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[The Headliner]

All that peculiar business with patches and images hidden in sound files has ended in the inevitable: confirmation that Portal 2 is out this year.

The game will be out on PC and 360 (and Mac) and will feature a separate co-operative campaign and new features such as paint that changes the physics of walls so you can run faster on them.

The sequel will be a retail release and thus a much longer game than the first.

This ought to be great. I haven't seen the recent viral patches with "government controlled radio" and secret images, but it seems to have worked in getting fans hyped for the next game. Anyone who played and enjoyed the original will be chomping at the bit to play Portal 2, even if it can't realistically live up to the impact of the first. Roll on release day.

[Slipknotpurple]

Love Portal so cant wait to have Portal 2 I know it cant have the same impact but in the end I think it will be a fun game. I bought the orange box not knowing much about portal and was blown away by the game.

[MaximumMitch69]

I disagree I think that Portal 2 can be just as good if not better. Because this will be a full retail game and thus Valve will be giving this game its full attention as it's major title this year.

[El Jackal]

I am looking forward to this majorly, I wasn't even sure if they were going to be doing another one yet.. I had heard rumours of episodic like downloads on XBLA, and also an Orange Box Two. I'm happy that Portal 2 is getting it's own release, if they focus on it as a major title it has the potential to be even more mind blowing this time round.

[Ethan]

I liked the first one, however I am not certain that I want to go through that stuff again.

[The Headliner]

Portal 2 delayed till April

We're afraid so. Valve's always abusive relationship with release dates has ended with another delay for Portal 2, with the game now not due out in the U.S. until 18th April.

Portal 2 had previously been due out in early February, although before that it had been scheduled for this autumn. Nobody really believed that date though, as it wouldn't be a Valve game unless it was delayed at least twice.

'This two month slip not only marks the shortest delay in Valve's proud tradition of delays, it represents the approaching convergence of Valve Time and Real Time,' said an endearingly cheeky press release. 'Though this convergence spells doom for humanity, it will not affect the new Portal 2 release date.'

Originally released only as part of The Orange Box compendium, the first Portal enjoyed universal critical acclaim and was eventually released separately on the PC and Xbox Live Arcade. Like the rest of The Orange Box the PlayStation 3 version was a sloppy rush job by EA, but the new game will be developed by Valve on all formats.

If you haven't played the original we'd advise you rectify that this very instant, because it's not just one of the best action puzzlers ever made it's also one of the funniest video games ever written.

Naturally Valve are trying to build on both elements for the sequel, and to that end have already signed up Rick Gervais' pal Stephen Merchant to be one of the voices.

We can't wait till April now - or probably autumn after that, maybe even 2012 if Valve follow their normal pattern. It's always worth the wait though.

This is suspension. I'm making a note here: huge delay. It's hard to overstate my discontentment.

[Matches Malone]

Still haven't gotten the chance to play the first Portal, hopefullly I pick it up between now and April.

[The Headliner]

Hope you've got hold of the first Portal now, Matches. The second is imminent...

[Matches Malone]

It's not April yet! But thanks for the reminder, going to see if I can grab the first time now.

[The Headliner]

Anyone who has played the original will remember these things, which blow the everloving shit out anyone who enters their field of vision:



Well according to Valve's kayfabed publicity for Portal 2, Aperture Science is now producing these to the public as a home security measure. Have a read of their excerpt from the 33,000-page instruction manual:

http://www.thinkwithportals.com/blog/posts/001/turretguidesamplepage.png

[Matches Malone]

Well, at least they sound cute...

[The Headliner]

Part 1 of Valve's new comic, Portal 2: Lab Rat, is now available! It bridges the gap between the events of Portal and Portal 2! What are you waiting for? CLICK HERE!

Wait, hold on: There's also an interview about the making of the comic that you can visit after you read the comic, which you should be doing right now instead of reading the rest of this sentence which is only leading to another link to the comic.

WARNING: As you might expect from the description above, the comic contains spoilers for the first game's plot, so don't read until you've completed Portal 1. It'll also be quite confusing without that background knowledge so it's not just spoilers that should make you hold off.

[El Jackal]

In case of rogue AI, dial ext. 219.

[The Headliner]

The full comic's online now - to pick up where the first half left off, resume here. It's pretty damn good.

[The Headliner]

Portal 2 countdown clock stops to reveal GLaDOS CPU challenge

The Portal 2 countdown clock proved to be a red herring, but the eagerly-awaited Valve game could still be available before its official release date.

Gamers had hoped the timer on the Aperture Science website would be replaced when it ran out on Friday evening by details of how to download Portal 2 via Steam - even though it was not scheduled to be out until next week.

Instead the clock stopped to reveal the Potato Sack - a collection of 13 independent titles available from Steam - together with a message that the GLaDOS character needed additional CPU power to launch the game.

The extra CPU boost can be generated by users downloading games such as Killing Floor, Super Meat Boy and Audiosurf from the site - with progress displayed on a power bar that updates in real time.

The marketing ploy seemed to prove popular with gamers and with the prize of an early release date for the much-delayed Portal 2 at stake, thousands of them started to play the Potato Sack games within hours of the clock countdown concluding.

Portal 2, which will be released for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, has been the subject of much discussion in the gaming world and was named Most Anticipated Game for 2011 at the Spike VGA Awards.

Portal 2 still not unlocked as Valve teases Half-Life 2 connection

Despite a weekend of frantic indie gaming by Portal fans hoping to unlock Portal 2 early, the sequel still hasn't been released - but developers Valve are continuing to taunt gamers with coded messages, including one apparent reference to Half-Life 2.


Portal 2: you'd think we'd be less trusting after that business with the cake

Despite hopes that Valve might sneakily unleash Portal 2 several days early, it turned out that it the mechanism for unlocking the game - having large numbers of gamers buy and play their way through the 'Potato Sack' bundle of discounted indie games - has only managed to bring the US release time forward by a few hours (at the time of writing).

This has led to a frantic bout of anger ping-pong on the internets - between those who think it's cool that Valve are using the interest in one of their Triple-A releases to boost the fortunes of some brilliant but unfairly overlooked indie games, and those who think it's a bit rich that Valve asks people to pay money and spend time working on their viral marketing for them, then doesn't even drop the game a single day ahead of schedule.

But any worries that there is disgruntlement in the forums hasn't stopped Valve from continuing to trickle out a steady stream of cryptic teases. The latest of which is a rather blatant Half-Life 2 reference hidden in one of the Portal alternate reality games.

As Rock Paper Shotgun reports, a message revealed by the ValveARG site appears to be talking about the Borealis, an icebreaking ship owned by Potral's Aperture Science that was mentioned as having mysteriously vanished in Half-Life 2: Episode Two. It's one of the main connections between Portal and Half-Life, which are set in the same universe but haven't - as of yet - really crossed over to any major extent.

Of course, with Valve's record, it could all be a gigantic, icebreaker-sized red herring, but might it be a hint that Portal 2 will tie its story in even closer to that of Half-Life?