Steam Summer Camp offers free stuff and a prize draw

The Steam Summer Sale launched earlier this week, and brought with it something new. The Steam Summer Camp offers a whole host of new achievements for Steam games. Earning them can get you a selection of prizes.

Every achievement you earn counts as an entry into a prize draw. 100 people in the draw will win their top 10 Steam wish-list games. So if you don't have a Steam wish-list now is the time to make one. We take a look at some of the prizes and the easiest way to get them inside.

Each prize takes three achievements to earn. It's worth noting you can claim prizes for games you don't own yet if you're planning on picking them up later down the line.

• Alien Breed 2: Assault - free game
• Homefront - Fire Sale map pack
• Dwarfs!? - Carnival DLC
• Monday Night Combat - summer gear
• Space Chem - 63 Corvi Mission
• Dawn of War 2: Retribution - Blood Raven's veteran's helmet
• Guardians of Graxia - map pack
• AaAaAA!!! - A Reckless Disregard for Gravity - Brutal Concussion mission pack
• Killing Floor - Steampunk character pack
• Delve Deeper - Treasures and Tunnels map pack
• Test Drive Unlimited - 2010 Audi RS 5 Coupe
• AI War: Fleet Command - Zenith Remnant expansion
• Zombie Driver - Summer of Slaughter map
• Winter Voices - Secret of the Norn quest
• A.R.E.S.: Extinction Agenda - Beserker suit
• Magicka - The Lonely Cruise map
• Men of War: Assault Squad - MP Supply Pack Alpha
• Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter - Serious 8 character pack
• Fate of the World - Denial Campaign mission
• Beat Hazard - The Golden Ship mission
• X3: Terran Conflict - A Sunny Place mission
• Team Fortress 2 - Summer Shades
• Portal 2 - Goo Gear Snorkles
• Defense Grid: The Awakening - Resurgence map packs

The whole of Alien Breed 2: Assault can be bought in exchange for some of your achievements. There are four map packs available for Defense Grid: The Awakening. AI War: Fleet Command has an entire expansion pack up for grabs, which features "122 new ships, 12 new AI types and several new map styles."

You can also get items include some spiffing shades for Team Fortress 2, cool skins for Killing Floor, new Gear for Men of War and Dawn of War: Retribution and new maps for Magicka and AaAaAA!!! - A Reckless Disregard for Gravity.

But how do you get all this neat stuff? Steam is revealing around seven new achievements a day on the Summer Camp Page . But don't worry, you don't have to do them that day. You can get the achievements at any point during the sale.

The Steam Community achievements are the easiest to earn:

• Say Cheese - There are two separate entries asking you to post a screenshot. Just press print screen while playing a Steam game and you'll get the opportunity to upload your shots when you quit out.
• Write Home - Recommend a game to your friends, go to the bottom of the Steam recommended page, and write something nice about a game you own.
• Welcome to Camp - Just join the Steam Summer Camp group . It's as easy as that.
• Find Your Friends - Link your Facebook profile to Steam. You can do this by editing your Steam Community Profile. You can always unlink this later on if you like.
• Play Time - Play a free demo. Here is the demo list , just about anyone should be able to find something.

That's five achievements you can get without even owning a game. Here are some simple game-specific ones:

• Escape the Heat (Team Fortress 2) - Since TF2 is free , this is easy. Play on a map with some water (like Well or 2Fort) get lit on fire, and jump into the water for an easy ticket.
• Promethean Summer (Dawn of War: Retribution) - Killing 50 enemies with a flamer is easy if you take a Mekboy or Lord General into the Last Stand mode. This also works with the Last Standalone version of the game.
• Swedish Summer (Magicka) - Swedish summers must be even worse than British ones! You need to set off rain or blizzard 20 times in a versus match to get this. It's pretty simple if you and a friend or two co-operate to farm chests instead of fighting. Sooner or later one will drop rain and you can set it off over and over.
• Lady of the Lake (Mount and Blade: Warband) - This one is easy. Just play as a female character, buy yourself a Great Sword from a merchant and give it to a companion (you can find them in pubs).

There are a lot more achievements out there but these are all simple and will net you plenty of points. With more to be revealed as the sale goes on, it shouldn't be too hard to get all the prizes you want.