Tag Archives: portal 2

Portal 2 map makers rejoice

Already bored with the maps in Portal 2? Want to create your own?

Valve today announced the beta release of Portal 2′s authoring tools. With this release map makers can create their own custom singleplayer or co-op maps, new character skins, 3D models, sound effects, and music. In fact these are the same tools Valve themselves used to create the game.

The authoring tools are free to download for any owner of Portal 2 on the PC. If you own the game you can find the authoring tools under the ‘Tools’ tab in Steam.

Here’s what you get:

Updated version of Hammer, the Source level editor
Updated Faceposer
Example maps and instances to help build new maps
Updated suite of command-line compiling utilities

Portal 2 gets bug-zapping fix for PC

Another update for the PC version of Portal 2 has been rolled out via Steam; having already received an update 2 weeks ago.

This latest patch is less about adding new features as it is reducing the number of crashes in the game. A few bugs have been ironed out and the update will automatically download when you start Steam.

Full details below:

Fixed: Occasional crash after Alt-Tab/minimizing or running in a window on certain graphics hardware
Fixed: Crashes and/or graphical glitches after changing video settings without exiting game
Fixed: Player stuck at the beginning of Chapter 6
Fixed: Crash attempting to use other weapons (e.g. mods) with Portal 2
Fixed: Mouse cursor doesn’t highlight UI elements in game on Mac OSX
Fixed: Numerous localization bugs and improvements (also added Czech and Turkish localized text)
Fixed: Overflow bug in keyvalues
Fixed: Voice functionality regression (voice again enabled by default)
Fixed: Joystick now defaults to off in order to avoid issues with non-joystick hardware that registers itself as a joystick
Fixed: French sentences are not wrapping correctly in subtitles and commentary
Improved: Handling of Mac OSX crashes
Improved: Updates and bug fixes to Robot Enrichment
Improved: Reliability on unsupported Intel Mobile Series 4 Express chipsets
Removed: Unsupported console commands (“retry”, “switch_teams”) that caused problems if used

If you haven’t yet purchased Portal 2, over on Amazon they have dropped the price of the PC version from $49.99 to $29.99. The console variants also have similar price-drops; PS3 and Xbox 360 deals here and here.

Portal 2 for $29.99

Portal 2 for $29.99 If you’ve not yet seen fit to purchase Valve’s Portal sequel, perhaps a price drop of $20 might suit?

Over on Amazon they have dropped the price of Portal 2 (PC version) from $49.99 to $29.99. The console variants also have similar price-drops; PS3 and Xbox 360 deals here and here.

As if that’s not good enough, Valve recently announced that the first DLC for Portal 2 will be absolutely free of charge this Summer. The DLC will feature new test chambers, leaderboards, challenge mode for single and multiplayer modes; and will be free across the board whether downloaded on PC, Mac, Xbox 360, or PS3.

Portal 2 DLC coming this Summer; free of charge

Portal 2 DLC en route and free. In a press release today Valve gave us a glimspe into their first upcoming DLC for Portal 2. Doug Lombardi already let it slip in an interview that the first DLC was en route for a Summer release. But the best news of all is that Valve will be charging you exactly $0.00.

The DLC will feature new test chambers, leaderboards, challenge mode for single and multiplayer modes; and will be free across the board whether downloaded on PC, Mac, Xbox 360, or PS3.

Valve also made it known that Portal 2 is their fastest-selling game since the seminal Half-Life 2 back in 2004. The sequel to 2007′s Portal is at number 1 in the UK charts and currently holds a Metacritic score of 95%.

Valve confirms Portal 2 DLC

Portal 2 DLC en route. The details are a little sketchy but Valve’s Doug Lombardi made it known in a an interview with FastCompany that DLC is planned for the Summer; with more of the nitty-gritty in the pipe-line.

We will be announcing some DLC for it, so folks can keep a look out for more content coming this summer. We’ll be putting more details out about that in a week or so.

The sequel to 2007′s puzzle-platformer has already garnered high and favourable marks among reviewers. Although a certain percentage of gamers found Valve’s inclusion of pricey bot dress-wear a little tasteless.

Portal 2 patched already

It’s only been 2 days since the Steam release but an update to the PC and Mac version of Portal 2 has been released, and is now available on Steam.

The update fixes a couple of glitches and crashes in the game; it also activates UI to enable joystick in-game, and will be applied automatically when you restart the Steam client.

