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[darkpaladinmfc]

I want Portal 2 more than anything, except maybe the death of petty entitled children like yourselves. The game will likely still be released early. Chillllll out!

I deserve the death penalty? I think you should chillllllll out!

I guess it's the new way to tell if someone is banned. That means Drinky Crow can't hide behind dat tag!

Also, why are people complaining? I haven't kept up with the thread.

Basically a Portal 2 early release was basically confirmed. A hint implied it would release yesterday, then we got a countdown on www.aperturescience.com that would end at the supposed release. Instead of getting release when the countdown hit zero, we got this. Basically by playing (or leaving running in the background as most people are doing) the potato sack games we can 'accelerate' the launch of Portal 2, so far it seems like we'll get it 18 hours early.

 

[Kritz]

Is there a reason why this is the main Portal 2 thread, instead of the OT?

I've been wondering why there are two active threads on exactly the same thing. The ARG thread and this "new thread for new news" thread have had the same conversation topic for this entire day.

I mean, I understand why there are two threads. I just don't know why one of the threads hasn't simply dissolved now they're both, more or less, megathreads about the same topic.

 

[Alcoholikaust]

What the fuck is wrong with some of you people. It's not a big deal.

Seriously. When has a major game release occurred on a weekend? Getting it 2 hours early would make me ecstatic.

The potato sack idea is great-and shame on you if it took this 'early release of portal 2' for you to buy it.

 

[gifife]

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/nelipot join this steam group if you have a game from the potato sack. You get a free potato.

 

[Covfan]

Seriously. When has a major game release occurred on a weekend? Getting it 2 hours early would make me ecstatic.

The potato sack idea is great-and shame on you if it took this 'early release of portal 2' for you to buy it.

You say that but is it impossible to say that they may release it tomorrow, it'd fit in with GLaDOS's mindset which has been a massive part of the ARG. She could say something like "Sunday is a day of rest, now Sunday is a day of science"

 

[Jintor]

You mean she's a superintelligent crazy robot-lady who does whatever the hell she wants

 

[The Broken Ska Record]

I suck at maths, but the current countdown is at 73 hours. Does that mean it's going to be released Tuesday at 8am (Central)? I thought the game was supposed to unlock at midnight.

 

[Fox318]

I suck at maths, but the current countdown is at 73 hours. Does that mean it's going to be released Tuesday at 8am (Central)? I thought the game was supposed to unlock at midnight.

Midnight valve time is next week.

 

[WARP10CK]

I suck at maths, but the current countdown is at 73 hours. Does that mean it's going to be released Tuesday at 8am (Central)? I thought the game was supposed to unlock at midnight.

Check this site out someone made this so it's easier to keep track

http://www.coughlandesign.com/portal/

 

[The Broken Ska Record]

Thanks for that, dude. Looks like I'll be able to play it right when I get off of work on Monday evening.

 

[UltimaPooh]

I deserve the death penalty? I think you should chillllllll out!


Basically a Portal 2 early release was basically confirmed. A hint implied it would release yesterday, then we got a countdown on www.aperturescience.com that would end at the supposed release. Instead of getting release when the countdown hit zero, we got this. Basically by playing (or leaving running in the background as most people are doing) the potato sack games we can 'accelerate' the launch of Portal 2, so far it seems like we'll get it 18 hours early.

Still earlier.

I have to wait till actual release and risk spoilers because a bunch of PC people are getting it early.

 

[darkpaladinmfc]

Still earlier.

I have to wait till actual release and risk spoilers because a bunch of PC people are getting it early.

People have PS3 and 360 copies already any ways, so you're at risk of seeing spoilers right now.

 

[Woffls]

12:53am in London? Perfect I'm idling Super Meat Boy while I play Vanquish, so hopefully that counts? The timer is running and it's maximised, so it should do. I've tweeted about joining the group that gets you an instant potato, but I only have 200 followers and nobody RT'd it >_<

The irony is, if there wasn't a chance of getting Portal 2 early, I wouldn't have been this eager to play it. Until all the ARG rubbish it was just another game I wanted to play. This is a very effective marketing campaign.

 

[Rygar 8 Bit]

thousands have dled it already and mom and pop stores sold it early whole game has already been put on youtube and other sites id avoid everywhere except gaf for a while

 

["God's Beard!"]

I'm sorry Valve the arg thing was all fun and games but this? This is work. It's not fun and it's not interesting. Even the best games in the pack aren't worth sitting around playing for days straight. I'm surprised that a company famous for their QA greenlit something this ridiculous.

