Topic: Obvious news is obvious: Portal 2 announced

[idolminds]

Hooray?

Game Informer

After legions of fans embraced Portal, Valve knew they needed to double down and give them a sequel. The fiercely independent studio is investing more time, more capital, and more risk into a stand-alone, full-price retail release. To complement our world-exclusive Portal 2 cover story, we will be rolling out supplementary features all through the month of March. Check back often for updates.

Stand alone, full price sequel. I wonder what they have planned. Portal worked so well because it was pretty much a "freebie" in the Orange Box, it was short but very well done, and the game mechanics were new and interesting. Portal 2 will most likely be longer, cost more, and have to come up with some new mechanic. Its going to be very hard to recapture what made Portal the success it was.

[Pugnate]

I guess they had to kiss ass for that exclusive. I have to agree with Jeff Green and Shawn Elliot when they say that so many of these publications sound like PR reps for developers...

Language gives you away...

After legions of fans embraced Portal, Valve knew they needed to double down and give them a sequel.

Oh how insightful.

The fiercely independent studio is investing more time, more capital, and more risk into a stand-alone, full-price retail release.

OK, what the hell does that have anything to do with anything? Seriously now.

Stand alone, full price sequel. I wonder what they have planned. Portal worked so well because it was pretty much a "freebie" in the Orange Box, it was short but very well done, and the game mechanics were new and interesting. Portal 2 will most likely be longer, cost more, and have to come up with some new mechanic. Its going to be very hard to recapture what made Portal the success it was.

I agree with you, in that value was part of what Portal such a success. At the same time I think Valve have the resources and talent to pull off a compelling single player experience to such a successful game.

Yea L4D1 and 2 were really short, but they were multiplayer games. I am sure Valve realizes they can't release a 4 hour singleplayer game and charge $50 for it.

But really, where the hell are Episode 3, and Half-life 3?

You'd think Valve would develop a new engine for HL3, and then use as a launching pad for games like Counter-Strike 2 and Portal 2.  Let's see what happens with Portal 2.

I think Valve are smart enough to realize what made Portal 1 so successful, and what investment would be required to make Portal 2 a success at full retail price as a singleplayer game.

Actually, I think a multiplayer game of Portal could be fine, provided the level design was creative. Imagine running around in a map, looking for the opposition, when you find the ground suddenly disappear from under your feet.

[idolminds]

According to the Gamestop listing, Portal 2 will have separate co-op campaign.

[MysterD]

IActually, I think a multiplayer game of Portal could be fine, provided the level design was creative. Imagine running around in a map, looking for the opposition, when you find the ground suddenly disappear from under your feet.

And let them fall some 500 feet from above into a pit of spikes.

[PyroMenace]

I was sort of hoping that Portal 2 and Episode 3 would be the same game.

[gpw11]

I was sort of hoping that Portal 2 and Episode 3 would be the same game.

Yeah, same here. 

[Pugnate]

I was sort of hoping that Portal 2 and Episode 3 would be the same game.

[MysterD]

I was only hoping Gordon Freeman could have The Portal Gun added to his arsenal of awesome weapons.
Imagine the insanity w/ a Portal Gun and Gravity Gun....
Especially in Multi-Player...

[Quemaqua]

I think Portal is perhaps the most overrated game of all time.  I really don't get why everyone loves it so much.  It was amusing, but that was about it.

[idolminds]

You need to reinstall it and I'll play through while you watch. You didn't get through the test chambers.

[Quemaqua]

I watched some of it online.  I still don't get it.

[MysterD]

Gabe Newell had this to say about Portal 2...

1UP: What's the big answer you give for Portal 2?

GN: "Oh Portal 2's great. It's the best game we've ever done."

[PyroMenace]

Gabe Newell had this to say about Portal 2...

On a scale of 1 to 10 for how meaningful that was... its some unquantified number in the negative direction.

[W7RE]

The history of Aperture Science.

Apparently they started out just making... shower curtains?

[gpw11]

Haha.  I *think* some of that was found somewhere in the first game (computer monitor?).  The shower curtain thing seems to ring a bell.

[MysterD]

Delayed until 2011.

I'm not surprised - are you?

They must be running on Valve Time again...

[Pugnate]

I think they are probably pushing it back for the second orange box or whatever. That's probably going to be the next big announcement.

[MysterD]

From Destructoid:
No Competitive MP for Portal 2.
Only Co-Op is in for MP in Portal 2.

[MysterD]

RUMOR-TIME, so take this w/ a grain of salt...for now.
Rumor has it - Portal 2 will have X-Play support for PC and PS3 players for its Co-Op Mode (MP).

[gpw11]

Cool.  Oh, wait...what the hell is X-play?

[Ghandi]

It has to do with the Phantom.

[MysterD]

It has to do with the Phantom.

That console's as elusive as Duke Nukem Forever.

[gpw11]

That console's as elusive as Duke Nukem Forever.

But way more awesome.

[PyroMenace]

You got me all excited to click in this thread hoping for some portal 2 related awesomeness, but then its nothing but phantom talk, joy.

[MysterD]

You got me all excited to click in this thread hoping for some portal 2 related awesomeness, but then its nothing but phantom talk, joy.

I thought there was some, a few posts up - about X-Play. But, yeah - we kinda got derailed on funny stuff - hehe. It's okay - room for both, if I say.

