Portal 2 Hijacks Blue Screen of Death At GDC Awards [Portal]

Valve played it cute at tonight’s Game Developers Choice Awards , rigging up a fake Blue Screen Of Death during boss Gabe Newell’s time on stage. Course, it wasn’t just a BSOD. It also contained some cryptic Portal 2 marketing. More

The Dangers Of Owning A Portal Gun In Real Life [Clips]

Real life Bike Hero and enemy of viral marketing douchebags Freddie Wong is also the proud (unfortunate) new owner of an Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device, which currently looks a lot like a Nerf gun. Consider this a warning to the Mac-only gamers in the crowd who might not have already learned this lesson the hard way by acquiring the Terminal Velocity achievement in Portal. For everyone else, let’s just laugh at poor Mr. Wong’s unfortunate circumstance. (And if you get a clear look at that final single frame with its encoded message, let us know what it says, eh? We need to know if someone’s gone to the dark viral marketing side.) P.S. Thanks, Freddie! Update: Thanks to the pausing skills of many Kotaku readers, here’s that frame in question. Who wants to crack it in the comments? Double Update: Looks like Tim does!

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The Dangers Of Owning A Portal Gun In Real Life [Clips]

Valve opens up to Macs

Half-Life studio announces full support of Apple’s OS for Steam, catalog hits this April; Portal 2 compatibility confirmed; all future games getting simultaneous PC, Mac, 360 release.

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Valve opens up to Macs

Portal 2 Coming To A Mac Near You [Portal]

The issue of Game Informer blowing the lid off Valve’s Portal 2 is now in people’s hands, and those people are scouring it for details. Most important of which is confirmation the game is going to be available on Mac. Not the world’s greatest surprise, what with Valve’s not-so-subtle teasing last week , but the thing with teasing – and not outright announcing – is that official confirmation still has to come somewhere down the line. And Game Informer’s preview of the game looks to be just that. According to scans from the latest issue, in the details section of the mag’s preview, Mac is clearly listed under the “platforms” section, alongside PC and Xbox 360. Should make airport lounge wait times on my Macbook a lot more enjoyable than they are at the moment. While you let this news soak in, why not read up on everything we know so far about Portal 2 . [thanks everyone who sent this in!]

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Portal 2 Coming To A Mac Near You [Portal]

Portal 2 Adds Multiplayer Co-op, New & Familiar Characters [Valve]

Officially released details on Valve’s sequel to Portal were scant. Fortunately, retailer GameStop comes through with some major details, including the addition of a two-player cooperative campaign mode and all-new characters. GameStop ’s description of the PC and Xbox 360 game indicates that Portal 2 is due later this year—the online retailer lists an October 26 release date—bringing with a cast of “dynamic new characters” and “never-before-seen areas of the Aperture Science Labs.” And yes, as hinted at earlier, players will be reunited with GLaDOS. The only details on Portal 2’s multiplayer mode from GameStop are that it will feature its own unique story-driven campaign. The “new mode forces players to reconsider everything they thought they knew about portals,” requiring players “to not just act cooperatively, but to think cooperatively.” Here’s the full product description. 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 single-player portion of Portal 2 introduces a cast of dynamic new characters, a host of fresh puzzle elements, and a much larger set of devious test chambers. Players will explore never-before-seen areas of the Aperture Science Labs and be reunited with GLaDOS, the occasionally murderous computer companion who guided them through the original game. 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. Triumphant.

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Portal 2 Adds Multiplayer Co-op, New & Familiar Characters [Valve]

Vale Announces Portal 2 for Xbox 360 Coming Holiday 2010

Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Left 4 Dead, Counter-Strike and Half-Life) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced Portal 2 shipping this coming holiday season to Xbox 360 and PC.

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Vale Announces Portal 2 for Xbox 360 Coming Holiday 2010

An Insider’s Guide to Portal 2 [Portal 2]