 

[UltimaPooh]

People have PS3 and 360 copies already any ways, so you're at risk of seeing spoilers right now.

It's a very small minority in comparison to the amount of people that will have access to Portal 2 come Monday.

It's not like I can get Amazon to send me my copy earlier because I completed some kind of ARG for them.

 

[maniac-kun]

I'm sorry Valve the arg thing was all fun and games but this? This is work. It's not fun and it's not interesting. Even the best games in the pack aren't worth sitting around playing for days straight. I'm surprised that a company famous for their QA greenlit something this ridiculous.

Grinding some bars up is no fun at all.

 

[Servbot #42]

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/nelipot join this steam group if you have a game from the potato sack. You get a free potato.

Holy shit i have a Potato! I'm now one of the cool kids, thank you! Now let's see if i can get more...

 

[Deleted member 30609]

I'm sorry Valve the arg thing was all fun and games but this? This is work. It's not fun and it's not interesting. Even the best games in the pack aren't worth sitting around playing for days straight. I'm surprised that a company famous for their QA greenlit something this ridiculous.

It's an endurance test. They're probably getting some amazing, horrifying data relating to their fan-base's behavior that they can exploit at a later date.

And I kind of love them for having the utter cheek to do it.

 

[epmode]

I'm sorry Valve the arg thing was all fun and games but this? This is work. It's not fun and it's not interesting.

The thing that makes it so utterly horrible is the previous phases of the ARG. The escalation from phase 1 through 3 was brilliant. MAYBE this wouldn't be so bad if the bars were moving three times as fast but this last bit reeks of EA's Battlefield 3 Facebook mess.

(which isn't to say that EA had anything to do with the last phase)

 

[Campster]

Grinding some bars up is no fun at all.

Filling bars can be awesome fun if the way you filled those bars was engaging. It's what every modern FPS game is about - shoot dudes to fill up bars to level up.

There are two key differences, though.

First is that you're not even required to play the games. Just about everyone is leaving them up and idling. Which is a damned shame, because these are some great games... but it's hard to see it when they're being treated as the obstacle standing between you and the release of a new game.

Maybe if each game had a certain attribute we could directly influence this would feel more exciting. Instead of raw time, it could track the number of lights ignited in Amnesia, the number of Monkeys killed in The Ball, the number of levels beaten in Super Meat Boy. At least then we'd feel like we're driving the bar forward. Instead we all feel frustrated that we can't use our computer for anything else than idling in Audiosurf because we want our game unlocked early.

Second - there's no sense of quick progress. Filling bars is fun in COD and other games because it happens with some regularity and once you DO succeed at filling a bar there's a tangible reward. There's been no reward to speak of - we've moved the timer ahead what, 12-ish hours? If the speed keeps up we might be able to move it ahead at most maybe 24? It's not like unlocking The Wonderful End of the World got us a higher multiplier for all other games or shaved off a substantial portion of the overall time. It just turned the bar blue and we all had to decide what to focus on next.

So yeah, spending an entire weekend idling in a bunch of games to fill up bars that look like they're going to take 70 hours to fill.... sort of an anticlimax. I'm not bitching about it; the ARG was fun and the fact that they're releasing the game early at all is really cool. But the system they've designed to unlock the game is painfully unfun. Time-based drops barely work for TF2 and they absolutely don't work for some sort of mass-distributed effort that has no tangible results.

 

[snoopeasystreet]

I don't have that much of a problem with it. I wish it was just play any game to unlock it, but at least valve are supporting indie devs with this stunt.

 

[Superimposer]

Right then, any independent shops selling this early in the UK? I realise it's an extremely long shot

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

Right then, any independent shops selling this early in the UK? I realise it's an extremely long shot

Steam? It's gonna be up by Monday.

 

[TheExodu5]

Steam? It's gonna be up by the end of Monday.

Fixed.

 

[ColonelColon]

I feel like the payoff for the ARG is kind of anti-climactic. There was all that build-up, and now Portal 2 will maybe release a day or two early if enough people leave indie games idling on their computer? It doesn't seem like it's even worth the minimal effort at that point.

 

[TheExodu5]

I feel like the payoff for the ARG is kind of anti-climactic. There was all that build-up, and now Portal 2 will maybe release a day or two early if enough people leave indie games idling on their computer? It doesn't seem like it's even worth the minimal effort at that point.

