Though we may take it for granted these days, Steam Trading might just represent one of the most significant innovations in the field of in-game community interaction in recent years. Trading games, coupons, and items, all within the Steam community. The Team Fortress 2 economy alone was estimated last year to be worth 20 million dollars – and that was a very conservative estimate, made only 6 months after the game had become free-to-play.

And a lot of people have made some a lot of money by buying and selling these in-game items. But since so much of that activity takes place outside the Steam ecosystem (in the so-called gray market), it could be quite difficult to track what’s going on in the marketplace at large. But it seems as though Valve have found a way to remedy that problem in a pretty unique way. Read on!

I have returned from the dead to ensure that each and every one of you gets to look at some of the greatest moving pictures I have seen this side of the Source Engine!

The only time voting has ever been exciting, terrifying, and completely nerve-wracking, (all at the same time) in the history of humankind… was probably when Valve had us shooting the hell out of each other like never before, then patiently re-editing the footage into a cinema masterpiece (also like never before), all in the name of attaining a foot-high Australium bust of Saxton Hale. Evidently, I’m referring to TF2’s First Annual Saxxy Awards, which took place in May of 2011.

Well, I hope you’ve been keeping your voting finger in good shape, for it’s all going to come rushing back very soon. And by “very soon“, I mean “literally right now“.

Let it forever be known that the best way to get interesting information out of Gabe Newell is to buy him a hat on his birthday, surround him with fans, and ask daring questions like never before! After all, you saw how it helped us find out about Valve’s upcoming next-gen game engine!

But what if it can also help us find out more about Valve’s fabled space-centric game, known only as “SOB”? As you can tell from the title above… yes, it can! Read on.

UPDATE: In the very same interview, Gabe also revealed the fate of one of Valve’s most secretive game projects. Check it out, right here!

Earlier this summer, we found traces of code within the Source Filmmaker that clearly indicated Valve is actively working on “Source 2“, a next-gen game engine built on Source’s foundation. While the news made quite a stir all throughout the Valve community, it didn’t have the same effect it would have had, if Valve had officially confirmed Source 2’s existence.

Well, some months later, it appears we finally have been given just that. Read on!

Could the PC gaming revolution be almost upon our doorstep? And most importantly, are you a bad enough dude/dudette to dual-boot, in order to find out if it is?

50 years ago, on the 3rd of November, 1962; Gabe Logan Newell was born in the United States. At the age of 18, in 1980, he began studying at the highly prestigious Harvard University. Three years later, he dropped out of Harvard (just like the man who would soon be his boss, Bill Gates), and was hired by Steve Ballmer himself to work at Microsoft in November of 1983. As Microsoft’s 271st employee, he worked there for almost 13 years, and, among other things, served as lead developer and producer on the first three versions of Microsoft Windows (he was even involved with the infamous Microsoft Bob). Working at Microsoft was not only very lucrative, but also extremely productive for Gabe, who was at one point doing work on up to 30 Microsoft projects per year.

Aspiring terrorist hunters, assemble! Have this year’s Halloween preparations left you without enough pennies to continue with your terrorist hunter training? Well, I bring you good news, for thanks to the wonders of Steam’s free weekends, Valve’s latest game – Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, released little over two months ago, is now free to play for the entirety of this coming weekend, until Sunday at precisely 1 PM PST (roughly 9 PM GMT).

This might be a shock to you, because it certainly was to me: Halloween hasn’t actually started yet. We’ve still got about a day left, yet anything remotely Halloween-related has already been going on for a few days now. How will I be able to celebrate… uhh, the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage on the 27th of October, when people are just going around asking for candy while dressed as video game characters (some of them even appear to be dressed as homeless people, although they tend to ask for money instead)? That’s just not right, not right at all.

But what if cheap horror games are involved? Then… well, I suppose all sins are forgiven after all. Screw you, Audiovisual Heritage Day! It’s time to play Killing Floor with my friends!

Oh, Dota 2. Even though half the people I know are feverishly playing around within your invitational beta, you still hold a great deal of mystery for me. That’s because you currently have no tutorials, and no instructor system. Now, don’t get me wrong here. Believe it or not, I almost beat Super Meat Boy… once. And I’ve covered wars, you know! But… you have oh so many menus, and oh so many buttons.

But even though you haven’t actually been released yet, you’re a very big deal. And according to the title up there, you’re now on the road to becoming a way bigger deal!