SteamWorks posts

Brink's developer Splash Damage have always said that its upcoming sci-fi first person shooter would include dedicated server support for the PC version. Today on the Bethblog.com site more info on the dedicated server features were revealed for the game.

The stand alone server files themselves will be available to download via Steam on their "Tools" menu before Brink is released on May 10. You will be able to run several instances of the server files on one PC and there will be a variety of options available for the server administrator to run multiplayer games including "team sizes, time limits and overtime, warm-up rules, friendly fire, voice chat, availability of Command Post buffs, rank restrictions, number of bots, and password."

Announced earlier this week, the new Steam Guard security feature for users of Valve's Steam game download client is now available for any Steam user to check out in beta form. In order to access the beta of Steam Guard you must launch the Steam client, head to the Accounts tab in Settings and then change your beta participation status to "Steam Update."

With Steam Guard enabled, anyone who tries to log into your Steam account from an unrecognized PC will have to go through an addition level of authentication. An email sent to the user's contact email address will be sent with a special code that must be typed into Steam before you can access the Steam account. You will also be able to know if there's been anyone who has tried to access your account unsuccessfully.

As we reported earlier this week, Steam Guard will also make use of the upcoming Identity Protection Technology feature that's a part of Intel's new second generation Core PC processor.

The Steam PC/Mac game download site will soon have a new feature that will allow people to use the Steam client in more locations and in different ways. Its creator Valve announced today that the Steam client software will soon introduce a "big picture mode".

While details are scarce, Valve states that the big picture mode will allow users to use Steam "on any TV or computer display in the house." Valve also states that the Steam client will also soon have support for controllers and navigation made for TVs. Valve plans to reveal more details on this mode during GDC this week to various game developers and publishers. It will also reveal to those same partners details about its in-game transaction features that have been put into Steamworks via Valve's multiplayer shooter Team Fortress 2.

[Via email press release]

The PC port of Duke Nukem Forever is the latest game to officially announce its support for Steamworks. Valve's game development tools will be a part of the long awaited first person shooter when the game is released on May 3, according to message board posts on both the Gearbox Software and 2K Games message boards.

That means that the PC version will require a Steam account and that Duke Nukem Forever will also like have other Steamworks features like matchmaking. achievements, automatic patch updates. Steam Cloud game save support and more. It also likely means that the PC demo for the game will also be released via Steam.

As promised, the multiplayer beta test for Relic's stand alone RTS expansion pack Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II Retribution has now gone live. People who have already pre-ordered the game via Steam can go ahead and download the multiplayer beta client now. People who have received a key to download the beta must follow the instructions on the game's community web site to get the beta client.

As we have previously reported the beta contain all six playable factions in the full version of the game (The Imperial Guard, Space Marines, Chaos Space Marines, Eldar, Tyranids, and Orks). On February 8, any person who has bought any Dawn of War game via Steam will gain access to the Retribution beta client. The beta is expected to run through February 24 with the game itself to be released on March 1.

Update: It looks like there have been some issues with distribution of the game's beta keys although some players have in fact made it into the beta test.

Homefront is getting closer to its March 8 release date and today the first person shooter's official web site posted up a detailed article and FAQ on the PC version with info on the PC specific features which are being put in by developer Digital Extremes.

Some of the features that will be unique to the PC port will include having both third person and first person viewpoints when driving vehicles in the game. There will also be three difficulty settings for flying the game's helicopters for those who want the choice of a more arcade experience or a more sim-like flying gameplay design. There will also be a Practice Mode for those who want to try driving the vehicles outside of combat. Look for a dedicated server executable to be made available for download about two weeks after the PC game is released and the game will also support Nvidia's 3D Vision tech.

On the down side it sound like there won't be a demo of the game, at least before launch. Mod tools might be released sometime after Homefront ships. The PC game uses Steamworks for its DRM and won't be using the controversial Online Pass that THQ will have for the console versions

You can check out some updated Homefront PC system requirements after the jump. The update is mostly the same as we reported a few days ago but adds the requirements for Nvidia's 3D Vision set up.

[Via VG247.com]

It's been over a month since the last patch was released for the PC version of Call of Duty Black Ops. However late tonight the Steam service offered up the latest bug update for the PC port of developer Treyarch's hit first person shooter.

The new patch is mainly for fixing issues in the game such as closing up some exploits, improving the game's stability and fixing an issue where the audio in multiplayer was stuttering on some PC systems. It does add some new private match server settings (Team Change, Team-Up Period, and Keep Balanced Teams) and your friends on your team will now show up as blue on the game's mini-map.

Developer Valve announced earlier this morning that Portal 2, its puzzle-shooter sequel that's due out this April, will feature cross-platform multiplayer support for its co-op campaign between the PC, Mac and PS3 versions of the game. This feature is due in part to the fact that the PS3 version of the game will be the first to support Steamworks features, as previously revealed at E3 last June.

In addition to the cross-platform multiplayer support the PS3 version will also support cross-platform chat allowing its players to talk to PC and Mac users. Finally any PS3 Portal 2 game purchase will be able to download and play the PC and Mac versions of the game at no additional cost via SteamPlay via a link between their PSN and Steam accounts.

[Via email press release]

One of the most popular downloadable Xbox 360 games is coming to the PC. Developer Uber Entertainment has announced this evening that it will be bringing its team-based third person shooter Monday Night Combat to the PC platform via Steam. The game will be released on January 17.

For those not familiar with the Xbox Live Arcade version, Monday Night Combat is basically set in the future with a gladiatorial style game show but with real guns and robots. The game combines elements of multiplayer shooters with some tower defense elements as players pick from several classes and work as a team to fight off the opposing team while also protecting their "Moneyball". Players earn cash that can be used to purchase upgrades to their player class.

Pre-orders for the PC/Steam version of Monday Night Combat are currently being taken on the Steam web site. There's currently a 10 percent discount for the game's normal $14.99 price tage. People who pre-order the game will also be able to take part in the game's PC beta test that begins this Thursday. The PC version will also support dedicated servers and editor support will be added sometime in January. You can check out a trailer for the game after the jump:

Civilization V will officially be released for the Mac platform on Tuesday via publisher Aspyr but until today it was unknown if the Mac port of the turn-based strategy game would support Valve's SteamPlay feature. Today Aspyr confirmed that thanks to user feedback the Mac port will indeed support SteamPlay. That means people who purchased the PC version will be able download the Mac port for free and vice versa.

Aspyr explained its decision by saying, "From the comments that poured in, it seemed clear that many of you had purchased the PC version, even though it was the Mac version that you really wanted, and either expected that Civ V Mac would support SteamPlay or that Civ V Mac would not even be released for some time." The Mac version will be made available on Steam and other download sites as planned on Tuesday.

Other aspects of the Mac port are detailed in the blog post including world that SteamCloud game save support would be coming sometime after the game's release. Unfortunately there will be no Mac demo of the game nor any support for mod tools for the Mac version.