steam

Want to trade games? You better plan ahead; there's now a 30 day wait period between time of purchase and tradability in an effort to deter fraudulent resellers.


From the announcement:

All new games purchased as a gift and placed in the purchaser's inventory will be untradable for 30 days. The gift may still be gifted at any time. The only change is to trading.

We've made this change to make trading gifts a better experience for those receiving the gifts. We're hoping this lowers the number of people who trade for a game only to have the game revoked later due to issues with the purchaser's payment method.

A thirty day wait period makes sense by this logic, but it sure has messed up my holiday trading. But don't worry, any gifting you're planning to do out of the kindness of your heart remains intact.

A new tool is coming to Steamworks Development that allows developers to create their own sales at their own prices lasting up to two weeks, or schedule their games to take part in Steam's new(ish) weeklong deals.

In an update to the Steam Universe group, Valve's Eric Hope has announced an expected delay for Steam machines and controllers:

We're now using wireless prototype controllers to conduct live playtests, with everyone from industry professionals to die-hard gamers to casual gamers. It's generating a ton of useful feedback, and it means we'll be able to make the controller a lot better. Of course, it's also keeping us pretty busy making all those improvements. Realistically, we're now looking at a release window of 2015, not 2014.

Can you wait another year for pseudo-console gaming?

According to an email from Blue Isle Studios, Slender: the Arrival will be available on Steam by Halloween:

Shh…

Something new is coming to Slender: The Arrival

Only you are allowed to know about it.

This Halloween we'll be on Steam.

More importantly, there's new content.

Here's a sneak peak, Keep it Quiet. The rest of the world doesn't know.