30 replies to this topic

[Skull]

Okay, so anybody who enjoys Portal and regularly uses their Steam account will have noticed something strange within the last few days. There has been a small update to the game, as well as seemingly randomly placed radios spewing out Morse code. There is also a new achievement called "Transmission Received." There are also strange new files audio files loaded onto your computer that can in some way be decoded. I haven't found much more about it, but here's a site explaining what I mean:

http://arstechnica.c...rtal-update.ars

Thoughts on what this could mean? Perhaps Portal 2? Perhaps the innevitable crossover that will be Half-Life 2 Episode 3?

[Monkeydog]

Darn, now I feel like buying Portal on my PC just to get this stuff.

[Kamau]

Portal 2 would make me happy. So would buying Portal.

[BottomGuy]

Having a graphics card that could render Portal justly would be fantastic. I didn't realize the lab was white when I played it, kept running into walls because everything was black.

[Monkeydog]

http://www.joystiq.c...box-360-and-pc/

[lazlo falconi]

<3

[Stars]

Fix'd.


Also,

[Christophomicus]

Portal 2 makes me SUPER happy. The idea of co-op, ahhh. :D

[Billy]

Thank god it's coming out for 360; I have Portal for PC AND 360, but on the PC it lags horribly if I look into a portal, regardless of graphic settings.

[Maelstrom]

Hmmm... two players only increases the difficulty... a LOT for a game like this. =/

[Monkeydog]

So...? It'd be lame if the game got dramatically EASIER.

Plus you really won't know until you see how the game utilizes it.

[Maelstrom]

True, it could still be lame by being entirely about getting to switches to let your partner continue on in their side or something. And I said ^^^ because I'm not sure how many people I trust to be decently coordinated and not get me killed.

[Skull]

I generally trust VALVe to make this totaly awesome, they have an increadable track record.

[Stars]

Found an article about an article that talks about the game.

March 9, 2010 - Recently we learned that the massively popular game Portal would be receiving a sequel this year. Now, in the latest issue of Game Informer magazine we've been given some solid details about the release.

Doug Lombardi the Vice President of Marketing at Valve says of the first game: "Portal was so short because it was a trial…" Now they are working on the sequel which is reported to be a full length, full price release that will be available this fall.

A recent update to the first game made a subtle change to the ending that leads into the sequel. After the main character Chell was ejected from the Aperture lab where she was held captive, her unconscious body was dragged away by unseen antagonists. Portal 2 takes place hundreds of years after this incident, with Chell mysteriously intact.

Along with the return of her nemesis, the artificial intelligence named GLaDOS the main character will run into other personality cores throughout the decaying wreckage of the Aperture Science facility. These are small AI personalities in a box that will guide and accompany players as they face off against GLaDOS once again.

According to Game Informer, physics will play heavily into the new puzzles. There are Vital Apparatus Vents that create whirlwinds that can suck up objects and there are tractor beams that can transport objects through the air. Other new elements include lasers, catapults, and pneumatic tubes. There is also a way for players to coat surfaces with colors that imbue a surface with special properties. For example, if players cover a surface in orange paint it will give anyone who walks over it a speed boost. A blue coating causes normal surfaces to become bouncy. Other colors and effects are likely.

The sequel will also feature a full-length co-op campaign. It is part of the main game's narrative but don't expect to see another human join Chell. There are two new bots featured in Portal 2 that a second player can choose from as they join the game using either a split-screen display or an online match. The co-op is made to be more challenging and both players will have to work together to solve the puzzles. Valve, is reported to be working on a way for players to tag their environment with visual cues so that they can help guide their co-op partners actions with something more than their voice.

Finally, Valve has confirmed that Jonathan Coulton, the man responsible for the tune "Still Alive" has returned to work on the sequel. So not only will we have a new set of mind bending puzzles, but it's likely that we'll have a new song stuck in our heads as well.

[lazlo falconi]

This is awesome.

[Skull]

This is awesome.

No, this is a triumph.

[lazlo falconi]

This is most triumphantly station.

[Stars]

We shall have to build some good robot usses to fight the evil robot usses in the coop campaign when this game comes out.

[lazlo falconi]

It took me a second, but then I got what you were saying.

[Stars]

I wasn't quite sure how to write the "us" in the plural.