Valve Software, developers of popular gaming client Steam, which allows games to be purchased online (often at seriously low prices) and sync them with your Steam Account so that they update online automatically; and in many cases also allow your games, game saves, achievements and so on to be retrievable on other computers, announced today that due to growing customer demand the company is expanding beyond gaming and making "creativity and productivity software" available through its store.

Starting September 5th, Steam will allow users to purchase and download non-gaming software from the Steam Store and link them to their account. Many of the launch titles will take advantage of popular Steamworks features, leading to the exciting prospect that the software, like most Steam games, will automatically update while connected to Steam and may even sync documents or settings wherever you take Steam with you. After the initial launch line-up, the collection of available downloads will be regularly added to with new software on a regular basis.

The below is the official Press Release:

Aug 8, 2012 — Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Counter-Strike, Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, Portal, and Team Fortress) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced the first set of Software titles are heading to Steam, marking a major expansion to the platform most commonly known as a leading destination for PC and Mac games.

 

The Software titles coming to Steam range from creativity to productivity. Many of the launch titles will take advantage of popular Steamworks features, such as easy installation, automatic updating, and the ability to save your work to your personal Steam Cloud space so your files may travel with you.

 

More Software titles will be added in an ongoing fashion following the September 5th launch, and developers will be welcome to submit Software titles via Steam Greenlight.

 

"The 40 million gamers frequenting Steam are interested in more than playing games," said Mark Richardson at Valve. "They have told us they would like to have more of their software on Steam, so this expansion is in response to those customer requests."

Exciting, no?

Originally posted on Technically Motivated – For those who don't understand Technology; and those who do. Our Motivation is Highlighting Tech Innovation.

The New Xbox. Three tiny words that have been used a million times on the internet over the last two years. But never before by a Microsoft executive.

But those were exactly the words used by Microsoft general manager Brian Hall in a Windows 8 focused video interview with The Verge, which you can see below.

Said Hall: “We just decided it was time to do something new and bring the best from each of those and put them together and release it right in time for the new wave of products that we could have coming out with Windows 8, with the new version of Office with the new Windows phone and the new Xbox.”

Some outlets have interpreted this as meaning the New Xbox will launch alongside Windows 8. But with the new OS having an end of October release date that seems highly unlikely. Scrap that – it’s impossible.

What it does mean though is that previous suggestions that Windows 8 will include some tied functionality with Xbox Live are spot on.

And, of course, the first official mention of a new Xbox from the mouth of Microsoft must mean that a reveal is drawing ever nearer.

Source:  http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/microsoft-utters-three-long-awaited-words-the-new-xbox/0100815

This week on the Sunday Night Showcase –

We will be joined in IRC and on air by

The 44 FIRES are a new political rock/Metal group,we bring you the truth through our music ….we spawned from the different styles of music we all grew up listening to, from Corrosion of conformity to soundgarden, primus to rage against the machine, Pantera to Clutch. This has made us into the band we are today.

The band will be joining us in IRC and live on air this evening, answering you questions from IRC, Facebook and twitter

Make sure to join us aswell to get some requests in! The Live request system both on the website and in IRC @ irc.sanitarium.fm port:6667 #sanitarium.fm for live show discussion

Also, keep an eye on this thread for future youtube videos and info about the band and for any ramblings from the band themselves

Yes indeed, Sunday Night Showcase LIVE!!! with your host, LoneSamurai!

Sunday 5th august, 9pm til Midnight GMT, 4pm til 7pm EST.

See you there

~Lonesamurai

As the result of a childhood wish, John Bennett's teddy bear, Ted, came to life and has been by John's side ever since – a friendship that's tested when Lori, John's girlfriend of four years, wants more from their relationship.

Ok, one quick thing about this, if you hate family Guy, you will hate this…  But fuck that, this film is fucking GOLD!

The film starts with a hilarious intro from Patrick Stewart, yes, Captain Picard has become a regular on American Dad and does the narration for the film and seriously, Picard swearing still makes me laugh my arse off, i dunno why, maybe its the shakespearian actor voice over

As I said above, this film is typical Seth MacFarlane fair, crude fart jokes, guys being 13 year olds trapped in mens bodies (which we all are) and of course, Flash Gordon himself, Sam J. Jones

Ted, Voiced by Seth McFarlane is comedy gold and Mark Wahlberg does a genius job of of being the little kid that never really grew up after his teddy bear came to life from a christmas wish in 1985!  27 years later and John and Ted live with Lori (Mila Kunis, gorgeous as always) and are pretty much fuck up stoners…  Obviously after four years this causes trouble in John's relationship with Lori and after John, Ted and Flash Gordon get drunk, do coke and fight the asian dude next door with a goose, Lori kicks John out!

All this time, a creepy dude (Giovanni Ribisi) who's stalked Ted since he was a kid and ted was a celebraty on TV, kidnaps Ted for his own kid to keep and John and Lori have to go rescue him… 

Anyway, story aside, this film is awesome!  I laughed so hard I have a stitch an hour after I got home from the cinema and I'm still giggling as I write this

Cos of that alone, I have to give this a 10 outta 10, it was utter genius and the cameos are awesome (especially a certain Green Lantern)

10 outta 10

~Lonesamurai

Star Wars: The Old Republic will be going free to play this fall, publisher EA announced this afternoon.

All eight character storylines up to level 50 will be accessible with "certain restrictions."

Unlimited access including higher-level content and new features will be available through subscription options.

EA cites "choice" as the reason for the switch, and BioWare GM Matt Bromberg said in an interview with IGN that the free-to-play decision is less about subscriber losses as much as it is the market:

"There has been some decline in our subscriber numbers, but I wouldn't say that's what's driving the decision…what's happened in the marketplace is that free-to-play has really become the market standard for MMOs and we felt like there were both potentially millions of new players who were Star Wars fans who never tasted the game because the subscription was a barrier. Our research also told us that a lot of the folks who we had earlier on who left the game would like to come back and try some of the new features and content that we've put into the game since they've left if the subscription wasn't a barrier. So we feel like the market and our players are telling us that greater access is what they want and so we're really responding to that.

Additionally, EA and BioWare say that the new free-to-play option will enable them to increase the frequency of content updates. The first of the new updates will come this August, alongside a temporary sale of The Old Republic for $14.99, which nets users both the game and a one-month subscription. The goal after that is to release content every six weeks, focusing on group content. Staff reductions have now occurred twice for developer BioWare Austin, once in May and again in the last couple of weeks, but Bromberg says the team they currently have will be able to handle the increased production. "We really have built a team around this newer and different model..so we think have the right team to do it and at the right numbers."