Valve releases its Steam client for Linux

SOFTWARE AND GAMES DEVELOPER Valve has released the Linux version of its Steam client and reduced prices on Linux game titles.

Valve had announced that it was porting a number of its high-profile games and its Steam service to Linux and held a popular closed beta last year. Now the firm has announced the public release of its Steam client for Linux and offered discount prices on 50 Linux games.

Valve's Linux efforts have been focused on supporting Steam on the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution and the firm said Ubuntu users can download the client from the Ubuntu Software Center. However it should be noted that while Valve has been focusing on the Ubuntu Linux distribution, there is nothing stopping users of other Linux distributions from using Steam, though that might require a bit of manual work to ensure that all dependencies are satisfied.

Not surprisingly Canonical, which sponsors Ubuntu Linux, was happy with Valve's decision to focus on its distribution and said it anticipates that more game developers will build for Ubuntu in the future. David Pitkin, director of Consumer Applications at Canonical said, "We expect a growing number of game developers to include Ubuntu among their target platforms. We're looking forward to seeing AAA games developed with Ubuntu in mind as part of a multi-platform day and date release on Steam."

Valve said that its Team Fortress 2 title is freely available on Steam for Linux and for a short period those that play the game will be given an exclusive Tux item that can be carried and traded between players. The firm also confirmed that Half Life, Counter Strike 1.6 and Counter Strike Source are also among the 50 game titles that are presently available. µ