Cross Platform Portal 2 Confirmed [Jan 18, 2011, 10:44 am ET] – Share – Viewing Comments
Valve confirms last week's report that Portal 2 will support cross platform play between Windows, OS X, and PS3, while offering details on Steamworks support for the PS3 edition of the first-person puzzle/platformer. Word is:
January 18, 2011 -- 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 are made possible thru the use of Steam, Valve's platform for the delivery and management of games and digital content.
Portal 2 is due for release on the PlayStation 3, PC, Mac and Xbox 360 this April.
For more information, please visit www.thinkingwithportals.com
Verno wrote on Jan 18, 2011, 11:27:
Everything is DRM'd is what I meant. The online functionality, the hardware, what applications you can execute, the whole console experience from start to finish is literally DRM.
Yes but you can still hook up an Atari and play 25 year old games from publishers long dead. You have the same sort of future with modern console games as well, until they go the activation route for physical game copies.
I'm sure you will be able to play multiplayer without linking to your Steam account, I can't see Sony being happy with anything getting a one-up on PSN and I sincerely doubt they would actively sign off on that. It's probably similar to the uPlay crap in Ubisoft games, nothing to worry about.
We'll have to wait and see. For one thing you unlock the PC copy by linking your PSN to Steam, which is interesting. For another in the Eurogamer article they have a Valve quote about putting the disc in and linking the game to your Steam account right from the menu.
It's interesting stuff, I wouldn't write it off so casually. The PC market has accepted these sorts of things, it's only a matter of time before the consoles try it. I admit Sony allowing Valve to do it through the PS3 would be super weird though.
I'm not making any claims, I am just speculating.
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