Since the introduction of Valve’s online software distribution system in 2007 Steam has become the ubiquitous source for games in the PC market. It could be argued that Steam has removed the need for physical media altogether. Games initially purchased for your PC can now be installed (where available) on your mac without a second purchase. Your key setting and game saves are synced in the cloud ready and waiting where ever you log in to the network. We’re at the point that all of my gamer friends have a Steam account and most of them leave the application running in the task bar all day.

Steam chat works as an overlay in most games so you can pause your game, pitch in on the conversation and return to play with only a few key strokes. Skype and Twitter to one side there is no chat application I use more than Steam.

There has been, till now, a gap in my day when i haven’t been able to chat to my friends. When I’m away from my keyboard (AFK), traveling to work or sat on site. As of last night that gap was filled for me when I installed the Steam mobile app on my android phone.

While still in closed beta the app is not limited like Eddison’s first phone. I can communicate via my HTC android to my friends on their PCs. While they are emersed in Batman, Team Fortress 2 or a wealth of other titles I appear to them as playing the game, “mobile”.

Hideous and I sat down with the app last night, sending messages back and forth. We discussed the differences with the app on his iPhone 4 and my HTC Sensation. There were very few as it turns out. It mostly boils down the way iPhone handles background applications. The interface on Steam’s mobile app is slick, as you should expect from Valve, but not without its niggles. There’s no group chat and the recently added desktop feature of sorting friends into personalised groups (eg “People with beards” or “funny when drunk”) is absent from the mobile sibling. There are parts of the app that plain don’t work yet, missing content or polish. But for me it’s enough to now that we’re living the future here.  Steam has been missing from my mobile life for far to long. I welcome the iconic logo to my main screen.

Update: Since 30th Jan 2012 the beta has opened up. Valve are still welcoming feedback to improve the service and experience.