f13.net

It unlocks in 3 and half hours.

IS ANYONE ELSE EXCITED TOO? OMGOMGOMG

Orange Box isn't available till Thursday. Are preorderers getting access to it a day early?

Well, they said on steam during the update message that it would unlock at midnight PST on October 10th.

I'm looking at the ticking countdown right now.  WHEE!

I'm not sure whether I'm going to play this or Ep 2 first TBH, since I've been looking forward to both of them for a long time.  I might have to alternate levels or something.

Oh God.  They both have achievements.  One of them involves carrying a gnome around.  I'm doomed.   :-(

Just beat the main game. Bonus levels unlocked!

Sleep first.

PPS: I'm still alive.

Yea!

So fucking awesome. :heart:

The re-centering camera pissed me off so much on the 18th test, though.  Every time I go through a portal and WHOOSH I'm looking in the worst possible direction.

Game beaten in 2 hours and a half? :(

Portal wasn't meant to be much more than that. It's well worth it and the replay is there. I'm still trying to figure out if I could of got the 30,000 feet achievement by cycling through the same hole.

BEST. CREDITS. EVER.

Took me about 3.  Agreeing with the best credits ever comment :D

Well, I didn't know and I am disappointed :(


Which reminds me of Bioshock's end credits. Wait. Where are the end credits?

Decrypting the files ATM, I decided to sleep and go to work before I play. I do not know anything about this game.

unlock, damn you, unlock! :angryfist:

Fucking fantastic.

FUCKING FANTASTIC. I was laughing to myself the entire time I was playing it, a game has not done that in A VERY LONG TIME.

Inventive, charming, clean.

A++.

Yes, best credits ever.

LOL.  Mike Patton as the anger sphere.  Thought that last bit's voice sounded familiar.

Agree with everyone else, Best Credits Ever.  They should make some kind of special award to honor them.

At number 18. Damn you breakfast! Damn you Work!

Best ending ever!!  I've never felt so satisfied after completing a game.

The Orange Box rocks my ass in ways I didn't think were possible anymore!

It was a good ~2 hours, a bit repetetive, felt like they somewhat wasted the potential a bit. Still good stuff.

Now, throw that whole portal shit into a real FPS togheter with the gravity gun and it could be intresting!

I thought you were going to say to throw it into TF2.


Whew.

4 hours and a half for good ole poorly coordinated me.

Still alive... after all that pressure, I must join the flock: best end credits ever and probably one of the most satisfying ending I can remember.

I only got to test 15 last night, but enjoyed it quite a bit.  Must play more later.

"You have remained resolute and resourceful in an environment of extreme pessimism."

- Q

Honestly, I just want them to replace the teleporter graphic with an industrialized portal graphic and make it two way. You could actually escape from a fucking pyro that way - actually hell, let them shoot through the portal. Offensive teleporters for the win.

I  :heart: the Companion Cube !

You certainly know how to paint a picture.  That would be awesome.

Well, now that its in the engine, I imagine it wont be long before you see moders start making use of it.  I'm sure somebody could easily make a shooter based around it, or mod it into existing games.  I'm sure you'll also start seeing 1'000's of custom made portal levels hitting the internet, which I imagine should give the game some more longevity.

Portal + TF2 really fucking badly makes me want to learn how to use HAMMER. Maybe me and Yegolev are stupid enough to try since Ookii is a big pussy.

I was just told that there's supposed to be a computer voice/narrator. I haven't heard it at all. Anyone else have this issue? Other sounds are fine.

Edit: Nevermind, I switched it from english->german->english and it worked. Time to replay from start and get the "plot"
Edit2: So far, my favorite part is "In rare cases, the portal may emancipate teeth fillings and enamel"

YOU COULDN'T HEAR THE VOICE?

God it's the reason I was playing. lol.

It's a puzzle game, I figured it was self explanatory. There was a bit of style just waking up not knowing where you were, with just music playing on the radio, going from room to numbered room.. like cube, the movie, only with less death.

