jumping ship unselectable.
  • Ships parked in orbit using a jumpdrive would not pick a new orbit correctly and fly off into the distance.
  • Offline planetary structures could not be removed.
  • Asteroids and comets were not working for multiplayer clients.
  • Ships constructed after load would not be assigned their proper automation (fetch, deposit, work) orders.
  • Capturing another empire's design will no longer spam duplicates each time.
  • Haulers ended up with wrong / negative cargo after trading with a planet that had cargo storage.
  • Haulers would end up filled with one particular resource (usually adv. parts) when its supply outweighed demand.
  • Hovering over the +/- resize buttons while holding shift in the blueprint editor now correctly displays the effect of an increment/decrement.
  • In the blueprints window, dragging a sub system to an invalid position would sometimes return it to the last valid position, rather than the nearest valid.
  • We have discovered that a particular function in OpenGL is quite slow; fixing this improved framerate significantly.
  • Sub-menus in the right-click menu will no longer move off screen.
  • Objects could push each other to ridiculous speeds.
Changed:
  • Shields now have a % chance to block or leak all damage from kinetic weapons entirely, rather than always blocking a % of the damage.
  • Objects larger than scale 3600 are now visible everywhere to everyone.
  • The system window's build on best algorithm now prefers shipyards over other structures.
  • The main menu planet now chooses a random texture.
  • Only one ringworld can be constructed per system. Attempting to construct additional ones will simply fail.
  • The Analyzer now captures the design of disabled ships. Each attempt has a chance to succeed, which improves dramatically with bigger ships and analyzers.
  • Ringworlds are now unlocked at MegaConstruction 22, Gravitics 16 and Spatial Dynamics 16.
  • Haulers only supply when storage is under 45%, to avoid attempting to race against space ports.
  • You can now hold shift when dragging sub systems in the blueprint editor to snap to a grid.
  • When dragging sub systems in the blueprint editor, they can no longer leave the circle (you will see them where they would normally snap to).
  • Dry Docks automatically fetch resources from the planet they are orbiting, if the planet has any.
  • The mouse over information and object information panel now display hitpoints of all objects, not just the ones owned by you.
  • You can now set individual settings, difficulties, names, colors, and cheating or not cheating for Empires in the New Game window.
  • You may now add far more than 10 opponents if you wish; caution: larger numbers of opponents can rapidly degrade system performance.
  • Sped up base panning speed.
  • Updated Translations: Polish.
Balance:
  • Shields are now more effective, particularly for larger ships.
  • Planetary shields are now much stronger.
  • Increased power cost of middle-tech weapons.
  • Power generators produce significantly less power.
  • Bridges and Computers produce significantly less control.
  • Increased mass of armor.
  • Decrease gains to science labs from general sciences research. (Getting to level 10 takes about twice as long, level 20 four times)
  • Missiles and Torpedoes now have longer range.
  • Increased overall laser damage to compensate for their short range.
Added:
  • The blueprints tab now displays statistics for the currently selected design.
  • The loading screen displays random gameplay tips from a moddable / localizable list.
  • "Stockpiling Protocol" civil act: makes space ports keep resource levels at 95% instead of 50%.
  • Added a patching program which downloads patches from our server and installs them itself. Must be run from Star Ruler.
  • AI Personalities may now specify a shipset for the AI to use.
  • "Refresh Automation" option in the right-click menu: adds back automation orders (fetch, work, defend, etc) after clearing them.
  • Destroyed planets now leave behind a bunch of asteroids based on the amount of ore they had left.
  • Added three new tracks by Artem Bank.
  • Economic Sub Systems for ships: Metal Refinery, Electronics Fabricator, Advanced Parts Assembler, Export Dock.
  • Graviton / Anti-Graviton beams: Repulsor, Attractor, Interdictor.
  • New Sub Systems: Quantum Battery, Matter Generator, Overcharged Laser, Internal Defenses.
  • Lobby System to Multiplayer and Singleplayer.
  • Detailed Statistics sub-window for the Blueprints window.
  • Lobby Chat window for both the main menu and in-game that connects to the new official irc channel.
  • "Give Vision" clause for treaties. Does what it says on the tin.
  • Ability to set teams between players before starting the game.
Dec 17, 2010
Patrician IV Update Released
Patrician IV - Valve
Updates to Patrician IV have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

Gameplay
  • Pirate activity can now be set via options in three levels
  • Mass gatherings of pirates have been fixed
  • Pirates off the town are shown on the nautical chart for cities where the player has an office
  • Pirate ships out of the player's visual range can now be attacked
  • When a convoy is attacked on a trading route, there will be an entry in your chronicle
  • Added option to skip cities (frozen harbor, full convoy or empty convoy and none of the commodities served)
  • Added notification for interrupted trade route
  • Redesigned development of Mediterranean cities, expansion to five stars is now calculated properly
  • Before sending an expedition, the return harbor of the expedition convoy can now be chosen
  • Rebalanced calculation of population to make it more dependable on quality of life
  • Adjusted sabotage carried out by the AI
  • The state of a city now has an effect on wage costs
  • 'Pause' is added as a new game speed
  • Savegames now show extended information of game type, difficulty and in-game date
  • In-game date is added to the file name of the savegame
  • Abbreviations of the first and the last town of a route are added to the file name of the trading route files
New Missions
  • Share trading with the Prince added (ability for players to acquire shares in the region of the Prince and thus to achieve a permanent increase in satisfaction)
  • Loan mission added for the Town Hall (the player borrows gold from the town)
  • Loan mission added for the Tavern (the AI borrows gold from the player)
Interface
  • Added percentage of occupied dwellings in a town
  • Added display of harbor fees to the town information and nautical chart
  • Redesigned the trading route interface
  • New ordering options added to convoys ship list and convoy transfer dialogue (escort/size/number of guns)
  • A gun icon is added to every ship in the ship list to mark them as escort ships.
  • Third tab for an overview of the Prince's shares added
  • Added a "Brick" icon to display lack of building materials. Missing materials are displayed in a tooltip
  • Gold transfer in the city treasury can now be set using the mouse
Graphics
  • Added new effect during construction or demolition of a building
  • Added a hit effect for tower projectiles
  • Added effect for destroyed towers
Sound
  • Added new sounds for shots, hits (melee and distance shots), death, victory, destroyed tower and destroyed business
  • Added sound for the construction and demolition of a building
  • Added gold jingle sound for every button with a buy/sell function
...