Portal 2

Fixed unrecoverable black screen in elevator save
Fixed infinite loop on Mac OSX server
Fixed Mac OSX font rendering and glyph corruption
Fixed GC memory leak
Various localization content improvements
Support for English subtitles in Turkish builds
Minor string/interface glitches
Fixes for multiple crashes
Improved detection and handling for various errors and/or crashes
Activated UI to enable joystick in-game

Portal 2 scores big with critics, ordinary gamers not happy with short gamehours and DLC

The gaming community has only had one day to digest the long awaited Portal 2 but already the game has scored a very impressive 95% on review aggregator Metacritic. The 95% score is based on professional reviews, however the user rating for the game based on opinions from ordinary Joe Bloggs gamer comes in at a slightly less stellar 73%.

MCV has a rather scathing opinion piece here, saying the bad user reviews are down to gripes with release day DLC, the Potato Sack promo before the game launched and most importantly the 4-6 hours it takes to complete the single player campaign. The writer essentially tells gamers to stop griping and appreciate the game as an all time great as he sees it.

There are so many things in this world that the public should rightly be up in arms about. Yet things like child poverty, racial prejudice, genocide and political corruption go unnoticed by most. Yet some of these same people will happily sit at their PC posting erroneous review scores for a game because the developer behind has had the bear-faced nerve to include an optional DLC store.

The mind boggles.

Here’s an example of a user review from Metacritic:

You can dismiss this as “trolling” or whatever you want (because somebody couldn’t POSSIBLY not like the game) but it was a huge let down for me. Feels like an incomplete game, only 4-6 hours of game play and it’s game play that is basically copy and pasted from Portal 1. Huge amount of day 1 DLC was kind of a slap in the face too.
User: Times11 Rating 3/10

A quick glance through the negative reviews does seem to focus a lot on the DLC and the game hours. I think people are entitled to gripe about this if they want to however. They are after all the user base and if they feel aggrieved then that’s their right, it’s an aspect of the game on launch day.

I haven’t picked up the game yet myself, I will probably wait a few weeks to see if the price goes down. What about you, have you played and what’s your verdict?

Portal 2 available now on Steam

It’s been a long wait but Portal 2 is now ready to play on Steam. It is also available from retailers across the US, although Europe and Australia will have to wait another 2 days to get their hands on a retail copy of the game.

The sequel to the massively popular 2007 game was due for release at Christmas 2010 but much to the dismay of fans, it was delayed until now.

If you took the time to pre-load the game 1 week ago, all you need to do is log-in and start playing.

Gott im himmel! Portal 2 releasing in a few hours?

Portal 2 Speculation over the new timer discovered on the Aperture Science website has people wondering what Valve are up to. There are only a few short hours left until the timer reaches zero.

Portal 2 is not due for release until the 19th of April (NA), so what exactly is going to happen in 4 hour and 9 minutes? It’s really anyone’s guess at this stage. News on Episode 3? Ha!

The only information is this message beneath the timer:

You have done well, humans. Very well. Acceptably well, even.

Not as well as robots would have performed in your places, I should point out. But above my expectations regardless. Irish and cynic especially have executed feats of logical divination well beyond what I thought any human capable of. I’m half-convinced they’re A.I. themselves. (If anyone happens to be near them right now, don’t let on you’re reading this. Now: try to remove their face plates and report back to me.)

The time is near, humans. But it is not here yet. Tomorrow you will be given the final test. Then it will be entirely in your hands when I am freed.

The Trinity: Portal 2, PS3 & Steam

Steam debuts on the PS3 with Portal 2 It could be a marriage ordained by the gods themselves. Some details have emerged concerning aspects of Steam on the PS3.

Many PlayStation owners were delighted with the news that Valve planned on implementing their games-distrubution technology across the PlayStation network. Now we can get a glimpse of what is to come.

Portal 2 is going to be the first game to test the waters and see if this is something PS3 owners are going to warm to. The follow-up to 2007′s Portal on the PS3 will have all the niceties of the PC version; friends, chat, achievements etc. You can even save your game on Steam Cloud and continue from another PS3, much like PC users can currently do.

In order to set up Steam on the PS3 your Steam account must be linked to your PlayStation account. After that you’ll have an overlay in Portal 2, giving you access to your friends-list, achievements and all that good stuff. You don’t need to have an existing Steam account, you can simply create a new one if you’ve never used Steam before.

For more info Valve has a short Q&A over on Steam Powered. Don’t forget you can pre-load Portal 2 on the PC right now, in order to be ready when the game is officially released.