The voices of the gun turrets are amazing. I cant say how fucking awesome they are.

I can, because I wandered around looking for a little girl for about 30 minutes thinking it was going to turn into motherfucking silent hill up in that shit.

At that moment, I thought it was 50 times cooler than it is.

Now I know where a modder should go with it though.

It was definitely quick and a bit easy, but the atmosphere throughout was just awesome. I suspect the bonus maps are where the brain breakers are. The ending was in fact made of awesome. I was pretty happy with the FMV, but then, yeah. Brilliant.

Are there two endings?

I look forward to trying the challenge and advanced maps. I do think they kind of copped out on the puzzles towards the end, relying more on a mix of platforming and portaling skills rather than really forcing you to do hellish real-time-portaling jumps.

I expect the custom map makers will satisfy my desire for fucked up, hair-pulling Portal maps before long.

And yes, both the credits and the turrets are extraordinarily awesome.

Edit: Credit song MP3 plz.

Yea, I'm still wasting about four or five hours a night sleeping.  Sleep is invading my motherfucking.  Still, HAMMER can't be any worse than TESCS...?

Hammer isn't that bad actually, at least coming from BSP and QERadiant.  It was always the Unreal editor that baffled me. 

I'm going to actually take a look at some editing too, Portal inspired me.

I missed this when it originally came out. For a little Portal related goodness:

http://www.aperturescience.com/

Credits song! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6ljFaKRTrI)  :heart: youtube.

Narrator? Oh fuck. Now I have to replay it.

The only thing I managed to get out of that was an amusing response to 'HELP'.


I have too many games I'm not playing as it is, but now I need to pick up this HL2 Orange Box thing, just to put that in context.  That song made me twitch several times.

--
Alkiera

try "Login", any username, password 'portal'.

I hope you guys didn't miss the powerpoint presentation about black mesa near the end of the game. Any idea who/what gave the bloody directions?

Login with CJOHNSON/TIER3 instead for admin access and more stuff.

There's 2 instances where the presentation can be seen. Once just after the "end" of 19 and later on before the very end of the game.

Oh dear god.

That was BEAUTIFUL. Even in youtube resolution.

Valve likes their polish.

has anyone finished advanced 18? I got over the first slime pit and I'm sitting at the edge of the second crying. I even stacked the shit in the backroom and jumped on the camera to try and get a better view, but alls I got are problems.

edit: Vanilla Crazy Cake'd

I've been trying the challenges, can't get 13 in 4 portals though. Did 5 first time through, can't wrap my head around 4.

---
Edit: What happens if you die in the game? Is the ending different?

I got stuck there too. Will try it again tomorrow, but I'm thinking you have to try and land a portal onto the high platform while you are flying over from the first fling. I don't see how else it could be done.

a friend suggested that and I felt like a total dorkhat. took out my frustration by kung-fu toppling all the turrets.

I am having way too much fun with low-portal challenges, they're almost like entirely new levels. footsteps and timers though...fuck that noise.

2.6 Hours.

A masterpiece.

Who says short games aren't worth the money. Knowing what I know, I'd pay $60 just to own a standalone metal box for it.

That's exactly it. Wait till you get to the turret room. That fucker pissed me off.

The turret voices are fucking creepy. "I. don't hate you..." "Put me down..." "Are you still there...?"

Also, the hidden area in about test 17 I think? "THE CAKE IS A LIE"

I'm not done yet. This game is art.

I'm actually stuck on plain 18, having disposed of the turrets on the raised platforms I am facing something that looks like an impossible timing puzzle, having to setup portals, hit a button, then setup a second set of portals and direct a glowysphere in the 3 seconds available.

EDIT: I am a dumbass. A friend pointed out that I could do things in a slightly different order and it all clicks now.

The Weighted Companion Cube test is my current favorite as far as evoking emotional response (mostly laughing my ass off, but something else at the end).

