| Steam is an online content delivery service owned and operated by VALVe, the developers of the famous Half-Life PC games. They sell their games directly over the internet with Steam, as well as many other games made by other developers. This way, they can cut out the middleman (publisher) and get all the profits from their games (well, almost; they still sell boxed copies in stores for those who don't have broadband or simply want a hard copy). Some of the games available on Steam are Steam-exclusive, especially the ones based on the Source engine.
I've heard a lot of people complaining about technical problems with Steam, especially in the months after its initial release. Some mods were broken by it, but they all work today, AFAIK.
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"It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon the supposition he may abuse it." - George Washington
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