It's not even releasing a day early. The most optimistic estimates have it releasing 15 hours early, and we're at a peak Steam userbase time, mind you. It only seems as though this rate will slow down as more games get filled up. This game needs to release more than 10 hours early for me to even get to play it on Monday before going to bed.

 

[Superimposer]

Steam? It's gonna be up by Monday.

I was thinking console versions

 

[epmode]

I approve of this title change.

 

[Affeinvasion]

Maybe if each game had a certain attribute we could directly influence this would feel more exciting. Instead of raw time, it could track the number of lights ignited in Amnesia, the number of Monkeys killed in The Ball, the number of levels beaten in Super Meat Boy.

I see no evidence that this isn't what they are doing. I figured they were tracking different data points other than just time accrued.

 

[TheExodu5]

I see no evidence that this isn't what they are doing. I figured they were tracking different data points other than just time accrued.

The evidence? Just look at how much 1 2 3 has progressed. Do you really think all those people are playing it?

 

[Campster]

It's not even releasing a day early. The most optimistic estimates have it releasing 15 hours early, and we're at a peak Steam userbase time, mind you. It only seems as though this rate will slow down as more games get filled up. This game needs to release more than 10 hours early for me to even get to play it on Monday before going to bed.

Yeah, that's the other thing that's maddening. It's a TREMENDOUS effort everyone is undergoing right now, and for their efforts it looks like at best you might be able to play the first level or two before going to bed Monday night depending on your time zone.

For anyone with school, jobs, kids, etc, this is not releasing substantially early enough to be worth the time investment. It just isn't. If it looked like we were approaching a release for this evening, or even maybe tomorrow at noon or something, then it might be worthwhile. As it stands thousands of people are idling to unlock the game so barely before its scheduled launch that most people won't be able to sink their teeth into it on Tuesday night anyhow. The entire process basically benefits only the unemployed and/or those on spring break. Unless some crazy multipliers get added to the mix in the new few hours, the entire thing is a waste of time.

 

[Affeinvasion]

I'm pretty sure one game is being singled out at a time by Valve to be accelerated. I've never played 1,2,3 but it's not impossible to think that the least popular games are the ones being accelerated.

 

[epmode]

I'm pretty sure one game is being singled out at a time by Valve to be accelerated. I've never played 1,2,3 but it's not impossible to think that the least popular games are the ones being accelerated.

The lower the total sales count for a game, the faster the bar moves. It's still maddeningly slow though!

 

[TheExodu5]

I'm pretty sure one game is being singled out at a time by Valve to be accelerated. I've never played 1,2,3 but it's not impossible to think that the least popular games are the ones being accelerated.

1 2 3 just has a much smaller total userbase, which is why it goes up faster. People actively participating in the event started going for it yesterday.

Valve is doing nothing to accelerate this, which is only making things more frustrating.

 

[Affeinvasion]

There is nothing on that site except ambiguous bars...and a slightly accurate concurrent players count. I just don't think that anyone can make any real assumptions about how this thing is actually working.

 

[TheExodu5]

We're making reasonable assumptions. Unless you want to try to convince us of the contrary.

 

[Campster]

There is nothing on that site except ambiguous bars...and a slightly accurate concurrent players count. I just don't think that anyone can make any real assumptions about how this thing is actually working.

First of all, the metaphor they're running with is distributed computing - which would basically mean, yeah, time spent running the client is all that matters.

But even if it isn't, what sort of game is that? "Play these games and we'll move a progress bar forward based on a metric that we won't tell you about for each game?" So not only do we have thousands of people grinding Super Meat Boy levels to unlock the game at most 12 hours early, but we don't even know what it is about how we're playing that actually moves the bar forward?

 

[Moobabe]

I'm sorry Valve the arg thing was all fun and games but this? This is work. It's not fun and it's not interesting. Even the best games in the pack aren't worth sitting around playing for days straight. I'm surprised that a company famous for their QA greenlit something this ridiculous.

How is this work? They're encouraging you to PLAY games - you don't have to - Portal 2 is still going to release and you'll still get to play it. You don't have to sit around playing the games for days on end, some of the attitudes in here are completely baffling - Valve could have done NOTHING and release the game on friday and you wouldn't complain; people assumed, incorrectly, that the game was releasing this week and now they've been disappointed by their own expectations.

 

[epmode]

How is this work? They're encouraging you to PLAY games - you don't have to - Portal 2 is still going to release and you'll still get to play it. You don't have to sit around playing the games for days on end, some of the attitudes in here are completely baffling - Valve could have done NOTHING and release the game on friday and you wouldn't complain; people assumed, incorrectly, that the game was releasing this week and now they've been disappointed by their own expectations.