- Q

Metal box for the win. I want a collector commemorative triumphant excessive package for this thing. Digital download doesn't do Portal any justice.

The turrets are adorable. Any game which gives you twinges of guilt for knocking over an inanimate lump of metal which is shooting you is doing something right.

(Edit: Valve - desktop USB-powered Portal turrets firing nerf darts, complete with voice samples. Do it).

Although they're not as bad as *spoiler*throwing the naive/childlike GLaDOS sphere-core-thingy into the incinerator. It's part of an insane AI actively trying to kill you, and yet I still felt bad about killing that particular one*spoiler*  :(

Why stop at Nerf darts Simond? Why not just airsoft rounds or paintballs? Hardcore to the max when you get headshotted. :)

Played straight through last night.  Forced myself to go to bed rather than start on the bonus levels.   Well, I did try the first one.

Anyone got *spoiler* GLaDOS' rants & the spheres speech from the final fight *spoiler* transcribed yet, btw?

I started this last night, terrific game. I kept finishing one level, thinking I'd go to bed but... maybe... I'll just take a look at the next one before I quit. Next thing I know I'm placing portals.

Forced myself to stop at 16, wanting to savor it just a little bit longer. I really hope that more levels get released, it's a wonderful concept.

http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2007/10/11/portal-has-the-best-song-in-modern-gaming-here-is-how-you-get-it-from-your-install (http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2007/10/11/portal-has-the-best-song-in-modern-gaming-here-is-how-you-get-it-from-your-install)

Ars article on how to extract the credits song...

Or, you could just download it. (http://cawfee.us/n/stillalive.mp3).

This is, hands down, the best experience in gaming I've ever been a part of.  The fact it is concentrated into such a small time frame made it that much more pure.  They didn't really waste any opportunity.

How did you find out about the CJOHNSON login?

I'll put that in the Spoiler thread.

Wow, I really didn't think they'd be able to end it that well.

Awesome.

Oh my god I love the turret gun voices, they are genius.

I got to level 18 and they had to get to bed, but the game is a blast. I only wish the difficulty ramped up a little sooner, those first 14 levels or so just flew by.

Absolute Brilliance. It's an awesome season for games - but I know this one will stand out in my mind as the best game I played all year. Hellgate, TF2, BioShock and all the others are going to last longer, but I love this game.

I started playing it only 30 minutes ago but already loving it. The computerized voice is absolute brilliance: can't wait to hear what all this talk of turrets is about :).

It will probably take me like two or three days to complete it since I'm totally dumb at puzzle games, but hey, I'll do it sooner or later :P

I don't know if you have figured this out yet, but the portals do have a top and bottom that you need to consider, which is really only an issue if you put one on a horizontal surface.  I actually had to place one on the floor in a certain orientation for my solution to work in one of the advanced levels.

God I loved learning that.

I think the designers were trying to bring people in who normally only play puzzle games and haven't had much experience with first-person gameplay. Also people who haven't seen the trailer and don't understand what a portal is. I had a friend of mine by to try it out and he was completely baffled by it... just conceptually. He thought the blue portals were holes in walls and the orange portal was a mirror... and he didn't realize he was supposed to pick up the gun. Then he got minor motion sickness during the early flinging chambers and stopped playing.

I think part of Valve's goal here is to make, in Yahtzee's words, a "game for your mum" that will still impress and entertain the jaded gamer.

I'd really like to say "your friend is dumb" here, but I suppose there's a bit of foundation learning that I've basically grown up into, like playing doom while I was still in high school. I also love puzzles and games of all types. I can't say how much or how little that may have helped me in the game. I didn't find any of the challenges difficult, I thought the levels were all straightforward and a bit trite at the end since it was the same old thing you learned early.

Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Portal is in no way for anyone's MUM.

This game was a tiny glimpse of the Half Life world.

It was a masterpiece that fleshed out things I don't even think Valve expected.

