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Valve plans to release a surprise before Portal 2

mattiewheels

And then the LORD David Bowie saith to his Son, Jonny Depp: 'Go, and spread my image amongst the cosmos. For every living thing is in anguish and only the LIGHT shall give them reprieve.'
If portal 2 links in directly to half life 3, I think I'll have a fatal nerdgasm.
 
StuBurns said:
In Portal there is a projector in a room that compares the performance of Aperture Science to Black Mesa, and in the final song Glados mentions the company.

At the end of HL2:EP2 we're told Gordon must go to find a ship that is part of Aperture Science.
Portal Gun + Gravity Gun = SCIENCE WILL SAVE US

Also they are probably talking about a tie in comic book :(

(or Erik is writing a book!)
 
Portal 2 should come with episode 3.

like you finish the single player and the credits roll and then after bam you wake up after the end of episode 2 and it begins
 

StuBurns

Banned
Beelzeboss said:
Portal 2 should come with episode 3.

like you finish the single player and the credits roll and then after bam you wake up after the end of episode 2 and it begins
That wouldn't actually surprise me.

It's either that or it has to be a full HL3.
 

Ferrio

Banned
Billychu said:
Portal is assumed to be taking place during the Seven Hour War, which is when the Combine come to Earth and take over. GlaDOS mentions being the only thing between "us" and "them" or something like that. At the end of Episode 2, you find the remains of the Borealis, an Aperture Science research ship that mysteriously went missing. I'm assuming that some special Aperture experiment that is necessary to fight the Combine is inside, but is extremely dangerous and unstable and could doom everyone.

Here's the quote

Glados said:
Ugh, I hate you. Are you trying to escape? Hahahah. Things have changed since
the last time you left the building. What's going on out there will make you
wish you were back in here. I have an infinite capacity for knowledge and even
I'm not sure what's going on outside. All I know is I'm the only thing standing
between us and them. Well, I was. Unless you have a plan for building some
supercomputer parts in a big hurry, this place isn't going to be safe much
longer. Good job on that by the way.
 

Angry Fork

Member
StuBurns said:
In Portal there is a projector in a room that compares the performance of Aperture Science to Black Mesa, and in the final song Glados mentions the company.

At the end of HL2:EP2 we're told Gordon must go to find a ship that is part of Aperture Science.
Ferrio said:
Not to mention
Glados refers to the combine at the end when you destroy her
Billychu said:
Portal is assumed to be taking place during the Seven Hour War, which is when the Combine come to Earth and take over. GlaDOS mentions being the only thing between "us" and "them" or something like that. At the end of Episode 2, you find the remains of the Borealis, an Aperture Science research ship that mysteriously went missing. I'm assuming that some special Aperture experiment that is necessary to fight the Combine is inside, but is extremely dangerous and unstable and could doom everyone.
Cool, thanks a lot. I love stuff like this where numerous events/names etc. are connected in ways we don't know about yet. Can't wait to see what's in store for Portal 2.
 
StuBurns said:
That wouldn't actually surprise me.

It's either that or it has to be a full HL3.

Imagine if Portal 2 is actually Episode 3 in disguise, ala MGS2. I wonder how many angry Portal fans would bitch and boycott about not getting a proper Portal 2. So deliciously evil, Valve is the only company that could pull it off.
 

woahjeez

Banned
I really didn't get major tonal differences. What- a robot cracking jokes occasionally and a silly song at the end of the game means it can't be taken seriously?
 
Lasthope106 said:
Imagine if Portal 2 is actually Episode 3 in disguise, ala MGS2. I wonder how many angry Portal fans would bitch and boycott about not getting a proper Portal 2. So deliciously evil, Valve is the only company that could pull it off.

They can keep Portal 2 if it means I get Episode 3 instead.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
Portal 2 will be Portal 2. Maybe we'll get a trailer at the end end of the game for HL3.

You're all insane.
 
woahjeez said:
I really didn't get major tonal differences. What a robot cracking jokes occasionally and a silly song at the end of the game mean it can't be taken seriously?

