steam

This is as close to a jump scare as a video game release can probably get.

the fourth, installment of the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise had an Aug. 8 release date scheduled, SURPRISE! It's now on Steam.

IGN has the story.

The game, which is fully titled Five Nights at Freddy's 4: The Final Chapter, was initially slated for a Halloween release. Developer Scott Cawthon teased the spooky Halloween release back in April. The release was then pushed up to August 8 to coincide with the anniversary of the release of the original Five Nights at Freddy's.

Back in March, the third chapter in the Freddy saga made a similar stealthy appearance on the Steam store.

Five Nights at Freddy's fans have more than just the new game to be excited about. Cawthon announced in April a movie adaptation of the horror games will be coming to the big screen. Warner Bros. picked up the rights and the project is currently out to writers.

This is supposedly the final game in the series. But, just like the animatronic horrors that stalk through the corridors of Freddy's, this franchise might come back.

The official Steam Controller is headed for the wild!  



The Steam Controller features dual trackpads, HD haptic feedback, dual-stage triggers, back grip buttons, gyroscope and accelerometer sensors, and fully-customizable control schemes.  It has a wireless range of about fifteen feet with the option to use it wired, and up to 80 hours of play on a pair of AA batteries. 

Want to buy one?  You can pre-order a Steam Controller for $49.99 here.  A limited set of controllers will be shipped out on October 16th, with a wide release to follow.  

Seriously, Valve, you're beginning to make Steam look more and more like Origin every day.

Valve rolled out its pay-for-mods service on Thursday to universal ire from the PC gaming community. In theory, the system is less dubious, if it weren't for the fact that Valve will pocket a massive percentage of the mod charge, leaving the actual modders with precious little profit to their name.

Let's say a modder makes a Skyrim mod that they want to charge $4.99 for. Setting aside the fact that DLC microtransactions are already a plague on the gaming industry, the maker of said Skyrim will only ever get $1.25 for their efforts, while the remaining $3.74 goes straight to Valve for doing no work whatsoever.

This system also introduces an endless quagmire of problems for modders who use elements of other people's mods to make their own. Case in point: the Skyrim fishing mod made by Chesko. As it turns out, Chesko used elements of an idle character animations mod made by Fore. So, that means that Fore is entitled to a percentage of the profits from Chesko's mod on top of Valve's already egregious 75% cut, right? If so, what percentage does Fore get?

As you can see, the whole system quickly becomes a mess, seriously curtailing the resources of modders like Chesko, and infringing on the intellectual property rights of Fore. No matter what happens though, Valve wins and we lose. Such a sleazy cash grab is uncharacteristic of our lord Gaben, but some say it was bound to happen eventually. As Harvey Dent once said, "something something die a hero, something something the villain."

Steam is having a "Cyberpunk Sale" on titles like Transistor, Mirror's Edge, and Deus Ex. Check it out!

Provided they're on the same wifi network, Valve's new Steam Link will allow you to stream your Steam library to your TV so you can play from the comfort of your couch. The listing for the Steam Link has disappeared from the Steam store, but you can view Google's cache of it here.  The device is priced at $50 and launches this November.

Just enter your Steam username and see not only how long it would take you to play your whole library, but what other "better" things you could be doing with your time, like, you know, running a bunch of marathons.

How many hours do you have ahead of you?

READY THINE WALLETS!

It's currently in beta, but Steam users can now broadcast their gameplay for friends or strangers.

Starting today you can watch your friends' games with the click of a button via Steam Broadcasting, now available in beta. When you see a friend in game, simply click on "Watch Game" from their profile or from the Steam Client Friend's List to open a window into their gameplay — no game ownership, special fees, or additional apps required.

Find out more from 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.

Check it out!

Steam's got a massive free weekend today through 1 pm on Sunday, with 10 free titles to play all weekend long:

Awesomenauts
Blade Symphony
Company of Heroes 2
Don't Starve
Grid 2
Injustice
Killing Floor
Payday 2
Trine 2
XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Shut up and take my m--er, bandwith!

But I could already listen to whatever I want, you say? Not from within Steam, you couldn't:

Point Steam to the MP3s on your computer, then browse your collection of albums and artists. You'll also find your Steam Soundtracks DLC in your Steam Music library when the associated base game is installed. Listen to albums, queue up mixes, and create playlists you love, right in your Steam library. Best of all, it's all available right within the Steam Overlay, so you can control playback without leaving your game. The Steam Music library and player consist of all the basics you need to enjoy your music without switching tasks.

In celebration of this new feature, Valve is giving away the soundtracks to the Half-Life and Portal series' to those who own the games, in case you want some other games to be a triumph.

If you're ready for the miracle, click here!

NeoGAF user Tizoc spotted the above ad for the Steam Summer Sale that says it will be taking place on June 19th-30th. Are you ready for a miracle?

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?