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Tag: augue

  • Amazon Hires Creator Of Portal To Make Games For The Fire TV [Report]

    When you’re building a new gaming platform, what do you do first? If you’re smart, you secure talent to create content for said platform. Amazon has been doing just that for a few years now, but now it has its own sort-of games console with the Fire TV. Now it looks like the company has hired some incredible talent to make games for its new platform.

    Kotaku reports that Kim Swift and Clint Hocking to make games for its new Fire TV platform. Those in the know will recognize Swift as one of the creators of Valve’s incredibly popular Portal franchise. She was also the one behind 2012’s Quantum Conundrum. Hocking may not be as immediately recognizable as Swift, but he’s also well-known among certain circles as the director of Ubisoft’s Far Cry 2.

    With these two hires, it’s apparent that Amazon is getting serious about game development. It already has its own Amazon Game Studios making exclusive games for the Fire TV. Swift and Hocking will likely work with Amazon’s own internal game development studios to create games for its Fire TV platform. More specifically, the two will likely join Double Helix Games in making games that will appeal to core gamers.

    Core gamers are apparently key to Amazon’s strategy as no other micro-console, like the Ouya, has yet to really appeal to core gamers. These are the gamers that demand the very best in gameplay and technology from their entertainment. So far, only dedicated games consoles and PCs have been able to deliver the experiences they crave. While the Fire TV isn’t anywhere near as powerful as a PS4 or top of the line PC, it’s certainly more powerful than the other Android consoles on the market. With this power, Amazon Game Studios will likely attempt to craft experiences that will be just as memorable as Portal or Far Cry 2.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Valve Is Porting Portal To The Nvidia Shield

    Nobody really takes Android gaming that seriously. Ouya tried to appeal to the core gamer with its Kickstarter-backed platform, but it has pretty much fizzled out at this point. Despite this, Nvidia is still trying to make hardcore Android gaming a thing with its Shield platform, but it’s really only good for streaming PC games to a handheld device. Now Valve and Nvidia have teamed up to make Android gaming far more appealing.

    Nvidia announced this week that it’s working with Valve to bring Portal to the Shield. The new version of Portal will be built on Android, but will apparently be exclusive to the Shield. In other words, you’re going to have to pick up Nvidia’s pricey Android handheld if you want to play Portal on the go.

    Valve Is Porting Portal To The Nvidia Shield

    “Nvidia has created a very powerful and unique device with Shield,” said Doug Lombardi at Valve. “Our companies have a strong history working together and we’re looking forward to Portal‘s arrival on Shield.”

    Those worried that Valve would just bring a stripped down puzzle-only experience to the Shield shouldn’t be. It sounds like Portal on the Shield will be a near-perfect port of the PC title with all the content intact. That’s good news for those who bought a Shield expecting great Android games and have thus far used it as a handheld emulation machine.

    If Portal does well on the Shield, it very may well convince other developers to make Shield specific titles for Nvidia’s handheld. Who knows – we may just see the Shield becoming a powerful player in both the Android and dedicated gaming handheld markets.

    Image via Nvidia

  • ‘Portal’ Fan Film Depicts the End of Humans at Aperture Laboratories

    It’s easy to see why the Portal games have such a devoted fanbase. The games feature no combat to speak of, and (in addition to wonderfully-written non-human characters) the mind-bending nature of the games’ puzzles speak directly to what gaming is at a basic level: progressing through increasingly difficult levels on the way to a memorable ending.

    So, Portal fans are fairly obsessive over the franchise, etching music into stainless steel, creating mash-ups, and filming several fan films, most depicting what it would really be like to have a portal gun. This week, yet another fan tribute to the series has appeared on YouTube.

    Titled Portal: Survive!, the short film starts off with a depiction of Chell, the player character in the Portal games. It then moves into a bit of backstory, depicting the final moments of the (human) scientists working at Aperature Laboratories. The events and references seen in the video are taken from the story gleaned from the Portal games, as well as the web comic Portal 2: Lab Rat.

