Updates to Gratuitous Space Battles have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

• Added flickering and slow growth in visual effect for missile flares.
  
• Improvements to performance of various bits of the battle screen.
  
• Fixed bug that rendered the module icons for ships on the deployment screen unclickable.
  
• Added a new tutorial pop-up to explain that you get more honor when re-fighting a mission.
  
• Slight improvements to some cruiser explosion effects.
  
• Fixed a graphical bug where some turrets seemed to fire but no bullets would appear.
  
• Fixed graphical glitch with pulsing text on text edit boxes.
  
• Stopped the current scenario details reloading every time you scroll on the battle screen.
  
• Fixed hang on start-up involving multi threading message checks on certain PCs.
  
• Fixed crash bug when you hit the delete key on deployment screen whilst also dragging a ship.
  
• Fixed range indicator UI on deployment screen so they are the right size now...(oops)
  
• Added new tribe-specific debris, so they don't re-use another races.
  
• Changed the tribe and alliance engine glow particle effect to be less blocky
  
• Changed engine glow effect so it oscillates smoothly in size rather than flickering suddenly
  
• Fixed minor rendering bug on the deployment screen (window 3d highlight was wrong)
  

This weekend we aren't featuring one, not two, but THREE deals!

The Freedom Force Pack and X-COM Complete Pack from 2K Games are available for $2/€2/£2 until Monday!

Tropico 3 from Kalypso Media Digital is available for 66% off until Monday!

Leading Platform for PC Games Now Serving Over 25 Million Accounts

January 29, 2010 — Valve® today announced extraordinary 2009 growth data for Steam, a leading platform for PC games and digital entertainment, with major increases in accounts, concurrent players, unit sales and more. The year also marked tremendous adoption of the Steamworks suite of publishing services in the tangible and electronic versions of many of the year's biggest releases.

During the last calendar year the platform surpassed 25 million active accounts, up 25% from the prior year. Of the 25 million accounts, over 10 million of those have profiles in the Steam Community.

In addition to the millions of new accounts created during the year, the peak number of concurrent users eclipsed the 2.5 million mark during the month of December, pushing Steam's average monthly player minutes to more than 13 billion.

Meanwhile, Steam now offers over 1,000 games from over 100 developers and publishers around the world. Unit sales for 2009 increased by more than 205%, marking the fifth straight year the platform has realized over 100% year-over-year growth in unit sales.

2009 also delivered a wave of titles supported by Steamworks, in tangible and electronic versions, including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Dawn of War II, and Empire: Total War. Empire also used Steamworks for the delivery and management of its paid downloadable content releases.

“Steam turned five years old in March 2009,” said Gabe Newell, president of Valve. “With the introduction of each new platform feature released over the years — such as the Steam Community, Steam Cloud, and Steamworks — we've seen corresponding growth in account numbers, concurrent player numbers and developer support for the platform. As such, we plan to continue to expand and grow the platform to better serve the developers supporting the open platform and millions of gamers logging in each day.”

For more information, please visit www.steampowered.com

The latest RailWorks DLC, Class 380 Electric Multiple, is now available. This features three of the Class 380 Electric Multiple units and 2 all new scenarios!

Firstly, as should come as no surprise to anyone, it is my sad duty to reprimand the various con artists and charlatans in our community who insist on making a mockery of the hard work of others by cheating to win. The following is a list of the top twenty kill counts of the recent Demo/Soldier competition:











Now, I have no actual proof that these men cheated. Lucky for me, then, that I am still in possession of basic common bloody sense. The top Soldier, for example, would have had to kill a Demoman every 2.5 seconds for a week straight, somehow circumventing respawn timers or the need to actually traverse across a map, without once pausing to sleep or go to the bathroom. In other words, he is either cheating, or he is a hallucinating sleep-deprived psychotic with severe constipation and unerringly good aim. In either event, I am confident he is ashamed of himself.



In less disheartening news, the goldbricking simpletons calling themselves the TF2 team around here have apparently paused long enough from picking chiggers out of one another's hair to select a number of Propaganda Contest runners-up from the 11,000-odd entries we received late last year, the results of which will be posted here soon. I must grudgingly admit an astonishing amount of talent on display. I hasten to add, however, that I find it astonishing only because, in observing how you comport yourselves in-game, on the forums, and presumably in your day-to-day lives, one would be forgiven for assuming you bereft of the cognitive skills needed to operate a mailbox. At any rate, congratulations: You are all excellent artists. Perhaps you could draw a picture of me giving a damn, so I'd know what that looked like.



Lastly, I would like to remind those of you writing in with questions concerning a supposed past relationship between myself and one Mister Saxton Hale: A lady never tells, and a gentleman never asks. More pertinently, an Administrator never forgets. Or forgives. Or relents. The Nosy Parkers among you would do well to remember that the next time you decide to paw through my confidential affairs like junkyard dogs.



You have found this instructive,



The Administrator

Mass Effect 2 is now available worldwide!

Check out the standard edition or the Digital Deluxe Edition which contains in-game items, a digital comic book, and more!

1C Company has released a complete collection of all their titles. 17 games for one low price! Check out the details here.

The gameplay in Toki Tori is a blend of two genres. While it looks like a platform game, it's a puzzle game at heart. Players will have to look and plan ahead carefully while using items such as the Telewarp, Freeze-o-Matic and InstantRock™.

Updates to Aliens versus Predator Classic 2000 have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

Aliens versus Predator Classic 2000

• Integrated with Steam overlay
  
• Uses Steam name
  
• Host/join games via bare-bones in-game lobby browser
  
• Can invite and join friends and other players via the Steam overlay
  
• Game attempts host migration
  
• Dedicated servers are not supported or planned
  
• Supports windowed mode with -w command line switch
  

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

• Fixed a crash during startup for the Linux dedicated server
  
• Fixed the hats below being included in the crafting of class-specific hats using class tokens
  
  • Towering Pillar of Hats"
    
  • Noble Amassment of Hats"
    
  • Modest Pile of Hat"
    

Jazz up your line-ups with cool new character skins. This pack includes two skins: J.J. Jenkins and Nurse Aescu!Click here for more information.

