It may still be known officially as "Steam," but after this week's announcement of the Steam Trading beta, we're referring to the service's virtual world as "Bartertown." As of today, Steam users can opt-in to the "Steam Trading" beta program, giving them the opportunity to trade Team Fortress 2 items and Steam gifts with other Steam users.

For now, the only game that supports the trading of items is Team Fortress 2, but Valve says support for Portal 2 will arrive "reasonably soon," and that it plans on offering support for "several third-party games in the next few months." Interested parties can participate by simply heading into the Steam client settings and selecting the option to opt-in to the Steam Trading beta. As participants ourselves, for the next 12 hours we'll be accepting any and all copies of full games for a very special, one-of-a-kind Team Fortress 2 hat, hand-selected by the Joystiq staff member of your choice*.

*Choice is limited to Joystiq staff members available at time of trade. Joystiq reserves the right to refuse choice based on a variety of factors, but mostly whim.