Portal 2 Bringing Steam To the PS3, Possible Early Release 156
itwbennett writes "Portal 2 is breaking some new ground – at least the PlayStation 3 version is. 'Portal 2 marks the first time that Valve's social gaming network (and digital distribution system), Steam, will appear on consoles,' writes blogger Peter Smith. What this means is that once you link your Playstation Network [PSN] and Steam accounts 'you'll be able to keep tabs on what your Steam friends are up to from within a game of Portal 2 on the PS3,' says Smith. And, you'll be able to play Portal 2 with friends playing on PC or Mac. 'I can think of at least one other example of cross-platform gaming (Shadowrun supported both PC and Xbox players in the same game servers),' says Smith, 'but it's still very rare.'"
This afternoon Valve launched a countdown to Portal 2 which can be accelerated by playing any of a group of indie games.
Crafty, I guess (Score:5, Insightful)
I think this is actually a pretty crafty (and aggressive) move by Valve. One of the frustrations of gaming on the PC is seeing consoles get exclusive content in many games, paid for by the console manufacturer. Usually, the PC is left to languish and pick up the scraps - and sometimes doesn't get the extra content at all (for example, Dead Space 2). Now, an early release (and likely only a very slightly early one) isn't exactly the same as extra content, but it's still a perk for PC players - and various forums today illustrate that this has upset a lot of console gamers.
Why should Valve do this? Because they now have a huge vested interest in the PC as a gaming platform. They're taking a cut on every PC game sold via Steam - which is a large proportion of PC games these days. So for the first time in many years, the PC actually has somebody fighting its corner as a platform in a vaguely effective way. And by dangling a (largely neutered) version of Steam in front of PS3 gamers, they're getting free advertising for their own service and platform.
And if anybody wants to call them evil and scheming, then they have the counter-argument that they're doing all this by getting people to play indie games.
Me? I like gaming on the PC... and on the 360 and PS3. But the PC does have unique features as a platform and I'm glad that there are people out there with actual industry clout who are promoting it.
Re:awesome plan (Score:5, Insightful)
So what do you look for in a game? Is there some mystical amount of advertising that is "just right"?
The real loser is Microsoft (Score:4, Insightful)
They refuse to open up their Live network to MMO's, Steam, or anyone else. And they have the audacity to charge their users $60 a year for the privilege. So PS3 users get DC Universe online and a Steam enabled Portal 2. Xbox users just get a bill for $5 a month--and jackshit to show for it.
Between shit like this and all the exclusives that they've lost in the last two years, sometimes I wonder if MS even has anyone working in their Xbox division anymore. If there is anyone, it doesn't look like they're doing anything.