
Today, Valve announced Steam Trading Cards. Players will be able to complete a set through game play and “your collecting prowess”. Once a set is completed, they can be crafted into a game badge which will show up on your Steam profile and unlock marketable items such as emoticons, profile backgrounds, and coupons to use on Steam.
Badges will contribute to the exp of a users Steam Level. Leveling up will earn you non-tradable items like profile showcases which will allow you to customize what data is featured on your profile page, extra friends list slots in addition to others.
Currently you can get trading cards for the following games:
- CS:GO
- Team Fortress 2
- Dota 2
- Portal 2
- Half-Life 2
- Don’t Starve
You can get into the beta by joining the Steam Trading Card Group. And while you’re at it, join the Gamer Escape group on Steam!

Left 4 Dead 2 is a game by Valve that has zombies. Their digital shop Steam will soon be selling Capcom’s Resident Evil 6 a game which (after not having them for a couple installments) has zombies. So they said hey, you got zombies, we got zombies. Let’s do some crossover stuff!
All of this crossover content will be available for free:
Owners of Resident Evil 6 PC will be able to select one of four survivors from Left 4 Dead 2’s iconic cast – Coach, Nick, Ellis and Rochelle – when playing PC exclusive mode, The Mercenaries No Mercy. Each character will have a special customized weapon load-out created just for use in Resident Evil 6. In addition to the four survivors, two of the infamous Special Infected zombies from the Left 4 Dead franchise – the Witch and Mini Tank – will also make a cameo appearance in this mode, relentlessly attacking players regardless of whether a character from Left 4 Dead 2 or Resident Evil 6 is chosen. This new and exclusive content will automatically be downloaded in the background to all owners of the PC version of Resident Evil 6 from April 5.
Making the leap to the PC version of Left 4 Dead 2 will be some of Resident Evil 6’s most fearsome enemies – Lepotitsa, Napad and Ogroman. All three characters were brought to life in Left 4 Dead 2 by Valve’s renowned developers using its Steam Workshop tools. Owners of the PC version of Left 4 Dead 2 will be able to face a new deadly challenge when Resident Evil 6 characters infect Valve’s classic zombie title this spring.

Don’t worry you guys, the Steam Summer Sale is still happening! And it’s happening right now!
There are some good deals (obviously) going around this year including 25% off the season pass to Telltale’s The Walking Dead as well as 33% off Skyrim. We could list more but really… wouldn’t it be more fun (and expensive) for you to just go look yourself?
The sale runs from today until July 22nd. Make sure to check everyday for special deals on select titles.
Anything tickling your fancy on day one? Anything you’re hoping goes on sale? Let us know in our forums!

When asked about the possibility of downloadable content for Bastion, Supergiant games said that they designed Bastion to be a complete package at release and had no plans to extend the story through DLC.
After the game was released however, they decided to put something together for the holidays. That something is the Stranger’s Dream DLC that will be released on December 14th. Completely free of charge… for PC users. Microsoft doesn’t like people to have things for free so for any Xbox 360 owners, the new content will cost them a dollar.
The Stranger’s Dream DLC includes a new, fully narrated “Who Knows Where” sequence, a score attack mode and a no-sweat mode that will give players unlimited chances to get back up if you’re defeated so that you can enjoy the wonderful story that Bastion has to offer.
And for those of you that have yet to check out this title, make sure to read our review!

As a limited time offer, Valve is offering Portal up for free until the 20th through Steam. Here is the website for the promotion:
http://www.learningwithportals.com/
The promotion is supposed to be aimed at schools and education fields, proving once again that games can be more than just games. No surprise, Valve feels that Portal is educational.

Supergiant Games’ Bastion was on my watch list from the second I saw its gorgeous art style. Since then, I’ve been counting down the days till I could finally pick up this game and see what it was all about.
Now that the game is out, I had the chance to download my pre-ordered copy and jump into the catastrophe known as “the Calamity”.
(more…)
The Verdict
10Perfect
The Good: • Beautiful graphics
• Engaging narration
The Bad: • Some might complain it is too short

So you play Team Fortress 2. And you have hats. Lots, and lots, of hats. What happens when you have extra hats?
You’re an avid Steam-er. You’ve bought bundle after bundle and have “extra” giftable copies of games. What do you do with them?
Now you have an option! Steam Trading Beta allows for players of Team Fortress 2 to trade their in-game items for giftable copies of games from other Steam users. Currently the system is testing for Team Fortress 2, but is looking to expand into other titles in the future such as Portal 2.
Personally, I’ll probably never use this since I’m not a huge fan of paying for additional content of this type. But hey! This kind of stuff wouldn’t be around if there weren’t suckers people spending money on this kind of stuff. At least now there will be the option of “oh man I can’t believe I bought this thing.. anybody wanna trade me for a copy of a game?”
Check out their Steam Trading Beta FAQ for all the details on how to participate.