Webware

Valve's Steam software has a new feature for game publishers that lets them sell additional downloadable content, or DLC, from within their games.

To do this, it uses a new in-game purchasing system built off of the in-software Web browser. The first title to feature this is The Maw, which now includes two additional levels that can be purchased for $1.25 each, then played immediately. Previously, all add-on content was sold as a separate purchase from Steam's game store.

The new feature is available to all developers as part of Valve's Steamworks publishing platform. For games with existing add-on content, this means that the companies will be able go back and update their titles to allow in-game purchases.

Micropayments are becoming an increasingly important part of modern games, not only as a way for publishers to continue to make money from a title after it's released, but also to help bring in extra sales from people who purchase games used.

Valve says the new system will allow users to purchase and add additional content, even on titles that were not purchased through Steam's game store, just like it does with physical software titles that were purchased from other retailers.

Previously: Valve announces best PC gaming idea of the year (so far)

Valve is now selling downloadable content on its Steam, Web-powered games distribution software.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Later this week Valve Software, makers of the popular Half Life series, and the Steam software distribution system are releasing the first version of the Steam Cloud service in the demo for the upcoming cross-platform title Left 4 Dead. The service will keeps things like game saves, mouse and keyboard settings, and player profiles the same across multiple PCs.

Up until now the Steam application, which lets you use the same game license on multiple computers, required users to take and make these changes across all their devices. Announced back in March, Steam Cloud puts the onus on Valve instead, and syncs up any per-game settings changes between sessions.

In addition to the Left 4 Dead demo, which will be available this Thursday, Valve is adding Steam Cloud functionality to its entire back catalog of games, making it easier to ferry settings back and forth in case you have multiple gaming rigs. No word yet on when you'll be able to do this with (now) classics like Portal and Half Life: Episode 2.

See update below that dashes some cold water on the report.

Google is on the brink of buying noted video game maker Valve Software, according to a report in The Inquirer that cites "well-placed sources."

Bellevue, Wash.-based Valve rose to prominence through games such as its Half Life series, but The Inquirer's Charlie Demerjian speculates the reason Google would be most interested in the company is its Steam Powered technology, a multipurpose online hub with throngs of users.

Activity on Valve's Steam Powered service currently crests with about 1.2 million users. (Click to enlarge.)

(Credit: Valve Software)

That rationale makes some sense to me as well, in part because getting into the video game business in and of itself doesn't sound terribly well aligned with Google's mission "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." Steam is an online foundation for selling and distributing games, updating patches, enabling multiplayer online chat, and using digital rights management to control who has permission to use elements like game versions or game terrain.

While a lot of that is specific to games today, I see no reason why it might not apply more broadly. Google, of course, likes to be the clearinghouse for online activity, and this could add some expertise.

Steam Powered shows 448 games available now, and in February, Valve said Steam had 15 million account holders. But this is the more telling statistic: During peak hours, online activity crests at about 1.2 million users every day. That's clearly a lot of activity.

"We do not comment on market rumor or speculation," Google said in a statement. Valve didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Update 9:40 a.m. PDT: Gaming site Kotaku threw some cold water on the report after speaking to Doug Lombardi, Valve's director of marketing. The site said Lombardi called the Google acquisition report "purely a rumor, a bit of fiction." Though that wasn't a direct quote, and there's some wiggle room in the wording, Kotaku also concluded that Google is "out of the picture."

Valve's Steam service is perhaps the best digital distribution network for downloading PC games.

(Credit: Valve)

We love it when companies just get it. Valve Software and its announcement of SteamCloud is a prime example. As reported by John Walker at Rock, Paper, Shotgun, SteamCloud will let anyone using Valve's Steam PC game download and networking service carry over saved game files, mouse, and keyboard configurations and other player-specific info regardless of where you log in. In other words, if you're at a friend's house and you want to jump into a game of Team Fortress 2 on his or her PC, all you need to do is log in to Steam and all your settings are there.

Mr. Walker outlined several other features Valve is working on for Steam, including automatic driver updates and a hardware-compatibility check to make sure your PC can play the games you're interested in before you make a purchase.

We've heard a lot of noise from other vendors, Microsoft specifically, about making it easier to play games on your PC, but no one else has come up with a solution that ties in so directly to the games you want to play. Best of all, Steam, SteamCloud, and all of Steam's community and player matching services are free via a simple download.

One thing that struck me during Steve Jobs' keynote yesterday was this odd moment when Jobs was trying to rationalize many of the reasons MacBook Air owners would be happy not having an optical drive in their laptop. He was going down a list of things we need optical media for and replacing them one by one with various Apple creations. Apple's perceived solution for not having a drive would be to buy all your media through iTunes and play it on your iPod, delegate the task of reading discs to another computer in your house, or simplify things with a new and proprietary $99 external drive. Sounds simple, right?

It's commonly been referred to as the "Steve Jobs reality distortion field" and there hasn't really been a clearer example of it since Apple launched the "simpler" version of its one-button mouse that actually had five. In this case, it's the importance of optical media and the role it still plays in our lives. While I applaud Jobs and Apple trying to get rid of what's admittedly become a weak and cumbersome format, I'm a little disappointed that Apple hasn't decided to offer a real solution to the problem they're creating for novice computer users and road warriors who want to avoid optical media altogether--at least not yet.

(Credit: Apple.com)

What I'm getting at is that Apple's in the perfect position to start offering digital software downloads to the masses, and tie it into a software system that millions of people are comfortable with giving their credit card information to on a daily basis. I'm speaking of course, about iTunes.

Apple's got all the pieces in place to start offering people computer software the same way Valve's been doing with video games with its hugely successful Steam service for the last six years. I love Steam for many reasons, but primarily for its built-in updating tools and easy-to-navigate digital storefront that make it easy to buy software with one click and not have to worry about it again. If I could get the same performance from an app that's admittedly become a little bloated but already has a decent updating system, I'd be happy as a pig in mud.

Two things stick out in my mind as being good signs such a service is in the works via iTunes:

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