Officials for Valve Software announced today that they've partnered with leading developer (and Unreal Engine creator) Epic Games to bring the studio's hit titles to the ever-growing digital download service Steam. Epic's debut on Steam will start with Unreal Gold, Unreal II: The Awakening and the Unreal Tournament series of games, including the recently released Unreal Tournament 3 (which has shipped a million copies to date). These games are available now to Steam's 15 million worldwide members.

To get things started, Valve is offering Epic's entire first wave of titles in the "Unreal Deal Pack" for just $59.95. In addition, all of Epic's games on Steam are available for 10 percent off their regular price.

"Epic is a leading developer of game engine technology and has produced some of my favorite games of all time," said Gabe Newell, president of Valve. "It's an honor to be working with them and offering their current and classic titles to the millions of Steam gamers around the world."

"Steam is a revolutionary technology that opens up an entirely new way to put our games into the hands of millions of PC gamers around the world," said Jay Wilbur, vice president of Epic. "Valve has changed the face of digital distribution for game developers, publishers and consumers, and we are thrilled to be a part of the Steam community."

Details for which other games from Epic are in the Steam pipeline (no pun intended) were not specifically outlined.