In a press release today Valve have announced the 'Early Access' program which will allow gamers to play titles before they're officially released.
1…2…3 Kick It, Arma III, Drunken Robot Pornography and Under the Ocean are among the 12 games initially available as part of Early Access.
The press release states "Steam Early Access titles allow the community to get involved early and play select titles during their development. The goal of Early Acces is to provide gamers with the chance to 'go behind the scenes' and experience the development cycle firsthand and, more importantly, have a chance to interact with developers by providing them with feedback while the title is still being created."
Badland Studio's Sean Pollman commented "a lot of games are already operating as ongoing services that grow and evolve with the involvement of customers and the community. Early Access will let us continue the development of our game while gathering crucial feedback, input and support from the Steam community."
You can find out more about Steam Early Access and the full list of titles involved here.