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Latest news from the digital distribution world.

This Saturday the 28,000 members of this Steam group are planning to play Half-Life 2 together.
The group hopes that the massive play session will shoot Half-Life 2 up the Steam most-played list and let Valve know how many people are still waiting for Half-Life 2: Episode 3. Valve certainly know this already, and probably receive dozens of emails but the group hopes to deliver the message in a more appreciative way.
“Instead of focusing efforts in a negative and disrespectful way, we have decided to gain Valve’s attention by delivering a basic message: Your oldest and longest running fanbase would like better communication,” they say on the Steam group page.
Event is set to kick off at 7PM GMT / 11AM PST this Saturday.

Gabe Newell said that it’s going to be a great addition and was a result of many direct requests from their customers.
“The Steam app comes from many direct requests from our customers,” he said
“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” Newell added.
We’ll be giving away 3 Steam Mobile invites later today!
I got into beta (lucky me!) and here are some screenshots of the application:
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Steam has announced today, their full record results of the year 2011.
During 2011 the platform grew to offer over 1,800 games to over 40 million accounts. Year-over-year unit sales increased by more than 100% for the seventh straight year, and during the 2011 Holiday Sale Steam’s simultaneous user number eclipsed the 5 million player mark.
Meanwhile Steam doubled the amount of content delivered in 2011 vs. 2010, serving over 780 Petabytes of data to gamers around the world. To meet the increasing demand for games and services on the platform, the Steam infrastructure more than doubled its service capacity and a new content delivery architecture was deployed to improve user download rates.
Over 14.5 mil copies of Steamworks games were registered during the year, a 67% increase over 2010. Steamworks titles shipped during 2011 include The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Deus Ex: Human Revolution and more. Since the suite of services was released three years ago, Steamworks has shipped in over 400 games.
"Steam and Steamworks continues to evolve to keep up with customer and developer demands for new services and content," said Gabe Newell, co-founder and president of Valve. "Support for in-game item trading prompted the exchange of over 19 million items. Support for Free to Play (FTP) games, launched in June, has spurred the launch of 18 FTP titles on Steam, with more coming in 2012. Looking forward, we are preparing for the launch of the Big Picture UI mode, which will allow gamers to experience Steam on large displays and in more rooms of the house."
Source: TGX

You can now blind pre-order Indie Royale’s New Year’s Bundle – which includes PC and Mac versions of all games – at a recommended €/£/$5 to €/£/$10 USD contribution, and aminimum of $3.99 USD.
The titles to be offered will include a premium blend of FPS and RTS (Steam for PC and Mac), an innovative single-player puzzle game (Steam for PC and Mac, Desura for PC, DRM-free PC and Mac download), an award-winning 2D platformer (Steam for PC and Mac, plus an enhanced version for Desura PC, DRM-free PC and Mac download) and a world premiere on PC/Mac for an acclaimed arcade shooter with a twist (Desura for PC, DRM-free PC and Mac download).
Those who optionally pre-order now will get game access as soon as the bundle launches, lock in their price, and receive as a bonus George & Jonathan’s raved-about electronic chiptune funk album ‘Beautiful Lifestyle’ (this bonus is also available to those who pay more than the minimum price during the bundle.)
The New Year’s Bundle will launch fully later this week at $2.99 USD and up – watch our Twitter feed or Facebook page for immediate notice at launch time.