With all the consoles moving towards an online approach focused heavily on social gaming, it only makes sense that such a system should develop for the PC as well. Currently Microsoft’s Live for Windows, Gamespy, and Steam all are slowly stepping into the social zone, but none of them have fully made it in. Valve plans to change that by making their application the standard connectivity tool for all major PC games. To get a general idea, try to imagine Xbox Live working with games like Counter-Strike and Crysis.

Valve’s name for this project is Steamworks, and their plan is to give it freely to developers and publishers. They hope to dominate online PC gaming by working directly with the source. Besides social networking, Steamworks will feature server browsing, which Steam is already known best for, and copy protection, to appeal especially to game-makers. Honestly, this move could have been expected by most average users of Steam: in such a short time it has gone from a simple application to organize and connect to Valve games, to a multi-faceted, not to mention stylish, program that heavily features games from a plethora of companies. With the recent release of the Steam Community, it delved even further into the world of social gaming. Check after the jump for more details on the tools Steamworks will support, and some quotes from Valve.

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