Portal 2 Discussion

[T.A Black]

What the heck - Valve changed the ending for Portal? Excitement building! http://bit.ly/8Z2jDb

So; we have a new ending to Portal? That's quite interesting - I've not seen a company add more to a game ending after the release of its product (though no doubt it's happened before).

What's really interested me is the new Achievement the game has - Transmission Received (with a pic of a radio). There is also the information regarding the latest updates to the game:

1st March - Changed radio transmission frequency to comply with federal and state spectrum management regulations
3rd March - Added valuable asset retrieval

These seem to be purposefully vague...Whether this is just standard updates or something more grand, I have no idea.

Anyway, what are your views on this interesting turn of developments? Is it an add on akin to what TF2 does, or is it just a load of random coincidences?

[Bee I Lion]

Sounds good, but are the games on Mac too, or just for windows?

[Joe4evr]

After seeing that, I just... wow. It's not really new, as it is modified, though.

I was wondering why there was a really vague update yesterday. I assume this is changed in order to fit better into the story of Portal 2, rather than having a Ret Con of not changing the ending.

I just looked at TVTropes and read that the 'Radio transmission frequency' update seems to also include the following:

[Portal] Was recently updated, a rarity for such an old single-player game, with the various radios placed in different places in each testing chamber that when carried to a certain area in the chamber emits a message, either a morse code message or a garbled mess that can be converted into an image and goes toward a new achievement. Also taking it to the end of the level to have it destroyed emits a cringing Mind Screw sound. Said messages were converted by the ever-loyal fans and it's even more Mind Screw. Many suspect it hints at Portal 2 or Half Life 2: Episode 3.

@Bee I Lion: Windows only until I read this.


EDIT: Here's exactly what the transmissions are.

EDIT #2: Whatever the case, this being Portal 2/HL2: Episode 3 forshadowing is almost certain.

Or Valve's biggest troll they ever pulled.

[SHAX Hedgefox]

Let me guess, it's only updated in the PC version, right?

[Joe4evr]

Let me guess, it's only updated in the PC version, right?

Well, I thought that was pretty obvious, seeing as M$ refuses devs to give free updates on the 360.

Anyhow, a certain magazine called Game Informer gets an inside scoop of Portal 2, more information here (WARNING: may contain spoilers). Game Informer also has a Portal 2 hub on their site which will update regularly throughout the month and feed us little bits of info over time.

There's also a 2 Player Co-op revealed, referred to as P22P by some Steam forumers. GameStop's product description is as follows.

Coming this holiday. Portal 2 is the sequel to 2007's Game of the Year and draws from the award-winning formula of innovative game play, story, and music that earned the original over 70 industry accolades. Features single and multiplayer co-op modes. [...] The game's two-player cooperative mode features its own entirely separate campaign with a unique story, test chambers, and two new player characters. This new mode forces players to reconsider everything they thought they knew about portals. Success will require them to not just act cooperatively, but to think cooperatively.

I don't care about the cost, I'm gonna pre-order this game the moment it's available.

[Ram The Dragon]

Portal 2 is relevant to my interests...but will of course end up getting it saaay...2 years later ;D *SHOT FOR URUGUAYAN-NESS*

Very interesting...I hope they can keep up with the mass hit that was the first game though...because several sequels tend to fail nowadays ^^'

[SHAX Hedgefox]

Let me guess, it's only updated in the PC version, right?

Well, I thought that was pretty obvious, seeing as M$ refuses devs to give free updates on the 360.

Then how do you explain SFIV?

Meh, I've got the PC version anyways, so it's not that big a deal.

Portal 2 is relevant to my interests...but will of course end up getting it saaay...2 years later ;D *SHOT FOR URUGUAYAN-NESS*

Cheer up, Ram! There's always Steam.....Right?.......

[Joe4evr]

Let me guess, it's only updated in the PC version, right?

Well, I thought that was pretty obvious, seeing as M$ refuses devs to give free updates on the 360.

Then how do you explain SFIV?

Don't know. I hardly, if ever, follow news about the 360. Mostly because I don't own one.

What I do know is that Valve and M$ have clashed on the subject of free updates. On the PC, Valve has Steam, their own platform, so M$ can't say anything about that, but the 360 is Microsoft's turf, which means they call the shots.

If I read correctly, in the 360's early days they gave free updates, but later M$ found that they could make money out of it and revised it to only 1 free update per game. This puts Valve in a nasty position, because they're only allowed to release 1 free update for The Orange Box/TF2, which means they need to compile all updates into one big pack and release it when they think no more updates are needed. Still, they've already hit the 360's hardware limitations for TF2, but they said they'll figure something out.

Anyway, what's this Portal 2 everyone's talking about? back on the subject of Portal 2, Mac release is confirmed, so Bee I Lion rejoice.

This opens up a whole new range of possibilities, and might indicate that they ported the Source engine to OpenGL, which will be another big hit to M$'s market dominance.

Personally, I don't care one way or the other as long as I can play, but I say that opening up the market to Mac users is a very smart move. I wonder if they'll release statistics for how many people actually installed Steam and their games on Macs in the first week orso, just to see how many Mac customers they already had but had to run Boot Camp.

[SHAX Hedgefox]

Steam works on Macs?

Yeah, my only BIG problem with Valve (and the PC games industry in general) is that after about a year or so, BAM! all the PC titles from last year are gone, never to return to the bricks-and-mortar stores (with the exception of Blizzards games.) Therefore, trying to find a copy of The Orange Box without having to buy off Steam is a nightmare for me.

[Joe4evr]

Actually, I was able to find a copy of The Orange Box in stores not long ago, which was 'bout a year-and-a-half or two years after its release.

Also, I've started to like buying over Steam, it's fast and easy. If your problem is paying, you can try Click & Buy which in contrast to something like PayPal, doesn't require credit cards and you can deposit on it immediately (if you have Internet Banking).