Portal Update Hints At New Game 156
An anonymous reader writes "It appears Valve has begun another ARG (Alternate Reality Game) similar to the one that led up to the release of the original Portal game. A recent Portal update unlocked a new achievement which has uncovered various hidden images and sounds containing references to the Portal and Half-Life universe. Many believe this to be part of the run-up to the announcement of Portal 2 and/or the next installment of the Half-Life series. A thread on the Steam forums has already reached over 1 million views as people piece together the information. Another thread summarizes the information found so far. Based on clues from the ARG, some are speculating an announcement at the 2010 Game Developers Conference where Valve's co-founder Gabe Newell is to receive this year's Pioneer Award."
Re:really neat (Score:2, Interesting)
What does telnet have to do with a dialup BBS?
fun speculation (Score:4, Interesting)
the most interesting theory i've heard regarding this is that you'll have a portal gun in episode 3.
the possibilities, they would be endless.
Re:EP 3 W00T W00T! (Score:4, Interesting)
While Half Life's are awesome games, I would actually rather see Portal 2. It's something completely different from other games and the story is damn interesting and even funny. Half Life imo has too much shooting in it (yeah it's an action game, but still). With Portal I get an awesome and interesting storyline and mostly just need to think about the puzzles.
And multiplayer Portal please!
STOP! (Score:5, Interesting)
Hello this is Eugene Walter, VP of Research and Development at Apeture Food Group Inc.
Some people are implying that the now dissolved Apeture Science Group's (which I was the former CIO of) computer systems has some How recoverEd from the horribLe chemical explosion at the former ASG Production facility. This rumor is a LIE. An out right lie by jaded Black Mesa Research employees who's Grant money aLso collapsed Around the time of the Apeture Science Group's inDustrial accident at the San PedrO facility for AeroSpace DeveLopment. SInce the ASG's dissolVment thosE at the parent company ASG Inc. have Spent years fighting baseless rumors of "Exotic Experiments" and under-the-table military experiments. These claims are outright lies. No portion of the GLADOS survived the explosion as the federal investigation that followed clearly substantiates.
In closing please remember that the ASG no longer exists and there it no cause for further speculation. I would also like to remind you that the Apeture Food Group has a wonderful bake sale going on at the Leanaa facility to raise money for the Hope Charity group. Please stop buy and try the cake.
Re:About frakkin time (Score:3, Interesting)
Valve spends way too much effort developing the latest bit of overblown DLC for the 6-year-old title they've been milking to death (Half-Life 2)
Exactly what DLC [giantbomb.com] are you referring to? Episode 1 and 2? You and I disagree as to what is DLC and what isn't I guess. Episodes 1 and 2 were entertaining, pushed the story and concepts forward. From my perspective, they haven't been "milking it" enough, I want episode 3 to come out more than I want portal 2.
Portal is their best property, and they seem to treat it as an red-headed afterthought to Gordon Freeman's latest round of sewer running.
Counterpoint: No it's not.
Re:EP 3 W00T W00T! (Score:3, Interesting)
I know! I -hate- it when FPS have a lot of shooting.
I'm guessing yet another fan of grenades, landmines, rockets, chainsaws, and crowbars.
I enjoyed an early 2000s alternate WWI FPS called "Ironstorm" that was mostly played by me using different TYPES of grenades.. poison, shock, fragment, sleep, etc. That was certainly different.
Re:Portal 2 (Score:4, Interesting)
i would LOVE a multiplayer Portal thing. No weapons, just portals, turrets, cubes and pools of acid. The goal is to make an enemy fall into a fire, or drop cubes on each other's heads. It would be difficult to design, but awesome if it worked.
Multiplayer puzzles might be nice.
Or imagine one player is Gordon and the other is Chell with their respective equipment. i open a portal for you behind the guards and you spray them with red hot rebar. You could have team death match or CtF the same way. Each team gets one portal gunner and a the rest are goons.
Re:really neat (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Portal 2 (Score:3, Interesting)
I worked on a Mod that allowed Multiplayer Portals - and I had ideas for much of what you described. Player A gets a fully functional gun and B gets the weapons, or Player A does blue portals, Player B does Orange. Or they both have fully functional portal guns.
Certain things crash the engine, like using the grav gun to hold an object near a portal. But thats pretty easy to restrict.
It really fell apart on level design - something I had Ideas for but never the time to get around to building. Plus I wasn't very familiar with Hammer, I use Unreal most of the time - which only frustrated me. Certain things missing, hotkeys not functioning, probably would have been better if I hadn't used Unreal before Hammer, empty your cup as a Monk might say.
If anyone wants the source code - drop me a line. I've still got it lying around (at the computer in my parents basement, haha!).
And Valve releases heavy hints about steam on osx (Score:3, Interesting)