Portal 2

*screams like a girl, jumps up and down*

Yeah TF2 was better than Portal, and TF2 didn't have all of its great jokes turned into horrible fucking memes within days (hours?) of release. Still, this could hopefully be a lot of fun.

God, I love that game. Not much else to say other than, woohoo and don't fuck over the console players on this one, Valve.

ETA: Spike = wrong.

Squee!!!

More Portal is great news, but someone at Valve better still be working on Episode 3, that's all I've got to say...

Yeah, a multiplayer-only fragfest sequel to a game that was already hugely popular should be directly compared to a small, quirky single-player game that almost no one was anticipating which managed to remind people of some of the amazing things video games can do.

Yep, that's a one-for-one comparison right there.

I hope for a Portal 2/Episode 3 bundle... Portal 2... YES PLEASE!

Well Alex did say Portal was the best game in the Orange Box. I heartily disagreed. Hell I'd put Half Life 2 and Episode 2 ahead of it.

Well, fair enough on that point.

Comparing games on The Orange Box is like asking which of Monica Bellucci's sainted tits do you enjoy the most.

Screw that conversation.

You're such a charmer.

Portal's greatest asset is it's brevity. I loved the concept but it felt they only really did interesting things with it in the last testing chamber. I also though that aside from the encounter with Glados that the game was kind of unfunny. Every joke just really fell flat for me, although I did have to wait three extra days by which point the internet masses had cannibalised the cake and companion cube.

I'm still really curious if that Aperture Science barge in Episode 2 was just a neat reference, or there's a serious tie in going on.

I had always assumed Portal was sort of a demo run for the Valve guys figuring out how to implement the weapon into Half-Life 3...

I've probably put more hours into TF2 than any non-MMO game, but TF2 is a refinement of something we've seen 100 times while Portal is just fucking goodness. It's essentially a 3D puzzle game with some twitch reflex moments, but it's really impossible to do it service by trying to describe it.

So yeah, I'll keep coming back to TF2 but Alex is 100% right about Portal being the gem in The Orange Box.

So *still* no word on episode 3? Attaching that to Portal 2 is about the last chance Valve have to release that thing without making it look like they've literally lost the plot with the series.

But Portal 2? I will have some of that, thanks.

Portal is compelling, no doubt about it, but I would really like to know the next piece of the saga of the Combine war. Its getting a bit douchey that Valve created a storyline that has spanned a longass time and a lot of games and then seemingly dropped it to make some zombie shooters.

Hey, you forgot to include the curiously underlined letters!

http://store.steampowered.com/news/3559/

re: HL3 - isn't it better that the longer we wait, the better it will be?

Portal is one of the most amazingly intellectual games I've ever played, if not the most. Even the simplest level must've required the most out-of-the-box thinking to create. Adding Valve’s quirky sense of humor to that crazy logic makes me look forward to Portal 2 more than any other game on the horizon.

I mean, falling 30,000 feet without ever leaving the same spot must’ve been a mathematical and mental bitch to program.

I just came. All over the fucking place.

Sigged?

drattmannh0nee?
Password, maybe?

Half-Life 2: Ep. 2 spoilers? My memory might be hazy, but I thought you were heading for the Aperture Sciences ship in the chopper at the end of Ep.2. My guess was that Freeman would arrive, find the ruins of the test chambers, and somehow come into possession of the portal gun.
Same here.

Oh, come on, Websense. the Aperture Science site is blocked? Really?

It's probably for the dial-up BBS being used in the ARG, anyway.

Im as happy as a penguin sliding on its belly!

All the ARG stuff including the underlined letters is being dissected quite thoroughly on the Steam forums. You can read up to the second info there in a nice 700 page thread.

My only guess as to why Valve hasn't gone forward with Ep. 3(other than becoming obsessed with L4D), it that they've been having a hard time integrating the portal gun into a less structured environment. The GI cover certainly points to Portal 2 doing this, so maybe it's just more of a test run, while also having the side benefit of making lots of fans happy.

My sentiments exactly.

So are Gamestop usually on the ball with this sort of thing?

Either they altered the page, or I'm missing something...

They altered the page, they included multiplayer and co-op in the original description. Probably conjecture due to the fact the only info circling at the moment is from that press release.

And this:

Is that from that weird virally sort of thing in Portal?

OK, now I squee'd.

WHERE'S EPISODE 3 YOU MOTHERFOooh new Portal shiny nice.

I fear for Alex's condescending PORTAL 2 preview which makes me never, ever, want to play PORTAL 2 on principle. That's going to be one hell of a write up.

Co-op. Holy crap, yes. I would have been happy with just some more rooms to go through but the co-op inclusion has me really excited. I wonder if you'll be able to go through each other's portals.

I can't imagine the point of making a cooperative mode and then NOT giving you four portals to play with, so that seems like a fairly safe bet.

And yeah, holyshitcan'twait.

I expected better than simply a sequel to one of the best games of the last ten years. Still, I can't say I'm not mildly excited.

Portal is totally super awesome... but you beat it in less than 2 hours. That was okay as a bonus feature to a full game, but 2 better has more than that.

Also seconding the question for Half Life Episode III. Will we ever see a full Half Life 3? Or will Episode III just go into oblivion? Will it continue with Episode 4? Will we see ten more Left 4 Deads before Ep3? I dunno. I don't want. I want Half-Life 3 or 4, whatever. Full.

I think that Ep3 is the last of that story arc.

In Valves eyes, Episodes 1, 2, and 3 ARE Half Life 3.

I've never played the first Portal due to a) my PC being useless and b) I heard the PS3 port was terrible. I'd still love to play it. Maybe I can try renting it or picking up a cheap copy of the Orange Box for PS3.

It's like $10 now for the PS3, I bought it at $60 and it was worth it. Yes the glitches are anoying but it's such a great game.( I should confess that I will very likely rebuy it for the 360 if/when I get one)