Steam Editor's Review

Instantly install and run all of today's popular games with this must have platform independent gaming tool.

A few years ago, gaming wasn't a big deal. Most computer users were focused on productivity and well, we thought that gaming PC's were expensive toys for over indulged children.  I mean, wasn't that what gaming consoles were for? It's totally different today.  Gaming is now driving much of the PC innovation seen today, and game development is a multibillion dollar industry. That's one of the reasons why I really like Steam. It's one of the best ways to get today's most popular games on a PC near you.

Steam gives you the ability to purchase, download, and play over 1,100 games from any computer. You can easily check out new releases, indie hits, casual favorites and everything in between.  If you're bored and need a playing partner, it's easy to find someone to play with, meet up with friends, connect with groups of similar interests, or host and join chats, matches, and tournaments.

Communication is key during gaming campaigns, and Steam allows you to chat with your friends while you're gaming.  You can see when your friends come online or are playing games.  You can  and easily join the same games together. During play, you can chat with your buddies, or use your microphone to communicate in any game.

One of the biggest problems with gaming is keeping up with patches and updates. With Steam, that's all taken care of for you.  With automatic game updates, hunting for patches and downloading from unorganized web sites is a thing of the past. On Steam, your games stay up-to-date by themselves.

If you're a Mac and want to play your favorite games, don't worry.  Steam brings PC’s biggest gaming platform and games to the Mac.  You can download your games to your Mac and play against your PC friends in multiplayer games.  If you've got an Android or iOS device, you can also play games on the go. Steam Mobile gives you access on your tablet or smartphone.

Pro’s: Platform independent, mobile device clients, auto updates

Con’s: As always, gaming requires a computer with a great deal of punch

Conclusion: Gaming today can be very complicated.  Installs, updates, patches, drivers, etc. – it can be a huge mess. Steam makes it easy to find, download, install and play your favorite games with all of your friends.  If gaming is what does it for you, then you need to give Steam a very serious look. It could be the easy way to the (gaming) promised land.