The expectations were a direct result of the hints in the ARG. Particularly that bit about (scheduled release day) = (4 days earlier). From the scope of the ARG itself, it seemed pretty likely that something significant would happen at the time they mentioned. And then the countdown confirmed the suspicions.

With the rate things are going now, the game might as well just come out on Tuesday for all the good it'll do me. I might be able to get in an hour before I have to go to bed for work.

 

[Moobabe]

The expectations were a direct result of the hints in the ARG. Particularly that bit about (scheduled release day) = (4 days earlier). From the scope of the ARG itself, it seemed pretty likely that something significant would happen at the time they mentioned. And then the countdown confirmed the suspicions.

With the rate things are going now, the game might as well just come out on Tuesday for all the good it'll do me. I might be able to get in an hour before I have to go to bed for work.

When would it have released anyway? Friday morning, thursday at midnight? I'm not keeping up with this but it's on course to release on monday? That seems pretty reasonable to me.

Sure - a countdown after a countdown is pretty disappointing given the effort some of you seemed to put in to the ARG but if the game releases early - which it will - then surely that's what people were trying to achieve anyway?

 

[ashbash159]

Since I live in the UK and the game would originally come out 3 PM on Steam on Tuesday, any hours which push it back to 6 AM or possibly late Monday our time is great!

I don't see why people are complaining about "you might as well just release it when it was supposed to". Any hours earlier is better!

 

[epmode]

When would it have released anyway? Friday morning, thursday at midnight? I'm not keeping up with this but it's on course to release on monday? That seems pretty reasonable to me.

It was supposed to be released on Tuesday morning. Now it's looking like Monday night. The difference is negligible for anyone with a job on the east coast.

 

[TheExodu5]

When would it have released anyway? Friday morning, thursday at midnight? I'm not keeping up with this but it's on course to release on monday? That seems pretty reasonable to me.

Sure - a countdown after a countdown is pretty disappointing given the effort some of you seemed to put in to the ARG but if the game releases early - which it will - then surely that's what people were trying to achieve anyway?

It's currently slated to release at the end of Monday EST. For those of us in EST, all the way to the Eastern European timezones, this does little good, since a lot of us need to work and won't be able to play it until Tuesday evening regardless.

Since I live in the UK and the game would originally come out 3 PM on Steam on Tuesday, any hours which push it back to 6 AM or possibly late Monday our time is great!

I don't see why people are complaining about "you might as well just release it when it was supposed to". Any hours earlier is better!

Well you don't work during the day, and are therefore one of the few people that will get to play it early. For those of us who have jobs, this does little good.

 

[I NEED SCISSORS]

Cause everyone (me) hyped their expectation that the game will release on Friday and expectations died when they (me) have to do this and only see the release date/clock move one hour.

It's all good though. Valve doesn't owe us jackshit and we're just super-excited for Portal 2! Can't wait!

:lol

Some of you are dedicated, if nothing else.

 

[Kuga]

Disappointed. Not because I can't play it early, but because it's an extremely anti-climatic and poorly thought out ending to a great ARG. I still laugh at the people whining about Valve though. They don't have to release anything early if they don't want to. Besides, who knows what antivalvetime particles will do to the space-time continuum.

 

[Moobabe]

It's currently slated to release at the end of Monday EST. For those of us in EST, all the way to the Eastern European timezones, this does little good, since a lot of us need to work and won't be able to play it until Tuesday evening regardless.

Well you don't work during the day, and are therefore one of the few people that will get to play it early. For those of us who have jobs, this does little good.

How does it do little good? You still get it 3 days early don't you? Surely valve can't legislate for people's jobs; I work nights for instance - you won't see me complaining about Valve releasing it while I'm at work though, these things happen.

 

[BobTheFork]

opps

 

[The Lamonster]

Welp, I've done my part. Just played the hell out of Defense Grid. It's so easy to lose time in that game

 

[TheExodu5]

How does it do little good? You still get it 3 days early don't you? Surely valve can't legislate for people's jobs; I work nights for instance - you won't see me complaining about Valve releasing it while I'm at work though, these things happen.

What? No. We get it maybe 10 hours early. Where are you getting this 3 days from?

The game was originally slated to release on Tuesday at 10AM EST. It's currently slated to release around Monday at midnight.

Welp, I've done my part. Just played the hell out of Defense Grid. It's so easy to lose time in that game

<3 awesome game.