Portal 2 Coming in April

April by Valve time, of course, so it may mean a totally different time for the rest of us.

Apparently it will be much longer than Portal 1, have a co-op mode, and feature the voices of one of the co-creators of The Office (Stephen Merchant) and JK Simmons as the CEO of Aperture Science.

I enjoyed the first game's innovative gameplay and terrific sense of humor - which it looks like the sequel has kept.

And now for videos!

New gameplay and info:
http://www.g4tv.com/videos/51791/por...ew/?quality=hd

(commercials)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sMy...layer_embedded
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APAcU3YBhYc&feature=relmfu

(gameplay)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pcf99_DZZew&feature=relmfu

The Portal Blog.

Anyone else excited for this?

CR

I can't wait to play this! :2thumbsup: There are so many games out this year that I want to play. Stupid work is going to get in the way of my game playing. :furious3:

Personally i'm afraid that portal 2 will get stale.

Portal 1 was $20, 20 levels long (half of them very easy tutorials) around 3-4 hours and very entertaining. It had just enough content, provided just enough challenge to make you feel rewarded and then it ended. It didn't overstay its welcome - it is to this day, a shining example of knowing when to stop in a video game.

Portal 2 is $50 and looks like it might be twice as long. Portal 1 was fun, but do I really want to go through 40 levels? Co-op isnt that big of a deal for me, though I know it is for some. I fear the game doesnt have enough charm to capture my attention for as long as it needs it to tell the story. We'll see, but i'm not optimistic.

In contrast to Monk, I'm afraid Portal 2 will be so good I will die while playing it - before finishing it.

I am more optimistic as well. I like Valve, and I think they can expand the game while keeping it entertaining.

With just the old mechanics and all the new ones (ex: gel) they are a lot of gameplay possibilities still to be explored.

CR

I am positively gibbering and drooling in anticipation. The idea of a longer Portal with co-op gameplay is incredible appealing.

Another funny video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyduSUyIChA&feature=player_embedded

CR

From now on Valve are the only people allowed to make movies. Of any kind.

I'm looking forward to it. I personally did not think Portal was as good as the rest of the internet thought it was, and that Still Alive was merely cute as opposed to being the pinnacle achievement of human civilisation, but I still really enjoyed both of my play-throughs. I'll wait for the price to come down a bit though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1fjDowRlhg

New video.
Ordered the PS3 version myself, since it includes a free Steam Play version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX9Sc88qreg&feature=player_embedded

Another video!

An older video;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5I3VnCHWsU

CR

Portal - will it be released this Friday?

Quote:

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The official release date for Portal 2 is April 19, but if you have preordered the game you can begin to preload the title right now. There was also a bundle of 13 independent games called the Potato Sack released via Steam, and in the past few days Portal 2-themed content has begun to pop up in those games, along with a series of cryptic messages and images. The point of all this is to get us talking about Portal 2, but it's beginning to seem like the game will be released early. If you're a big fan of Portal, you may want to call in sick this Friday.

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What would such a thing do to valve time? Would it herald the coming rapture?

CR

The release date is a lie. ~D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Crazed Rabbit

and JK Simmons as the CEO of Aperture Science.

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I think you mean JK Simmons

Just saw an article over at The Escapist with Gabe Newell saying that Portal 2 is Valve's best game ever. Pretty strong statement, but he's obviously very confident.
Portal surprised me, in a great way. When I heard they were making a "full" game of Portal 2, I was...ambivalent. Now I'm starting to think it'll be the real deal. Doubt I'll buy right away (I've got too much going on as it is) but if it lives up to even a bit of the hype I'm sure I'm in sooner rather than later.

The valve ARG is getting interesting. The audiosurf song in particular is going in circles in my head....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Wk2eJvuqcM

Already got my pre-order down for the PS3 version so that I can get the free PC version as well.

I'm really excited for this one. One of the major downsides of working in a game store is that I get the promotional videos playing in front of my eyes every time I work.