It almost wasn't:

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=13075
http://planethalflife.gamespy.com/fullstory.php?id=115496
changed to

Ok, now really, I just ended another game session and first thing I did when I brought up this page was looking for an ideal place to shoot an orange portal...This is sick.

I fired up Episode 2 right after finishing Portal and kept being disappointed that I couldn't just portal myself to distant objectives.

The Apeture method of portal technology is certainly a lot less messy than the Black Mesa method, which is prone to resonance cascades (dur), disruption (Lamar!), and worldwide consequences (7-Hour War).

DOH!  32/33 cameras destroyed.  Missed one somewhere.  Was still fun playing through again at least!

- Q

Wow.  I really liked all the "Advanced" maps, but the challenges are just.... evil.

Amen to that. I got gold on the first 3 for number of portals, but the next 3 look terrifying.

How the fuck did you manage to get 13 with 4 portals? 5 is is cake, but I can't figure out how to reduce that by one.


Edit: Nevermind, i figured it out I fucking HATE using boxes as a goddamn shield to direct the energy balls.  Also, if you have developers commentary on and finish a challenge, it says "CHEATED!" at the end, and you get no credit.  Ask me how I know.

Finished.  Best Puzzle/FPS ever :)  Took about 4 hrs over two sessions.  Great stuff, very innovative.  Let their be cake.  Advanced for later. 

Chamber 18 on advanced is pure love.

Yup, the advanced challenges are delightful.

Just finished getting golds on the least portals set of challenges. The least number of steps challenges are totally crazy hard. Imagine doing the Test 13 in under 20 steps. That's just the silver medal...

I am *horrible* at the challenges.  I'm just not approaching the problems correctly, I think.

But I keep coming back to them and am slowly making some progress.

- Q

The collectible box should totally look like a weighted companion cube.

Can anyone point me to where I can find some Portal images like the ones in schild's and Yegolev's avatars?  My google fu is weak, and I want to find the one that has the 'turret warning' label.

Press f5 to take screenshots.

(http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/9639/iconsiy0.jpg)

So....Sauced pretty much got my buddy Pete hooked on this last night.

Cool frickin game, can't wait to get home to try it out. (I did not get a chance to play as buddy was glued to the keyboard the whole time).

The voiceover lady was crackin me up :)

I want an Aperture Science logo t-shirt.

Me too.  Possibly with "We do what we must, because we can." on the back.

- Q

Just finished up the normal game.  Serious love for this as well as the credits.  I must own the song.

 :heart: :heart: :heart: :heart: :heart: :heart: :heart: :heart: :heart:

Best antagonist ever. And that song is pure goodness.

Edit: Wanted to keep it spoilerfree, but Schild is too fast!  :-)

Yea, she really kicked Mr. Page square in the balls and shit in his mouth. She puts everything else to shame.

Whoa, beat it yesterday and loved it. The ending and the credits are fabulous, I laughed so hard :)

"What is that, who are you, WHAT...IS...THAT??"

I really can't place it in a ideal and personal "all time favorites" because it's quite a particular experience, but if I had to place it, it would surely be in the top 10, at least (btw, Deus Ex is at n.3 for me too, behind Ultima Underworld 2 at the top and Planescape Torment 2nd)

This game rocked... now it just needs some rocket launchers.

Unlike Schild who is far more organized than I, I don't have a top games list. If I did however, Portal would be in the all-time top 5. It took me back to my days of youth and reminded me of why I love games and how that came about. It's absolutely satisfying, entertaining, challenging and new. There's been so many good games in the last 25 years, but Portal is one of the very few that will be eternally in my mind as a watermark. And I could care less how long it is.

I could see them making this into a movie to...

Looking for [InsertRandomStuffHere] on the net I found this which refers to the original incarnation of Portal (http://www.mobygames.com/game/narbacular-drop) before the Valve acquisition.
I link it here just as curious trivia:

Narbacular Drop is very short and un-fun.

This team needed Valve.

Amen to that.

