Whoever said that Valve would not be at E3

[FadedOasis]

You are wrong:

[pneuma08]

Yeah, don't they have their cancelled Portal 2 event surprise? Although I do remember Newell himself saying he wouldn't be there...

[phevnil]

Surprise! The trick was that the only surprise is the fact that it is still happening. The anouncments will all be about TF2 for the mac.

[Jeziah]

Eric (Johnson) said that they weren't doing a booth anymore, but would still show up to the developer conference. He was wrong, I guess xD

[FadedOasis]

The surprise is that Portal 2 will be released on the PS3, along with Steamworks support.

"When the PlayStation 3 was introduced, I was the one of the platform's biggest critics," Newell said in a statement. "However, Sony Computer Entertainment has proved that the PS3 is the most open platform of all the current generation consoles and has worked extremely hard to make the platform the most desirable for consumers and developers. As such, we are delighted to announce Portal 2 for the PlayStation 3 and believe the Steamworks support included will make it the best console version of the game."

Trailer here: www.giantbomb.com/portal-2-e3-trailer/17-2722/

[Whatsit]

I see a companion cube!

[FadedOasis]

Portal 2 Gameplay
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQLpU0T-Sow

More gameplay!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDwOFFJ-7T4

[scrambles]

I got chills when GLaDOS said: "It's been a long time."

[FadedOasis]

Three-video demo of the mechanics.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5THiN8szSKM#t=0m51s
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq2mZoKkqMw
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGlyQmmvj0w

[Whatsit]

Woah woah woah. Portal 2 + Steamworks is ACTUALLY coming to PS3? I assumed Faded's post was in massive sarcasm quotes. Like, onion style.

I thought that because 1) This is Sony we're talking about. The same Sony that refuses to use the same flash memory cards as the rest of the world and won't put USB ports on anything.¹ And now they're allowing Steamworks on their system?? I admit I don't own a PS3 but I'd think there'd be a pretty big overlap in terms of functionality with the PS3 toolset. And Sony are willing to give up that control? Also 2) it wasn't so long ago that Gabe was laying down the smack on the PS3. I didn't think they'd have had time to begin negotiations and (presumably) sign some sort of deal already, especially one that allows all the stuff I said in 1).

Actually now that I think about it, I wonder if Gabe's trolling was deliberate? It was certainly unnecessary. Maybe that was all an experiment, to carefully control people's expectations and then blow them away with one huge announcement to see how much press they could get. Valve do so like their experiments.


[1] I don't think this is still the case in reality, but it was for a very long time. Sony just doesn't play well with others.

[FadedOasis]

For those that don't know, Steamworks on the PS3 allows Valve to push updates to Portal 2 (and possibly other games) without having to get Sony's certification every time. (This is the problem they're having with TF2 on the 360. Microsoft won't okay anything if they don't get money for it.)

Steam Cloud Support will probably let you play your PC save on your PS3 and vice versa, assuming you link your PS3 account with your Steam account.

[Whatsit]

Plus if I hear correctly, Microsoft doesn't allow you to charge for updates that are on the PS3 for free. Which means Valve pretty much forced Microsoft to allow the XBox360 updates for free. Well played, Valve.

[dbone]

Good commentary on this from today's Penny-Arcade post:

Sony's most fascinating maneuver was the reveal that "the best version" of Portal 2 "on any console" would be coming to the Playstation 3. We haven't heard rhetoric of this kind since Epic touted the platform's "openness" in 2007. For people who game primarily on consoles, you might not know what it means to have Steamworks integration. It varies depending on the implementation, it's sort of a la carte, and the PSN itself delivers some features by default. But you wont be paying for DLC on Valve games, ever. That is not a thing that will happen. And since Microsoft won't allow you to charge for something that is free on another system (recall R6: Vegas, or Burnout Paradise) it's an end run that's given Valve a lot of leverage. To sum up, Portal 2 isn't the surprise - Steamworks is the surprise. The porous nature of the PSN's functionality is an amazing opportunity for a company whose platform practically defines "platforms." Plus, there's no license associated with its use. Think about what this means for other developers, up to and including first parties. Why Sony would cede this kind of power to a third party I couldn't say, and why they would undermine the Playstation Store as a venue for premium content I couldn't tell you. This is important; we should be paying attention.

Source: www.penny-arcade.com/2010/6/16/lets-get-ready-rummmmbllllle/

[FadedOasis]

Wow, I didn't know about that, Whatsit and dbone. This is a lot bigger than I thought it was.

[Whatsit]

Interesting... are they suggesting that valve could start charging for dlc through steamworks onto the PS3?