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 3 new hats that can be worn by any class
  
  • Towering Pillar of Hats"
    
  • Noble Amassment of Hats"
    
  • Modest Pile of Hat"
    
• Added Propaganda contest winners' hats for First Place, First Runner-up, and Second Runner-up
  
• Added "Edit Loadout" button to the class menu
  
• Changed the main menu background to randomly use the Red, Blue, and Soldier/Demo background images
  
• Fixed Snipers being able to shoot enemies through gates
  
• Fixed Linux servers not properly reconnecting to Steam when they lose their connection
  
• Fixed stickies being destructible before they're stuck to something
  
• Fixed the return progress bar above a dropped flag not animating if the return time on the flag is less than 30 seconds
  
• Fixed the CTF HUD not properly handling flags being disabled/enabled during the round
  
• Fixed player health panels sometimes using the wrong animations for buffed or low health values
  
• Updated the net_showevents convar to be marked as a cheat
  
• Updated the main menu news buttons to direct players to the most recent TF2 update and the TF2 blog
  
• Updated Italian localization strings
  
• Updated the custom TF2 fonts with Polish characters
  
• Updated CP_Gorge
  
  • Added more cover outside of the initial BLU spawn area
    
  • Added a forward spawn for the BLU team after Cap1 is captured
    
  • Added another access point to the upper level from the front of the RED base
    
  • Added more cover in the room just before Cap2
    
  • Decreased RED team's respawn time while they own Cap1
    
  • Fixed a few areas where players would sometimes become stuck
    

Community requests

• Added new options for the Invade CTF game mode flag. Default is 1
  
  • 0 : No neutral time
    
  • 1 : Flag goes neutral in 30 seconds (current behavior)
    
  • 2 : Flag goes neutral in 1/2 the return time
    
  Added scoring choice for the Invade CTF game mode. Default is 0
  
  • 0 : Increment score (current behavior)
    
  • 1 : Increment capture count
    
  Added new inputs to item_teamflag
  
  • ForceDrop : Force the flag to be dropped if it's being carried by a player
    
  • ForceReset : Force the flag to be dropped if it's being carried by a player, then reset the flag to its original location
    
  • SetReturnTime : Set the length of time (in seconds) before a dropped flag returns to base
    
• Added new output to item_teamflag
  
  • OnTouchSameTeam : Sent when the flag is touched by a player on the same team
    

Mass Effect 2 is now available in select countries in Europe. The rest of the world will see Mass Effect 2 available tomorrow at 4 PM PST.

Check out the standard edition or the Digital Deluxe Edition which contains in-game items, digital comic book, and more!

Updates to Bob Came in Pieces have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

Bob Came in Pieces

• Repaired the last puzzle on Chapter 8
  
• Made windpuzzle on Chapter 10 clearer
  
• Fixed a minor bug in Save As dialog
  

In Hotel Giant 2 you will create the hotel of your dreams and manage prestigious locations around the world. Your goal is to attract as many guests as possible and make sure they are satisfied throughout their stay.

From the makers of Star Wars®: Knights of the Old Republic™, Dragon Age: Origins&trade', and Mass Effect™ comes the dark second installment in the thrilling Mass Effect Trilogy: Mass Effect 2!

Available in two flavors the standard edition or the Digital Deluxe Edition which features exclusive in-game items, digital art book, digital comic book, and more!

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

Painkiller: Resurrection

• New AI System blending the direct approach used now and a sophisticated way-point system. In most areas, Monsters can not only chase you through complex architecture, you`ll also see them taking different ways in order to outrun you, and sometimes even retreat and trying to get into your back.
  
• Better Char models / animations: Our 3D Artist gave another shots at the new monsters and improved some of them.
  
• In-game MP hosting reactivated (dedicated server not needed anymore)
  
• Competitive MP crash-fixed and tweaked (Dropped weapons look, jumping walls, etc.)
  
• Co-op for up to 8 (if you like madness, even 16) players (although 2-4 is the best number to try) and with up to 50 monsters at once to fight them as team
  
• New maps and some new surprises in the levels themselves are on their way too.
  

Please keep in mind the following:

• Do not use your old saved games!
  
• You do not need the dedicated server .exe any more. You can host multiplayer games in-game. To ensure all can join, we suggest you deactivate the purescripts in the .ini files by setting them to "false"
  
• The best thing to do is to delete the old Painkiller Resurrection folder in your Local Settings / Application Data
  

This classic quirky title Psychonauts from Majesco is available for $2/€2/£1 through Thursday!

For years, the Psychonauts have deployed their psychically-armed operatives all over the world, but this time trouble is brewing in their own backyard. Someone is abducting students from the Psychonaut boot camp, a deranged scientist who only wants their brains. A powerful new cadet named Raz stands alone against the lunatic.

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

Nation Red

• French version available
  
• Local coop issues fixed
  
• Snare Perk adjusted: easier to see which powerup you're 'snaring'. Now requires Powerup Hook. Weapons are not snared
  
• Steam Hammer is in unlockable weapons
  
• Firepower of various weapons increased
  
• Auto-Fire speed (for controllers) increased
  
• Higher XP for Machinegun Boss kill
  
• Zombie Bombers won't see the player when cloaked and won't detonate
  

Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter is now offering a four-pack so if you've been itching to play with your friends this is the best way to do it as you can gift out your extra copies to your buddies!