Steam on consoles is more convenient for gamers, says the Portal programmer.
Valve’s Jeep Barnett says that the release of Steam on the PS3 has brought PC and PS3 gamers closer together. And not just a little bit either, as Barnett says that what was once “two separate universes” is now “one big happy family.”
Speaking to PSM3 magazine, Barnett said that the majority of PS3 gamers also played on the PC, so bringing Steam to the PS3 allowed them to play with all their friends, without having to compartmentalize them into platform specific groups. He added that Steam on PS3 gave people the chance to play on the platform of their choice and of their convenience. This functionality is restricted to just Portal 2 co-op at the moment, but Barnett said that he’d be happy to see more Steam games come to the PS3 in the future, especially downloadable ones, and thought it was just a matter of time.
“Maybe I’m answering these too personally. I think it’s a great idea and it’s going to become much more common,” he said. “Having downloadable games is another one of those inevitabilities, like it was with the music industry. It’s on the way.”
Barnett may be overstating things a little when he says that Steam has fused two universes, but Portal 2’s cross platform play has brought the PC and PS3 at least a little closer together. It won’t be the first time that a publisher or developer has tried its hand at cross platform gaming, but with the high level of commitment that Valve is making to getting Steam up and running on consoles, it might just work out this time.
Source: CVG
