Valve is gearing up for the release of Steam on Linux and they've announced that an internal beta will start next week. Steam is a digital distribution platform for games. So far, only the PC and Mac have been blessed with Steam's presence, but things are about to change. The reason we’re saying “blessed” is because one of the hurdles the Linux platform must overcome in order to become more popular is the entertainment section, more precisely gaming. There are a few nice games available for Linux, but nowhere near of what can be found on the other platforms. The Valve Linux team has announced that a closed beta will start next week, and a private external beta, with circa 1000 users, will start sometime in October. Before getting all excited, you must know that Valve has also revealed that only one game will be available in the beta version. From what we've found out so far, that game will be Valve's Left 4 Dead 2. Moreover, Steam for Linux will be optimized to work on operating systems starting with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) and upwards. The Steam beta will not include the recently launched Big Picture mode, which helps users who play games on big, Hi-Def TVs. It will be interesting to see how they will finally implement Big Picture mode with Ubuntu's multiple desktops. More information about the external beta will be made available in the near future and we'll be sure to keep you posted. Valve also recommends that the users who are new to Linux should wait for a subsequent release which will implement more features. Left 2 Dead 2 is a cooperative first-person shooter, up to four players, in which you must survive hordes of murdering zombies, over the course of multiple levels and using a variety of solutions.