Portal is a dark comedy puzzle game and HL1/2 are pretty brooding shooters. They just don't mesh very well IMO.

The portal gun also seems way too advanced to be in HLverse since the super advanced alien race doesn't have local teleportation, and the super genius Black Mesa people have a far worse system involving large fixed devices that take 30 seconds to spin up. I would just prefer it to stay separate because they don't fit together very well.
 

Yoboman

Member
I had that thought as well but I can't imagine Valve putting the brand of Half Life behind Portal. It would offer no marketing advantage
 

racooon

Banned
Am I the only person who doesn't like the look of Steve Merchant's character? The humour doesn't seem to match that of Portal 1, in my view. I'm probably not going to get the game
because I didn't actually like the gameplay of Portal 1 that much. Not my cup of tea.
 
ThoseDeafMutes said:
Portal is a dark comedy puzzle game and HL1/2 are pretty brooding shooters. They just don't mesh very well IMO.

The portal gun also seems way too advanced to be in HLverse since the super advanced alien race doesn't have local teleportation, and the super genius Black Mesa people have a far worse system involving large devices that take 30 seconds to spin up. I would just prefer it to stay separate because they don't fit together very well.
The Half-life games can have their fair share of "silly moments." And besides, I don't see any issues with having a continuing story in the Portal games. Even if the thread is pretty thin.
 

racooon

Banned
ThoseDeafMutes said:
Portal is a dark comedy puzzle game and HL1/2 are pretty brooding shooters. They just don't mesh very well IMO.

The portal gun also seems way too advanced to be in HLverse since the super advanced alien race doesn't have local teleportation, and the super genius Black Mesa people have a far worse system involving large fixed devices that take 30 seconds to spin up. I would just prefer it to stay separate because they don't fit together very well.
Ah but remember the portal gun doesn't work on all surfaces. It's not a war-winning device, imo.
 

StuBurns

Banned
Rez said:
Portal 2 will be Portal 2. Maybe we'll get a trailer at the end end of the game for HL3.

You're all insane.
I don't think it's insane. Three episodes were announced February '06, Episode Two released October '07, and they will not even whisper the words Episode Three. Realistically after this amount of time I can't believe they can release a four hour episode, it's under delivering. I really believe that it's Half-Life 3 at this point, and yes it'd be completely stand alone, maybe with a CS2 or something, but have a traditional announcement and release cycle. However, I also do think it's possible that if they really wanted to ship EP3, as it was originally intended, to avoid disappointment they would have to do something extraordinary, and secretly releasing it along with Portal 2 would be extraordinary.

EDIT: Portal 2 is rated E10+ by the ESRB, never mind.
 

tass0

Banned
StuBurns said:
I don't think it's insane. Three episodes were announced February '06, Episode Two released October '08, and they will not even whisper the words Episode Three. Realistically after this amount of time I can't believe they can release a four hour episode, it's under delivering. I really believe that it's Half-Life 3 at this point, and yes it'd be completely stand alone, maybe with a CS2 or something, but have a traditional announcement and release cycle. However, I also do think it's possible that if they really wanted to ship EP3, as it was originally intended, to avoid disappointment they would have to do something extraordinary, and secretly releasing it along with Portal 2 would be extraordinary.


Episode 2 was actually released in October 2007.

Man, I can't believe it's been that long, it seriously feels like just yesterday when I bought The Orange Box. :/

More than 3 years, and not a single peep about Episode 3, Valve are really pushing my patience.
 

StuBurns

Banned
tass0 said:
Episode 2 was actually released in October 2007.

Man, I can't believe it's been that long, it seriously feels like just yesterday when I bought The Orange Box. :/

More than 3 years, and not a single peep about Episode 3, Valve are really pushing my patience.
Yeah, unfortunate typo, I've got to be honest, at this point I'm not confident their use of the term episodes is very accurate.

