Portal 2 PlayStation 3 Steam Details Revealed! Cross-Platform Play Included

[Shawn Zipay]

Valve has just announced their full plans for Steam on the PlayStation 3 and how it will be included when Portal 2 ships this year. Let's read it together, shall we?

Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Half-Life and Counter-Strike) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced the Steam features shipping with the PlayStation 3 (PS3) version of Portal 2.

Marking the debut of Steam functioning on any next generation console, the features shipping in the PS3 version of Portal 2 include cross platform play (PC/Mac vs. PS3) for multiplayer games, persistent cloud-based storage of PS3 saved games, and cross platform chat (PC/Mac and PS3).

In addition, those who purchase Portal 2 for the PlayStation 3 may unlock a Steam Play (PC & Mac) copy of Portal 2 at no additional cost by linking their PSN and Steam accounts.

"We made a promise to gamers at E3 that Portal 2 for the PlayStation 3 would be the best console version of the product," said Gabe Newell, co-founder and president of Valve. "Working together with Sony we have identified a set of features we believe are very compelling to gamers. We hope to expand upon the foundation being laid in Portal 2 with more Steam features and functionality in DLC and future content releases."

"We designed the Portal 2 PS3 experience to be very straightforward for gamers," said Josh Weier, project lead on Portal 2 at Valve. "PS3 gamers will be able to simply drop the Blu-Ray disc in the PS3, link to their Steam account from inside the game, and all their Steam friends (on PC and Mac) will be visible and accessible for chat and game invites."

These features will come to life when Portal 2 ships this April!

[K-16]

Re: Portal 2 PlayStation 3 Steam Details Revealed! Cross-Platform Play Included

And here I thought Final Fantasy XI is the only game where frustrated players struggle to explain what the controls are to "newbies," after realizing they're playing on a different platform. I can see the annoyances now...

"How do I jump?"

"Default should be set to spacebar."

"Spacebar? What spacebar? You mean X?"

"No! I said spacebar! What kind of an idiot sets their jump right below WASD?"

"What's WASD?"

Etc. Etc.

VALVe should make cross-platform controls guidance as an achievement/trophy, because it's bloody metagaming in itself... At least it was in Final Fantasy XI, especially with the language barriers when playing with the Japanese community.

I wonder if the PS3 version is at the same price as the PC/Mac version? It kind of feels like PS3 owners (with PSN accounts) get slightly more value out of this than PC owners (in terms of choice), since they have access to the PC/Mac version as well. PC/Mac owners don't get it the other way around (not asking for a Blu-Ray disc, but I meant having download access to the PS3 version through PSN/Steam).

[FatboyTim]

Re: Portal 2 PlayStation 3 Steam Details Revealed! Cross-Platform Play Included

Yeah, I get it! Those lame console owners will have never played a first-person shooter before!

Wait a sec... http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps3/list-79

Idiot.

[K-16]

Re: Portal 2 PlayStation 3 Steam Details Revealed! Cross-Platform Play Included

Eh?... That's not what I said nor meant... I didn't say anything about first-person shooters (unless Final Fantasy XI counts). My point goes both ways for players from either platform (which is why I mentioned achievements and trophies to reward those who successfully act as guides). I don't understand why I'm being accused of thinking PS3 players don't know how to configure controls for first-person shooters. I was talking about new players of any game who don't know (or don't remember) how to perform certain functions in said game, and would prefer to ask rather than read the manual. And my point was the struggle that will ensue due to the fact that the person explaining is used to a different platform as they are on said platform. I apologize for unintentionally creating flamebait to spur arguments in the console vs. PC war; I'm not the staff of EpicBattleAxe and prefer to avoid creating arguments. Sorry about that.