    According to the its YouTube description, the movie was created by Colin and Connor McGuire for less than $500. It was filmed at YouTube Space LA, a production house in Los Angeles that helps YouTubers create original content for the site.

  • Do Want: Bioshock, Portal, and Skyrim as Little Golden Books

    If there are two things that my future children will be acquainted with at an early age, its Little Golden Books and Bioshock.

    One artist has put the two together (along with Portal and Skyrim) to create some killer mashups.

    “As the sun sets on this current generation of video games, I’ve been thinking about some of the classic games that people will still (hopefully) point to years from now and hold them up as games that made a difference, and possibly, for some child out there, Portal or Skyrim will be a memory from their early childhood,” says the artist, Joey Spiotto.

    Right on. Hopefully, my kids will sleep with a Mr. Bubbles. Maybe even a Dovahkiin doll. Maybe, if I have a daughter, she can don the orange pants and white tank-top of our Portal heroine for Halloween. Those are the kinds of thoughts that occur to me while looking at these wonderful little prints. Bravo.

    You can purchase the 3-print set for $50 over on Etsy.

    [Joebot via Kotaku]

  • Play Portal on Your Graphing Calculator, Because Why Not

    I have fond memories of pretending to perform algebraic equations while instead playing awesome calculator games on my couple hundred-dollar TI-83. Anyone who took a semi-advanced math class in high school or college probably shares some of these same memories.

    Having said that, my time would have been a lot more enjoyable if I would have been able to play Portal instead of that “hey which urinal should I chose” game.

    Today’s cool thing of the day is this Portal clone, Portal Prelude, which is playalbe on the TI-83 Plus and TI-84 Plus series of graphing calculators.

    If you want to play it, it’s downloadable here.

    [Builderboy via The Daily What]

  • Portal 2 DLC For PlayStation Move is on the Way

    November 6 is a big day. It’s election day in the U.S. More importantly, it’s also launch day for Halo 4.

    Sony is trying its best to take some wind out of Microsoft’s sails, though, and will be releasing a PlayStation Move compatible version of Portal 2 via the PlayStation Network on November 6. The game will be 30% off for PlayStation Plus members and those who already own Portal 2 for PlayStation 3 will receive the PlayStation Move upgrade in a free patch.

    Over on the PlayStation Blog, Sixense Studios announced it has collaborated with Sony and Valve to bring PlayStation Move support to Portal 2. Better yet, what’s being called a “motion DLC campaign” for Portal 2 will also be available next Tuesday for $10.

    Called Portal 2 In Motion, the DLC will provide players with new test chambers requiring players to use new powers. One of the new abilities is the scaling and rotation of objects, as well as grabbing and placing objects from a distance. As demonstrated in the video below, this ability will allow players to distort companion cubes and other objects to function as bridges or sit on more than one switch. Another power Sixslide calls “portal surfing” allows players to slide an active portal along a surface.

  • MADE: A Fully Functional Sentry Turret from Portal

    TARGET ACQUIRED. DISPENSING PRODUCT.

    Are you still there? Good, because I want to show you what’s going to be the envy of every gaming room and hip office across the world.

    Not much to see here – just a fully functioning replica turret from Portal, commissioned by Valve and produced by award-winning design and manufacturing studio WETA Workshop.

    “On September 13th, 2012, Valve received another mysterious crate from WETA Workshop. Inside was a full-scale, articulated Portal turret, complete with a motion sensor. Once again, WETA Workshop’s gone far, far beyond our expectations to deliver something truly amazing. Thank you, WETA Workshop!” says Valve.

    Screw the iPhone 5, this is the best unboxing video you’ll see all week:

    Sure, there have been Aperture Science turrets made before – even ones that featured sound. But nothing like this, with the motion tracking and all. It’s in a league of its own.

    According to VentureBeat, WETA leaves the door open for these little replicas to go on the market. Although, they would definitely be too pricey for the average Portal enthusiast to own.