Towards the end of the HL2 development Gabe claimed they could produce a quality hour of content per month...
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
The Portal and Half-Life games co-exist, but they won't crossover too much, Wolpaw said. "We tried to keep as light a touch about it as we did in Portal 1. Fans of Half-Life will notice some things, but if you haven't played Half-Life they'll just kind of pass right by you. You're not going to see Gordon tromping through the facility." He likened it to how the X-Files had an overarching plot but then also standalone episodes that were a little looser. "Aperture Science is kind of this fun-house of science, this bubble in the otherwise serious Half-Life universe."

Not that we didn't know as much already, but at least Jack Scofield can now stop jumping to ridiculous conclusions and calm down.
 

Emitan

Member
L00P said:
Maybe I should preorder Portal 2 right now
Maybe you should. I've canceled my PS3 order and switch to PC for this. I'm not missing out on any pre release stuff just because I'm getting the PS3 version for the PC code.
 
K

kittens

Unconfirmed Member
I haven't been so excited for a game since Super Mario Galaxy. This news isn't helping.
 

Boonoo

Member
StuBurns said:
Yeah, unfortunate typo, I've got to be honest, at this point I'm not confident their use of the term episodes is very accurate.

Towards the end of the HL2 development Gabe claimed they could produce a quality hour of content per month...

They've already said that their episodes experiment was a failure.
 

StuBurns

Banned
Boonoo said:
They've already said that their episodes experiment was a failure.
I've read that, but I thought what I read was more that the smaller releases are a failure in terms of marketing and selling the games so they have to package them with other things, not that specifically the idea of cutting up HL3 into three sections and delivering them separately was a failure.
 

Boonoo

Member
StuBurns said:
I've read that, but I thought what I read was more that the smaller releases are a failure in terms of marketing and selling the games so they have to package them with other things, not that specifically the idea of cutting up HL3 into three sections and delivering them separately was a failure.

Ah, I had always read it as the latter.
 
The Mana Legend said:
It's going to be a Portal 2 hat for TF2.

yeah that's most likely the case, couldn't care less if that happened. Don't like TF2 after the constant updates messed with it.

Really hoping for an Ep3/Half Life 3 announcement though. Damn it would rock if they announced the release of Half Life 3 with Counter Strike 2.
 

StuBurns

Banned
Boonoo said:
Ah, I had always read it as the latter.
I could certainly be wrong too though, or we could even be talking about a totally different comment that seems similar. I wouldn't be surprised if they have also said the episodes were a bad idea.
 

beelzebozo

Jealous Bastard
they were a good idea. they've just been kind of a bad reality.

episodes 1 & 2 were fine games--some of the best i've played--but it's pretty clear at this point that going forward, full games are the way to go. or at least, it seems clear enough to me as a consumer. waiting this long for a new episode that isn't feature-length (so to speak) seems pretty nutso in the buttso. it seems unnecessary and like poor management rather than dedication to quality.
 
The Mana Legend said:
It's going to be a Portal 2 hat for TF2.
People already found a "Portal 2 pin" accessory in TF2's files a few months ago.


Anyway, if I recall that "further down the line" that Wolpaw refers to is going to be way down the line unless they change something, since the original reveal article about it had them saying
it takes place hundreds of years later and that they're not going to go too far with the crossover stuff.
 

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
ThoseDeafMutes said:
Portal is a dark comedy puzzle game and HL1/2 are pretty brooding shooters. They just don't mesh very well IMO.

The portal gun also seems way too advanced to be in HLverse since the super advanced alien race doesn't have local teleportation, and the super genius Black Mesa people have a far worse system involving large fixed devices that take 30 seconds to spin up. I would just prefer it to stay separate because they don't fit together very well.
There's some speculation that Portal tech being so advanced is why the Combine is so interested in the Borealis. Their teleporter technology is pretty backwards, great for tearing rifts in space-time, terrible at making small jumps.
 

