Steam Community Marketplace enters beta testing

Valve Software has announced that it's player-driven Steam Community Marketplace has now entered public beta testing, allowing players to buy and sell in-game items and create their own virtual economy.

 

When Portal creator Valve Software first debuted the Steam digital distribution service in 2003, it was a relatively simple online store in which users could purchase Valve’s games without leaving the comfort of their own homes. In the nine years since that time however, Steam has grown into something more. Now Steam users have a wealth of social networking options to help them connect with other gamers. Likewise, if you require producivity software to help you make a game, you’ll find a growing wealth of such programs available for download via Steam.

This morning Valve added a new facet to the options its service offers by pushing the Steam Community Marketplace into open beta testing. As its name would suggest, the Community Marketplace is a player-driven item exchange service that allows users to “expand the Steam Economy beyond trading.” In layman’s terms, this means that items earned within select Steam games can now be bought and sold using funds found in a player’s Steam Wallet. If you’re unfamiliar with how Steam works, the important thing to keep in mind here is that those aforementioned funds are generated by forking over real-world cash to Valve. Previously this money was used mainly for purchasing software through the digital distribution service, but now it can be used to equip your favorite in-game character with new hats, weapons and whatever else Valve decides should be a part of the Steam Economy.

While this kind of item exchange isn’t entirely new to Steam, this is the first time that players will be able to trade real money for virtual goods. Previously players were able to trade items for other items straight up, but by adding a monetary component, Valve hopes to vastly expand the scope of the Steam Economy. “With over a half million trades made every week, the trading system has been very successful,” said Valve software engineer Tony Paloma. “Extending game economies beyond trades and giving players a way to turn gameplay into funds for new items and games is a key component for moving that success forward.”  

As with other additions Valve has made in the past to its Steam service, the firm is slowly rolling out its Community Marketplace to the games its service offers. At the moment the Community Marketplace only works with items found in Valve’s own Team Fortress 2, but the company plans to add Marketplace functionality to other titles just as soon as it can work out all the bugs in its current incarnation. Long-time Steam users will recognize this plan as similar to the one Valve used to roll out the now-infamous in-game hats (pictured above) that permeate a surprisingly large number of Steam-distributed titles, though obviously the company is being more cautious about rolling out this initiative as it could directly impact the bank accounts of the company’s userbase.

If you find yourself suddenly interested in paying real cash for fictional items, you can find full details on the Steam Community Marketplace at the service’s newly-published FAQ page.

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Steam Greenlight now includes non-gaming software

Mirroring Steam as a whole, Valve's ubiquitous software distribution platform now includes non-gaming, productivity software among the list of titles awaiting your approval on Steam Greenlight.

This morning Valve Software revealed the latest list of titles added to its nascent Steam Greenlight service. That happens almost every week now, so why highlight this particular occurence? Simple: With today’s update, Steam Greenlight now features both video games and the kinds of programs people might use to create those games.

But wait just a second, what is Steam Greenlight? To put it simply, Greenlight is a service through which Valve Software offers its legions of Steam users a chance to decide which programs will be available through Steam via a relatively standard democratic voting process. Imagine Greenlight as a low-key reality television competition in which the creators of prospective Steam programs attempt to put their best feet forward with the hopes that the audience (in this case, Steam users) will decide that their offering is worthy of inclusion on the world’s most popular gaming-centric software distribution platform. As we said, it’s very low-key, even compared to the most reserved, classy television shows, so while you won’t see developers battling it out in physical challenges while coated in a layer of pig fat and downy chicken feathers, you will see full disclosure of what these programs can do for you, as well as informed users piling on to convince other Steam fans of why they should or should not support a given piece of software.