    I’m assuming that the turret doesn’t actually fire live rounds. Now, if it could be modified to launch jelly beans or something…

  • Portal 2 Brings Co-Op Level Creation And Coupons To PC Gamers

    Valve is never truly finished with a game. Barring their continued lack of support for Half-Life, the developer continues to add new updates to all of their games. Their latest game, Portal 2, has received some pretty meaty updates over the past year including a level editor. The level editor is now becoming more awesome.

    The guys at Valve call it the “Perpetual Testing Initiative” and its goal is to provide a limitless supply of puzzles to Portal 2 players around the world. Until now, the level editor was only built for single-player puzzles, but one half of the core game is built around co-op. That’s why Valve has now expanded the level editor to let people create co-op puzzles.

    Valve knows that a lot of us don’t have any friends to play these co-op puzzles with though. That’s why all Portal 2 owners will receive a 75 percent off Portal 2 coupon in their Steam inventory today. They can give the coupon to a friend so they can pick up Portal 2 on the PC for only $5.

    They have also added a quick play feature to Portal 2. It will create a randomly generated playlist of the top rated Portal 2 user created levels. It’s never ending so you can keep playing until your eyes bleed or you become a potato, whichever one comes first.

    Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like they recorded any new lines for everybody’s favorite Aperture founder – Cave Johnson. The first level editor update did though and you can listen to all the lines here. Here’s hoping that Portal 2 gets some story content later on that brings more Cave Johnson fun to the Portal 2 faithful. It would be enough to get me playing the game again.

  • Watch This Guy Beat Portal In 8 Minutes

    Speed runs are one of my most favorite things when it comes to gaming. Watching a grand master complete a game in the fraction of the time it took me to complete it fills me with awe. Granted, there are speed runs are less fun because they use scripts or cheats, but this is not one of them.

    YouTube user, SourceRuns, has posted his team’s run of Portal that completes the game in 8 minutes and 31 seconds. That beats the previous record of 9 minutes and 25 seconds. Here’s the description of the run from the YouTube channel:

    Portal Done Pro-er (this run) is our improvement of the current segmented Portal speedrun, Portal Done Pro (PDP). However, to be SDA legal we have done our run without using scripts/cheats/hacks for any portion of the run. This run first started after the discovery of a new glitch, which snowballed into a whirlwind of discoveries of new tricks, skips, and glitches. We started running chambers in April, took a brief hiatus, and then resumed work in late June. The bulk of the run was completed in about 2 weeks time. The final result cuts roughly 53 seconds of realtime off of PDP, bringing the total time to 8:31.93. This run is the second official run of a commercial title to be released by the Sourceruns team, and the second run to be submitted to SDA. However, it is the first Sourceruns project to be done without scripts

    Check out the impressive speed run below:

    As you may have guessed, this run uses liberal amounts of glitches to complete the speedrun. It almost makes sense that the portal gun would be able to create doors into alternate dimensions that allow players to skip entire sections.

    [h/t: PC Gamer]

  • LEGO + Portal = Shut Up And Take My Money

    I love LEGO. I love Portal. What if there was a way to combine my love for two equally awesome things into a single property of epic proportions? Good thing LEGO Cuusoo exists to make my dreams a reality.

    If you aren’t familiar with LEGO Cuusoo, here’s the short version: It’s a Web site where fans can propose new LEGO sets. After it reaches the set amount of votes, the LEGO company looks into making the set a reality. It has already worked for an amazing LEGO Minecraft set, and now the fans are attempting to get a Portal set made.

    The idea was proposed on June 28 and it already has an amazing 3,149 backers for the project. The team behind the design has proposed three initial LEGO sets based on various scenes from the first Portal game. They include GLaDOS’ chamber, a testing room and a LEGO board game. It’s actually a pretty amazing project and it deserves your votes.

