I thought this news was worth sharing since there isn't an article on bit yet: Source: http://www.develop-online.net/news/36781/Valve-confirms-Portal-2-cross-platform-integration Personally I think this is very exciting news, and I hope that other developers follow suit and put more effort into making their multiplayer games compatible across multiple platforms. Now obviously this wouldn't work with more competitive games like FPSes or RTSes, but for co-op games like Portal there's no reason why two people on different platforms can't play together, aside from the obvious technical limitations. Most of my own friends are PS3 owners while very few of them play games on a PC, so I see this as not only a good way to have a chance to play with them but also introduce them to more PC games via Steam. Some people might say Valve had more cynical motives for giving away a free PC copy of the game with the PS3 version (think of the huge number of new Steam accounts that will be created), but you have to agree that it's a nice gesture nonetheless.
but do we, PC gamers, get PS3 versions? great gesture, but i feel cheated unless Steam price is about 2/3 of PS3 price. great news indeed, hopefully i'll be able to get more of my friends to play this. it will be the widest available game on the market: Mac, PC, PS3 and xbox360. and everyone can play coop with eachother
Retail PC game prices here are about 2/3 of PS3 prices. And steam is even cheaper. So I guess that should be ok Now we just have to wait for the best platform (linux) to get steam support, and we have world peace
Unfortunately not. There's obviously limitations there since Valve have their own distribution method on PC but not on the PS3, so they can't exactly give away hard copies of the game on the PS3 since a large proportion of the cost of each copy goes to Sony. The PC version will almost certainly be ~£10 cheaper though, it's supposed to be priced at £29.99 on Steam (at release anyway), while the console version will no doubt retail at £39.99. Except those on the Xbox 360. Only the PS3 version is capable of cross-platform multiplayer, which seemed a little odd to me at first but I suppose it's due to MS charging for the XBL subscription or whatever.
oh, sorry, i read PS3 as console in your first post. £30 would be a bargain, plus the usual 10% off Steam pre-release sale makes it £27. much better value than Black Ops. never buying another CoD game.
You got me all excited there - cross-platform. I thought you meant Linux support! That WOULD be good!
Well, that's put me off. I'll wait for a Steam sale before I buy it now. I feel cheated by the PS3 crowd.
I'm not sure what restrictions there will be with this, but I wonder if it will be possible to buy the PS3 version, claim the free PC copy of the game and then sell on the PS3 version since you no longer need it? However, it does sound like the PS3 version will be linked to your Steam account in some way: I suppose it just depends whether that will prevent other PSN accounts playing the PS3 version from the disc (thereby preventing second-hand sales of the game), or if it's just to stop more than one person claiming the free copy of the game. If it's the former, then it sounds like it could be the start of DRM on the consoles
Portal must be unplayable with a controller. How the hell can you be fast enough when you're doing multiple (successive) portal jumps. There were some parts in the original game that were tough with a mouse, i cant imagine doing it with a joystick. I'm afraid we (pc gamers) will just refuse to be teamed with ps3 players... Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
So we'll get another classic that has been consolified ? Great... Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
I did manage to complete Portal using a controller on both PS3 and xbox (no i didn;t buy the orange box 3 times, i borrowed it) but some of the advanced maps are literally impossible without blind luck (i'm thinking of the advanced test 17 i think. portal climbing up platforms until the angled one at the top. in the advanced they close behind you so you only get one shot at it.) Still, however nice the gesture, it sucks that we, PC gamers, dont get a similar benefit. For me it would have to be £19.99 to make even close to being fair.
The co-op multiplayer portion of the game is completely separate from the main single player story, and features a different storyline and different set of rooms which are designed exclusively for the 2-player co-op mode (i.e. they require 2 players to be solved). As such, their solutions revolve more around co-ordination, co-operation and timing between the 2 players, rather than ultra-fast reflexes and accuracy. Your ability to do well in the game will depend more on your ability not to be a jackass to the other person than it does on your input method.
I've been thinking about Valve's reasoning for a bit and think I've got it. Just to confirm though, since this is sort of the backbone, SteamPlay games only need to be purchased once to play on both Mac and PC correct? You get two platforms at once because you bought a game for your account, not your platform. So when you get the PS3 version you're a little robbed. You just get a platform, not an account. In Valve's perfect world where PS3s could run Steam you would be able to play on all three platforms with a single SteamPlay game purchase. So they just go ahead and throw the SteamPlay version in there as a little extra. And if you're a PC gamer who wants it on PS3 as well you don't have to worry about buying two games (I'll be taking advantage of this). Though I must say, this is the first time I've seen a developer push gamers to PC and people complained.
That sounds like the test I have been stuck on for a while on the XBox 360 version. I give it a go for 20 mins or so every couple of weeks to see if I can beat it but no luck so far. What you said about luck coming in to play is true some times. I was stuck on a test , I could not line up the flashing ball thing in the right place. I tried for over an hour and i was about to give up when my 10 year old nephew , who did not have a clue what the game was about happened to do it in about 30 seconds flat by pure chance
Hopefully! I'd still want to see a cheaper Steam copy like you and others have said just because even though, in theory, the PS3 copy is "one game" it's not actually one game and both could be played at once to my understanding, at least on singleplayer.