As for today’s new round of Greenlight offerings, Valve offers a comprehensive list:

New Steam Greenlight Games

Blackspace

Darkfall Unholy Wars

Dawn of Fantasy

Dragon’s Lair

Euro Truck Simulator 2

Gear Up

Kinetic Void – Space Adventure

The Light

No Time To Explain

Primordia

Sang-Froid : Tales of Werewolves

StarForge

Waking Mars

 

First Steam Greenlight Software Titles

Action! Screen Recorder

Bandicam: Game Recorder

Construct 2

Display Fusion

HitFilm 2

You Need A Budget 4

While mere titles don’t tell us nearly enough to judge these various software packages, Steam Greenlight has more comprehensive profiles of each of these titles on its official site. Actually, that site is a pretty invaluable resource for anyone looking for new, interesting ideas. Not only does Greenlight offer extensive information on each new game and program added to its roster, it also lays things out in a familiar, Kickstarter-esque fashion, making it quite easy to select your favorite new addition and throw the weight of your support behind it.

Having announced these new titles, Valve also made mention of a few Greenlight stats of which it seems particularly proud. This latest batch of games and productivity software brings the total number of titles on Greenlight to a very respectable 50. Given that Greenlight only launched in August of this year, that’s a pretty impressive milestone to have already reached. Further, Valve claims that the advent of Greenlight has spawned a massive uptick in overall Steam sales, which is particularly noticeable among indie games that would otherwise escape the attention of most players.

“With the help of Greenlight, the indie games market share of games sold on Steam has increased by 50 percent for a third consecutive year,” said Valve’s Alden Kroll, a UI designer who has also had an extensive hand in the development of both the Steam store as well as Steam Greenlight. ”That’s a stat we are proud of, but one we also hope to increase as we learn more about Greenlight and continue to refine it in the new year.”

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Apps of the Week - 1Weather, Steam, Perfect Viewer and more!

Another week in the books and that means yet another chance for us to show you all some of our favorite applications. While some may be fun, others a bit more practical, they all serve a purpose, and rock at doing so. Let's hit the break and check out some of our favorites from this week!

It seems like the first thing everyone with a new Android phone does is download clock and weather widgets. They give a bit of visual flare and personalization to your device, and there surely are a lot to choose from out there. My latest favorite in this category is 1Weather, really for no other reason than the fact that it has a fantastic looking 2x2 widget. Luckily, the main app is pretty darn good too, with all of the information you'd expect from a full-featured weather app. Although I have to admit that since taking the OTA to Jelly Bean on my Galaxy Nexus I've been using Google Now for my weather needs, I realize that a very small percentage of users have that capability right now. If you're back on an earlier Android version, I strongly suggest you check out this app.

Download: 1Weather ($1.99)

It was one hell of a week for coffee lovers with the launch of Dunkin Donuts' mobile payment app on both iOS and Android. You'll be able to locate your nearest DD, browse the menu, and check in on Dunkin on both Facebook and Twitter. But most importantly is the mobile payment capability-- taking a page out of Starbucks' book, the app allows you to add a "Dunkin Card", which you can prepay and use at any location. You'll also be able to send someone a virtual gift card using the same basic principle. Only one downside here: you'll finally realize just how much cash your hemorrhaging on coffee and donuts.

Download: Dunkin Donuts (Free)

My pick this week is not a stand-alone app, but an add-on to Beautiful Widgets. I love Beautiful Widgets and have been a fan of their for a long time. One of the cool things about the weather widgets is the ability to download custom skins from within the app. I’m also a huge Super Mario fan, so when I was browsing through the Standard Skins section, the NINTENPro_Weather skin immediately caught my eye. It is a free download once you have Beautiful Widgets installed and it transforms your weather icons to look like they’re directly out of a Super Mario game. The sun is the angry sun that is well known from the games, the moon is the smiling crescent moon and the clouds are the standard clouds with eyes that date back to the original game.

This app is developed by Jamen Lang, who also did a Kirby version of the weather skin. Since I changed the skin, I really enjoy looking at the weather to see the Mario icons. If you don’t have Beautiful Widgets yet, the app costs $2.79. But once you have it, you have access to a variety of skins that are completely free. You can access the skins by going to the Settings within Beautiful Widgets and clicking  ‘Weather Skins’.  You can also go directly to the web version of the Beautiful Widgets Store, from which you can download the add-on.

