Steam’s new smartphone app allows users to check out and buy games straight from their smartphones.
Best lower your credit card limit or better yet, hide your wallet all together, as Valve software has released a mobile app that brings just about every aspect of its Steam distribution network to Android and iOS devices.
Currently the app allows you to browse Steam’s community pages, chat with friends, check out Steam’s extensive game catalog and add items of interest to your wishlist. Most importantly, however, the app grants you the ability to purchase games straight from from your smartphone, ensuring you’ll never miss out on one of Steam’s sales events. Depending on your point of view (or your finances), this may not or may not be a good thing, especially considering how often Steam slashes the prices of games in its catalog and the temptation to pick up just one more game at a 50% off can override one’s common fiscal sense.
If you’d like to sign up for the beta, all you need to do is download the app from the App Store or the Android Marketplace and then sign in using your Steam account to be eligible to participate. There’s no word yet as to when the beta will close and the app will go fully online, but given how many features are already up and running, it may not be more then a few months.