Portal 2 Packs PC-PS3 Cross-platform Play & Chat

After announcing in June 2010 that the PlayStation 3 edition of Portal 2 would support Steamworks, developer Valve today revealed exactly what that will entail--it's jolly nice.

Portal 2 on PS3 will support cross-platform multiplayer and chat with the PC and Mac releases, plus cloud-based saved game storage. As if that weren't exciting enough, you'll also get a free SteamPlay version of the game for PC and Mac.

PC and PS3 co-op together in perfect harmony.

"We made a promise to gamers at E3 that Portal 2 for the PlayStation 3 would be the best console version of the product," said Valve co-founder Gabe Newell. "Working together with Sony we have identified a set of features we believe are very compelling to gamers. We hope to expand upon the foundation being laid in Portal 2 with more Steam features and functionality in DLC and future content releases."

"We designed the Portal 2 PS3 experience to be very straightforward for gamers," Portal 2 project lead Josh Weier explained. "PS3 gamers will be able to simply drop the Blu-Ray disc in the PS3, link to their Steam account from inside the game, and all their Steam friends (on PC and Mac) will be visible and accessible for chat and game invites."

Portal 2 is slated to launch for PC, Mac, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on April 20, having been delayed a wee bit. It'll be distributed at retail by EA Partners. And, yes, there will be another Jonathan Coulton song for you to grind into dust with constant repetition.