Download: NINTENPro_Weather Skin (Free w/ Beautiful Widgets)

If you're a PC or Mac gamer, chances are you've got a Steam account. Valve's digital distribution platform is the leading place to get games online, and there's also a ton of community functionality available through the service. However, that doesn't have to stop when you step away from your computer. Steam for Android allows you to keep connected with Steam friends, and browse Steam's catalog of available titles on-the-go.

Community features include Steam chat, and the ability to browse groups and profiles on your phone or tablet, in addition to news and Steam deals through the Steam news and Syndicated sections. You might not be able to play Steam games on your phone (yet), but until that happens, the Steam app for Android offers the next best thing.

The app is available for free on Google Play, for phones running Android 2.1 and above.

Download: Steam (Free)

Ever wonder why that fart app needs access to your address book? Me too, but luckily LBE Privacy Guard can brutally strip apps of access to personal data. Your handset has to be rooted, but the hassle is certainly worth it for the privacy-conscious seeking peace of mind. Apps are broken down by which permissions they require, and drilling down further shows how many times a permission has been allowed or blocked. You can also view apps based on how potentially dangerous they are, and view a full activity log to see what's been doing what. There's also a data traffic monitor built in so you can stay under any caps your service provider may be imposing.

LBE Privacy guard is free, so if you've got a rooted phone and want to keep your data secure, give it a shot.

Download: LBE Privacy Guard (Free)

I was talking with our forum mod and Nexus hacker dmmarck  the other day, and the subject of great reader apps came up. In the midst of talking about our favorites, he tossed out Perfect Viewer as the best comic reader for Android, and said I should give it a look. He was spot on! Perfect Reader takes the recipe for a great comic reader app, and mixes it together into a very nice, fast, and free piece of work. Don't expect to see an app that follows the Holo guidelines, instead we find a great way to think outside of the box and provide a full screen app with a novel way to get to the settings -- tap in the dead center of the screen. I appreciate the Holo look and feel, but I appreciate full screen viewing even more in this sort of application.

Speaking of those settings, there are a ton of them. Nerds, tinkerers, and other folks who love a ton of options have plenty to choose from, and at the same time you can just point it to the folder you're storing your comics in (including CIFS and SAMBA network shares!), tell the app if you read from left to right or right to left, and start reading. Perfect Viewer lives up to it's name in the way it renders all of your .cbr files, and they really look great in full resolution or zoomed out to see a pane at a time. If you read comics on your Android device, you should give this one a look. I bet you'll click the donate link after using a while -- I did.

Download: Perfect Viewer (Free)

I'm a notorious music switcher. I can never seem to make my way through a whole song without reaching to skip it to the good parts. Mainly because I hear the same songs over and over, I just want to skip to the good parts. To help with finding some new music recently I been using Songza. It allows you to music based on your mood, day, time, situation. Rather than you selecting the music, it just creates a playlist for you and it goes through them. It's a cool set up and a neat way to discover some new music you not listen to if left on your own. Best of all, it's free.

Download: Songza (Free)

This app is something I've swooned over for some time on iOS, and finally it has made its way to Android. I'm not particularly a Space Shuttle buff in anyway, but a friend of mine had this on their iPad and it looked awesome. And we like awesome things. Imagine my delight this week then when it popped up in Google Play.

The idea is simple, this is a flight simulator based around landing the Space Shuttle at either JFK Space Center or Edwards Air Force base. You get to watch back a replay of your glorious approach and touchdown, and according to the developers "only the best pilots are awarded a perfect landing score." Definitely not me. Not yet anyway.

It's actually a really detailed app, and there are a number of tutorials and manuals to help you get to grips with it. You can view your landing from inside with a sweet looking HUD, or from outside the Shuttle. Auto Pilot can assist, or you can go pro and set everything to manual. There's also realistic radio comms throughout, adding to the immersive nature. And, it's has Openfeint integration, so you can show off your skills to the world.

I could talk for hours, but then I wouldn't be playing this. It isn't the cheapest app, but it's worth the outlay. It's had some glowing testimonials and reviews already from its time on iOS, and if you're even remotely into Space stuff, it's worth a try.

Download: F-Sim Space Shuttle ($3.99)

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