It turns out that the wait to try out Steam Mobile was much shorter than I thought. I logged on to Steam on my PC last night and found a new item in my account inventory, and it turns out that was all I needed to take part in the beta. The process seems to be: download the app on your iPhone, log onto Steam from a computer, and then return to iPhone and profit.
So how is Steam Mobile on the iPhone so far? Quite good, actually. It’s laid out a lot like the new Facebook app: a panel of options slides in from the left side of the screen, and all the content is in a main panel along the right.
Statuses and Statistics
One of the awesome things about Steam as an instant messenger is that it tends to update statuses automatically in a way that’s actually fun to read. Steam Mobile will not only let me know that a friend is online, but will also show exactly what game they’re playing (much like the XFire service). This is great for making fun of friends who have spent 50 hours in the past week playing CounterStrike: Source, as well as spamming the pals who have bought Battlefield Modern Warfare 3 before you have (“Well, how is it?!?!?!?”).
No Notifications?
The only major bug I’ve found so far is that notifications don’t tend to show up for me at all. I’ve made sure all the Steam Mobile notifications are set to ON, but the only way to see any messags is to actually load the app up. This will likely be patched forthwith.
Catalog and Library
One of the cool things about Steam is seeing, at a glance, how many games you currently have in your library. Unfortunately, therre’s no way to check on this in the current version of the app.
What you can do, however, is see every game on offer in the Steam catalog and purchase them or add them to your Wishlist, right from your iPhone. As a nice extra touch, Steam Mobile will also let you know if you own the game you’re about to buy, so you don’t accidentally purchase duplicates.
All the game details you’re used to, such as computer specs, the kind of single and multiplayer available, and the Metascore, are all present as you scroll down a page. Very nice.
Out of Place?
The only bit that felt really weird was the Syndicated section of the app. Great gaming websites like Eurogamer, Kotaku, and RPS all have a home here, but their content isn’t really presented terribly well. Feeds are shown in full, but the text is tiny and the pictures for Eurogamer didn’t load at all.
It definitely makes sense to have a news section in the app because not everyone is into RSS or Twitter or bookmarks, but right now it feels too much like a last-minute addition to be usable.
At the end of the day, I’m glad to have Steam available on the iPhone. There were a number of Steam sales I missed over the Holiday season, and having dedicated mobile access should make sure I never miss a deal like $5 Dead Space 2 again.
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