14 DAY TRIAL // After announcing that Portal 2 will be the first game to bring the Steam digital service to the PlayStation 3, Valve and Sony have now released the first details about how the service, exclusive to the PC or Mac up until now, will actually work on the home console.
Valve and Sony surprised a lot of PlayStation 3 owners a few months ago, when the two companies announced that Portal 2 will be bringing Steam functionality to the PlayStation 3.
"Portal 2 for PlayStation 3 is the first title to support Steam on a console," revealed Doug Lombardi, vice president of marketing at Valve. "Specifically, that means it offers cross-platform matchmaking, gameplay, friends, chat, and achievements, all powered by Steam. Steam on the PS3 also saves co-op game progress and single player saved games to the Steam Cloud, enabling players to pick up where they left off on any PlayStation 3."
PS3 save games from the Steam Cloud won't be playable across platforms, however, as you'll only be able to use them on the console.
What's more, besides all the features mentioned above, Steam on the PlayStation 3 will also have the special Steam overlay feature, which will allow gamers to access things like friends lists or achievements without quitting the game.
The friends feature will show you both the people you have on the PlayStation 3 friends list as well as the ones from your Steam list.
Trophies earned on the PlayStation will be unlocked at the same time as the Steam achievements, so you won't have to play through Portal 2 on both platforms.
After buying the game, all PS3 owners need to do is link their PlayStation Network account to the Steam one, or, if you don't have one, you can register from within the game.
Portal 2 on the PlayStation 3 will not only include the game for the console, but also a free copy of it for Steam on the PC/Mac.
For more details about how Steam will work on the PS3, check out Valve's own FAQ here.
Portal 2 will be launched on the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on April 19.