Critter Crunch, the cutest game about barfing you'll ever play, is coming to Steam next week. Capybara Games announced today that it will support PC and Mac, mouse/keyboard and controllers, and feature the various online modes from the PlayStation 3 version.
Ever keen to experiment with digital distribution, Steam is trying something unusual on XCOM: Enemy Unknown pre-orders with publisher 2K. Rather than offering fixed bonuses, Steam will unlock increasingly fancy goodies as more people pre-order, including extra character customisation options, Team Fortress 2 hats, and a free copy of Civilization V.
Steam has gotten a little more social with the launch of the new Community update. The popular games storefront now has gained major revisions to its game pages, Groups, personal content, and Friends lists. All of the changes are focused on making it easier for users to find and share content.
Steam Greenlight was flooded with hundreds of games, including countless hoax and illicit entries, within hours of launching last Thursday, which apparently makes it quite difficult to fulfil its purpose of filtering Steam store submissions. To bring the volume down and ward off trolls, Valve has added a $100 fee for submitting a game and improved the selection users are shown. Though Valve donates the $100 to charity, it's rubbing some indies the wrong way.
Gotham City Impostors seemed set up to be free-to-play from the start, selling XP boosters, costumes, instant unlocks, and the like, yet it still had a $15 price tag. No longer, at least on PC. While the console editions curiously are still paid, Monolith's Bat-tastic FPS is free-to-play on PC through Steam from today.
We may not be the bigshot in the executive leather chair who gets to decide which games are made and which get dumped, but we can now at least have a say in which get on the Steam store. Which is essentially the same thing to that weird and confusing small number of people who only buy games on Steam. Valve today launched Steam Greenlight, letting user votes decide which games get on Steam.
If you don't own an iDevice, you might have missed out on the mobile strategy title Total War Battles: Shogun. The game was a bit simplified from its PC counterparts, but it relied on the same core mechanics. It even came from the same team as the standard Total War series--and now, the game is available on PC and Mac via Steam.
Heads-up, bargain hunters and cheapskates. Both Steam and Indie Royale have launched new indie bundles, highlighting some under-the-radar games. Steam's "Best of British Indie Bundle" features six games from across the pond, while Indie Royale's "Getaway Bundle" is so named for its variety of exotic settings--and not for The Getaway.
Read more: Shattered Horizon, Super Amazing Wagon Adventure included »
Valve's Steam Greenlight should help popular indie games get on Steam, but many lesser-known developers are concerned they'll have trouble finding the support. In an attempt to raise the profile of their not-yet-on-Steam games, a small group have banded together and deployed that old indie favorite--a pay-what-you-want bundle.
Edmund McMillen has been making quite a name for himself, having worked on Super Meat Boy and The Binding of Isaac. But, McMillen's been making games for quite some time--and he'd like his newfound fans to try some of his earlier games.
"I've been making games for almost 9 years... making freeware games for fun (and minor profit)," he wrote in an email. "A lot happened before SMB and Isaac, and I thought it would be awesome to take 8 of the best games from my freeware past, update them with new content, music, graphics and gameplay and re-release them in a nice tidy little package."
Valve has been teasing a new Steam Community update, which will add a host of new features to the popular storefront. The major changes come to game pages, Groups, personal content hubs, and Friend lists, and each one is getting several tweaks.
It's been more than a year since Valve announced Big Picture Mode, a feature that "will offer controller support and navigation designed for television interaction" in Steam. In last night's episode of GT.TV, the company announced that the feature will be made available this September as a beta.
"In early September you'll be able to hop into a beta, click a button, and see Steam reformatted for your TV," Valve's Greg Coomer said.
Valve's first-person puzzler Portal 2 has received a significant update today. For months, players on PC and Mac have been able to create their own puzzles through the "Perpetual Testing Initiative." However, these creations have had to be solitary affairs. No more! Starting today, Portal 2 players will be able to design and play co-op maps.
As many Team Fortress 2 fans have already puzzled together, a new co-op mode is coming to Valve's free-to-play online shooter. Called "Mann vs Machine," this new mode has six human players waging "a desperate battle to stop a lethal horde of robots from deploying a bomb in one of Mann Co.'s many strongholds." Essentially, it is a horde mode. With robots. And in typical horde fashion, you'll be able to upgrade your abilities and weapons in between waves. Surviving will let you earn "incredible loot." The new mode will also be accommodated by brand new maps as well.
The popular iOS strategy game Hero Academy was set to hit Steam yesterday, but a last-minute issue has delayed the game until it can be fixed. Those of you itching to throw down as the new Team Fortress 2 classes will have to wait a little longer.
Read more: Robot 'not comfortable' shipping until bug fixed »
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