Artifact beta: Learn how to play Valve’s first card game… and how to pay

Enlarge / It’s a beta! A beta that will take your money. (credit: Valve Software) Valve’s next video game, a card-battling computer game called Artifact, will be a tricky one to review for a few reasons. For one, it inevitably comes with the baggage of being “Valve’s next video game.” Whatever Artifact is, it isn’t […]

Watch how Valve’s Knuckles controllers work with Lone Echo and Fallout 4 VR

Here’s a video of one of VR’s best games being played with its most promising new controllers. Brian Lindenhof, a VR developer best known for his work on Climbey, has uploaded a video of him playing Ready at Dawn’s Oculus Rift exclusive, Lone Echo, using the Revive app. The new controllers, which were shipped out to […]

Valve’s Knuckles EV2 controller will let you squeeze things in VR

Valve originally introduced its vertical-grip “Knuckles” controllers for VR in 2016, and shipped working models to developers last year. Now the company sending game makers another version, the EV2, that has revamped buttons, straps and a slew of sensors that essentially translate finger motion and pressure to let you touch, grab and squeeze objects inside […]

Valve’s confusing Steam policy is about Flappy Bird, not bigotry

OPINION: A fact I think about a lot is that the human brain runs on about 20 watts of power. That’s a tiny number for such a capable computational processor, but your brain makes due with that supply through the use of tricks and shortcuts. An example of this is that it will make predictions […]

Valve’s move to censor visual novels undoes its Steam Direct promises

Visual novel developers who have mature-themed games on Steam are reeling from what developer MangaGamer is calling Valve’s “sudden and abrupt policy shift.” Valve, which owns and operates the Steam PC gaming service, has notified MangaGamer and certain other developers that they have until the end of the month to remove pornograp…Read More

Steam Spy announces it’s shutting down, blames Valve’s new privacy settings

(credit: Aurich Lawson) In light of Internet and social-media privacy landing at the top of major news outlets this week, another major online service announced its own privacy-policy updates on Tuesday. The latest change comes from Steam, the Western world’s largest online PC game seller. According to Steam’s creators at Valve, an updated settings panel will […]

Valve’s new ‘Dota 2’ subscription adds an in-game coach

Dota 2 is a completely free-to-play game, with all the MOBA’s heroes available to new players from day one. Valve makes money by selling different in-game cosmetics, announcers, HUDs, etc. When major tournaments roll around, the house that GabeN built also puts out time-limited “Battle Passes” that add challenges, co-operative game types, fantasy leagues and […]

Valve’s making games again: Hands-on with Artifact’s digital trading cards

Enlarge / Two posters, one ambitious game. (credit: Valve) BELLEVUE, Washington—I was about to sit down to play Valve’s first new PC game series in five years. But this being Valve, the world’s first press demo for Artifact was preceded by something almost equally rare: a speech from company cofounder Gabe Newell. The speech wasn’t just […]