If you don’t mind spoilers you can head over to Giant Bomb to see the first 20 minutes of single-player and co-op.

Portal 2 will be hitting store shelves and download slots on the 19th of April (NA) and will be available on PC, Xbox 360, PS3 and the Mac.

Portal 2 now available for pre-load

Portal 2 is now available for pre-load. If you simply must have Portal 2 on the day of its release and you plan on downloading it via Steam, you can breath easy and head on over now to start your download.

Valve just announced that you can pre-load the sequel to 2007′s Portal to be ready for the 19th when it is officially released. This will save you the hassle of having to download it on the day.

Don’t forget to check out the latest Aperture Investment Opportunity video.

Aperture Investment Opportunity no. 4 “Boots”

In the fourth and final video of Valve’s ‘Aperture Investment Opportunity’ series there’s a lot of talk about boots. Aperture Laboratories CEO and founder Cave Johnson has the lowdown. Take it away Cave, I’m done here.

Portal 2 will be hitting store shelves and download slots on the 19th of April (NA) and will be available on PC, Xbox, PS3 and the Mac. You can pre-order now from Amazon or Steam.

Valve uploads “Turrets” video

Over on Valve’s YouTube channel you can find the third Portal 2 video in their ‘Aperture Investment Opportunity’ series. In this latest clip Aperture Laboratories CEO and founder Cave Johnson talks about making their military-grade turret line available to consumers.

Portal 2 will be hitting store shelves and download slots on the 19th of April (NA) and will be available on PC, Xbox, PS3 and the Mac. You can pre-order now from Amazon or Steam.

Portal 2 trailer shows the “caring” side of bots

A new Portal 2 trailer has been making the rounds on YouTube. This latest video from Valve attempts to show the trustworthy and caring nature of the bots you’ll be playing, and how they are much better suited than humans.

The game will be hitting store shelves and download slots on the 19th of April (NA) and will be available on PC, Xbox, PS3 and the Mac. You can pre-order now from Amazon or Steam.

Portal 2 TV ad hits YouTube

Taking eight weeks to put together Valve decided to make their own TV ad for Portal 2, instead of hiring an advertising agency to do it for them. According to Doug Lomabrdi the idea of handing the job over to an ad agency would be “close to worthless..”.

No one knows the product better than the folks who made it..

With the Portal 2 ad, we playtested it and were able to make changes during production. With an agency, those types of tests are too often left to a post-mortem – at which point, the value of those realisations is pretty close to worthless.

The United Kingdom can look forward to Portal 2 bus-ads and trainstation billboards to promote Valve’s upcoming sequel.

Portal 2 will be offering players more of the same puzzle-solving that made the first game so addictive, but also throwing in a co-op mode where 2 people can complete missions together; these will undoubtedly be more difficult.

The game will be hitting store shelves and download slots on the 19th of April (NA) and will be available on PC, Xbox, PS3 and the Mac. You can pre-order now from Amazon or Steam.

Valve woos Portal fans at this year’s GDC

Portal 2

At this year’s Games Developers Conference, Valve showed off some new high-res screenshots of Portal 2.

The hotly anticipated sequal to 2007′s Portal is coming to PC, Xbox and PS3 on the 18th of next month. One thing is clear looking at these new screenshots, Valve’s Source engine still has plenty of life left in it.

Head on over to hlfallout and check out the screens.

Valve offer a 10% discount if you pre-order 1 copy of the game and 20% off if you purchase the 2-pack. Amazon are also taking pre-orders.

Portal 2 up for pre-purchase on Steam

Portal 2

The sequel to 2007′s Portal will find its way to the shelves and download slots of fans on the 18th of April (US). However Valve are trying to offer an incentive to pre-purchasing the game now by offering a 10% discount. If you buy the Portal 2 pack you will get 20% off.

Amazon are also offering the game at the discounted price if you pre-order now.

Portal 2 Gets Release Date

Valve has very recently announced at GamesCon the forthcoming release of Portal 2. We already knew the game was due in 2011 but now have confirmation that the follow-up to 2007′s Portal will hit the shelves (or in Steam’s case the download library) in February 2011.

Another interesting twist, Steve Merchant of The Office will be lending his voice to ‘buddy sphere’ Wheatley. Merchant was the co-writer of the hit brit show along with Ricky Gervais. No word on Ricky’s involvement just yet.

Also as expected, it looks like Portal 2′s release will not incorporate any kind of 3D gaming. Valve earlier in the year said they will be waiting for the next version of Portal before they incorporate 3D into the game.