[koholinttakeout]

Portal Mysteriously Updated With Secret Radio Codes, New Achievement.

Valve knows its audience pretty well. Updating all the levels with new radio challenges that mysteriously emit weird sounds got totally ate up since it was revelaed yesterday. Already, people have translated all the weird radio sounds into images and have all but confirmed that something big is on its way. New Half Life? New Portal? That kind of announcement will be way cool, but the way in which Valve is doing things reminds me a lot of the whole "reality-is-cool" part of that get points for brushing your teeth speech a while back. People promoting LOST and other tv shows have done some alternate reality games, but this update/advertisement is the first of its kind that I remember. Am I wrong here, or is this the first kind of in-game update/advertisement? And yeah, Portal 2 would be awesome, but how do you improve on something like that? What new concepts can they pull off? Frothing begins now.

Below is the image that is formed from getting all the radios and translating the sounds into images:


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[Takashi]

Actually these are the ASCII art images from the modem BBS from people that figured out the phone number (and password) in the images encoded in the sound. Technically I Love Bees is the trendsetter, I'd say, but stealth sending an patch update is something only the new infrastructures could do (also, it helps if you own the infrastructure).
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[Takashi]

I don't quite see the link you want between the toothbrush deal and this. ARG's (well, the cool ones at least) are not about performing mundane activities.
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[koholinttakeout]

I think I'm seeing a connection between this sort of thing ('mysterious' updates of an existing game that rely on crafty fans to discern and translate, making an advertisement for a new product) and what he spoke about in terms of how using reality as a marketing device is pretty popular right now, that's all. It is a sort of sideways connection, but I think this is more proof that advertising and reality can be used in conjunction and in ways he never mentioned.
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[Takashi]

Portal updated again!

* Added valuable asset retrieval
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[chevluh]

That one seems (EDIT: "seems" may be appropriate, looks like there may be less obvious stuff) nowhere as elaborate, just changes the ending a bit. Spoiler: Chel gets retreieved by an Aperture Science robot

[Take It Sleazy]

A video of the new ending: http://www.xfire.com/video/2393cf/

[CubaLibre]

I kind of love this but I feel like it somehow delegitimates all my clone theories.
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Let's Play, starring me.

[Broco]

Those theories were illegitimate all along anyway!

Just because Portal is a world full of sekrits doesn't imply that all the little logical inconsistencies and unexplained things mean anything other than that Valve was sloppy on those points.

[RobotRocker]

Valve are the only company in the world with the balls to retcon their own ending without a sequel or prequel and I love them for it.

Will they do a reveal at GDC or E3 though?
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[Take It Sleazy]

They are also doing updates later on to l4d and l4d2 with a crossover plot. Valve has some pretty cool ideas.

Also it is Portal 2:

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/62662

Some of the new ARG stuff also seems to point to the idea that it might have some co-op puzzles. The idea of some new Valve desinged portal levels is exciting enough by itself to me, but hooray for a new game!

[Lymojo]

I can't understand what the thing is saying in that video. "Thank you for assuming the _________ position"??
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[Lymojo]

Oh! Party Escort Submission Position. It's what GlaDOS told you to assume earlier in the game.

[negativedge]

I love Valve

(booji thread)

[Maztorre]

Apparently the co-op mode is going to feature a different cast/story than the singleplayer mode.

Wondering if the pair of robots which appear to be holding hands in the leaked ARG image will be the 2 player characters for co-op. Interesting that they look to be different shape/size too, maybe different ability sets for each player?

[internisus]

They've got a lot of balls announcing something this important so far away from its release date. That's a long fucking time for me to maintain a media lockdown. I DON'T WANNA KNOW NOTHIN.

I do enjoy the implication that this will be more like the length of Half-Life 2 than the length of Portal 1. Portal enjoyed a straightforward crescendo structure; in order for Valve to maintain their patented pacing excellence, surely Portal 2 will need to be a more complex game than we could imagine by sheer extrapolation from Portal 1's ideas.

I am still naively hoping that something about Episode 3 will be said during GDC.

[Dracko]

How the Hell is holiday season of this year far away?
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[Loki Laufeyson]

i've never played portal, and it's unlikely that i will, but that image in op is really cool.
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[negativedge]

wtf play Portal

[Broco]

[Takashi]

It was like 3 euros this Christmas.
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[negativedge]

and if you're worried about your computer (and don't own a 360), don't be. there's a pretty good bet you could run it right now regardless of what you have, and if not any future upgrade you make will be sufficient.

[Loki Laufeyson]

i have a 360, i just don't have any interest in half life and it's spin-offs
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[negativedge]

bitch you be trippin

[Broco]

just play it okay. afterwards you will be saying the same thing to your past self that we are telling you now.

[Loki Laufeyson]

i guess i'll go and see if i can get a cheap copy in town tomorrow ok?
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[Broco]

Great! you will find significant enjoyment in your new weighted companion cube.

[Mikey]

I think you can get Portal: Still Alive off of XBLA for 1200 MS Points if you don't feel like making the trip. I sold my copy of the Orange Box a long time ago and have been considering it just because I liked Portal so much. In fact, that game is the reason I bought the Orange Box in the first place, and I got it at full price.

[CubaLibre]

Loki's absolutely irrational hatred and fear of anything that looks like a shooter impairing his own enjoyment itt
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Let's Play, starring me.

[Dracko]

I'd avoid the XBLA release, honestly.

loki play marathon: infinity
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[Loki Laufeyson]

[Loki Laufeyson]

i looked in every shop and didn't find a single copy
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[Dracko]

Probably cheaper online anyway.
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[DayBlonde]

[belthegor]

[Dracko]

yes but that version ain't so good

also: http://www.allgamesbeta.info/2010/03/portal-2_06.html

* The game takes place hundreds of years after the original. Hence why the Apature centure looks a lot like a jungle possibly.
* GlaDOS returns as the main villain, with the subject from the last game, Chell, coming back to be the protagonist.
* The co-op campaign is separate from the main story in the game. It lets you play as two bipedal robots.
* Those personality cores thrown into the fire at the end of the last game? They’ve shut off areas of the Apature lab and made it their own.
* Physics has a bigger role this time, with one demo showing a portal could be used from an air vent to suck air from one area to an another.
* Reflection cubes will be added to the game for laser-based puzzles.
* Valve had no idea Portal 1 would be so big.
* The original Portal was seen as a “test bed”. The sequel will be a fully fledged title.
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[cassievania]

What's the difference between the XBLA release and The Orange Box release?
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[Dracko]

Not sure, only tried the demo of the 360 Orange Box, which was Episode Two's intro.

But going by that, I'd say they're essentially the same, except Stay Alive has extra levels.

Either way, I found the controls stiff and the graphics muddied up, as well as the HUD to be ugly. Not sure how much of that is down to the age of the engine, considering the Left4Dead 2 demo on console suffered the same issues, but things were certainly crisper on PC and this is certainly one release which is better served and designed around a mouse and keyboard.
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[Dark Age Iron Savior]

[chevluh]

[RobotRocker]