Right now, Steam, Valve’s online gaming and matchmaking service is only available on PC, Mac and PS3, but the service’s online support forums feature a spot for Xbox Support, sparking rumors that the service could soon be unveiled for Microsoft’s console.

Valve has been very open about the fact that they’d love to see the service on the console, in fact Valve’s Erik Johnson told website Computer and Video Games that “We think customers would like Steam on Xbox 360. We think, anyway. We’d love to try that.” the company has also been very open about the fact that it’s not up to them as to when or if the the service hits the console, as much of the content (patches, mods) conflict with a number of Xbox Live’s policies.

It’s important to note that though the Steam service is currently unavailable on Xbox, a number of Valve’s games are, and the listing is more than likely due to that fact.

SEATTLE — Valve has running a hands-off demo of the co-op play for Portal 2 during the Penny Arcade Expo.

The Game features two robots, an orange one and a blue one, that Glados has given a set of missions too. The game still plays with the expected commentary, where Glados will say things like "make you wish you could die," after one of the Robots gets "killed.”

The Portal colors were modified slightly, so that it makes it easier to tell which player shot which side of which portal. One portal is red and yellow, and the other is blue and purple. They also added a new “ping” tool. The developers noticed that even when the two players are in the same room telling each other what to do would be tricky, especially with how tricky some of Portal’s puzzles can be. The tool points a marker where you want the other player to place a portal. This helps coordinating, where you can tell the other side what you need them to do.

The co-op missions will be about twice the length of the original portal game. They will be the same length as the single player missions.

They then showed off some of the new puzzle devices in the game. There is a laser, which can be redirected with light cubes, but they require extra caution in the co-op mode that you don’t accidentally use it on the other player. There is a light platform that the robots can walk across, and like all other objects in the game, the new ones will move through the portals. They showed off one of the ways that two players will be needed in the new game, by having the light path going over the acid from one player’s portal, than needing to change the direction to go down another hallway. If the first player moved their portal, the path they are standing on would disappear, and both robots would fall into the acid.

They showed another co-op solution in making more practical a move that was previously a fun stunt to pull in the game. It had been fun to shoot a portal on the ceiling and the floor, so that the player falls from infinitely gaining speed to terminal velocity. In the original one, this, while still being a fun move, wasn’t very practical since the screen moves so fast that it’s near impossible to redirect the upper portal anywhere useful. With two players though, one player starts falling through the other player’s portals, and then they redirect the output to a desired location, shooting the falling player out at maximum velocity, without requiring a huge cliff.

They also added more comic relief to the game. The two robots can wave at each other, and even hug. It’s very funny to watch one of them "forget" to hit a switch, killing the other, and then offer a hug in apology. Though in a non-demo situation, I’m not sure how often either move would be used.

The video ended with a demonstration of the new features of the game, and the two robots preparing to begin their task. I’m looking forward to this when it’s released on Feb 9, 2011, on the Xbox 360, PC, Mac and PlayStation 3.

You may remember a few weeks ago that Valve announced Portal would be free for roughly two weeks to coincide with the launch of Steam for Macs. Well, since that announcement the game has been downloaded over 1.5 million times proving unsurprisingly that people really love free shit.

The free offering of Portal is a huge boon for Mac fans who may not have had a chance to play the game on other platforms and now get it for nothing – and the rare PC gamer who has not played Portal. Portal is one of the coolest games I’ve ever played and it’s truly original in a way that I can hardly compare to any other game that I know of. It is a definite must-play and I don’t say that about many games anymore just because the market is so flooded. For me Portal falls into the category of real art because it takes the player on a fantastic visual and emotional journey that enlightens as it thoroughly entertains – and it does so with such a subtle brilliance that you might even tear up a little.

While you have to love Valve for doing this, it really is the best possible marketing tool for Portal 2. How better to stoke the fervor for a full-blown sequel to what was basically an experiment, than to let everyone they can in on the original experiment. Valve knows how good Portal is. They are smart enough to realize if they give you cake now, you will need the cake again on Dec 31 when Portal 2 is set to release.

Steam for Mac launched a couple days ago and while we remain disappointed  that it’s not called iSteam, there is good news.

Portal, the award-winning and mind-bending puzzle game from Valve, in celebration of Steam’s arrival for Steve Jobs’ computers, has gone free now until May 24.

But I’m guessing you already knew that. Here’s something (hopefully) new. Valve released this cute, little trailer for the game today and well, it does its job. Enjoy.

Yesterday, May 12, was the first day in the history of the world, Mac users could download Steam and enjoy the fruits of its gaming power.

The celebration continues today, as Valve announced it’s giving away copies of the fascinating puzzle game Portal now until May 24.

What lifts this announcement from good to great is that the freebie is being offered to both Mac and PC users.

If you haven’t played Portal yet, now is absolutely the time.

Portal is FREE!

Valve’s award winning and awe-inspiring unique puzzle game “Portal” recently got updated, changing the game’s ending to something quite dramatic and teasing.

As I’m not one to spoil things, and fans of the game would kill me, so go ahead and watch it!

The game development community has chosen Portal as Game of the Year at the 8th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards.

Valve’s genre-blending first person shooter/puzzler also took home two other awards at GDC. 2K’s Bioshock, Crytek’s Crysis and Nintendo’s latest Zelda chapter were also big winners.

“The Game Developers Choice Awards stand out from other game industry prizes by being open to all games of a calendar year and by recognizing the individual developers behind each celebrated game,” said Jamil Moledina, executive director of the Game Developers Conference. “We are thrilled gamers at home will be able to meet the people behind their favorite games when our first ever television broadcast special on the awards airs soon on the G4 television network.”

The recipients of the 8th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards are:

2007 Best Game Design
Portal (Valve)
Kim Swift, Realm Lovejoy, Paul Graham

2007 Best Visual Art
BioShock (2K Boston/2K Australia / 2K Games)
Scott Sinclair, Shawn Robertson, Andrew James

2007 Best Technology
Crysis (Crytek/Electronic Arts)
Cevat Yerli, Douglas Binks, Timur Davidenko, Martin Mittring

2007 Best Writing
BioShock (2K Boston/2K Australia / 2K Games)
Ken Levine, Emily Ridgway, Joe McDonagh, Susan O’Connor

2007 Best Audio
BioShock (2K Boston/2K Australia / 2K Games)
Eric Brosius, Pat Balthrop, Emily Ridgway, Justin Mullins

2007 Best Debut
Crackdown (Real Time Worlds / Microsoft Game Studios)
Ramon Gonzalez, Violetta Sanchez, Rafael Diaz, Jose Guerra

2007 Innovation
Portal (Valve)
Kim Swift, Erik Wolpaw

2007 Best Handheld Game
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo / Nintendo)
Eiji Aonuma

2007 Best Downloadable Game
Flow (thatgamecompany / Sony Computer Entertainment)
Kellee Santiago, Jenova Chen, Martin Middleton, Hao Cui, John Edwards,
Nick Clark

2007 Game of the Year
Portal (Valve)
Kim Swift, Erik Wolpaw

Recipients for the evening’s special awards were:

Lifetime Achievement Award
Sid Meier

Pioneer Award
Ralph Baer

Ambassador Award
Jason Della Rocca

For more information about the awards and all the recipients, visit: http://www.gamechoiceawards.com/