That title, combined with the above picture, has probably already sent most readers into fits of laughter. We all know Valve hates the PS3, and while the PS3 port of The Orange Box was playable, it wasn't nearly as good as the 360 and PC versions of the same compilation. However, I think Valve may be going about PS3 development (or the thought of it) the wrong way.

When I think of Valve, I think of something that I had absolutely no interest in a few years ago --- digital distribution. I'd personally much rather have physical copies of my games, but Steam makes me not mind downloading that much, and it's basically all Valve does at this point. When I popped my recently store-bought copy of Portal into my PC, I was greeted with the same screen you get when you're restoring a game to Steam that you've backed up, not installing something completely new. Even store-bought copies of their games are like the digital versions, just backed up on a disc. Ironically enough, this is something Sony has recently started pushing with the PS3 --- In addition to their downloadable PlayStation Network games, there are currently eight different full-sized games that you can download rather than buy them on physical discs. Well, instead of releasing physical copies of their games, why doesn't Valve create a Steam client for the PS3?



Think about it for a minute --- It could be integrated directly into the XMB, and look exactly like the PC version of the program. Since the PS3 natively supports keyboards and mice, you could even use that as a way of navigating if you'd so choose. Storage for these games wouldn't be an issue, either --- I believe with the latest firmware (or maybe a version even earlier than that), the PS3 supports a hard drive size of up to 500gb. That's plenty of space to keep all of your downloads, mods, map packs, and demos. And the real beauty of it all is that Steam is Steam --- Running your games through the PS3 and PC would be seamless, and possibly even allow for cross-platform play of every Steam game. Valve wouldn't even have to reprogram any of their games to work on the PS3. Games would just work. Imagine buying the PC version of Left 4 Dead, registering it online, and then downloading the whole game through the PS3 and playing it on your 60-inch HDTV. Or if you don't have a gaming PC, this would completely eliminate the need for one.

I know this'll never actually happen since Valve isn't exactly the biggest collective bunch of fans of the PS3, which still surprises me (What, do they not like making money?), but I think it sounds great in theory. If you know about all its features, you know that the PS3 is the most PC-ish gaming console we've ever gotten, and Valve games are always the best on the PC. Valve is almost completely about digital distribution at this point, and Sony is headed in that direction. Valve has nothing to lose and everything to gain, and the same goes for Sony.

PLEASE NOTE: I am not --- in ANY way --- a programmer. I don't know how easy or hard any of the above would be to do, and that's why it's just a dream for now. It's just a a theory I was working on in my head.