Valve announced today that Steam Cloud, a free service that allows users to store game configuration settings online, will launch “later this week” to coincide with the release of the Left 4 Dead demo, which hits on November 6.

With the arrival of the initial release, users will be able to store keyboard, mouse, and gamepad configurations, as well as multiplayer settings such as spraypaint images directly on Steam servers. For titles that utilize the Steam Cloud service, such as Left 4 Dead, game settings will be tied to your Steam account and will remain intact when logging into Steam from another PC, or even after a reformat.

Valve intends to provide all features of Steam Cloud to developers and publishers on Steam, which means it is likely that we will see non-Valve titles taking advantage of the service in the future as well.

Valve, creators of best-selling entertainment products and advanced technologies, today announced the roll out of Steam Cloud, a set of services for Steam that stores application data online and allows user experiences to be consistent from any PC. Steam Cloud is a free extension to Steam, a leading a platform for PC games with over 15 million accounts worldwide.

Steam Cloud support will ship with Valve’s Left 4 Dead demo later this week and the full game on November 18. In this first release, the information stored and accessible through the Steam Cloud includes keyboard, mouse, and gamepad configurations, as well as multiplayer settings such as spraypaint images.

The Steam Cloud will “just work,” meaning any user changes to their game options will propagate to the Cloud by default. Upon logging into Steam from another PC, these settings will be brought down from the Cloud and automatically leveraged by the game. Any configuration changes on this second machine are then synced to the Cloud for future sessions.

Steam Cloud will be available to all publishers and developers using Steam, free of charge, and Valve will add Cloud support to its back catalog of Steam games. Cloud services are compatible with games purchased via Steam, at retail, and other digital outlets.

“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.”

Read more: Valve Announces Steam Cloud, Store Saved Games And Settings Online, Left 4 Dead Now Available On Steam For Pre-Order, Valve: Left 4 Dead Hitting PC, Xbox 360 In November, Team Fortress 2 Scout Update Coming Soon-ish, Steam To Overtake Retail PC Game Sales In Next Three Months