Did Valve have a falling out with Microsoft?

It’s official Gabe Newell has done an about face.  Valve has just announced Portal 2 for the PS3.  The outspoken head of the software developer made recent comments about the system, the new announcement, and the partnership with working with Sony.

“I’ve been pretty outspoken with my comments,” said Valve boss Gabe Newell, who added that PS3’s open platform means that Portal 2 on PS3 can include Steam Cloud support, thus making it “the best version on any console”.

“When the PlayStation 3 was introduced, I was the one of the platform’s biggest critics”

“However, Sony Computer Entertainment has proved that the PlayStation 3 is the most open platform of all the current generation consoles and has worked extremely hard to make the platform the most desirable for consumers and developers. As such, we are delighted to announce Portal 2 for the PlayStation 3 and believe the Steamworks support included will make it the best console version of the game.”

This is certainly a turn of events for Valve as Newell is the guy that can be quoted as saying

“The PS3 is a total disaster on so many levels, I think it’s really clear that Sony lost track of what customers and what developers wanted,” said Newell. “I’d say, even at this late date, they should just cancel it and do a ‘do over.’ Just say, ‘This was a horrible disaster and we’re sorry and we’re going to stop selling this and stop trying to convince people to develop for it.'”

Talk about a change of perspective.  No Valve titles were mentioned in the Microsoft press conference, in fact no Valve titles were mentioned anywhere other than the PS3 conference.  If Sony was ever to secure Valve as an exclusive to the platform that may mark the single biggest crossover in gaming history.