Gamers can now gift games to other users on Steam - be it a friend, family or a random stranger. The recipient will receive the game with a special message from the sender. This page has more details about gift purchases on Valve’s broadband delivery service.

AMD/ATI fans are in luck, as the company announced that owners of ATI Radeon graphic card owners are entitled to a pair of free games from Steam, Valve’s content delivery service. Eligible gamers can visit this page for details on how to get free copies of Half-Life 2: Lost Coast and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch as well as discounts on other Valve games.

The action ballgame will hit Steam at the end of November 2007; the game will additionally use the service’s authentication system for the retail version. This will allow Frogster, the developer, to use a single master for multiple languages, to time retail activation worldwide by region and to control grey marketing and unauthorized activations.

The latest publisher to join the Steam bandwagon is Codemasters, who have made sure to release Clive Barker’s Jericho on almost every digital download service… ever. Their participation in Valve’s service will also see the release of Overlord and DIRT later this month.

Future games from the publisher will be on Steam day and date with their retail release. However, their agreement does not extend to past games, so do not expect to see older Codemasters games on the service anytime soon.

This handy list on the Steam forums features colleges and universities whose networks allow/disallow the broadband delivery service from Valve. It also lists further details, such as where it works or not.

Steam has gained another huge player: Splash Damage and id Software have announced that team-based PC shooter Enemy Territory: Quake Wars will arrive on the broadband delivery service on October 9, next Tuesday. Those outside of North America will be able to purchase the game starting October 5.

Shockingly, the digital distribution version of the game is the same price as the retail version at $49.95.

Both Half-Life 2: Episode Two and Portal have started pre-loading through Steam on customers’ computers, according to Valve. The idea of pre-loading is to gradually download a game in advance of its release; however, the files are encrypted and can only be unlocked on the day of the game’s release. Buying a physical copy sidesteps the pre-loading process, but even then customers of either medium have to activate the games through Steam to play them.

The Orange Box, which includes the two aforementioned titles as well as Team Fortress 2, will be released on PC and Xbox 360 on October 10, next Wednesday.

Having completed a trial run, Valve has opened Steam Community to the public, offering gamers social networking and online multiplayer in one package.

The Steam Community lets gamers create a personal profile-a Steam ID-complete with a photo or avatar, biographical details, favorite lists, and other information. Community members can add peers to a personal Friends List that shows in real-time who’s online and available to chat or play a game. Accessible from within the Steam client or while playing a game, the Friends List makes it easy to invite friends to chat, play a game, or join a group.

Starting Monday, September 17, the Team Fortress 2 (TF2) beta opens to those who pre-purchaser The Orange Box via Steam and save 10% of the regular price. The Steam community features will allow TF2 players to track detailed player and team statistics and achievements records.

Steam has gotten yet another title thanks to CDV. The publisher has made available Attack on Pearl Harbor through the service; it is being sold for $24.95 with an additional 10% discount until August 27.

Attack on Pearl Harbor is an aerial combat game that allows players to relive the dogfights of the Pacific Theater of WWII as both Japanese and American pilots. It features arcade-style play, extensive tutorials and up to 12-player LAN and Internet multiplayer action.

The weekly Steam update reveals that a Team Fortress 2 movie will be released next week. It will make its debut at the Leipzig Games Convention and will be uploaded to the service thereafter. The movie will showcase the Soldier class from the upcoming class-driven multiplayer shooter.

In other news, the update carries a movie of their resident artist showing off TF2’s unique art style at the SIGGRAPH convention. It also asks users to get ready for BioShock, which will be released on the service this Tuesday alongside its retail release.

Valve has confirmed that Steam Community, an extension to its games delivery service that adds social networking, will launch in beta form by the end of this month. This news was revealed through a Steam message, which also mentions that owners of the Orange Box can now give away their copy of the game to a friend.

The message also carries word that THQ has joined the service, offering a couple of its games, including Company of Heroes, Titan Quest and Full Spectrum Warrior, through the service.

The latest publisher to join the Steam train is THQ who has announced that some of its titles are already available on the service. These games include Company of Heroes, Titan Quest, Full Spectrum Warrior and more. Each have a 10% discount on its standard price until July 24.

The publisher also plans on making available other games from its stable, with STALKER and Warhammer 40,000 on the way.

“In the past couple years, THQ has established itself as one of today’s premier PC publishers,” said Valve co-founder Gabe Newell. “It’s great to finally be working together with THQ and its studio system and offer this award-winning line up to Steam’s growing audience, which represents over 13 million accounts.”

As per this announcement, Steam has gone from popular to very-popular. Valve has announced that its broadband content delivery service has surpassed 13 million active accounts, with over 7 billion player minutes per month.

Way to go, Valve, now please release Episode Two soon…

A highly welcome move by Valve is the introduction of “Guest Pass” in Steam, allowing owners of certain Steam games send time-limited demos to their friends. This post on the service’s website states that a beta will be conducted after which the Guest Pass system will be extended to Day of Defeat: Source owners.

No specific titles were mentioned, though Half-Life 2 and other big titles can be taken as staples.

The mod behind my favorite comic of all time - Concerned - is going commercial on Steam. Garry Newman and Valve have announced plans to release Garry’s MOD via Steam. As expected, Garry is quite happy, and says that the release will have quite a few new features: “It has a bunch of new tools to play with (winches, hydraulics and hoverballs), totally new spawn menu and a few new Post Processing effects to play with. The great thing about Steam is that I can update really regularly, really easily - which is something I plan on doing - so expect more tools/gamemodes/stuff to come.”

It will be available starting today; to celebrate the launch, Valve will be offering a special bundle of Garry’s MOD plus Counter-Strike: Source for $25. The mod alone will cost $9.95.