Portal 2 Gets Release Date 110
Posted
by
Soulskill
from the it's-been-a-long-time dept.
from the it's-been-a-long-time dept.
AndrewGOO9 writes "After what has seemed like an eternity since Valve initially announced a sequel to their lauded puzzle title Portal, a release date has finally been attached to the game. Originally slated to be released before the end of the year in time for the holidays, Valve instead opted to delay the game, citing reasons such as, 'making games is hard' as well as continuing their tradition of releasing games when they're finished as opposed to rushing them out the door. Either way, mark your calendars for February 9th, 2011, and in the meantime, brush up on thinking with portals."
There's some new gameplay footage available, and Valve announced that Stephen Merchant will be lending his voice to the game.
Re:This will probably just make it more successful (Score:4, Informative)
The Release Date is a Lie! (I just had to ;)
More likely than I'd like to admit, unfortunately. [valvesoftware.com]
IT'll be interesting to see if they make it.
Portal 2! (Score:4, Informative)
Portal was one of the funnest games I have played in a long long time. Very creative and original. And Funny. And free! (I got it on the Steam free weekend giveaway)
Wehn it comes to Valve these days (Score:4, Informative)
I think you have to just presume that they aren't going to release anything until it actually hits the street, or at least until they announce a firm date. The problem is that they make a ton of money on Steam, so they don't have to care at all about their games business. Now while that can be good, in that they don't have to rush things to make a publisher's deadline, it can be bad because they don't have to meet any deadline, unless they set on internally. Also they with regards to their games they seem to be a little defocused lately. I don't think they know what they really want to work on, and I think it changes. They have a goal, then decide "Nah, we'd rather work on this," and shift more resources to a new project.
So, I wouldn't build up excitement for their games, just kinda take them as they come. When they release a game, see if you think you might like it, and if so pick it up. However don't get your hopes/expectations up on a game at a given time because it may well not happen.
Re:So.. (Score:4, Informative)
I get the feeling that Valve is fantastic at game development and unbelievably shitty at project management.
Maybe it's the lack of management that makes their games good? From what I've read about Valve the people that work their don't have specific job titles, they just work on what needs to worked on or what they want to work on. Which would mean people only work on games that they actually care about, which would mean they actually try to make them good rather than just throwing them out of the door.
Also, it's worth remembering that Valve is a relatively small company. There's been no news on Ep3 because they've been busy making Left 4 Dead 2, Portal 2, Steam for Mac (and working on Steam for Linux or so I hear) and updates for Team Fortress.
Re:Most excellent! (Score:2, Informative)
Not a hard release date, but they did originally say [steampowered.com] "this holiday season". So I count this is attempt #2 already.
Re:Portal 2! (Score:3, Informative)
By turning off the sound and music, you ruined part of the experience. A lot of what people appreciated about the game WAS the story. The way it starts out as a simple puzzle game, but then as you play you realize that there actually is a story, especially with the hidden rooms that you find. If you just rush through a game without looking around or appreciating the full experience, you'll get a distilled, boring, output, as you did.
Re:So.. (Score:3, Informative)
From an interview with Doug Lombardi [gamesindustry.biz] (login required)