Steam BETA Nears End

[CSN NewsBot]

VALVe Software's public Steam BETA test, which allowed anyone to play the Half-Life family of games for free, is drawing to an end, says Erik Johnson on the Steam forums.

The next major release of Steam will be the first step towards converting the entire Half-Life user base to Steam. This means that we will be resetting the Steam account database from scratch. After this, you will need to have a valid CD-Key to access games via Steam, so you will want to treat your Steam account as permanent. One CD-Key will grant you access to all of the games currently available in the Steam beta. The Friends database will remain intact, so if you create an account with the same name when the beta ends, you will retain your Friends list.



The next step will be to release the remaining three Half-Life 2 movies, fix the remaining issues with the Riot Shield in Counter-Strike, and any remaining issues with Steam. This will happen almost immediately after the Steam beta ends.

In addition to all of this, some major features have been announced to come after the Steam BETA completes its run:

• new version of cobble reworked by david johnston.
  
  
• full skin support in steam.
  
  
• more detailed information regarding the cache file on your drive.
  
  
• vastly more efficient use of disk space and bandwidth in steam.
  
  
• new conversion wizard to make better use of existing content on your drive.

Keep in mind that Steam does not mean Counter-Strike 1.6. CS 1.6 could still be ways off, but the content delivery program called Steam is nearing completion.



Steam is VALVe's method of online game distribution. Using Steam, developers can cut out publishers from the release process; which means developers will be able to take in more profits and have more control over the game itself.



Either Counter-Strike: Condition Zero or Half-Life 2 will be the first retail game sold over the Steam platform.

[-Dice]

Now, if only I can find my damn HL CDkey. After three years of sitting in my drawer.

[MikeJ]

I'm interested to see the changes to cobble, one of my favorite maps.



I guess this means CS 1.6 is coming out in 5 minutes rite guys.

[[ICCS]Viper]

I haven't played cobble for a while, it'll be interesting to see what difference the changes have made.

[maxime]

Seriously when will the leagues adopt 1.6? I mean officially...?

[FLeK0]

I hope it has some new routes, not just refreshed textures.

[abysmal]

Cool, cobble rework :)



Agree mike, cbble is a great map, be interesting to see what the new version is like.

[[AKB] HK]

And they wonder why CS is d---y---i---n---g ?? 8 months of beta and they still cant release 1.6 I mean come on? And CZ will never see the light of day, I have said so for 1.5 years it would never be released and it wont, its an embarrasment. At least Valve can claim that at ONE TIME they had the most popular MP game ever. You cant NOT update your game and expect to KEEP that title. I have CS'd for 3 straight years and I am TIRED of promises that dont get delivered.

[RaptorRage]

Yep they are going to completely scratch all the work they've done so far and never release it. :|

[FLeK0]

[AKB] HK wrote..

And they wonder why CS is d---y---i---n---g ??

WHAT

[k1nk0s]

lol

Only because cs can play on almost any pc...crappy or good, the newer games require good pc's....so THATS WHY

[kSaini]

[AKB] HK, when was the last time you paid VALVe for the continuing support of counter-strike and many of hl's mods that they have taken under their wing? You get all these updates for free, yet you think you have some weight behind your complaining. CS doesn't make VALVe any more money so they have to pay their programmers to fix/add shit without getting anything out of it. It's almost like a free expansion pack.

[*Vamp*]

Urgh, Steam...... can't stand it myself. It really narks me off, sheerly by principle. It's just another bloody thing in the works. Be much simpler if they just got rid of the damn thing. If CS goes totally Steam-dependant (god forbid, I hope they scrap Steam ASAP), I'll just stick to CS on XBox (if that EVER comes out. After seeing how many delays VALVes' games go through before release I doubt any of them will actually come out in the stores. It'll be a miracle if they even get HL2 out in the next 5 years...) or TimeSplitters on PS2. Or maybe I could fill up my time by watching the Resident Evil film over and over . My current total time I've watched the whole thing is 26 times. I now know the vast majority of the script off-by-heart. Sad I know. I've even started to quote littles bit of the script during CS to piss people off (for some reason I find it funny to say "I shot her five times. How was she still standing?" after I plug away at someone with a Glock then have someone else come in and save my sad arse. The worrying thing is when whoever saved me comes in with "Bitch isn't standing now." . That's happened a number of times and always weirds me out a fair bit). I think when the second Resi film comes out I'll end up looked in my room in the dark for the rest of my life with the DVD on a loop...





OVER HALF OF THE ABOVE POST HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE TOPIC IN HAND. I NEED HELP. NOW.

[AceR]

maxime wrote..

Seriously when will the leagues adopt 1.6? I mean officially...?

when the offical update rolls out. Leagues will give 1-2 weeks break then they will commence league play again with new version.

[quxex1hi]

In conclusion, Valve pwns.



So does Lionhead.