Steam may be the best thing to happen to PC gaming since Ethernet, but the platform could use an upgrade. Hearing my thoughts, Valve recently started a beta for Steam that lets users test a new interface and new features for the platform. I, in the interest of science and in the hope that my friends list would stop crashing, joined the beta.
The next Steam definitely looks shinier and is more user friendly, but Valve decided to give me information that I was trying hard not to know.
Don't worry. I spend double that ... working on my correspondence?
I’ve played over two days worth of Killing Floor. See, I need a game to really stimulate me intellectually before I sink that much time into its complex story and emotional nuances. For example, the “trader” in Killing Floor who sells equipment and guns sometimes says “I like the big ones, don’t you?” Just try to wrap your head around that one.
Before this new version of Steam, I would have had to physically click through to my profile page to pin down exactly how much of my life I spent shooting monsters in the face with the smooth actuations only possible by the Unreal Engine 2.5. I’ll start spending some of this time reading when publishers build books from the Unreal Engine.
I wonder if this is Valve’s attempt to bring more responsibility into the lives of PC gamers. Or maybe they just want to make people feel guilty. I have news for Valve — It takes a lot of guilt before I get my act together and do the responsible thing, just ask the unemployment office of Pennsylvania.
Does that Deathmatch Classic image come in an iPad skin?
But the new Steam doesn’t just make me hate myself, it also looks great doing it. Check out the image that Valve uses for Deathmatch Classic in the “grid view” of the game library. If the Killing Floor grid image looked as badass, I probably wouldn’t feel so bad about playing it so much. Look at the smoke coming out of the end of that shotgun. That means that that dude just fired that shotgun, probably into someone’s chest. I doubt the image would be so cool if that guy wasn’t a suspected murderer.
That image's resolution does nothing for my eyes.
Unfortunately, Steam’s new graphical boost could do nothing for my profile image. I considered wearing my glasses for that photo, but I was concerned that they would make me look too sophisticated.
Overall, the new Steam looks better, functions better, and uses a lot of gradients. When the update is finally released, it should be a nice improvement to the Steam client. Personally, I’m still running Windows XP in classic mode, so I’m not too concerned with things looking good and functioning properly. But I can see how a lot of people with self-respect will be very excited about the new Steam.