Gackt

Banned
Zeliard said:
GlaDOS-Man

oh my fucking god i

ExplodingHead.gif
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
The_Technomancer said:
There's some speculation that Portal tech being so advanced is why the Combine is so interested in the Borealis. Their teleporter technology is pretty backwards, great for tearing rifts in space-time, terrible at making small jumps.

That's how I saw it.

Combine = Powerful dimension jumping tech, crappy local teleportation technology.
Black Mesa = Great local teleportation tech.
Aperture Science = Best teleportation tech, but never got a chance to compete with Black Mesa due to the whole 'lets build a robot who kills us' thing.

In HL2 the Combine wanted Judeth to build a Black Mesa-esque teleporter for them to use, and now they want Aperture's goodies because they know its even better. Whatever 'it' is, that caused the Borealis to up and disappear.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
Their episodic model was made to prevent the team from getting too burnt out and bitter, right?

It seems like the one-game a year(ish) approach was the natural progression from the episodic thing. I mean, if you'd told me i'd get a Valve game this frequently in 2004 I'd have laughed (or not cared, because I didn't play HL2 until 2007 but my hypothetically self should be enough to make the point).

edit: wow, and the award for stating the obvious goes to me.
 

StuBurns

Banned
Rez said:
Their episodic model was made to prevent the team from getting too burnt out and bitter, right?

It seems like the one-game a year(ish) approach was the natural progression from the episodic thing. I mean, if you'd told me i'd get a Valve game this frequently in 2004 I'd have laughed (or not cared, because I didn't play HL2 until 2007 but my hypothetically self should be enough to make the point).

edit: wow, and the award for stating the obvious goes to me.
It was a number of things, giving users games more often, making them cheaper, being able to change the direction of the series quicker, change design aspects quicker, help avoid crippling crunch etc.

I think initially they hoped the expectations would be a lot lower for an episodic game, they didn't need to upgrade the engine, or build whole new assets etc, but that's really not what happened. Once the EP1 reviews hit, and public response was known, it was pretty clear people wanted totally new stuff, so even by then half of what made the concept attractive was gutted.
 

Angry Fork

Member
Billychu said:
Maybe you should. I've canceled my PS3 order and switch to PC for this. I'm not missing out on any pre release stuff just because I'm getting the PS3 version for the PC code.
Huh? What makes you think this particular surprise would only be available for PC users? It seems this is just some kind of thing they'd put on their website for everyone to see.

I'm still waiting before I pre-order anything just to see if there's any great stuff if you pre-order for PC but for now it's gotta be PS3 since you get the PC version free (or 10 bucks I guess) it's win/win.

I'm a huge TF2 nut though so if they announce some pre-order thing for TF2 that may sway me.
 
EmCeeGramr said:
People already found a "Portal 2 pin" accessory in TF2's files a few months ago.
It was given to people who were play testers for Portal 2. I'm sure the pre-order bonus will be something different.
 

Zeliard

Member
Pai Pai Master said:
The hell? They've been releasing games at a pretty steady pace and giving them better support than anyone else in the industry.

Yeah, Valve has been releasing titles at a pretty steady clip, as well as post-release content. One thing you can't really accuse them of is resting on their laurels. They started one entirely new franchise that features some of the best co-op out there, and another one based on a highly innovative flash game. Portal 2 is also due out in about a month.

And that doesn't take into account the Ep 3/HL3 stuff they've almost certainly been working on during that time. Valve keeps busy.
 
Pai Pai Master said:
The hell? They've been releasing games at a pretty steady pace and giving them better support than anyone else in the industry.

As a company they have had a lot of releases, but the main team that I assume worked on HL has not done much. L4D1 & 2 were made by the Turtle Rock team that also made the CS:S port. Portal 2 was made by the DigiPen team behind narbacular drop that Valve hired specifically for Portal. For Portal 2 they have that team + the DigiPen team behind Tag: The power of paint..

So what has Valves "A" team been doing since 2007? I'm pretty sure that I read that they have an entire separate team that deals with the multi-player bug fixes and balancing, so that leaves the main team as doing ....what? Doing what since 2007?
 
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