They need to add achievements for getting gold on all of the least step puzzles. Those are fucking demonic, especially 13. Two more to go...

Anyone can explain the medal mechanism?  How does the game determine if you get a gold, silver or bronze medal?  Time or number of portals used or both?

There are three different challenges for each challenge level:  time, number-of-steps, and number-of-portals.

Each different challenge has three goals (bronze/silver/gold medal).

The one you're working on is selected by the drop-down box in the lower right of the level selection dialog box.

- Q

Myspace page for the portal song (http://www.myspace.com/portalsong)

I'm on what I think is the last part of the advanced test 18.  Jesus, the timing is ridiculous.  I think I have it figured out but it was 1 am when I had the epiphany and couldn't pull the hand and eye coordinations together in 5 tries to I went to bed.

I got stuck on 18 where I suspect you are -- I thought the timing for what I needed to do was totally impossible.  A friend suggested "do it in a different order" and I immediately saw how to make it work.  Sharing that hint here, in hopes it will un-stick you as well.

- Q

Got it.  Vanilla crazy cake is quite tasty.  Have some?

Spoiler Ridden Article, Discuss Link at the Bottom. (http://www.f13.net/index.php?itemid=610#more)

Ok, so, not meaning to derail, but this came up and i have to ask it;

In your (f13) personal opinion(s), is Portal a better game than Bioshock?

Discuss.

Unquestionably. I don't see how that would warrant discussion.

Personally yes, which is pretty unusual as I'm an Ayn Rand fan and loved BioShock. But Portal is what gaming should be - Bioshock was great but not consistently awesome. Portal was a masterpiece.

Bioshock had filler and didn't quite live up to the hype, plus dying didn't really slow you down in any way.  Portal does the opposite.

Portal kicks Bioshock's ass. Hell ep. 2 kicks Bioshock's ass as well. Bioshock could have been a lot better if they had closed out the game after the plot twist with Ryan. The story was interesting, but the basic gameplay just didn't change much after the first couple hours. Ep. 2 in comparison has a nice mix of crazy brawls, dungeon crawling, and driving.  And Portal, is well, Portal.

I dare say Portal may be one of the bigger steps forward for games as art. It was such a perfect melding of interesting gameplay( which are what games are all about ) with an interesting, if linear, plot( which is what games are good at. )

Sigh.

I can see your problem with my article. But I'm going to ask you straight out here - what was the goddamn problem with that comment? Did you PLAY Narbacular Drop? Have you even played Portal? Or did you wake up to rain this morning?

Fairly sure if you look back, you'll note I was a big fan of N'drop.  I played it a fair bit and while I'll concede that it was short, I put it to you that it was a frigging School Project and the basic Kernel of what you're calling Genius was ALL PRESENT.  Sure, we polish it up and add humour and presentation and, by synergy with HL, backstory and intrigue and dynamic, but Portal IS n'drop.

I have also completed Portal as well and find it a little less than I was expecting (Though I'm in full agreement with most of the commentry in ALL 3 THREADS that say it's brilliant.)  I was expecting a little more, I guess, though be aware I haven't even completed ALL the advanced maps.

I actually found N'Drop fun and intriguing for what it was.  Which was why I was dancing jigs (again, it's all in f13 somewhere...) when it was going to get the source treatment.

I find it a little offensive that you think the team 'needed' Valve.  Not hugely offensive.  I mean, I don't care.  I feel.  I feel bad that I don't care, but I don't care.  I think all this team needed was a break to get the recognition they deserved, frankly, and you're belittling that.

But, hey, you're still a great guy.  Or something.

(as to your article, I wasn't that critical, I just thought it was cheerleading for it's own sake.  I wanted some meat with my cake.)

Mmmmmmh.

(http://dethroner.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/bwmeatcake.jpg)

Everything he says about Portal, I agree with. (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/zeropunctuation/2541-Zero-Punctuation-The-Orange-Box)

I played it almost to completion without the computer's voice/dialog before someone told me something was missing. Because I missed everything but the essential play mechanic, I feel comfortable in thinking my first almost-run-through ws what the original developers brought to the table, and the second run through was what valve added.

