Valve, for obvious paralyzing fear of being left off of gaming news websites for a day, has announced a partnership with Sony Online Entertainment, that brings many of the publisher's MMORPGs to Steam. As of now, the list includes Everquest, Everquest II, Everquest's expansions, Vanguard, and Pirates of the Burning Sea. Noticeably missing is Star Wars: Galaxies, but I'm sure it will find its way over soon.

As expected, Valve's acting like it's going out of business and throwing the games on sale for the week, with the four full titles only costing $14.99 until January 26th. The expansions are still big and expensive, but odds are if you're still playing EQ or EQ2 that isn't really an issue.

Here's the press release, with everything I just said in big, official looking words and needless information.

GROUNDBREAKING MMO LIBRARY FROM SONY ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT ARRIVES ON STEAM

EverQuest®, EverQuest® II, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes®M and Pirates of the Burning SeaTM Available Now

Jan. 16, 2009 -- Valve Corporation and Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) today announce the availability of many SOE Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) titles on Steam, a leading platform for the delivery and management of PC games and digital content with over 15 million accounts around the world.

The SOE developed and/or published titles now available include the complete EverQuest® (EQ) and EverQuest® II (EQII) collections, as well as Vanguard: Saga of Heroes® and Pirates of the Burning SeaT. To kick off this monumental event, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, EQ Secrets of Faydwer and EQII Rise of Kunark are being offered via Steam for a special introductory price during the first 10 days the games are available for purchase. New SOE game accounts for the game purchased will also receive 30 days of gameplay (this offer excludes existing game and Station Access accounts).

In addition, the recently released expansions EverQuest® Seeds of DestructionT and EverQuest® II The Shadow OdysseyT are available for purchase.

"Sony Online Entertainment propelled the MMO genre and PC gaming into new era with the launch of EverQuest," said Jason Holtman, director of business development at Valve. "SOE continues to evolve the genre and PC gaming with new universes such as Vanguard and Pirates of the Burning Sea, while continuously expanding the EverQuest and EverQuest II worlds with over 20 total expansions delivered electronically since the first EQ was released in March 1999."

"We are always looking for additional ways to introduce our great catalog of games to new audiences. It's hard to think of a larger group of PC gamers interested in multiplayer games than those connecting to Steam," said John Smedley, president of SOE. "We've long been a leader in MMOs and this agreement will help bring our exciting content to millions of additional online gamers around the world."

For more information, please visit www.steamgames.com.

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