    LEGO Portal

    While there is no guarantee that the set will get made if it reaches the requisite number of votes, I say it has a better chance than most. Valve loves to make quality merchandise of its properties (life-size replicas of the Portal Gun and turrets, anyone?) and a LEGO set would be one more step on its way to global domination of the toy market. So, if you have a heart, cast your vote over at the LEGO Cuusoo page.

    LEGO Portal

    While you’re at it, you can cast a vote for these equally deserving projects: Castle Crashers, League of Legends, and Doctor Who. With your help, we can make sure that the world get the LEGO sets that deserve to be made.

  • This Quantum Conundrum Game Show Could Have Been Nick Arcade (It’s Not)

    I think I’m not the only one who yearns for a return of Nick Arcade. The early 90s game show featured kids answering trivia questions based around video games and then the winners attempting to navigate a virtual reality side-scrolling platformer to claim the top prize. It touched many young gamers’ hearts and made us hope that video games had a bright future as the subject of game shows. Unfortunately, Nick Arcade was cancelled only after one season and we never saw one again – until now.

    To help sell Quantum Conundrum, the new game from Portal co-creator Kim Swift, iam8bit has put together a faux-game show based based on the title called “The Super Dimensional Quantum Learning’s Problems and Solutions Gametime Spectacular!!” If that sounds a tad bit ridiculous to you, you’re not alone. It almost seems like the whole thing was thrown together at the last minute and the title was just an afterthought based on stereotypical Japanese game show titles.

    So how’s the actual show? It’s admirable that they kept the feel of the game in tact, but the actual content just isn’t very good. We do, however, get to see what Kevin Pereira has been up to since he left G4 and Attack of the Show. He’s the highlight of an otherwise atrocious attempt at trying to be a parody of the game shows I grew up with in the 90s.

    This is just the first episode of the planned mini-series so here’s hoping it gets better from here on out. There are still three more dimensions for them to play around with so the challenges could get more interesting.

    As a final thought, some network should really bring back Nick Arcade or some kind of approximation. If that fails, I’d be willing to settle for a new season of Legends of the Hidden Temple. We can make this happen.

  • “I’m Different” – Official Portal Turret Replicas Up For Sale

    It has been well over a year since Portal 2 was released, and in that time enthusiasm for the game doesn’t seem to have died down. Just this year Portal fans have been laser-etching stainless steel and creating fan videos about the series. Now that Valve has released the “Perpetual Testing Initiative” DLC, a burgeoning community will keep churning out new Portal 2 content until the release of Portal 3 forever.

    Gaming Heads, a company that sells replica models of well-known Valve game characters, such as the Heavy and the Headcrab Zombie, is beginning to build a Portal 2 statue line. The first model they have created is a version of the lovable taking turrets, and the company has just begun accepting pre-orders.

    The turret comes in two different limited editions. 750 of the standard turret replicas will be made. They will cost $300 and have a motion sensor that controls the turret’s eye. For $25 more, though, customers can buy one of 350 exclusive models that will include activation, search mode, disabled, and other sound clips from Portal 2. Both models have been generated using the in-game 3D files from Portal 2 and measure 16 inches tall. They are cast in poly-stone, hand painted, and come with a numbered validation card. Unfortunately, the exclusive turrets are sold out, though Gaming Heads does provide a waiting list in case someone cancels their order. The standard version is still available, though, so act quickly if you can spare $300 for one.

    The turret models will start shipping sometime near the end of 2012. Gaming Heads doesn’t state what is next for its Portal 2 statue line-up, but I think its safe to assume the defective turret might be seen at some point, along with the Frankenturret.

  • Complete Your Portal 2-Themed Android Phone With a Wheatley Live Wallpaper

    Were you one of the lucky few in the U.S. who were actually able to get their hands on a Samsung Galaxy S III yesterday? Can’t get enough Portal? Why not create an entire Portal theme for your spiffy new Android phone? You can start with a new Live Wallpaper that puts Portal 2‘s Wheatley right in your smartphone’s background.