The first run through was fun, solid gameplay, albeit a bit short and too uncomplicated for my tastes.

The second run through turned that game into a brilliant masterpiece. The song at the end was the capstone.


Edit: Why do my fingers automatically put a ue at the end of dialogue
Edit2: I love zero punctuation.

I'm only guessing here, but I suspect it's because dialogue really is spelt that way.

I love that guy.

When I say they needed Valve, I'm saying no one but Valve could have helped them polish it the way they did. Also, what? I praised them to the high heavens, but thinking they could have done it elsewhere is kinda ridiculous. They couldn't have. They needed Valve and obviously Valve needed them. So they delivered dollars.

Having graduated from one of those game developer schools I can say with a fair amount of certainty they did in fact need Valve. You learn a lot about your craft in those schools, but you never have the time or resources to learn how to really polish a project and make it fun for a wide range of players. In game design school you're creating projects with people who are hardcore game players and having them graded by people who are hardcore game players. It's a great deal of fun, but your projects can easily end up with mechanics that normal mortals would not enjoy. Listen to the developer commentary and I think you'll get a sense of how much Kim and the crew learned on this project. I think the iterative Valve design process taught them a lot about designing fun, accessible games.

By the way, Yahtzee schooled us all review-wise again.

You got a game buddy SChild.

Hi, welcome to 6 posts ago.

Hey, I prefer posting URLs instead of text links. :(

I watch ZP on youtube.

http://myspace.com/thereisnocake

Should your weighted companion cube ever speak, the enrichment center urges you to disregard it's advice.

Ha.

Didn't see it mentioned elsewhere, so here we go.

Half Life 2 played with the portal gun.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/clip/break-hl2-with-the-portal-gun-312239.php (http://kotaku.com/gaming/clip/break-hl2-with-the-portal-gun-312239.php)

Oh lord the end of that clip. :rofl:

That was really cool, now I know it must be possible to put the gun into TF2.

Also that guy was really bad at both HL2 and Portal.

http://www.primotechnology.com/2007/10/17/half-life-2-portal/ (http://www.primotechnology.com/2007/10/17/half-life-2-portal/) Should be all you need to add a portal gun to Source.

Technically, it's not adding a portal gun to other Source games, it's adding the levels from other Source games into Portal.  (Which means you still don't get multiplayer.)

Doesn't GMod have portals in it now?  And doesn't GMod have multiplayer?

Let's just all be thankful the SDK didn't drop the day the OB came out.

Otherwise we'd never play all the new games coming out over the next 6 weeks.

I figured this out when I read the article and was rather disappointed, since this is very nonoptimal.

I agree with schild, it will be like hex editing Diablo II all over again.

Entirely my fault, I only scanned the article. Still, it's a start.

wow, that's probably the first and last time he'll give such a positive review on a game... I was expecting him to rip into it somehow.  I love his reviews even moar now.

I'm at some point where I have to make stupidly huge real-time jumps which are freaking my eyes right the fuck out. I've stopped enjoying it. A shame.

One of the places where you have to eject yourself from a portal at high speed and must shoot yourself another exit whilst trying to figure out which way is up?  I can think of two of those places.

Hint: If you are in one of the rooms where you can bounce through 2 portals indefinatly, move only on one side , you will keep your bearing while bouncing back.


Hm. Not sure I that makes sense to you, but is is really difficult to describe...

Yeah. I actually figured it out last night but slightly screwed up at the end. I'd have done it again but I'd pressed F5 for quicksave when I was almost done. And that's screenshot in portal...  :mob:
At that point, needing to start that section again, my eyes and brain told me "no more tonight". Which is unusual. I never get any kind of motion sickness from games. Well, until now.

I agree, it's the worst disorientation I have ever felt in a game, even more than Descent.  Also, you can remap the keys.  But you knew that.

