They describe Game Guides as letting you ”put that knowledge to use” and helping out others. You can insert uploaded screenshots into the these guides, as well as YouTube clips.
This will naturally position Steam’s Game Guides as a mortal enemy to GameFAQs who have long since reined as King for game title hints, tips and walkthroughs.
”You’ve probably got some favorite games that you play a lot and know pretty well. Or maybe you’ve mastered playing as a certain class or character in Team Fortress 2 or Call of Duty. Or maybe you’re just really good at finding all the hidden secrets in the latest Elder Scrolls game,” posted Valve on the Steam Community Beta.
”How do you put that knowledge to use and help fellow gamers? Create a game guide on Steam!”
The Game Guides are section under the Game Hubs for each title, which makes perfect sense. ”Under that tab, you’ll find a button to create a guide. You’ll be able to upload and insert images or use screenshots that are already in your Steam cloud. You can insert YouTube videos and you can add friends to help you write the guide.”
”When you’re done, just publish your guide and it will be accessible to the community.”
It seems the Steam juggernaut is ready to - wait for it - Steamroll over another competitor. Over the years GameFAQs has seen itself position as the ‘premier’ destination for gamers frustrated with trying to figuring out what the heck developers expect us to deduce all on our own - those heartless fiends. Of course that means tons of traffic, which Steam realise would be better spent within their own network.
Admittedly it will make guide reading easier if they’re natively supported by the Steam client, and especially useful if screenshots and YouTube clips can be effortlessly inserted. Valve, you clever clogs.