January 26, 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 beta release of the Steam application for iOS and Android devices.

With the Steam app, gamers around the world may chat with Steam friends, browse community groups and user profiles, view screenshots and user-generated content for their favorite games, read the latest gaming news, stay up to date on unbeatable Steam sales, and more.

“The Steam app comes from many direct requests from our customers,” said Gabe Newell, co-founder and president of Valve. “Seeing which of your friends are online and playing a game, sending quick messages, looking at screenshots for an upcoming game, or catching a sale -- these are all features customers have requested. Mobile is changing way people interact, play games and consume media, and the Steam app is part of our commitment to meet customer demands and expand the service functionality of Steam to make it richer and more accessible for everyone.”

Those who wish to join the beta just need to download the Steam app (free of charge) and log in to their Steam account via the mobile app to express interest in the beta. Gamers will be added to the Closed Beta as the service ramps up.

Steam is a leading platform for the delivery and management of PC and Mac games with over 40 million accounts around the world and over 1,800 titles offered.

For more information, please visit http://store.steampowered.com/mobile

“Updating the spawn logic in Modern Warfare 3 tonight (2am PT). This will improve when / where / how you spawn. Goodbye revenge spawns.”

The big "he said, the monolithic corporation said" video games kerfuffle of 2010, the fallout from Infinity Ward co-founders Jason West and Vincent Zampella leaving Activision then signing up with Electronic Arts, is indeed going to trial. On Wednesday, a California Superior Court judge denied EA's motion for summary judgement on the complex lawsuit, as well as one from West and Zampella, meaning the big Call of Duty mess will go before a jury next year.


West and Zampella were fired by Activision in March 2010, and quickly sued the publisher for unpaid royalties and control over the Modern Warfare brand, created at Infinity Ward. Activision counter-sued in April, saying the pair attempted to undermine IW so it could poach employees for a new studio, and had been in clandestine meetings with a competitor.

A few days later, West and Zampella announced the formation of new studio Respawn Entertainment in April, signing an exclusive publishing arrangement with EA. Forty-odd Infinity Ward members eventually follow West and Zampella to Respawn. A number of people who worked at IW on Call of Duty also sued Activision for up to $125 million in unpaid royalties.

Activision later added EA to its counter-suit, claiming that it had conspired with West and Zampella, and seeking $400 million in damages for contract interference.

With the summary judgement motions from EA and the duo denied, the case will go before a jury on May 7, 2012.

In a statement provided to USA Today, West and Zampella's attorney said, "We are eager to get to trial on May 7 to prove Jason and Vince's case against Activision for firing them without cause and denying them the money they earned. Activision's claims against EA are a smoke screen, seeking to distract attention from Activision's atrocious behavior to Jason, Vince, and the rest of the Infinity Ward team."

After years of pricey map packs, Call of Duty fans can look forward to some more varied DLC next year. Infinity Ward’s Robert Bowling has been talking about plans for new Spec Ops missions and “a variety of things that players have never seen before.” Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer and Raven will all be working on producing regular updates throughout 2012.

“The way we’re doing downloadable content this year is unlike we’ve never done before,” he said, speaking in a Call of Duty Elite video spotted by CVG. “Not only in how you can get it – in content drops or choose for the collection – but also the type of content you’re getting.”

This year we’ve become used to Call of Duty map packs arriving on Xbox a month before the PC version, a trend that may continue for Modern Warfare 3. Bowling says that the first DLC will be arriving on Xbox Live on January 24. No mention of a PC release date yet.

There’s another issue. Call of Duty Elite doesn’t exist on PC, and when it’s eventually released, we won’t be getting the subscription service. Activision have announced plenty of exclusive bits and pieces for Call of Duty Elite, including videos, tournaments and map packs. It’s still unclear how or when they’ll arrive on our machines.

Still, Modern Warfare 3 fans have plenty to look forward to, and the new DLC packs bound to be successful. In an earnings call earlier this year, Activision announced that they’d sold 20 million map packs for Black Ops. Some of the DLC may even be free. A new Drop Zone game mode was added recently with no price tag attached.

Call of Duty’s supply crates always remind me of Worms. In Team 17′s turn based worm battles, crates would drop from the sky at a regular rate. Those who got to them first would claim the most destructive weapons, including air strikes. Modern Warfare’s care packages are are similar. In the newly added game mode, Drop Zone, they will be even more important than ever.

IW creative strategist Robert Bowling posted about the new game mode on the Modern Warfare 3 forums. Drop Zone will have teams fighting to control a central point. As long as someone is holding it, care packages will drop every 15 seconds. “This is the only way to earn air support in this mode,” writes Bowling. “All other pointstreaks are disabled. You’ll earn 20 points per team member, for every second they’re in the drop zone plus 20 XP individually for your time spent in the zone.”

The update will also add Community Playlists. Popular custom and private modes will be added here to let players gain ranks on some of their favourite map set-ups. Bowling also talks about some tweaks to Hardcore mode. “we’ll be converting all Hardcore modes to Ricochet variant as a response to team killing. This means, any friendly fire, is applied to the attacker, rather than the victim. So choose your shots wisely and any attempt to team kill will simply kill yourself.” The update should apply today, and will be added for free.