Steam is a digital distribution, digital rights management, multiplayer and communications platform developed by Valve Corporation. It is used to distribute games and related media online, from small independent developers to larger software houses; in October 2012, Valve expanded the service to include non-gaming software. Steam provides the user with installation and automatic management of software across multiple computers, community features such as friends lists and groups, cloud saving, and in-game voice and chat functionality.

Ubuntu showing off steam. Got some potential!

Steam 4 linux

Valve announced in July 2012 that they were developing a Steam client for Linux and modifying the Source engine to work on native Linux, based on the Ubuntu distribution. The team developing the Linux client had been working for a year prior to the announcement to validate that such a port would be possible. As of the official announcement, a near-feature complete Steam client for Linux had been developed and successfully run on Ubuntu. Initial internal beta testing of the Linux client started in October 2012, with an external beta testing occurring in early November.

Not only will Valve’s Linux group focus on improving the Steam client but will assure that their selected first Source game, Left 4 Dead 2, will run at acceptable framerates and connectivity with the Windows and Mac OS X versions. From there, they will then work on porting other games and expanding to other Linux distributions. Valve claimed they had successfully completed the Left 4 Dead 2 port as of early August 2012. Following Valve’s announcement, Devolver Digital announced that it will port Serious Sam 3: BFE with Steamworks support to the Ubuntu Linux platform.

Download & Install Steam

Steam Big Picture mode

The Big Picture interface is focused on playing games on HDTV in the living room and therefore exhibits similarities with the interfaces of game consoles like the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Big Picture has extra large fonts and icons to clear the gui legible when viewed on an HDTV. Additionally, the Big Picture mode suitable for using a gamepad to control, all keyboard and mouse are still supported.

Ubuntu gamers have the ability to launch Steam straight from the login screen. Steam-login runs nothing but Steam’s Big Picture Mode.

Github: https://github.com/thor27/steam-login/

Steam Skin Manager (ubuntu)

‘Steam Skin Manager‘ contains a tool for applying skins and removing the default skin used by steam. It also comes bundled with 2 skins by default – Ambiance (the dark variant) and Radiance (the bright variant), both the native Ubuntu looks.

	Title	Date
	3x Steam Trading Card Beta Access	May 18, 2013
	Download ‘Reprisal’ Linux beta	May 12, 2013
	Prayers have been answered; L4D2 beta	May 4, 2013
	Steam discount on Linux titles	May 3, 2013
	Valve enables monthy subscriptions via Steam	April 26, 2013
	Performance improved ‘Counter-Strike:Source’	March 21, 2013
	Another Steam Client update	March 18, 2013
	‘Legend of Grimrock’ on Linux	March 18, 2013
	‘Defenders Quest’ Steam sales breakdown	February 28, 2013
	‘Counter-Strike:Condition Zero’ on steam Linux	February 26, 2013
	Steam Linux celebration, what to buy?	February 15, 2013
	steam discount on ‘Counterstrike’-series	February 8, 2013
	Steam 1.0.0.22 Beta	February 6, 2013
	‘Half Life’ is in Steam beta	January 25, 2013
	Linux build of ‘Postal 2′ in steam	January 15, 2013

Source

steamcommunity.com/linux
wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_(software)
github.com/thor27/steam-login/