Portal 2

[Adonisus]

Yep, it's been announced a scheduled for release in Autumn. Game Informer has this nice little hub put up that will be updating all month.

Yes, GLaDOS is STILL ALIVE, and she's not too happy that you killed her in the last game. Her beloved lab is in shambles and in the process of being repaired and reconfigured, meaning that you can't always trust the environment around you to be entirely stable whilst traversing the platforms.

The Portal Gun has some neat new features to....which I don't want to reveal just yet. Let's just say that those who read or subscribe to Game Informer will already know (like me. Nanny-nanny-boo-boo, stick your head in doo-doo.

[Daryn]

I am so looking forward to this game. I'll likely end up pre-purchasing it on Steam too. Hopefully Valve has some neat pre-order bonus stuff for those that do. I hope the game is longer than the first one though. Oh, and the co-op multiplayer looks really neat as well.

[Adonisus]

I am so looking forward to this game. I'll likely end up pre-purchasing it on Steam too. Hopefully Valve has some neat pre-order bonus stuff for those that do. I hope the game is longer than the first one though. Oh, and the co-op multiplayer looks really neat as well.

It will indeed be longer. Valve said that the first game was a Trail, this will be a Full Game. There will actually be a bunch of other AIs that you'll interact with throughout the game (remember all those AI spheres that came to life in the ending? That's them). The co-op mode has you playing a modified AI sphere and a modified turrent.

Oh....and Jonathan Coulton, the guy who wrote "Still Alive" is back for another round. He'll be writing some new songs as well as developing ways to integrate "Still Alive" into the game in intresting ways (which means new mixes like the Samba version from the first game. Maybe even noise puzzles).

[Daryn]

It is going to be so much fun! I hope the game keeps its dark sense of humor though. That's one of the things that made the first game so great.

Would also love the Developer Commentary mode to make a comeback. That was really interesting to hear the thought process behind some of the puzzles and design elements in the game.

[Iscin]

Ah yes Portal 2, very fun indeed but it is only one piece of a much larger puzzle: Steam and Source games reborn!
With Portal 2 we have confirmation that it is going to be launched on Macs, but more than that, all other Valve games going back to Half Life 2 will also be launched on Macs.
Now that might all just seem like "Well that is nice for the fifteen people who actually game on Macs" since even for someone like myself I still game on PC ever since turning my back on consoles with the death of the Dreamcast HOWEVER...
With the relaunching of all Source game and the new Steam games catalog on Mac they will be launching complete "steam cloud" syncing with all of the Source games. This means that if you switch from your PC to Mac to laptop or whatever computer you are using all your settings, save games and more will be transferred over and synced with them provided they have internet access... pretty sweet.
Personally though I think even THAT is part of an even bigger game plan: OnLive. Valve might be preparing to eventually run games, especially resource heavy games ala Crysis, on their servers allowing users even on netbooks to play them via a high quality streaming service provided they have a good internet connection. As consoles assimilate hard drives and other computer-gamingesque features, PC (and even Mac) gaming will continue to evolve and adapt finding new ways to provide the best experience of gaming available. I for one would love the idea of gaming even on a machine that is only "office" specced, no more throwing out old machines or wasting HD space on massive files.

But yes... Portal 2 we can be sure will be great and the future of Steam, Valve and computer gaming as a whole is very bright right now

By the way you can read all of the Game Informer preview stuff on [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal_2"]wikipedia[/ame] if you want to.

[Daryn]

Iscin, Steam on the Mac is something a bit more than you're hinting at. I know what Valve wants to do here, they want to lay the groundwork for the Mac to be a competant gaming platform. Retailers don't want to carry Mac games, but a digital distribution medium like Steam solves that issue.

It'll be very interesting to see if developers take the opportunity to build the Mac gaming market.

Oh, and as for OnLive, I don't expect this service to replace local copies of games. I've had hands on with OnLive already, it's decent, but I wouldn't want to use it exclusively.

[Iscin]

Iscin, Steam on the Mac is something a bit more than you're hinting at. I know what Valve wants to do here, they want to lay the groundwork for the Mac to be a competant gaming platform. Retailers don't want to carry Mac games, but a digital distribution medium like Steam solves that issue.

It'll be very interesting to see if developers take the opportunity to build the Mac gaming market.

Oh, and as for OnLive, I don't expect this service to replace local copies of games. I've had hands on with OnLive already, it's decent, but I wouldn't want to use it exclusively.

Nice theory but I do not see Mac becoming competant...
Windows, Xbox 360 = Direct X, developers love the CRAP outta that!
PS3, Mac, everything else = OpenGL is the only good way to go, developers have just gotten into the Direct X love, hell Sony has to pay for good exclusives.

