Portal 2 Message Board older than one year ago

If you, like us, have already completed Portal 2's single-player and co-op campaigns a number of times, you're probably waiting on pins and needles for news about downloadable content. Well, you can now move to much less prickly chair -- in a recent interview with Fast Company, Valve VP of marketing Doug Lombardi said, "We will be announcing some DLC for it, so folks can keep a look out for more content coming this summer."

According to Lombardi, more details about the content will be coming "in a week or so," adding, "We'll support that with more videos or more comics." We'll hope against hope that said DLC is more substantial than the co-op bot skins that are available through the PC and Mac versions' in-game stores. Actually, as long as we're hoping, we're going to keep our fingers crossed for like, a hundred new co-op courses. And a new single-player campaign! And a pony!

In an exclusive interview with two of Portal 2‘s writers, Chet Faliszek and Jay Pinkerton, we take the opportunity to discuss the game now most people have finished it. In the first part of our spoiler-packed chat we discuss the motivations behind the sequel’s content, favourite Easter eggs, and how Portal 2 almost contained no GLaDOS, no Chell, and even at one point, no portals. Have we mentioned that there’s spoilers?

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#ifyoubuilditshewilltest Catsy, the same LEGO fanatic who recreated Mass Effect's Citadel so beautifully last year, is back giving similar treatment to GLaDOS, the mouthy villain of the Portal series. More »

We see a lot of neat, homemade tchotchkes designed by gaming's most craftwise enthusiasts. But nothing has made us want to jump through the internet and steal such a creation quite like Jonathan Guberman's Portal 2 turret plushie. Check out the adorable demo here.

#clothing The famous turrets from Portal 2 howl at the moon, having gone feral under the leadership of the mighty Animal King. Twenty bucks from the Valve store. (I'm resisting. If I want it by the next full moon, I'll pull the trigger.) More »

#toys This hand-crafted Portal turret may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts. More »

This YouTube video by user Prefim reimagines Mad Men's haunting opening credits with Portal 2's ATLAS. Now we want to see this done with other AMC programs: Breaking Beta with Chell or The Killing (of GLaDOS).

With PlayStation Network out of commission, gamers can't test in Portal 2 co-op, maim each other via Mortal Kombat--or create their own missions for InFamous 2. The InFamous 2 beta test had been going on, until forces beyond our current humanly comprehension took the whole service down.

Fortunately, Sucker Punch has announced the inFamous 2 beta will be extended. How long, however, pretty much remains to be seen, as nobody quite knows when PSN will be coming back online.  
 I'd say "watch out!" but we all know it's too late."We've decided to extend the beta," said the studio on their official Facebook page. "Once PSN is back up we'll determine by how long, but rest assured: your outcry has been heard."  
Maybe this is all some elaborate new ARG for Portal 2 DLC.  Silly Valve.

Portal 2's combination of slippery, bouncy, and portal-enabling gel was more than enough to keep our brains confounded during our second rendezvous at Aperture Science, but apparently yet another gel was planned for the game's many puzzles. Valve lead writer Erik Wolpaw reveals as much to EA.com in a recent interview, detailing "a new Gel that allowed players to walk up the side of walls."

During the game's testing, Wolpaw says, Valve concluded that the gel's use was so "disorientating that it made people nauseas [sic]." Inadvertently imparting nausea is a constant concern when designing a first-person game, he explains.

As a result, Valve "made changes to frame rate and movement that will help anyone play Portal 2, even if they do experience a feeling of nausea while playing other first-person games." As evidenced by that feeling in the bottom of our stomach, however, it's clear that Valve did little to mitigate the sheer terror felt when plummeting hundreds of feet.

#fallingdown Portal 2 and Mad Men. They don't seem like the likeliest of bedfellows, but this reimagining of the hit TV show's opening credits still works! More »

Think you've seen all there is to see in the deadly, paneled catacombs of Aperture Science? You might have missed this Portal 2 easter egg: A quartet of hidden-away, musically-oriented turrets, a video of which is posted after the jump. Or maybe you didn't miss it. We're not mind readers, you know.

#bytheway Amidst the swell of hype over Nintendo's next console and the release of Valve's latest masterpiece, Sega and High Voltage Software release Conduit 2 for the Wii. More »

#speakuponkotaku In today's absolutely flawless, perfectly scupted edition of Speak-Up on Kotaku, commenter Kadin wonders if gamers have set their expectations so high that no developer can ever hope to satisfy them completely. More »

#gameface If you're unsure what else your $2 is getting you with the "The Final Hours Of Portal 2" application for the iPad, know it includes pictures like this (via weedpoop). More »

It appears GLaDOS was still alive after the conclusion of the first game!? What a twist! Our summer crush with the original Portal has now evolved into a full-blown relationship with Portal 2, and we aren't disappointed. Actually, it seems hardly anyone is ... well, except for the users who didn't appreciate Valve's conclusion to its ARG marketing stunt.