So apparently, by playing games in the 'potato sack' group you help move up the release date for Portal 2:

Chart here;
http://www.aperturescience.com/glados@home/

Explanation Here:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011...up/#more-57162

Potato Farming Guide Here:
https://docs.google.com/document/pub...&pli=1&ndplr=1

CR

Did my bit by playing Super Meat Boy for a while.

Looks like Portal will launch in, at the most, 3 hours from now.

Too bad I have to work tomorrow.

CR

Ditto. Oh well.

I have an exam in four hours. CURSE YOU VALVE!

Hello.

Game released?

Apparently there's some real anger going around the gaming blogs about Valve not allowing the game to be released sooner than 12 hours early, via the potato sack. Kotaku wrote a puzzling, and in my opinion, wishy washy article on it here: http://kotaku.com/#!5793317/did-valv...one-for-a-ride

I can understand the "promoting some over another" argument well enough, but complaining you didn't get the game EVEN EARLIER? Come on...

Being familiar with Steam since its transformation into a sales/distribution platform, I know how frustrating waiting until 10 am can be. People love the midnight launch, so allowing Portal 2 to get one (the first ever as far as I know) on steam is a pretty big deal.

Quote:

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Hello.

Game released?

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Yes. The steam store's updated and people on my friends list are already playing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kotaku

So it wasn’t an alternate reality game at all. It was a marketing stunt.

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Herp, derp. Herp, derp. :wacko:

Eh, I am definitely not surprised or peeved about this.

Shouldn't it have been obvious it was a marketing stunt? What else could it be? :inquisitive: @ Kotaku

Of course, I didn't buy the potato sack. I did play some Killing Floor to help the cause, though. I haven't bought Portal 2 yet. I don't think I'll have a free night for a week, so no point rushing to buy it.

What was interesting to me is that it seemed like there was a coordinated effort to full the 'CPU cycles required' in each of the potato sack games one at a time.

CR

I don't see how you can complain unless you had unrealistic expectations going into the ARG. Portal 2 *did* unlock early. On top of that, you got play (or at least follow along) a pretty cool ARG, and a bunch of ok-to-great videogames were sold at a deep discount and played by thousands of people. Everyone wins.

EDIT: Read the Kotaku piece for some reason. Hopefully they'll one up their site redesign and just make it so you can't read the articles at all...

Ah, TWS2, you have entertained me for the past several days. But now you must sit and wait, for the Portal beckons once again. (w00t!)

SP Game completed, Story is good, humour is mixed (I don't think it'll be to everyone's taste), game itself was too easy.

Level 17 murdered my brain...

Arrrgh, I want to ask about this, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone. Only bad thing about this game. :D

I got stuck 3 times, but the puzzles are all very solvable. And obviously once you've figured it out, it becomes blindingly obvious.

Completed it after a few hours, but I must say that the ending was well worth it.
The ending and the characters are, sadly, the only things that save the game, however. The original Portal was a masterpiece, being just short enough to be satisfying without wearing thin. Portal 2, however, is three times as long. Run through a series of test chambers, run through a cavern, run through a series of test chambers, run through a cavern, repeat 100x until you're at the end. That's pretty much the pacing of the game.
I feel cheated.

The pacing seems a bit off for SP (but I haven't gotten past 17 and haven't tried since I last posted about it). The coop is one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had full stop. And I've only done the first two sets.

Just finished up to level 16 in my first session of the game. The PS3 version is much better to play than I thought - the lack of sensitivity isn't really a problem at all.

I'm a bit annoyed at not being able to play the PC version until the 'problems' with the Playstation Network are fixed that will allow me to join the two together.

TC and I finished co op a few days ago, it was quite fun! I think it was easier for us because we were in the same room and could just talk to each other about what we needed to do to solve the puzzles. I loved the goo and the tunnels. I'm playing the single player right now, but don't want to post spoilery stuff. I don't think I'm very far in, but I'm having fun.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scienter

TC and I finished co op a few days ago, it was quite fun! I think it was easier for us because we were in the same room and could just talk to each other about what we needed to do to solve the puzzles. I loved the goo and the tunnels. I'm playing the single player right now, but don't want to post spoilery stuff. I don't think I'm very far in, but I'm having fun.

