Steam, Burning Crusade

Valve's marketing director, Doug Lombardi, tells CVG that the company is toying with the idea of putting the Steam distribution service on consoles. Now that Sony and Microsoft both have consoles with hard drives, Lombardi says that the major problem is controlling ownership. "Console owners hold the key to a full-sized game on their system, which would be something totally new. It's unclear if it would be an open key, or how Microsoft or Sony would manage it. It's really up to them." On the PC, games bought through Steam can be played on any compatible system so long as the player remembers his Steam login. Sony and Microsoft might object to that when it comes to consoles. In related news, Blizzard's Frank Pearce says that the first paid World of Warcraft expansion, The Burning Crusade, may be sold through digital distribution as well as retail. It's "something we're talking about," Pearce comments. The base WoW client is already available for download.

by MacNN Staff