Arstechnica

We spoke with Doug Lombardi, Valve's VP of Marketing, about this news, and what it means for other consoles as well as future PlayStation 3 games.

"It's not two copies of the game, it's the same game"

"The goal is to give a Portal 2 customer access to their game on as many devices as possible. We introduced this notion when we launched Steam Play for Mac and PC games in the spring of last year," Lombardi explained. "Giving a PS3 owner of Portal 2 the ability to also play their game on the PC and Mac is an extension of this philosophy. From our perspective, it's not two copies of a game; it's the same game, but with Sony's help we've worked out a method to allow that Portal 2 PS3 customer to also play their game on the PC and Mac."

Which of course brings up an obvious question: was this option also offered to Microsoft? "It is achievable from a technical standpoint, yes," he told Ars. Allow us to speculate for a moment and say that Microsoft most likely doesn't like third-parties using their own online tools, nor would it agree to giving up any control of patches or updates, an issue that has long been a sticking point between the two companies.

Now that Steam is running on the PlayStation 3, the service may be added to other games as well as Portal 2, but Lombardi refuses to give any specific news. "We are hoping other titles will benefit from the Steamworks tools and services we've created for Portal 2 PS3, but we don't have anything to announce today."

Mouse and keyboard vs. controllers, Episode 3

The PlayStation 3 version of Portal 2 offers a free version of the game for the PC and Mac once you link accounts, and you'll be able to play with friends on those platforms as well. "Portal 2 is cooperative multiplayer, and co-op only. So the mouse/keyboard vs. gamepad flame war doesn't really apply," Lombardi said when asked about the difference in controls. "It's also worth noting that Portal is more about brain power than split-second reflexes. If you're thinking with Portals, the input device used to execute each move is very much secondary."

Some of our readers expressed nervousness about linking their games with their Steam accounts. Will they still be able to resell their games? Lombardi declined to offer specifics when asked about what protections were built in, saying only that we'll have more details on account linking closer to launch.

While we're talking with Doug Lombardi and getting... some answers about these issues from him, we had to take the shot: any news of Episode 3? The question was met with silence.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/01/portal-on-playstation-3.ars

Makes me wonder what some of the people on this site would say if steam was on hd-consoles... anyway, why not. I have some games on steam which are available on 360. Would be nice to get achievements from those games.

Would I link the games I've bought on 360 to steam? Hell no.

I need someone to explain to me...from a user end perspective, why do I need Steamworks on my 360? Just so I could play people on the pc?

The idea is that you have your game on any platform you wish. When you've bought the game, it's yours, no matter the platform. With Steam, Valve have done that with the PS3 version of Portal 2, and at the same time allow friends to play together across platforms. If my best option for playing Portal 2 is my PS3 and theirs is their PC, then we can still play together. I'm loving Valve's approach personally!

@ OP

I love Valve's attitude here. You're not buying a version of the game, you're buying a universal copy of the game and you can play it whereever you like. That's how it ought to be!

Gotcha, yeah that is a great idea.

But I do understand why Microsoft doesn't let them on to Xbox live though with XBL is a controlled environment like it is.

This seems like its 1 step away from Activisions pay to play servers for COD...

Xbox Live is more closed than PSN by design. I think it might just be a policy thing from Microsoft's side when it all comes down to it, but with the amount of paying users they have, I can see why they might be more focused on keeping it close to the chest.  But yeah, it would be nice if Microsoft opened up this way a bit more.

Valve has the world's most awesome PR.

Step 1: Buy Portal 2 for PS3 used.

Step 2: Link the codes.

Step 3: return Portal 2 within 7 days.

Step 4: Enjoy portal for free on PC.

Step 5: ???

We have no idea how the linking works, but other than that, I'm sure Valve hasn't thought of this.

Steam is a direct competitor to GFWL- so letting it infiltrate the xbox is a poor decision for  them. Plus valve's and MS philosophies towards online are worlds apart.