    The Wheatley Live Wallpaper sets the background of an Android phone (one running version 2.2 and up, at least) to the likeness of everyone’s favorite dumb and insane personality core. Wheatley’s eye will follow the user’s finger around the screen as they navigate the Android home screens. Unfortunately, the wallpaper won’t feature Stephen Merchant’s voice or any witty banter. Users can, though, change the color of Wheatley’s eye. Check out the short YouTube video below that demonstrates the wallpaper’s functionality:

    The Wheatley Live Wallpaper was created by a Malaysian developer named Wye Mun Chin. Chin has created other Live Wallpapers for Android, including one similar to the Wheatley Live Wallpaper based on the movie “The Ring” that has the ghost girl’s eye follow the user around the screen. He has also created a game for the Android operating system called UFO Pew Pew. The Wheatley Live Wallpaper can be downloaded for $1 through the Google Play app store.

    (via DroidLife)

  • Schools Can Now Think With Portals For Free

    Schools Can Now Think With Portals For Free

    There’s no denying that the education system needs some work. Children just aren’t interested in the old boring way of learning anymore. Why would they want to sit in a classroom being lectured at for an hour when they could be spending that time playing video games? Well, what if the class was all about playing video games?

    It’s a crazy enough of an idea to work and Valve knows crazy better than anybody else. To that end, the game developer announced the Teach with Portals initiative. The idea behind it is that kids can learn about physics and critical-thinking skills while playing Portal 2. I didn’t really get that because I was too busy falling in love with Cave Johnson, but I digress.

    The Teach with Portals program isn’t just an excuse to teach kids some science. Valve has really gone all out with this one by adding lesson plans created by real teachers that use the game to teach valuable lessons about science, thinking and the joys of space.

    The best part is that teachers can grab Portal 2, the Portal 2 Puzzle Maker and a collection of teacher-created puzzles for themselves and however many students they have for free. That’s right, folks, Valve is giving away Portal 2 and its map editor to students and teachers. That’s about the coolest thing that any video game developer has ever done.

    So now we have Portal 2, StarCraft II, Civilization and Minecraft all being used in the classroom in some capacity or another. It makes me wonder when we’re going to get to use Gears of War in the classroom to teach students the proper way to shove a grenade down a subterranean monster’s throat. You’d be surprised how many students are totally unprepared for such a scenario.

    If you’re a teacher or want to pretend you’re a teacher, you can grab the Teach with Portals collection of here. I would turn a homicidal AI into a potato and back for a chance to learn with a video game. Best I ever got was Math Blaster so you kids better enjoy it, for my sake.

  • The Dangers Of An IRL Portal Gun On Display In POrtal: Terminal Velocity

    It’s clear that having a Portal gun would be pretty useful in a variety of scenarios. Need to catapult yourself over a high wall? Simple, just climb up high, blast one portal on a wall behind you and one on the ground below and jump. Too lazy to get up and walk across the room to grab your remote off the floor? Easy, just use your protal gun to drop it down to yourself through the ceiling.

    Those practical uses don’t even touch the impractical, incredibly fun, but highly dangerous activities that could come from a real life Portal gun.

    You know, like terminal velocity?

    As we’ve seen in countless science fiction stories for centuries, human nature is en enemy to scientific development. For every amazing breakthrough in any scientific field, there are at least a few people who would opt to use the new technology in some…unintended ways.

    For instance, you know that everything that happens in this amazing short entitled POrtal: Terminal Velocity is spot on. If you and your buddies were screwing around with a real-life Portal gun, it would only be a question of when, not if someone would drop someone from the ceiling.

    This project comes to us from visual effects artist Jason Craft:

    I tried to match the game as close as possible. This was the most challenging project I have ever undertaken, consisting of 3D tracking, seamless camera cuts and 3D camera projection. This started out as an experiment since I didn’t think I could even pull it off, if I knew it would’ve turned out as good as it did I would’ve put more of a story behind it. O well, it makes up for in Visual Effects.

    I’ll say. Pretty amazing stuff.