Every Source/Half-Life title uses F5 for screenshot, F6 for quicksave, and F9 for quickload.  I avoid messing with them because if I get used to having them any other way I'm guaranteed to bone myself by forgetting to set them on the next new game that comes out.

Odd that I didn't get motion sickness with this one. I nearly threw up several times while trying to get through the boat part of HL2.

And yah, this game was a triumph. I'm making a note here: huge success.

Same.... I've never had a game really bug me... A couple times in Portal though I was hurting.

Only thing that ever, ever, ever got to me was Shogo. Lithtech engine was a really wavy piece of shit.

Bioshock gave me vague bits of motion sickness, before the magic fov hack.

And it made me feel bad for ripping apart small children. DAMN YOU BIOSHOCK!

If you felt bad, why did you do it? :)

 















:pedobear:

Yep, I usually do, I'm so used to the F5/F9 combo in most games that I just defaulted to it without thinking.

Anyway, finished it a couple of nights ago. Fun game, interesting concept, but it's not robot jebus to me. One thing I did like about it was that even the hardest of the puzzles had me thinking "hey, that wasn't so hard" after completing them. Admittedly, I hven't played through the h4rdc0r3 extra levels and achievements and all of that yet.

I had that a bit on the advanced maps.  Those were the first maps where I would stand there and mutter "what the fuck" for a bit, but when I figured out what I had to do it seemed obvious.

Share please?

There was a fan-produced hack to make the Bioshock widescreen real widescreen, rather than cropped.

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/wiki/index.php/BioShock (http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/wiki/index.php/BioShock)

Made it much nicer. Dunno if an official one ever got released, I finished it and uninstalled before any official patches.

Thanks, I'll have to give that a whirl, still working through Bioshock. Should've thought to look there, since I'm a long-time member.

Bah. One thing I hate about that site, they favor making little executables without showing you how they created the hack so you can do it yourself. I remember early on (in early 2004, iirc) there was one game we figured out a cool hex hack to directly change the dll. That's the kind of shit I enjoy, not to mention it being a whole lot safer than downloading some random guy's exe.

I enjoyed portal a lot but there were a couple areas where you had to do those weird ping poinging between portals that really bothered my eyes. I had to stop for a while because it was giving me a screaming headach. Most of it is fine but the reorienting going from one portal to another was done in a way that my brain was not liking to much.

Eh still fun just need to take breaks after one of the nastier puzzles.

Taking a break does not get you cake.

The cake is not real, though.

You need to either make your own cake or go to the shops if you want real cake.

Finally started Portal and could not stop until I finished it.  Amazing game from start to finish.  Didn't even mind the small motion sickness I got for a bit. 

Best of all, now you will get all the jokes we've been cracking for the past couple of weeks.

Just found this awesome interview with the writer for Portal.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?p=518

I hadn't realized he'd been one of the writers on Psychonauts. No wonder I :heart: the writing in that game so much.

The writing in this is vastly superior to Psychonauts. So vastly superior in fact, that I would think Psychonauts were ghost written. :grin:

I loved Portal. The gameplay, the commentary, the setting. All of it.

I didn't get as motion sick as I did playing Prey though. That one fucked with your head on a lot of levels with the portals and the selective gravity.

Surely you jest.

Thread necro, just because Steam is now advertising the plush companion cubes also in fuzzy dice version. (http://storefront.steampowered.com/Steam/Marketing/message/1301/)

Plush is a horrible crap choice.

Upsetting. Very Upsetting. I wanted a hard one that sat on my desk and played still alive when I clicked the heart.

Edit: More like companion sphere, amirite?

I'm aboslutely shocked that noone is selling a CnC'd aluminum one yet, I was expecting thinkgeek to have it up within ~36hours of portal dropping.

It doesn't even _have_ to play still alive, but dear god, that would be awesome.   :awesome_for_real:

You should contact Valve and let them know that this is what you require.

Plush is more huggable, especially if it's fairly large.

