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With MS and Sony both hogging stages during E3 and Gamescom, it seems the only major PC support comes from Blizzard, currently holding their Gamescome Press Conference as I speak.
Valve, or more precisely Gabe, have been at both events but Steam itself is pretty much its own platform, especially now that the Steam Box is nearing retail.
So it seems strange that Valve aren't singing and dancing about their service, particularly as it undercuts prices on the console platforms and that both console companies are beating on about Indie games all of a sudden.
Perhaps they have no need to encourage more players to Steam. It has the support of a large PC community after all. But there are many would be gamers who still don't know that there is another option and maybe some of these even have a PC at home, too.
Given that there is such a wide variety of games that support even the lower end of the PC hardware scale, its an ideal time to shout about how you could well have an untapped source of indie games at home without knowing it. Of course, they can also encourage more gamers to the high end PC set ups, too, by partnering with major games companies on stage, just as Sony and MS have done, to show off footage of new games.
So, should Valve use these opportunities? I think they should, especially with other services muscling in on their patch.
Valve, or more precisely Gabe, have been at both events but Steam itself is pretty much its own platform, especially now that the Steam Box is nearing retail.
So it seems strange that Valve aren't singing and dancing about their service, particularly as it undercuts prices on the console platforms and that both console companies are beating on about Indie games all of a sudden.
Perhaps they have no need to encourage more players to Steam. It has the support of a large PC community after all. But there are many would be gamers who still don't know that there is another option and maybe some of these even have a PC at home, too.
Given that there is such a wide variety of games that support even the lower end of the PC hardware scale, its an ideal time to shout about how you could well have an untapped source of indie games at home without knowing it. Of course, they can also encourage more gamers to the high end PC set ups, too, by partnering with major games companies on stage, just as Sony and MS have done, to show off footage of new games.
So, should Valve use these opportunities? I think they should, especially with other services muscling in on their patch.
I doubt there are many "would be gamers" out there that wouldn't be aware of the PC option and hence aware of Steam; if you own a PC and you want to game on it, you're very unlikely to be able to do so without coming across Steam at some point. Being unavoidable is probably the best advertising trick ever.
And besides... perhaps Valve are more interested in seeing how much damage the console manufacturers can do to each other before they wade in?
After all, both parties in that particular "war" seem determined to brag about their "RAM size" so to speak, hopefully to the detriment of the other party. Perhaps when everyone's tired of that....
And besides... perhaps Valve are more interested in seeing how much damage the console manufacturers can do to each other before they wade in?
After all, both parties in that particular "war" seem determined to brag about their "RAM size" so to speak, hopefully to the detriment of the other party. Perhaps when everyone's tired of that....
With MS and Sony both hogging stages during E3 and Gamescom, it seems the only major PC support comes from Blizzard, currently holding their Gamescome Press Conference as I speak.
Valve, or more precisely Gabe, have been at both events but Steam itself is pretty much its own platform, especially now that the Steam Box is nearing retail.
So it seems strange that Valve aren't singing and dancing about their service, particularly as it undercuts prices on the console platforms and that both console companies are beating on about Indie games all of a sudden.
Perhaps they have no need to encourage more players to Steam. It has the support of a large PC community after all. But there are many would be gamers who still don't know that there is another option and maybe some of these even have a PC at home, too.
Given that there is such a wide variety of games that support even the lower end of the PC hardware scale, its an ideal time to shout about how you could well have an untapped source of indie games at home without knowing it. Of course, they can also encourage more gamers to the high end PC set ups, too, by partnering with major games companies on stage, just as Sony and MS have done, to show off footage of new games.
So, should Valve use these opportunities? I think they should, especially with other services muscling in on their patch.
Valve, or more precisely Gabe, have been at both events but Steam itself is pretty much its own platform, especially now that the Steam Box is nearing retail.
So it seems strange that Valve aren't singing and dancing about their service, particularly as it undercuts prices on the console platforms and that both console companies are beating on about Indie games all of a sudden.
Perhaps they have no need to encourage more players to Steam. It has the support of a large PC community after all. But there are many would be gamers who still don't know that there is another option and maybe some of these even have a PC at home, too.
Given that there is such a wide variety of games that support even the lower end of the PC hardware scale, its an ideal time to shout about how you could well have an untapped source of indie games at home without knowing it. Of course, they can also encourage more gamers to the high end PC set ups, too, by partnering with major games companies on stage, just as Sony and MS have done, to show off footage of new games.
So, should Valve use these opportunities? I think they should, especially with other services muscling in on their patch.