Valve Launches Steam Guides Functionality

Valve's software-distribution platform just got a little friendlier thanks to the launch of Steam Guides, a new functionality that allows gamers to share strategies and references with their fellow players.

Steam Guides are now available via a new tab on a game's community hub inside Steam. The guides are created by the community, and cover pretty much everything; the examples Valve highlights include a beginner's guide to PlanetSide 2, strategy tips for Left 4 Dead 2's competitive multiplayer, and a combat field manual for Red Orchestra 2. Guides can also be smaller in scope, such as a solution to a tricky puzzle, or the location of a powerful item.

The Steam Guides homepage states that 1,034 guides have already been created. Hopefully one of them can tell me how to kill sharks without going into the water in Far Cry 3, because they seriously freak me out.