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Steam UI Update Beta Drops IE Rendering For WebKit

Posted by Soulskill on from the what-a-coincidence-with-battle.net-in-beta-too dept.

Citing massive growth in their user base ("25 million users, 1000+ games, 12 billion player minutes per month, and 75 billion Steam client minutes per month"), Valve unveiled a revamped UI for Steam on Tuesday, opening the beta test to anyone who wants to try it out. There are many changes, and an increased focus on social features: "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." Tracking games and achievements have both gotten simpler, and Valve has dropped the Internet Explorer rendering engine in favor of WebKit. An enterprising user also found files that may indicate the existence of an OS X Steam client.

9 of 244 comments (clear)

  1. Why OSX? by TheVelvetFlamebait · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Exactly how many steam games have OSX versions? Does anyone actually game with Macs?

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    You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
    1. Re:Why OSX? by oiron · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Maybe they're trying to create the market?

    2. Re:Why OSX? by sopssa · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Quite many games in stores at least have that PC&Mac logo, so I don't see why it wouldn't be the same in Steam.

      And even if not currently, Steam gained popularity on PC because it was the first online platform to buy and play games (it wasn't as good as it is now, they had to work a lot on it). Now they're first on Mac's too and will dominate that market too.

    3. Re:Why OSX? by Masami+Eiri · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Give it time.

  2. Re:I don't want to be tracked by sopssa · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So then just don't use Steam. There's a difference between being tracked involuntarily a la Google Analytics and tracking your game stats and achievements on a gaming platform that contains such community features, which you signed up for.

    Your complain is like signing up to a dating site and then complaining how the girls won't leave you alone.

  3. Re:I don't want to be tracked by Krittick · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Your complain is like signing up to a dating site and then complaining how the girls won't leave you alone.

    I highly doubt most /. users will be complaining about girls not leaving us alone.

  4. Re:I don't want to be tracked by Culture20 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    girls? it's the men who won't leave me alone that bother me! *shudder*

    Stop playing a female night elf then. Sheesh.

  5. Re:I wonder how it works on Wine by Rogerborg · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Ditto. It's frustrating, since wine is now a pretty solid platform for gaming.

    I'd love to give Valve money, but I'm not paying a Microsoft Tax in order to do so. I guess we're far too small a market for them to care about though.

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    If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
  6. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Comment removed based on user account deletion