Today’s Game Informer cover unveiling is just the latest in a year and a half’s worth of Portal 2 news that has been steadily leaking about the Valve game since 2008. The cover hints at a chance to leave the labs, and GLADOS, behind, but we’ve known plenty more than that for quite awhile. Be warned, if you proceed through our Insider’s Guide to Portal 2 surprises, plot-lines, characters will be SPOILED. Cave Johnson, the boss of Apeture who was dead in Portal, will be the principle antagonist of this sequel. How? We’ll get to that. In the game, Johnson, described as an amiable self-made billionaire who refuses to accept the responsibility of his power, starts off as a sort of sidekick to the player but then he starts to lose his grip on humanity as the story progresses. According to an open casting call we received in 2008 , at some point in the game, after Johnson has isolated himself from the people around him and lost touch with reality, he becomes the main bad guy. But how does a dead man get a leading role in Portal 2? Enter our second major Portal 2 scoop of 2008: Leaked script samples . Turns out that Johnson will be portrayed in the game as a simulated computer version of himself. Resurrected inside a computer, Johnson will urge the player to continue testing as he discusses his take on the afterlife. We also get a bit of insight into Johnson through this week’s Valve update of Portal which included plenty of buried hints all of which led to some fantastic quotes from Johnson: “Science isn’t about why, it’s about why not. You ask: Why is so much of our science dangerous? I say: Why not marry safe science if you love it so much. In fact, why not invent a special safety door that won’t hit you in the butt on the way out, because you are fired.” “Plus, in the event of your death, I personally guarantee that, thanks to the form you were required to sign this morning, your family will not suffer the indignities of a prolonged and costly legal battle against Aperture Science. Trust me, I am rich, and it is a burden I would not wish on anyone.” So we’ve got an unhinged, debodied billionaire acting as friend and protagonist. We’ve got all of the tech of Aperture Science, like that spiffy Portal gun and maybe some new toys. And what else? The final piece of the puzzle may be revealed on the Game Informer cover, which seems to hint at the possibility of the game leaving the stark confines of the lab and going abroad. So when is this dark comedy coming out? This coming holiday season, according to Steam’s announcement today, just like Plunkett guessed in 2008 . One final clue? Why are there certain letters underlined in the official Portal 2 announcement? Here are the underlined letters, and one number: drattmannh0nee. What now?

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An Insider’s Guide to Portal 2 [Portal 2]

Portal 2 opening in Q4, co-op confirmed

[UPDATE 3] Following weeks of cryptic teasers and a new Portal ending, Valve officially reveals new “full-fledged” sequel coming to PC and 360; GameStop listing confirms “multiplayer co-op mode,”

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Portal 2 opening in Q4, co-op confirmed

Valve Updates Portal Again, Now With New Ending [Valve]

Let the games begin. Again. Valve has whipped the Portal community into a fresh frenzy with one more update to the PC version of the first-person puzzle game. What does the the developer have in store this time? Officially, it has “Added valuable asset retrieval.” So… there you go? No new achievements, but the Steam forum community is currently chipping away at the new update to see if Valve has more potential Portal 2 or Half-Life 2: Episode Three teasers in buried within. Either that or one of the newly added sound files is a recording of Justin Long saying “I’m a Mac” backmasked, slowed down and run through some World War II era Japanese encryption code. Earlier this week, Valve added a series of new radio transmissions and one new Steam achievement, resulting in a multi-layered puzzle that resulted in some very interesting findings . We’re keeping an eye on the latest developments and will update this post when appropriate. Update: Valve has changed the ending of Portal. Watch it here. Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

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Valve Updates Portal Again, Now With New Ending [Valve]

Valve Teases Upcoming Mac Announcement, Not So Subtly [Apple]

Is Valve finally ready to make the switch and support Mac OS X? A recent update to Steam hinted at it , now it’s time for the Half-Life, Left 4 Dead and Team Fortress developer to be more blunt about it. The developer has released a series of images “in anticipation of an upcoming announcement from Valve,” giving some of its most recognizable franchises the Apple treatment. That includes Gordon Freeman from Half-Life in an iMac colored HEV suit (complete with obscured Apple logo), Team Fortress 2’s Heavy—and Sandvich—in iPod ad form, a pair of turrets from TF2 and Portal doing the “I’m a PC” thing, and Left 4 Dead’s Francis expressing how much he hates “different.” Is this heralding the seemingly inevitable Steam for Mac announcement? Or will Valve go further, adding actual Mac OS X support for some of its Source engine games? As a Mac owner, I’ll take just about anything. Valve’s also been teasing something Portal-related lately. With company founder Gabe Newell making an appearance at GDC next week, attending to accept the Game Developers Choice Awards “Pioneer Award,” could that “upcoming announcement” be right around the corner? Take a peek at four of the released teasers in the gallery below, some of which are in wallpaper ready size. Update: Valve sent one more Steam for Mac image to Rock Paper Shotgun , an old school style “Steam for the rest of us” ad. MacWorld has another, featuring Half-Life 2 co-star Alyx Vance referencing Apple’s famous “1984″ commercial.

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Valve Teases Upcoming Mac Announcement, Not So Subtly [Apple]

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