Steam 008

Steam is a game and download/update manager from Valve, the creators of Half-Life.

Allowing you to buy and download any of Valve`s games, like the recent and fantastic Left 4 Dead, Steam also has lots of free demos, as well as games from their partners. The list of games is ever increasing, and it also supports non-commercial things like game mods.

Installation and setting up a Steam account is really easy, and the download manager is very stable. Whatever your internet connection speed, you don`t need to worry about stopping a download partway through. If you exit Steam, it will continue your downloads the next time you start it without complaints.

While you miss out on a box or instruction booklet by buying games from Steam, you do get all the latest patches and updates downloaded automatically. There are often exclusive demos and offers available through Steam too, and there`s a great community service which allows you to join groups and find people to play online.

Steam may not sell every game under the sun, but it`s an excellent download application featuring some of the best PC gaming you can find.