In its latest bid to take over the world, Valve recently announced that Prima strategy guides are now available to purchase in the Steam store. Before you start screaming “gimmick!” consider that the guides are available in-game via the omnipresent shift-tab Steam interface. It’s a brilliant little stroke that somebody should have thought of years ago. And maybe they did. But now somebody who matters has done it.

From the Steam website:

Valve and Prima today launched the first set of in-game Prima guides on Steam. All the guides are readable in game via Steam’s UI overlay functionality, as well as being available outside of game. The launch collection of guides available now on Steam include Dragon Age: Origins, Just Cause 2, and Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

To celebrate the launch of Prima guides on Steam, all the launch titles are available at 50% off their regular price.

Everyone knows that strategy guides are mostly for noobs, but with Steam’s recent move to Apple computers, there’s a whole new crop of noobs out there that are in need of help, so this is probably a good move.

Jerod Jarvis is an independent gaming journalist and founder of Duality Games. He maintains gaming columns for The Washington Times Communities and for The Outpost. When not blogging madly about games, he freelances for the Spokesman-Review in his hometown of Spokane, Washington and attends school at Whitworth University. Check out his presence on Facebook and Twitter to stay up on Duality Games updates and the inside scoop on the gaming news you care about.