Steam is Valve’s new way of getting games into your hands ASAP. Games like Half-Life, Counter-Strike, and Counter-Strike Condition Zero are all being made available through Steam.Steam games are automatically kept up-to-date with the latest content and revisions. Steam also includes an instant-message client which even works while you’re in-game.At its core, Steam is a distributed file system and shared set of technology components that can be implemented into any software application.