Steam update enters public beta phase

Valve has announced a new version of Steam, which introduces hundreds of changes to the existing client, is now available in public beta.

The upgrade, it said, has been developed in response to customer feedback received on the client's interface and usability.

Among the changes, are ones to the Library - new customisation tools will help users sort, find and group games, making organisation easier especially for those with hundreds of games. Those tools have also been extended to achievements, which can now be tracked in a "standardised cross-game fashion".

There is also a new ability to see which games friends have purchased within the Steam storefront. And news outlets will be able to reach the Steam community through the new client's news aggregator functionality.

"We made hundreds of changes to the Steam client as a result of customer feedback on the interface, performance, and functionality," said John Cook, director of Steam development.

"For example, we swapped out the Internet Explorer rendering engine with WebKit, which gives us a bunch of size, stability and performance benefits. This release of Steam leaves us well prepared for another year of strong growth."

The opt-in beta is available now through an update if users already have Steam installed, or to download from the Steam site if not,

According to Valve, Steam grew 200 per cent over the last 12 months. The number of users to the service now tops 25 million, equalling 12 billion player minutes per month and 75 billion Steam client minutes per month.