  • Portal 2 Makes Super Street Fighter II A Fighter For The Ages

    I was one of those weird kids that didn’t like Street Fighter II that much when everybody else was playing it on the SNES. I much preferred Rare’s Killer Instinct, but that was probably just due to the far superior announcer. Super Street Fighter II didn’t do much else to make me a fan, but there are a few things that could greatly improve the fighter. One of those things is apparently a portal gun.

    The guys at ThePixelKingdom has made me realize how amazing it would be to have a Portal gun in a fighter. Sure, you could argue that a portal gun is basically just cheating when it comes to fighters. I counter that argument by saying that a portal gun would make fighters absolutely hilarious. The mere concept of being able to hit your opponent with their own attacks or send them flying through the air at terminal velocity is absolute genius.

    The only unfortunate part about this whole amazing thing is that it’s not a real game. I highly doubt it will stay that way for long though. The temptation of being able to complete that stupid car punching mini-game in less than five seconds is too much to bear.

    If you recall, there was a similar mash up of Portal and classic gaming not too long ago called Mari0. Better yet, that mash-up was a real game and it’s been continuously updated to provide more levels and more challenges for those who want 2D platforming portal antics.

    ThePixelKingdom asks what games should get the Portal treatment next. At this point, I feel like portal guns are the next Guile’s Theme – it just goes well with everything. I’m partial to seeing a mashup of Castlevania and Portal just to see the look on Dracula’s face.

  • Guy Builds Functional Portal Turret in Robotics Class

    Guy Builds Functional Portal Turret in Robotics Class

    Youtube user kss5095 built a real working model of the turrets from Portal in his Advanced Mechatronics class at Penn State University.

    The turret actually tracks a person moving across a room and shoots foam bullets. Sorry, no real guns are mounted on the device.

    Although the device comes equipped with a laser, it actually uses a webcam to see its prey. The software controlling the device is written in MATLAB. He got the USB Turrets from Dream Cheeky.

    But the thing that makes it really special is that it plays the creepy sound effects from the game when booting up and searching for a victim.

    “Hello, friend.”

    “Would you come over here?”

    “Are you still there?”

    [h/t: ZDNet]

  • Listen to the Portal DLC Cave Johnson Quotes – All 26 Minutes of Them

    The Portal 2 downloadable content (DLC) that was released this week isn’t just a custom map maker. Ok, it pretty much is, but Valve has never been a company to simply throw something out to make a quick dime. It’s clear that Valve has put its special finishing touches on the “Perpetual Testing Initiative.” This can be seen particularly in the hilarious message from Aperture Science founder Cave Johnson that play when a test subject enters a custom chamber. Actor J.K. Simmons recorded tons of new audio for the DLC, and Valve’s writing staff used the opportunity to have some fun.

    Valve has carried over the multi-verse con conceit from the DLC’s silly trailer and continued to have Cave Johnson rant about evil multiple-universe versions of himself and insane alternate-dimension scenarios. To make sure you don’t miss one, YouTube user ac1th has posted all of the Cave Johnson audio, in order, played back-to-back. Listen to the audio below and hear how, impossibly, the messages continue to get weirder and stay funny all the way until the end.

    The comments actually seem to have a small narrative flow, so, this video is technically full of spoilers, but you would have to enter hundreds of custom test chambers to hear them all. Trust me, these messages are fantastic when played back-to back. After you listen to the whole thing (you will), leave a comment below and let me know your favorite parts.

    (via Topless Robot)

  • In the Portal 2 DLC Trailer, Cave Johnson Shows Off His Multiverse Con

    In the Portal 2 DLC Trailer, Cave Johnson Shows Off His Multiverse Con

    Yesterday it was reported that new downloadable content (DLC) for Portal 2 would be released on May 8th. Now a trailer for the DLC has been released showing what the “Perpetual Testing Initiative” will look like. Surprisingly, it looks very similar to the screenshots provided in a blog post back in October.

