Free copy of Portal 2 with PS3 version.

[piggydiggy]

Me and my ps3 owning friend were planning to purchase the Ps3 version of this game, and then he would link his PSN account to my steam account, basically giving us both a copy of the game.
But I have a few questions about it all, and I was wondering whether any of you could help please?

1) Once linked, does he have to log in to my steam account to play Portal, ie, can we play Portal 2 simultaneously?
2) Could we do coop together on one copy of the game?
3) Are achievements, steam cloud progress etc shared between the two games, or is our progress etc separate?

Thanks, and sorry if this stuff is obvious!

[Creeping Death]

It all ties to the same Steam account so no, unfortunately you won't be able to play together.

It's a shame, I know. I had the same idea of splitting it with a friend of mine :/

[icupnimpn2]

Not sure Creeping Death is correct. You need to link the PS3 game to a Steam account to play on PS3 - but it can be a new Steam account, I think. So you can log in with your existing steam account, link, activate pc code. Then play the ps3 game under a different ps3 user profile, link the ps3 game to a different Steam account.

Then play ps3 vs pc.

That's my understanding, it is.

Your PS3 progress doesn't carry over to the PC or vice versa in any case

[Sceptrum]

Not sure Creeping Death is correct. You need to link the PS3 game to a Steam account to play on PS3 - but it can be a new Steam account, I think. So you can log in with your existing steam account, link, activate pc code. Then play the ps3 game under a different ps3 user profile, link the ps3 game to a different Steam account.

Then play ps3 vs pc.

That's my understanding, it is.

Your PS3 progress doesn't carry over to the PC or vice versa in any case

I thought it did, as it features cloud saving. That was one selling point, that you could play on the PS3, upload saves to the cloud and then continue playing on PC. Also, checking my Steam profile I have single-player achievements done on the PS3 unlocked, so Steam achievements at least can be done from PS3.

[piggydiggy]

As the PS3 owner, could you link the steam code to a unused PSN account, and then play Portal 2 on your main account, as it seems to me like PS3 retail games are not linked to one particular account?

[Sceptrum]

As the PS3 owner, could you link the steam code to a unused PSN account, and then play Portal 2 on your main account, as it seems to me like PS3 retail games are not linked to one particular account?

Honestly, don't know, but I think that you can only log on to the Steam account from the PSN account you linked it with.

[icupnimpn2]

I thought it did, as it features cloud saving. That was one selling point, that you could play on the PS3, upload saves to the cloud and then continue playing on PC. Also, checking my Steam profile I have single-player achievements done on the PS3 unlocked, so Steam achievements at least can be done from PS3.

Each system uses cloud saves for its own saves but they are not cross-compatible. Achievements carry over on the Steam account, cuz if you've earned it you've earned it. I bought the PS3 version but really wanted to play on PC. Because PSN was down for so long, I started playing on PS3, thinking my progress would carry over. It didn't, and I haven't played in a month since I don't feel like NOT HAVING FUN by playing the early puzzles over again. I don't know how other people do it. For Portal in particular I don't see what excitement there is in replaying unless you can make yourself forget solutions.

As the PS3 owner, could you link the steam code to a unused PSN account, and then play Portal 2 on your main account, as it seems to me like PS3 retail games are not linked to one particular account?

That's what I was trying to describe. AFAIK it works. As long as you use a different Steam account on PS3 from whatever you tied the PC version to you can play co-op between disc and PC version. You just simply can't be logged in on the same Steam account in two locations. So tie the PC game to one account, then log into a different account on the PS3 and play.

[Lewie Procter]

How it works is this (having done it myself):
To be able to register the single use serial that comes with the PS3 version, you need to have a Steam account that is paired with a PSN account.

You can only pair a Steam account with a PSN account from inside the PS3 version of Portal 2.

When you boot the game on the PS3, it prompts you to pair your currently logged in PSN account with your Steam account (or create a Steam account if you don't have one), but you can do this as many times as you want, with as many PSN account and Steam accounts (but each PSN account can only be paired with one Steam account, and visa versa).

Once you have paired your Steam account with a PSN account, you enter the serial into the PC/Mac version of steam like any other steamworks game.

The only restriction for mutliplayer is that you can't play with a PSN account that is paired to the Steam account you are using. So you could create a dummy PSN account and play with that.

I'd suggest just getting your friend to create a PSN account for you (note down the details in case you ever get a PS3), then tell them your Steam details to pair it with your Steam account. Then you can register the serial to your PC Steam account, and your friend can play the PS3 disc version on their PSN account.

[piggydiggy]

Firstly, thank you all for your advice.

I'd suggest just getting your friend to create a PSN account for you (note down the details in case you ever get a PS3), then tell them your Steam details to pair it with your Steam account. Then you can register the serial to your PC Steam account, and your friend can play the PS3 disc version on their PSN account.

If I were to create a PSN account for myself etc, this doesn't have an impact on the PS3 player owner does it, like are features cut off for playing on the account not originally tied to the game?

[Lewie Procter]

Not at all. There's nothing about the PS3 disc that is tied to any account or console.