Even though Guncraft was released earlier this month on the PC for $15, developer Exato knows that getting it on Steam is important for driving sales. The company revealed today that the game will debut on Steam August 9 and is asking fans to help it design Steam Trading cards specific to the platform.

Valve Software has "greenlit" 14 more games and two pieces of software today for eventual release on Steam. That brings the total number of Greenlit titles to 127 to-date.

According to Gaming Blend, the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (VZVB) is reportedly looking to challenge Valve's stance on digital trade-ins in court before the end of the year. The VZVB is pursuing legal action regarding Steam's inability for its customers to resell the software they buy. The group had promised in February that it planned to sue Valve.

Valve has launched the annual Steam Summer Getaway Sale, offering steep discounts on hundreds of games. Right now the biggest problem consumers hungry for deals will encounter is the ability to actually get into the Steam storefront in order to buy something - due to high levels of traffic hammering the site right now.

Valve Software and Twitch have inked a deal this week that will allow Steam users to link their Twitch accounts and watch video streams outside of a game. The deal is mainly for DOTA2 players, who will become eligible for tournament item drops while watching a Twitch stream. Valve said it plans to expand on the features available through the deal, and is asking players for feedback on the matter.

The deal came to light as part of a new DOTA 2 update that added a number of new features into the game including six new tutorial missions and a new Limited Heroes mode.

Either backers will understand or they will be furious when they hear that Double Fine's Tim Schafer says that The Broken Age still requires more capitol in order to be developed. The adventure game that managed to raise $3 million on Kickstarter (in a campaign that was only seeking $400,000) apparently has to turn to other sources in order to continue.

UPDATE: Looks like EA has changed its mind.  A new message on the Darkspore forums reads:

"Welcome to the Darkspore forums. Thanks for supporting the game. We recently resolved an issue that was causing some players to not be able to connect to the game. If you any encounter any other issues, please contact help.ea.com for customer support. We will continue to support Darkspore, so feel free to continue to discuss the game here. Thanks – Maxis."

A thread on NeoGAF that pokes around in some code from the new Steam Beta reveals some strange strings about game sharing on the popular digital distribution platform. The code refers to a shared game library and a shared license. While the strings have been confirmed as legitimate, Valve has not publicly commented on the data fished from the new client beta. The code in question is below:

Shadow Warrior Classic, an updated version of 3D Realms' 1997 game Shadow Warrior, is now available for free on Steam. The free game has been released by developer Flying Wild Hog and publisher Devolver Digital, who are also working on a "reimagining" of the game. The remake will also be called Shadow Warrior, and is set for release later this year on Windows PC and next-generation consoles.

Valve announced six new titles to be greenlighted by the Steam community. The new games that will eventually make their way to Steam thanks to the community's support are Bleed, Game Dev Tycoon, Riot, Stardew Valley, The Legend, and Legends of Eisenwald.

Valve Software announced that the very first game to make use of its freshly launched support for subscriptions is the MMO Darkfall Unholy Wars, with "additional subscription-based games to follow."

Valve has announced the latest batch of games and application software to be approved for sale on the digital distribution platform as part of its Steam Greenlight program. Eighteen new games and two new software programs join the 90 titles Greenlit since Steam Greenlight launched in August of last year.

Valve has refunded the money of a man who says that a certain choice in Bioshock Infinite goes against his religious beliefs. We won't mention the specifics of the choice beyond saying that it relates to a Christian religious rite, so as to avoid giving any spoilers. Breen Malmberg, who says he is a Christian, found the choice to be unacceptable.

Valve Software today revealed a new feature for Steam users called "Early Access" which allows consumers to roll the dice and buy a game still in development and play it early. Valve calls this an opportunity to "go behind the scenes" and experience the development cycle of games first-hand. They'll also be able to interact with game developers and provide the feedback that could potentially make the game better.

Update: We didn't have to wait long to hear Vblank Entertainment's thoughts on WiiWare. Speaking to Nintendo Life exclusively in an interview to be published in full over the weekend, Brian Provinciano called the WiiWare release a $20,000 gift to Wii fans. He asks everyone to go buy it so he can recoup some of those costs.

