Portal 2 to enable PS3 vs PC play

The PS3 version of sci-fi first-person puzzler Portal 2 will ship with a range of Steam features, including the ability to play multiplayer games against PC and Mac users, Valve has announced.

Cross platform play and cross platform chat will bring the games of PC/Mac gamers and PS3 players together. Steam will also offer persistent cloud-based storage of PS3 saved games.

In addition, purchase Portal 2 for PS3 and you will unlock a Steam Play (PC and Mac) copy of Portal 2 at no additional cost – users must link their PSN and Steam accounts. Once accounts have been linked players will immediately be able to see all their Steam friends, accessible for chat and game invites.

“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.”

Portal 2 is due for release on the PS3, PC, Mac and Xbox 360 on April 21.

Valve has been a strong supporter of the Xbox 360, but besides an EA handled port of The Orange Box, has shown little interest in working on the PS3. It’s therefore a huge turnaround to see Gabe Newell labelling Portal 2 on PS3 the “best console version”.

Cross platform play is also something that has been discussed as a possibility by many a developer, but is usually never implemented. With the differences in controllers – Mouse/Keyboard vs DualShock 3 – it will be interesting to see how well matched the two sides are.