But this "steam cloud" thing I believe could be the beginnings of their own OnLive service once networks improve, I know it won't completely replace games on your HD but it was not that long ago they were on our discs alone... we've gone from hard copy to digital already with Steam, I think Valve guess correctly that their users will be more open to a purely online streaming gaming experience. Less download times, less hardware restrictions, more GAMING!

[Daryn]

Nice theory but I do not see Mac becoming competant...
Windows, Xbox 360 = Direct X, developers love the CRAP outta that!
PS3, Mac, everything else = OpenGL is the only good way to go, developers have just gotten into the Direct X love, hell Sony has to pay for good exclusives.

But this "steam cloud" thing I believe could be the beginnings of their own OnLive service once networks improve, I know it won't completely replace games on your HD but it was not that long ago they were on our discs alone... we've gone from hard copy to digital already with Steam, I think Valve guess correctly that their users will be more open to a purely online streaming gaming experience. Less download times, less hardware restrictions, more GAMING!

Actually, though the Mac does indeed use OpenGL, Snow Leopard added one very powerful technology for GPU computing. OpenCL. Before this, MacOS X didn't really have a very good and easy graphics library to use. If developers are going to get on board with Mac gaming, OpenCL will be what they use. Whatever the methods or technologies that end up being used, Steam on the Mac can't be anything but good for gaming on the Mac as a whole.

[Iscin]

Actually, though the Mac does indeed use OpenGL, Snow Leopard added one very powerful technology for GPU computing. OpenCL. Before this, MacOS X didn't really have a very good and easy graphics library to use. If developers are going to get on board with Mac gaming, OpenCL will be what they use. Whatever the methods or technologies that end up being used, Steam on the Mac can't be anything but good for gaming on the Mac as a whole.

In the end I will just be happy to have the OPTION of installing and playing some Portal or L4D 2 on my Macbook Pro as well as my desktop PC. I will need to get another wireless mouse though...

[Adonisus]

It is going to be so much fun! I hope the game keeps its dark sense of humor though. That's one of the things that made the first game so great.

Would also love the Developer Commentary mode to make a comeback. That was really interesting to hear the thought process behind some of the puzzles and design elements in the game.

The original writer of the first game, Erik Wolpaw, is returning. He's being joined by another Valve scribe, Chet Falisek (the lead writer of Left 4 Dead 1 and 2) and an honest to god comedy writer from the National Lampoon named Jay Pinkerton. So all in all, I'd expect the same amount of dark hilarity that filled the first game, if not more.

[Daryn]

Hehe, Valve is doing some clever marketing for this game.

http://kotaku.com/5491651/portal-2-h...-at-gdc-awards

We'll see more at E3 it looks like.

[Adonisus]

Hehe, Valve is doing some clever marketing for this game.

http://kotaku.com/5491651/portal-2-h...-at-gdc-awards

We'll see more at E3 it looks like.

There's a reason that Valve is so insanely popular. It's not just that their games are awesome.....their marketing department is infested with genius.

Not to mention that they're very Mod friendly

[borg-dog]

Not to mention that they're very Mod friendly

Ooh yes Valve mods! *wags tails in disconcerting synchrony*

So far i've only played Minerva (very well designed and written (the storytelling was allegedy inspired by Marathon (which i've not read yet))) and Research and Development (which has great environment puzzles and a very cute wind driven übervehicle named "Mr. Whirly").

Any other suggestions?

(Esp. for Portal, i tried playing Portal: Prelude but it was just too insanely difficult for me .)

[Daryn]

I tried playing Portal: Prelude as well, but like you, found it ridiculously hard. Considering it's supposed to be before GLaDOS goes nuts I thought that was a bit odd that the tests would be harder.

I do approve of the use of the Scorpions "Rock You Like a Hurricane" though.

[borg-dog]

Heh yeah... the first chamber was great, i just couldn't get much further...

[Gusto-Pastel]

I followed a few links around the website, and learned that Valve are looking into PS3 development in the future.

I subsequently had a fully fledged M. Bison moment.

"YES! YES! This is DELICIOUS!"

[Daryn]

I followed a few links around the website, and learned that Valve are looking into PS3 development in the future.

I subsequently had a fully fledged M. Bison moment.

"YES! YES! This is DELICIOUS!"

I think Valve needs to do their own PS3 conversions. The PS3 version of The Orange Box was not very good at all.

Oh, and a fellow Street Fighter fan, eh?

[Gusto-Pastel]

Nah, just memes :B Had the same reaction when I unlocked the Ostrich Hammer in RFG. It was quite appropriate.