If you have played Portal 2 on the PS3, you will know that the game benefits from additional support from Valve’s Steam interface, allowing players to participate in cross platform online play with PC and Mac amonst other things.
If you ask any PS3 owner, they will say that Steam support on Sony’s console is a great thing and that more titles should be supported in future – Counter-Strike Global Operations will be the next major title of course – click here for our hands-on review of the game.
So what about the Xbox 360, what happened to their Steam support? The console doesn’t need it apparently, as Microsoft are still reluctant to give Valve access to any part of their Xbox Live infrastructure. Valve has admitted that they have become frustrated with Microsoft’s continued strict stance on Xbox Live, which in turn culminated in the release of Portal 2 on the PlayStation 3, and of course Gabe Newell’s surprise showing at E3 a few years ago.
Microsoft are sticking to their guns, but how do Xbox 360 gamers feel about this? Having seen what is possible with cross-platform play via the PS3 and PC, do you not feel you are missing out slightly on all of the action? Steam support on the PS3 does a lot more than just cross-platform play after all, as it will also give access to automatic updates – the one other main feature of Steamworks which Microsoft may not be too happy about.
Then of course, Steamworks also allows titles to be given downloadable content through Steam and gives users full access to the Steam community. Are these features really needed on the Xbox 360 in future, or do you think Steam doesn’t need to be seen on the Xbox 360 at all? Nobody thought Steam would make an appearance on the PS3, but it happened and is now growing into something special – will the same thing happen to Microsoft’s console?
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