Valve has announced that Steam Cloud launch along side the Left 4 Dead demo that is due later this week. The Steam Cloud is a new feature available to Steam powered games that will allow users to store data online (the cloud), that can be retrieved from any PC. The initial release will store keyboard, mouse, and gamepad configurations, as well as multiplayer settings such as spraypaint images.

From press release:

"For some time now, Steam has allowed gamers to log on from any computer in the world and access their applications. This also makes it easy to upgrade a PC without worrying about losing your games," said Gabe Newell, president and co-founder of Valve. "Steam Cloud is a natural extension of the portability Steam affords gamers and developers, and we intend to expand its feature set as it is used in Left 4 Dead and other games coming to Steam."

Valve continues to lead the online delivery marketplace. The Steam Cloud is a great feature that I hope will only continue to evolve. I dream of a time when my saved games are automatically backed up online along with my other settings. Are you listening Microsoft?