Valve Takes Steam’s UI Update Out of Beta

It’s been just a little bit over two months since Valve unveiled its UI overall for Steam, but up to this point it has been classified as a beta (and required user intervention to access). The company has now deemed the update as stable, though, so now every copy of Steam should reflect the revamped UI on the next start-up. Love it or hate it, it’s here to stay.

Personally, I love most of the changes here, and overall, the entire application is a lot easier to look at and navigate. I find some things a little clunkier (such as the library list), but that might just be a matter of opinion. If you’re a heavy Steam user and want a good round-up of new and upgraded features, Valve has posted a special page that highlights all of the important updates.

A major focus of the latest update has been with the social aspect of gaming. At any time, you can view a huge amount of information about a game, at the very least which friends of yours own it, and how much time they’ve sunk into it. As soon as you open Steam, as long as it’s on the Store page, you’ll see various bits of information on the right side, such as which friends have been playing what, and even which friends have just bought a new game. Yes, now it’s easier than ever to be a Steam stalker.

Another improvement has been made to the “News” section, which proves itself to be much more useful than before. There are even some gaming websites that have embedded feeds from right within the application, so you can browse them at will and get the latest gaming news. In addition to this, you can have more convenient access to game update information and other various game news.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, and there’s really too much new and updated to discuss here. Hit up the link below you make sure you’re in the know and are making your experience more Steamy.

Since its introduction in 2003, Steam has been centered around social gaming. But Steam users have rightly come to expect more than a simple social network alongside their games. The new Steam puts far more friend-related info at your fingertips. Right from within your own game Library, you can now track which of your friends plays each game or invite them to play one with you. Before you’ve even bought a game, knowing whether your friends play it is one of the most useful pieces of information to have. So on the store homepage, there’s a new listing of what your friends have bought or played lately. On each game’s store page, see who among your friends plays it, and whether it’s on anyone’s wishlist.