Valve's chicanery with Portal continues, and the community is lapping it up. As you may have heard by now, Portal was updated last night with a new Steam Achievement and some strange radio messages. Naturally, Valve's fans have been digging deep in code, cracking hidden messages, and turning the whole thing into a major conspiracy.
A number of bizarre images have been found, and it all seems to be leading to something big. Valve itself has refused to come forward and help anybody out, so right now it's up to the fans to run around like chickens and work out what's happening.
Right now, the most popular theory is that Portal 2 is on the cards. We can't say for sure, but it's really quite fun watching the Steam community run round in circles.
Radio Sounds - Images processed! [Steam Forums]
LAUNCH GALLERY (24 IMAGES)
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
9:20 AM on 03.02.2010
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Bitching aside, I deeply respect Valve for their dedication to game design, and Portal 2 will probably get even better!
And a Holiday 2010 release.
I also hope for a simultaneous HL2 Ep3, Portal 2 and CS2 announcement.
Hell yes.
Im amazed at the tin foil hat wearing amateur sleuths out there, wish i heard of this earlier, guess the mystery is too solved for me to even consieder putting my sherlock holmse hat on, oh well, cant be bothered anyway. What i dont understand is how someone must have thought, "wow 17 new audiofiles, ill just run these through slow-scan TV software and see if anything happens". Gabe must be impressed by his nerdlings for sure
The Empty Box - Lots of hype and no content :D
2K, Something in the Sea, and the Bioshock 2 viral campaign would disagree.
I think (read:hope) it will be an announcement of The Black Box or something. Portal 2, hopefully Half Life 3 (been to long for 'just' episode 3) and maybe a multiplayer game (CounterStrike2?).
I refuse to believe that the whole Valve development team has been busy with L4D and TF2 updates for so many years, I think they could have something big to announce really soon. Hopefully next week at GDC.
I hope it's something bigger, but I'm just saying. I kind of feel like the mention of Counter Strike 2 and Half-life 3 may be jumping the gun a bit.
I'd be totally content with that personally. HL is fun but I've never really been sucked in. Portal taught me how to love again.
Is this slightly crazy... yes. Running in circles? No.
Well thanks a lot for completely killing the joyful image of computer nerds huddled around a piece of ancient technology. really helped my day.
It will happen sometime for sure. People in general are stupid. But the Left 4 Dead 2 thing had SORT OF a good reason.
great work gumshoes!
Some guy even went somewhere because they translated something into possible coordinates.
from the bbs ascii
and do not 2612%^talk to me about casualty rates. The bean counters told me I couldn't fire a man just for bein in a wheelchair. Did it anyway! Ramps are expensive. Or when they said I couldn't pratice beekeeping in the office. They should have told that to the honey that won first place in the state Finals!
Hell, they even said I couldn't cheat death. You know where I'd be if i followed the rules? Dead! Dead, and honey prize-less!
ok further update http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/6278/portalascii.png
people have blurred the picture for better quality BUT if you look at the test it reads the following.
CONFIDENTIAL
oct 7th 1976
RE: Human Enrichment & Testing Initiative, Resources Acquisitions
1. Low Risk\" Human Resources Acquisitions
a. Hoboes and Tramps
Lives spent wandering aimlessly cowering before authority, and drinking concussive amounts of home-distilled potato alcohol makes hoboes the perfect Human Enrichment test subjecvts, the hobo questions nothing, will follow orders if fed, and, like all hoboes, has a restless, wandering heart:(NOTE: the wandering heart of the hobo should not be confused with the Drifting Heart Syndrome, which several transients contracted during testing.)
b. Child Orphans and Foundlings
Deep-rooted abandonment issues leave most orphans highly susceptible to shame-based psychology (for a complete list of oppurtuns moments to obliterate the esteem of test subjects please consult Training Video #89-D, \"you\'d Perform This Test Better if You Had Parents\") Recent advances in the use of scorn, flattery used in an ironic context and naked contempt or motivitional tools have yielded similarly profitable results.
c. Psychiatric patients
Past experience shows these fellows are simply not shy at all about carrying on, disrupting tests and defecating just about anywhere that pleases them. Frankly, it\'s off-putting, and small wonder why Aperture-brand mental institutions are being phased out in favor of more orphanages.
d. Seniors
Frail, brittle hands make holding science devises difficult. Most were born before the advent of science, and can become confused and disoriented when asked to participate in relatively simple test (teleportation, invisibility, adjusting esteem levels of orphan children).
----RECORD ENDS---
--CAUTION: ANOMALOUS EMOTIONAL RESPONSE DETECTED (#980)
-----BEGIN RECORD \'C:\\09757631.570\\06496685.284 (506 BYTES) ---