Details on free PC/Mac version of Portal 2 with the PS3 version
Valve just put out a press release, including this information:
Steam on the PS3 provides access to all of these features once the player has linked their PlayStation Network account with a Steam account, which is done right within the game. A Steam user can login to an existing account, and anyone new to Steam can create an account with the click of a button. In the spirit of Steam Play, linked players of the PS3 version of Portal 2 can also access and play their copy of Portal 2 on any PC or Mac by redeeming an in-box access code on their computer. The Steam client verifies the linked customer and then lists Portal 2 among their library of Steam games for PC and Mac.
So, it sounds like you need to have a PS3 connected to the internet, and to pair your PSN account with your Steam account (with Portal 2 in the PS3). Once you have a Steam account that is linked with a PSN account, you register the single use serial on the PC version of Steam to get Portal 2.
This indicates the following:
Two people can play co-op together (One on PC/Mac, one on PS3) with just one copy of the game, as long as you used a different PSN account to the one paired with the Steam account being used.
You will need to own (or have access to) a PS3 to be able to register for the free PC version.
Once you have registered the PC/Mac version, there shouldn’t be anything stopping you trading in the PS3 version.
You can get the PS3 version for £29.99 delivered here.
Edit: This is somewhat speculation on my behalf, I don’t have any more information that you, but I guess we will find out for sure soon enough.
Interesting… Just need to find someone with a PS3 now!
The way I read it is that two people will NOT be able to play Co-op with one copy. You link the PS3 version to your Steam account, and then when you enter the one-use code “The Steam client verifies the linked customer and then lists Portal 2 among their library of Steam games for PC and Mac”.
Makes it sounds like it verifies that you own Portal on the PS3 before it will add the game to your Steam library on the PC.
Hence you’d need to be logged into the same Steam account to play the game on the PS3 version OR the PC version.
Please correct me if I’m wrong – this is just the way I read it.
You don’t link the PS3 version of the game, you link your PSN account and your Steam account (Done on the PS3, from inside Portal 2).
As long as you use a different PSN account for the PS3 version, I don’t see anyway for them to even know that you are using the same version of the game (since all the discs will be identical).
I have emailed Valve for clarification, but I am fairly sure, based on what they have said, it will be possible to do this.
But any PS3 player will have to logon to PSN and consequently their Steam account to access the PS3 version, thereby requiring two different Steam accounts.
It turns out that Valve put some more information up on their Knowledge Base:
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=5477-WPJM-9388
“Only PlayStation®3 split-screen co-op can be played using a single copy of the game. When you purchase a new copy of Portal 2 for PlayStation®3, you will receive an in-box code which provides your linked Steam account with access to your copy of Portal 2 on your computer. The game is still owned by only a single Steam account–another copy will be required to play online co-op with a friend.”
It looks to me that the only part of the process that is can only be done once is the part about activating the free PC/Mac version by entering the single use serial into a Steam account that has been paired with a PSN account.
There’s nothing that says the game can only pair on PSN account with one Steam account. Presumably if you are logged into a PSN account that is not paired with a Steam account, it lets you pair it with one, regardless of whether the single use serial has been used already.
Unless they intend for preowned copies to not have functioning multiplayer, I don’t see how they could stop people doing what I described.
What Valve and Anthony are implying is that, in order to play Portal 2 online on the PS3, you need to have it connected to your steam account (it is a Steamworks game after all, even on the PS3; first of it’s kind), So even if you register it on both the PSN and your PC, you still won’t be able to play with yourself because it is only one steam account.
“Two people can play co-op together (One on PC/Mac, one on PS3) with just one copy of the game, as long as you used a different PSN account to the one paired with the Steam account being used.”
So I can link my PSN account to my Steam account, register the PC copy of Portal 2 to my Steam account, then have a second player use the PS3 disc with a different PSN account?
Is this 100%? Would quite like to be sure before committing to account linking etc.
Well, I have no more information than you, but that is logical to me.
Oh wait, is this what you meant in the post? When I disagreed with you, I thought you meant that people would be able to have a friend over, and have the friend use the PS3 copy while the host used the PC copy.
If you meant that people would be able to give the PS3 copy to someone else to link their own accounts, then ignore my other comments.
I do mean the former. I don’t think you will be able to play against each other from a PSN account that is paired with the Steam account, but you will be able to activate the PC copy from your paired account, then sign into the PS3 with a different PSN account, and then play multiplayer.
I’m not sure, this’ll be possible: in order to access cross-platform multiplayer, you’ll probably need to play with a PSN account linked to a Steam account with Portal 2 activated – and unless you have another Portal 2 key for PC, this’ll be the account you wanted to play against.
I’m not a huge Valve fan, but I don’t believe them to be THAT stupid.
I’d not considered that. That would make some sense, but the problem there is that it would prevent PS3 gamers who do not own a PC from being able to play cross platform multiplayer (From what they said, it looks like you can only activate that code on a PC, not on the console).
Edit: I certainly don’t think Valve are stupid, but I do think it is likely that they would pick a ways of doing things that is easiest for their customers, even if it was potentially going to let a small proportion of people exploit it.
I have not seen anything so far that implies that people will be able to play Portal Co-operaitively on different platforms.
PS3 users will play with PS3 users, Xbox with xbox, and PC/Mac with PC/Mac.
You can.
“Among the features available in the Steam Overlay on PlayStation®3:
• Play cross-platform from your PlayStation®3 with Steam friends on Windows or Mac.”
Oh great then! 😀
Very happy to hear that, we need more inter-platform games.
I want this for Xbox!! Any plans for Microsoft to make nice with Steam??
Nothing at the moment. The theory is that Sony are letting Valve do all this because Valve are frustrated at how Microsoft handle a lot of things (like patches and DLC).
Anyone tried this yet without going onto the ps3 first?
For reference:
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k128/Blessy_01/Untitled-1.jpg