Finally: What "Steam on the PS3" Means

A lot of fuss has been made over Valve's sudden and supposed partnership with Sony unveiled at E3 2010. The biggest news to come out of the announcement was that Portal 2 for the PS3 would be supported by a version of Steam for the Playstation 3 platform.

 

While that does sound super neat, no one really knew what they meant by "Steam on the PS3."

 

Now we do!

 

Well I'll be... It really is Steam on the PS3.

 

What we've learned is that Portal 2 on the PS3 will be accompanied by a persistent Steam Overlay that can be accessed with a press of the Select button within the game. But what that overlay provides is pretty cool, particularly for PC and Mac users who already have a Steam account. From Steam's website:

 

• Play cross-platform from your PlayStation®3 with Steam friends on Windows or Mac.
• Access your Steam friends list, enabling you to chat with, add, or remove Steam friends.
• Access redeemed downloadable content registered in Windows or Mac, and vice-versa
• View your Steam friends’ community profiles.
• View your earned Steam Achievements, as well as global achievement stats, for Portal 2.
• See the latest news and announcements for Portal 2.

 

In addition, PSN trophies earned while playing Portal 2 will also register as Steam achievements on the linked account. The catch is that vice versa is not true; Steam achievements earned on the PC will not register as PSN trophies.

 

In case you haven't heard already, the Playstation 3 version of Portal 2 will come with a free Steam code to unlock the entire PC version of the game as well. That's 2 versions for the price of one if you're following at home. This is actually an excellent move on Sony's part to entice hardcore PC gamers to choose the Playstation 3 platform when purchasing this title. More may even opt to actually play the game on their PS3 as well, as they will not miss out on playing with any of their PC Steam friends, and will effectively be earning two sets of achievements at once (quite a temptation for trophy junkies).

 

With true cross-platform play between the PC/Mac and PS3 through Steam, I'm wondering if this may be the beginning of a real partnership between PC and console gaming. Provided that all works as planned when Portal 2 is released on Tuesday, this sets the groundwork for Steam to coexist peacefully on both the PC and Playstation 3 platforms. More of this two-for-one deal would surely be appreciated, especially if it continues to result in cross-platform multiplayer.

 

It's not unrealistic to speculate that a game like Left 4 Dead 3 could follow a similar precedent, or even Half-Life 3.

 

And to Sony's credit, the more that this situation develops, the more it feels like a party that the Xbox 360 just wasn't invited to.

 

Source: steampowered.com

 

Matt Buckley, NoobFeed