Valve Inviting 1,000 Users to Test Out Steam Linux Beta

Valve has announced the release of a limited beta program for its currently in-development Linux version of Steam, the company’s wildly popular digital distribution gaming service. This beta is in addition to the internal testing of the new software the company will commence next week.

The beta will be limited to 1,000 applicants and will incorporate “one Valve game” to test on the Penguin-ized Steam client — likely Left 4 Dead 2 (mostly because it’s the game they’ve apparently been testing most on the new client). No other games will be available or provided for use in the beta.

The beta will support any system running Ubuntu 12.04 and up and is really only meant for those well-versed (read: experienced) in Linux — or as Valve quaintly puts it:

“For those new to Linux, we recommend waiting for a subsequent release where more features are implemented along with improvements to the user install experience.”

The Linux client will not include the newly released beta of Big Picture Mode, which is currently available only to PC but ‘soon’ on the Mac. But from what we’ve experienced of it (on Windows), it’s pretty sweet, albeit minimal.

I’d usually take this moment to make another lame penguin/Linux joke, but I’m a little tired. So just go watch this YouTube video of Gabe Newell dancing until I think of something more clever.

But that’s a trick proposition — because there is nothing more clever than a video of Gabe Newell dancing.

[via Valve]