I haven’t played Counter-Strike in a while, but it came highly recommended from one of my more critical friends so I decided to check it out and all I can say is that it pretty impressive. Other then the game, Valve has efficiently created a content delivery system that doesn’t impede with the game.
One of the primary reasons that Valve created Steam rather then the periodical updates by new versions was to allow for efficient Client side anti-cheat tools. Previously only the game servers were connected to Valve for upgraded anti-cheat mechanisms. In CS 1.5 there was an update for the Valve Security module however it was easy to by pass as it wasn’t a live connection only updated during connection to a server. However with Steam, Valve has direct access to a player’s computer not only during connection but as the game is played allowing for more effective cheat prevention. While I doubt that it will prevent cheaters, it will force a new generations of cheats rather then the memory tweaking versions of the past.
The GUI in this new version has dramatically improved, and many new features have been added that make communicating easier. They incorporated a few outside resources that people were using to make gaming easier directly into the program, such as GameTiger with the creation of the Friends list, and HLSW with the creation of the new server content page.
Now I just can’t wait for Trillian to add support for Valve’s chat interface into its program. I doubt I’ll play CS often, but its definitely gotten a lot more tempting.