The War Z has returned to Steam a full two months after Valve made the decision to pull Developer Hammerpoint Interactive's online zombie apocalypse game from its digital distribution platform. The game, which was released on Steam December 18, 2012 was later pulled after consumers who bought the game said that it lacked features that were listed on the game's product page. Some went so far as to accuse the game's developer of false advertising.

Listening to its users, Valve pulled the game from the virtual storefront a day later and issued the following statement:

Valve has revealed the next 12 software titles that have been approved by the community as part of its Steam Greenlight system.

Valve CEO and co-founder Gabe Newell will be honored by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) with the Academy Fellowship at this year's British Academy Games Awards. He'll be honored with this prestigious award at a ceremony taking place on March 5 at the London Hilton, Park Lane.

After a long wait, Linux users can finally use the Steam Client on their favorite open sourced operating system. Linux users can download the free Steam client from the Ubuntu Software Center right now. Steam for Linux client is fully compatible with Steam's Big Picture mode, which allows users to play games on their high definition television sets using a controller. At launch the client supports around 50 Linux compatible games including Counter-Strike 1.6, Counter-Strike: Source, Half-Life, Team Fortress 2, and more.

Valve's Gabe Newell took the unusual step of breaking his silence on recent developments inside Valve after it was reported yesterday that as many as 25 employees have been let go. Valve did not confirm that that number was accurate. Among those confirmed to be leaving the company are Valve’s director of business Jason Holtman and hardware engineer Jeri Ellsworth.

The German consumer advocacy group The Federation of German Consumer Association has filed an official complaint against Valve Software for its Steam's end-user license agreement because it does not allow consumers to resell digital content. The European High Court ruled last year that digital content games can be sold. The complaint against Valve filed with the German courts is directly related to that ruling.

Valve has officially launched a Guides tab in its community hub, allowing players to get some much needed hints, tips, and tricks from fellow gamers. The new tab allows the Steam community to share helpful guides for their favorite games using text, video, and screenshots.

Recently Valve Software co-founder Gabe Newell sat down with Chris Hardwick of The Nerdist Podcast to talk about the company's plans to take over the living room entertainment space with Steam's Big Picture Mode and with hardware like Steam Box. Some of that conversation was transcribed by Games Industry International.

It was long rumored to be Valve's home console and now it's a reality. The home console system called "Steam Box" when it was just a rumor is real. Valve today announced during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas a new home console called the Xi3 Piston. Valve has teamed up with hardware startup company Xi3 to create a mini-PC.

A number of Activision's James Bond games have disappeared from Valve software's Steam digital distribution platform, Xbox 360's Games on Demand service and Activision's own store, according to GameSpot.

Valve Software announced today that the Steam Linux beta client is now available to all Steam users. The Linux client for the popular digital distribution platform had previously been available only to a select few Steam users. Along with access to the client for everyone, the beta is supported by a "growing catalog" of Linux-supported games, an "active" Steam for Linux community group, and a new GitHub bug reporting repository.

Hammerpoint Interactive's controversial zombie survival game The War Z has been removed from Steam. Earlier this morning we reported on the very vocal and public outcry of consumers who say that The War Z was falsely advertised by its developers and that it was missing features promised in the game's original product page - which was later revised. You can get the rundown on all those issues in this news story.

As part of its Steam Community Beta, Valve has launched its own Game Guides, a section not unlike what is offered over at GameFaqs. The new section will offer guides created by the Steam community using text, images or images and other stuff you might have hiding in your Steam Cloud. From the Steam Community Beta Page:

Valve Software has launched the Steam Community Market in open beta, allowing Steam users to buy and sell in-game items using Steam Wallet funds. Sale items can be listed on the Community Market page or in players' personal inventories. Currently only Team Fortress 2 is supported and only consumables and tools can be sold at this time.

As the beta goes on, Valve plans to allow other items to be sold in Team Fortress 2 and to add the Steam Community Market functionality to other games. That will start to happen early next year.

The rumors about Steam Box - a console-like system powered by Valve's popular digital distribution platform Steam may turn out to be true after all. Speaking to Kotaku recently Valve co-founder and top executive Gabe Newell said that custom PC packages featuring Steam that can go head-to-head with Sony and Microsoft will start shipping in the early part of 2013.