{"id":357401,"date":"2010-02-24T08:39:19","date_gmt":"2010-02-24T13:39:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techie-buzz.com\/?p=19364"},"modified":"2010-02-24T08:39:19","modified_gmt":"2010-02-24T13:39:19","slug":"new-steam-client-opens-for-public-beta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/357401","title":{"rendered":"New Steam Client Opens for Public Beta"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steam is by far the best<\/a> commercial digital distribution website around. It does have the advantage of being more visible than the other digital distributors and being Valve\u2019s platform. That company makes games that can only be described in a word as \u201cawesome\u201d, and nothing else. The Steam client is the one portal<\/em> through which you can play games that you have downloaded.<\/p>\n

\"200px-Steam_logo.svg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Valve has apparently become bored of the original user interface (UI) and has decided to release a new UI<\/a>. The result is like playing Counter Strike 1.6<\/em> and then switching to Counter Strike: Source<\/em>. The revamped UI<\/a>, though marginally slower than the previous, looks slick and functions very well. If you have the Steam client installed, you can click this link<\/a> and choose \u20182010 UI Update\u2019 under the Beta Participation dropdown menu.<\/p>\n

\"Store\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The UI update requires a restart of the client and revamps it entirely. The interface looks far more modern than the previous one, fitting with my Windows 7 decals. The store page itself looks far better than on the browser<\/a>. The browser performance was marginally better than earlier (though I can attribute that to my faster connection today) and it looks really<\/em> slick.<\/p>\n

\"Library\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The library can be sorted according to your wishes by grouping them into custom categories. This is especially useful when you have a really large collection of games on Steam.<\/p>\n

\"GamePage\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The game page is really cool. It shows you the number of friends currently playing the game, and all your friends who play that game. Recent news pertaining to the game is also shown below the friends section. Valve had always wanted to make the Steam platform social and it seems that they have come close to that.<\/p>\n

\"OverlayLeft4Dead_sized\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The in-game overlay has also been drastically changed, allowing you to access Steam in a more streamlined fashion.<\/p>\n

\"News\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Community\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The news and community links have largely been left untouched (as they are merely web pages).<\/p>\n

In all, Valve has launched a pretty decent update to their client. They will therefore be hoping for a positive reaction from most of the users and only time (involving a lot of gaming) will tell if they have struck gold. Nevertheless, I advise you to go ahead and switch to the new UI, it does<\/em> look great!<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
\nShare:<\/strong>
\nComment on This Post<\/a> |
\nTweet This<\/a> |
\nShare on Facebook<\/a> |
\nSave to Delicious<\/a> |
\nStumble This<\/a> |
\nDigg This<\/a> |
\nReddit This<\/a>\n<\/div>\n
TAGS:<\/strong> Digital Distribution<\/a>, Steam<\/a>, Steam Client<\/a>, Update<\/a>, Valve<\/a><\/span>
\n<\/small><\/div>\n
\nNew Steam Client Opens for Public Beta<\/a> originally appeared on Techie Buzz<\/a> written by Kaushik Narasimhan on Wednesday 24th February 2010 08:39:19 AM. Please read the Terms of Use<\/a> for fair usage guidance. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Don’t miss these Related Posts:<\/h2>\n