Inquirer: Google to buy Valve, Valve denies [update]

There's nothing in the way of official confirmation at the moment, but tech website The Inquirer reports that "well-placed sources" are telling it that Google will be purchasing Valve "any second now." As the site points out, Google is likely less motivated by Valve's game development than its nigh-ubiquitous content distribution platform, Steam.

We, again, have no idea if this is on the money, but there have been a couple of indicators that lend a sort of credence. You may remember early last month when Valve said it was happy to talk about acquisitions, and just a little over a week ago Forbes' Chris Morris posited that Google could be going into game publishing.

We'll keep you posted.

Update: Valve tells MTV that the story is a "complete fabrication."

[Thanks, Stephen]