• Eurogamer (100/100): "Portal is perfect. Portal 2 is not. It's something better than that. It's human: hot-blooded, silly, poignant, irreverent, base, ingenious and loving. It's never less than a pure video game, but it's often more, and it will no doubt stand as one of the best entertainments in any medium at the end of this year. It's a masterpiece. "
• IGN (95/100): "Portal 2 makes the original look like the prototype it was. It's filled with a larger cast of characters vividly brought to life through brilliant writing and some of the best voice acting in video games. Its puzzles are challenging without being unreasonable, and, once you're finished with the single-player mode, one of the best co-operative experiences on the market awaits."
• Gamespot (90/100): "As you journey through the massive Aperture facility, it becomes clear that Portal 2 does not merely come after Portal. Instead, it radiates outward from its predecessor, simultaneously illuminating the world that gave rise to Portal and continuing the adventure that began there. The sense of novelty is diminished, but the thrill of exploration and puzzle-solving is still intoxicating, and it's amazing how Portal 2 manages to tell a better story with disembodied voices and spherical robots than most games can with full-on humans."
• Edge (90/100): "Valve has a pretty good record with the number two, but attempting to inflate Portal's perfectly formed package could easily have been a disaster. Naturally, the sequel doesn't feel as bracingly fresh as the 2007 game, but it's precisely the sort of dizzying follow-up the original deserves."

#unthinkable For five months in 2008, Valve Software was making a version of Portal 2 that wasn't going to include Portals. And it was going to be a prequel, set in the '50s. The game, based on an internal prototype called F-Stop, was built around a new gameplay mechanic that thrilled people at Valve. More »

Despite a release window of "early" this year, Razer wasn't quite able to ship its Hydra motion gaming controller alongside Portal 2 this week. Instead, interested parties will be able to pre-order the $140 package this May ahead of a projected June ship date.

Wait, $140? We were told Razer was targeting a sub-$100 price point. That boosted price is for the Portal 2 bundle which includes (get this!) a copy of Portal 2! But this isn't your off-the-digital-shelf Portal 2; this version includes the Sixense MotionPack DLC featuring "six additional levels specifically designed for more portal testing fun with motion control," developed by Sixense.

Of course, any PC gamer worth his water cooler will have already purchased Portal 2 by then; luckily, the Hydra "is optimized with over 125 popular PC games out of the box," including Left 4 Dead 2 (melee weapons!) and World of Goo (think Wiimote). We've reached out to Razer to find out when a non-bundled option will be available and to see if it can share that list of 125 games with us. C'mon, FreeCell ...

If you want to read more about the rather impressive Hydra, look no further than our CES impressions.

#glados In a darkened room filled with boxes, we sit side-by-side and play. We talk. We laugh. We think. More »

#watchthis You know what this Dean's List Dropouts version of Portal 2's Want You Gone wrap-up song is missing? Johnny Rotten screaming the Jonathan Coulton-penned lyrics. Oh, to dream. [Thanks Jer] More »

#lackingsource A Reddit user by the name of vism did, so they emailed Valve boss Gabe Newell. And actually got a response, if not from the big man himself. More »

It seems that British retailer Game has realised that there are No Oceans on the internet, and has consequently broken the planned Friday release date of the PC version of Portal 2. The company told Eurogamer that the move was a “market reaction” to the availability of the online version of the game.

Perhaps they’d like to join our campaign for worldwide release dates? How about it, Game?

Caution: Portal 2 spoilers ahead. If you raced through Portal 2's single-player mode just to see the (incredibly awesome!) ending, you probably teleported right past some cool secrets. Tucked into Aperture Science's cobwebby recesses are hidden areas that shed light on Aperture's past and the ...

#infrequentlyaskedquestions You've heard of Portal 2, but are you ready to play Portal 2? Do you need help determining which part of the game to play first? Want to know how to find the game's coolest hidden items? More »

#spoileralert Have you already finished Portal 2? If not, maybe you shouldn't watch this video, which shows you how to dig up three of the game's Easter Eggs, because at least one of them is seriously spoileriffic. In fact, you better stop reading right now, because we're going to explain what buried treasures are featured in this handy little video. More »

Hop on your PlayStation 3 and play with PC or Mac users via Steam!

It was a crush.

That was the feeling I and others were trying to relate when we'd hurriedly tell others that they had to drop everything and play Portal. It lingered like the memory of a summer camp romance, cut short and all the sweeter for it.

So, if you're returning to Portal 2 worried that the reality won't live up to the memories, allow me to dispel that fear right now: Your crush is smarter, funnier, prettier and just plain better than you remember.

We have seen some astonishing claims for completion times of Portal 2. When I criticised a number of the recurring nonsensical complaints against the game yesterday, one of the aspects I highlighted was that the game simply couldn’t be finished in four hours. But we’ve since received so many comments, tweets and emails from people claiming to have finished between 4 and 5 hours that we became a little suspicious. Having spent yesterday morning replaying the game, knowing all the solutions, I was certainly nowhere near finished in four hours. And the rest of us on RPS have found it’s taking at least seven hours. And then we started hearing about some even more incredible finishing times for Portal 2, based on Steam’s in-built timer. We’ve some news for you: the timer doesn’t work.

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#wantyougone Haven't finished Portal 2 yet? Go on and listen to the game's ending tune. Do it. More »

A hidden room somewhere within Portal 2 (see the video after the break for more information about its location, if you want) contains a mysterious message from "Adam Foster," which plays a really annoying sound file that turns out to hold three encoded images.

What do you find upon deciphering this hidden message? A brief history of hidden Portal-related messages. The three image files encoded in the sound turn out to be slides detailing the ARG that led to the reveal of some Portal 2 info -- also using SSTV-coded images.

It turns out that said ARG had a budget of just $100, and used a BBS that was running on a vintage computer with a genuine 2400 BPS modem. You can see all three images in full here, and see (and hear) the coded message in Portal 2 after the break.

We try to stay spoiler free as we peek at the PC and PS3 sides of Portal 2.