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Yeah my girlfriend and I noted the same thing, the multiplayer is much easier in the same room I think. At the same time though the feeling of accomplishment is heightened by knowing how much talking through it involved.

I'm 5 levels from the end, and so far, I've only found 2 levels difficult. The pacing is okay, but it does wear thin in places. The humour is for the most part good, but sometimes it grates.

Just finished it a few minutes ago. I agree with those who have said it wears thin at times, and I only had one thing I had to youtube, and then it turns out I was on the right track anyway. Either way it has perhaps the greatest ending of any game I have played recently.

Finished. Way too easy. The final levels were a breeze, although doing it after a good nights sleep probably helped. The ending is very clever.

A portal 2 inspired video was here.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CountArach

Just finished it a few minutes ago. I agree with those who have said it wears thin at times, and I only had one thing I had to youtube, and then it turns out I was on the right track anyway. Either way it has perhaps the greatest ending of any game I have played recently.

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Just finished too. I was close to youtubing on the first Repulsant Gel puzzle (Where you have to leap a giant broken bridge), but found it out close to giving up.

Portal 2 Puzzle video. Spoilered for people who haven't played/finished it yet

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

It's the puzzle starting in 1:00. God I stood there for like 20 minutes wandering what to do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVdRXWrpmR8&feature=relmfu

Other than that, it mostly had me thinking for a couple of minutes without being overly complicated, exactly as I like it for a single-player story mode.

The story was also pretty good. Never expected much stuff that happened, story-wise. Top-notch.

Big discounts on Portal 2 at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.htm...cId=1000208101

$30 for the PC version!

CR

Awesome poster found here:

https://img192.imageshack.us/img192/...0nocredits.jpg

View the full res version at the link!

CR

There's one somewhere with full movie credits (including "From the novel by CAVE JOHNSON").

I finished it over the weekend. A few of the puzzles were pretty tough, but overall it wasn't too challenging. I liked the bouncy and speed gels. Co-op mode was awesome, it was fun to play w/ another person.

I thought the whole thing was magnificent. I think they could have removed a chapter's worth of puzzles and focused on making the others a bit more difficult, but that is seriously my only complaint.

However, I did read somewhere that they originally had much harder puzzles but the QA testers said they were too difficult for them and that they should be simplified a bit. In response to this though, the coop puzzles I hear are much harder and that they will have free DLC (for PC users) that includes more puzzles.

In terms of story, I felt it was well paced and was the opposite of what cheated is. GLADOS churned out much more sarcastic humor this time, which I appreciated and Wheatly was a fun counterpart to that.

Cave Johnson though has to be my favorite part of the whole thing, although despite the popularity surrounding the "lemon" speech I found that moment incredibly sad and had to pause for minute to take it all in.

Overall, it really was one of Valve's best games.

Some of the coop is more challenging (but still not that hard). I'm waiting for DLC and fan-made challenges.

I loved the writing and the humor, but the easyness of the puzzles detracted from the whole game.

Most of the game was spent not figuring stuff out, but just progressing through the puzzles. There were very few 'a-ha!' moments were I finally realized what I had to do after studying a puzzle. Mostly I just walked in, looked around, saw the path, and moved along it.

CR

So this pretty sums it all up....
*WARNING! CONTAINS HARSH LANGUAGE AND SEXUAL INNUENDOS ENTER AT OWN RISK!*


Clicky Click!

Mod tools!

Quote:

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Today we're opening up the beta of the Portal 2 Authoring Tools to everyone! It's available as a free download for all owners of the PC version of Portal 2 and can be found under the "Tools" tab in Steam.

The Portal 2 Authoring Tools include versions of the same tools we used to make Portal 2. They'll allow you to create your own singleplayer and co-op maps, new character skins, 3D models, sound effects, and music.

Here's what's included:
- Updated version of Hammer, the Source level editor
- Updated Faceposer
- Example maps and instances to help build new maps
- Updated suite of command-line compiling utilities

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CR

The puzzles are mind numbing and disgustingly completable at 3 in the morning. Still fun though, and it makes me giggle.

http://www.thinkwithportals.com/music.php

Portal 2 Soundtrack free
Volume 2 now out