Do you find the rumor about Portal 2 PS3 and PC players possibly playing together as awesomeness?

Well, I do.

God, when I played some PC games - i.e. Kane & Lynch 2 PC is a great example - the servers are bloody dead. It'd be nice for games that get multi-platformed, that we all could play together with each other or against each other - especially since very often, console sales often seem to dwarf PC sales.

Though, I think X-Play would work best in Co-Op, not Competitive.

[MysterD]

Shacknews -> User-Made Levels for Portal 2 will work on ALL platforms; SDK Mod Tools only for PC.
Eurogamer -> Portal 2 will have one ending for Solo-Play and another ending for Co-Op.

[MysterD]

Portal 2 PC - System Requirements revealed.

PC System Requirements
OS: Windows 7 / Vista / XP / 2000
Processor: 3.0 GHz P4, Dual Core 2.0 (or higher) or AMD64X2 (or higher)
Memory: 1GB XP / 2GB Vista
Hard Disk Space: At least 7.6 GB of Space
Video: Video card must be 128 MB or more and should be a DirectX 9-compatible with support for Pixel Shader 2.0b (ATI Radeon X800 or higher / NVIDIA GeForce 7600 or higher / Intel HD Graphics 2000 or higher).
Audio: DirectX 9.0c compatible

Mac System Requirements
OS: MAC OS X 10.6.6 or higher
Processor: Intel Core Duo Processor (2GHz or better)
Memory: 2GB
Hard Disk Space: At least 7.6 GB of Space
Video: ATI Radeon 2400 or higher / NVIDIA 8600M or higher

[PyroMenace]

So I want to preorder this over steam, though buying the 2 pack would make it $10 cheaper if someone else would like to go in on it. Anyone?

[Xessive]

So I want to preorder this over steam, though buying the 2 pack would make it $10 cheaper if someone else would like to go in on it. Anyone?

I'd love to, but I can only pay you back in an equivalent value Steam gift

[idolminds]

Huh, I thought this info was posted here. If you buy the PS3 version, once its tied to your Steam account it actually unlocks the PC version as well.

[Xessive]

Huh, I thought this info was posted here. If you buy the PS3 version, once its tied to your Steam account it actually unlocks the PC version as well.

Yeah, I remember that being mentioned somewhere around here.

[PyroMenace]

I'd love to, but I can only pay you back in an equivalent value Steam gift

Hmm... thats tempting, but there's not anything I want for $40 on Steam right now.

[Xessive]

Hmm... thats tempting, but there's not anything I want for $40 on Steam right now.

Hehe yeah, it's a tough call. We could could split that $40 into several microtransactions over the next while.

[W7RE]

First 7 minutes of coop (YouTube Link)

[MysterD]

Pre-Order Special @ Best Buy - Online Deal
Portal 2 PC / Mac = $34.99
Portal 2 for consoles - PS3 or X360 = $44.99
Pre-Order P2, RZ Gamer Club members will get 500 Bonus RZ Gamer Club points ($10)

[MysterD]

Amazon

Amazon matches Portal 2 PC / Mac - Retail Box @ $34.99.
No extra points, credits, gift cards, or anything [which BB has going on].

[PyroMenace]

Ryan from Giantbomb gives Portal 2 five stars.

[Quemaqua]

That all seems to make sense after playing the first one, which I just finally did last night. I did finally get what the buzz was about, and I did genuinely have a good time with it. I liked the basic mechanics when I had played it before, but it had been billed as a puzzle game and I never found myself puzzled, so I got bored when I didn't find what I expected and stopped playing a short ways in. This second time I had a better idea of what to expect, and I almost think maybe it's better that it moves as briskly as it does due to the humor and story elements. It would probably be more frustrating than fun if you had to slog your way through anything too heavy. A little fiddly experimentation I think ends up being correct in a way heavy thought and process wouldn't have been.

Sort of curious where they'd go with it all for a sequel, but after actually finishing the first one, my expectations would be that they'd manage to pull it off. I don't really love Valve as a developer, but it's hard to say that because Valve has consumed so many smaller developers at this point, and the people responsible for Portal always seemed pretty creative and competent. And even on my first go through Portal when I gave up on it, I felt like there was a really nice crispness to everything and a robust attention to detail.

Anyway... the end was funny enough that I get why everybody ranted and raved about the game for so long. Still don't understand why it was quite so much the phenomenon that it was, but I can certainly say that this would be my favorite Valve game. I'll have to give the sequel a buy when it gets cheaper.

[idolminds]

Go to bed as people are freaking out as Steam unlocks Portal 2. Wake up and people have already beaten it. Valve claims its 10 hours, some are claiming 5-ish (co-op is another 5-ish I guess). So yeah...wait for it to be much cheaper.

Also, this is real. But then again, so was this at one time.

Yeah. (apparently some of this stuff unlocks as you earn achievements, but still.)

[sirean_syan]

It's amazing people will pay for this stuff. $2 to give a thumbs up, really? $35 for a bunch of skins? That's how much the game is essentially new with all the preorder sales. On some level, if people are going to pay that much for something that adds nothing to the game I can't blame Valve for getting in on that action because Gabe always needs more knives to carve his food with. However, it's existence makes me hate everyone involved in the whole process.

Also, I bought the game. I need a Portal buddy at some point.