    The trailer is narrated by Aperture Science founder Cave Johnson and features the Portal series’ signature dry humor. The premise is that Johnson and Aperture Science, who are running out of money, want to con other, parallel-universe versions of Earth into building their test chambers. The best part is the subtle joke residing in the fine print accompanying an image of dozens of different Earths:

    Any resemblence to Earths not residing in the public domain is guaranteed by the physical laws of multiverse theory, and therefore not actionable.

    Have a look at the trailer and savor another small nugget of Cave Johnson’s mad genius:

    The trailer hits its tone perfectly, implying that Valve knows exactly what it is doing by releasing a map-maker. They are outsourcing content creation to us, the players. Not that I expect many players to complain. Crowd-sourcing creative projects such as puzzle-making has shown to be one of the most effective ways of producing high-quality content. With players able to upload maps to the Steam Workshop and vote on the best designs, the community surrounding Portal 2 will use the puzzle-maker in ways even Valve doesn’t expect, and keep at for years to come.

    What do you think? Leave a comment below and let me know what puzzle designs you have in mind to torture your fellow test subjects.

  • New Portal 2 Content Coming May 8th

    Valve, creators of games such as Half Life and Portal, have announced that new downloadable content (DLC) for the award-winning Portal 2 will be released on May 8th. The DLC is titled the “Perpetual Testing Initiative” and will be available for both Mac and PC.

    The DLC contains a “puzzle maker”, which will allow Portal 2 players to easily create puzzles utilizing aspects of the game, such as buttons, movement gels, or companion cubes. The puzzle maker will also allow players to publish their created maps to the Steam Workshop, where puzzles can be browsed, voted on, and downloaded for play. Valve said selected puzzles would be automatically downloaded and installed inside Portal 2.

    Valve has already released Portal 2 Authoring Tools that allow users to create Portal 2 maps and puzzles, but the “Perpetual Testing Initiative” will simplify the process and allow less technically sophisticated puzzle-makers to create their Portal 2 puzzles.

    The photo above was posted in the official Portal 2 blog back in October 2011, but probably doesn’t represent what the DLC actually contains. That blog entry was the first announcement that a simplified puzzle creator would be released. Many of the features announced today for the “Perpetual Testing Initiative” were mentioned back then, including the community sharing and map rating.

    And if you can’t wait two weeks for more Portal goodness, check out this Skyrim mod created by Valve. It mods The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim so that the “space” core from Portal 2 will follow your character around in Skyrim. I’m sure that will be enjoyable for around 10 minutes before you start whacking it around with your mace due to annoyance.

    The space core in Skyrim

  • Star Trek’s “Q” is the Voice of ‘Quantum Conundrum’

    Square Enix announced this week that actor John de Lancie will be providing voice talent for their upcoming game, Quantum Conundrum. de Lancie is best known for his role as “Q” in Star Trek: The Next Generation and recently leant his voice to the character of William Miles in the Assassin’s Creed series of games. In Quantum Conundrum, de Lancie will be the voice of Professor Fitz Quadwrangle. The professor will, while lost in another dimension, try and guide his nephew (the player) through his hazardous manor home.

    “The professor’s character is funny, a bit bizarre, and a great joy to perform,” said de Lancie. “If players have half as much fun with the game as I did playing the character, then they’ll be having a great time.”

    Though the game may sound silly, it is the next game from PORTAL co-creator Kim Swift. In the game, players are a young kid who arrives at his uncle’s mansion and finds him trapped in another dimension. Players must use Uncle Quadwrangle’s wild inventions to save him. The “IDS Device” in particular will allow players to shift dimensions such that the objects around them become “fluffy” or gravity is reversed. The gameplay is exactly the type of puzzle platforming that made me fall in love with the PORTAL games, and I’m hoping Quantum Conundrum can re-create the the joy those games have given me. It is encouraging that they have hired good voice talent.

    The game is scheduled for release sometime this summer, and you will be able to download it on PC, the Xbox Live Arcade, or the Playstation Network. Check out the trailer and see all the silly, crazy inter-dimensional action coming your way: