Sean Buckley for Engadget:

Sick, perhaps, of denying the project, Valve has created a Linux blog to document its efforts — outlining its history with the open-source OS and making its goals public. The plan is simple: get Steam ported to Linux with full functionality, optimize Left 4 Dead to run at a respectable clip with OpenGL and port additional Valve titles.

Steam is Valve Software’s gaming technology – it lets gamers download and play major commercial releases, chat with each other, form clans and more. Originating on Windows, Steam has been available on the Mac platform since 2010.

This is big news for Linux users, who have long been left out of the party when it comes to attracting major commercial game releases, forcing users into hacks with WINE or multi-boot systems running Windows in order to get their gaming fix.

Steam isn’t a panacea, by any stretch – not all game developers and publishers use the technology – but there’s little question that it’s a powerful ecosystem in its own right. Steam on the Mac has resulted in a lot more games on OS X than would be available otherwise; hopefully it’ll result in much the same for our Linux-using friends.