The porn industry is already working on the hermaphrodite companion cube.   :pedobear:

Sorry about that.  Anyway, what I'd actually like is one of those turrets, complete with phrases when you pick it up, knock it over, or it detects motion.

Do you mind if I send you one with live rounds in it?

By all means.  So long as it's suitably apologetic, I'd adore it anyway.

Plush is awesome. I'm so getting my son a companion cube instead of a teddy bear when he's born.

Need help:

Played Portal to Lvl 15 a few weeks ago on a different computer, but apparently progress isn't stored on Steam. So I'd like to play at home but don't want to do the first 15 levels again (partially because time-played is stored on Steam). Anyone have any codez to unlock levels? Google was no help (though I did find how to unlock the levels on the Xbox Portal).

To be fair, the first 15 levels take less than 30 minutes total if you remember them... at all. Even the slightest bit. Otherwise, I'm not sure you can transfer savegames as they are tied to your profile.

30 minutes retreading the same shit (2/3 of which doesn't even have the fully-powered gun) or 30 minutes of TF2 or Crysis. I vote the latter.

Meh, you have to play through the whole thing at least twice anyways, might as well just do the it now.

Use the dev console and type "map mapname"?  Or use noclip to speed through each level?  Or just take 18 minutes (http://kotaku.com/gaming/clips/portal-18-minute-speed-run-321879.php) to beat the game fair and square again.   :oh_i_see:

Wowee. That was awesome. Here's Johnathon Coulton singing still alive to celebrate (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWUcVj31QaM). Obviously, the operatic voice actress did it better, but the guy sure can write. I'm amazed at how fast he went from obscurity to geek stardom.

Thanks.

/defensive
Andi'mnotlookingtobeatthegame.ijustwanttostartlevel15andcontinueit.
/defensive

http://youtube.com/watch?v=sxNmeMklFk8

For those folks who are both iPhone owners and Portal fans, I give unto thee the happy version of Still Alive that plays on the radio at the beginning of the game as a ringtone.

Linky (http://mataway.googlepages.com/loopingradiomix.m4r)

If you have iTunes 7.5 and firmware 1.1.2 just drop the file onto your library and it will get added to your ringtones section. The Lechuck theme song also makes a pretty awesome ringtone.

You just made me go through the annoying process of updating and jailbreaking again. And, when I finish, it will all be worth it.

Okay, so I just got Orange Box on sale today. Way behind the times, but have been playing Portal for the past couple hours. I'm having a bitch of a time on level 19, but then again, I suck at the FPS, so... I'll get through it. Decided to take a breather and post that this is a blast of a game. Loading up TF2 next, but they did a fine job on Portal. Can't wait to try out the bonus maps and frustrate myself even more.  :drill:

The bonus maps are a magnitude of difficulty harder. Still great fun though.

I'm right there with you. I got it for Christmas and finished Portal in 1 1/2 sittings. It was just that goddamn good. I haven't tried the bonus maps, though. Also, TF2 is probably requires the most "skill" of any FPS I've ever seen. And boy do I suck.

For those who ignore the Steam weekly messages, there is a live camera feed to the Aperture Holiday vault.

http://www.aperturescience.com/

This post doesn't make sense now. :drill:

(http://napersze.blog.hu/media/image/buddy_christ.jpg)

Maybe you all can help me out, because I bought the OJ box for portal in part to the paens sung to its name here. But after getting through it, I have to think its a tad bit overated.

Its a good game. Good puzzles. Glados is a solid schizo AI in the tradition of HAL9000, and its cute to hear her talk as I am the rat in her maze. But as I read the GOTY threads and posts, I have to scratch my head at this one. The writing was good, but not that good. The gameplay was good, but not that good. To hear this game being offered as a example of good dialogue/story, seems to to a diservice to games that actually concentrate on dialogue and story.

Having offered that dissent though, I think its great. It reminds me of those IQ tests they would give us in elementary school. One day, they are going to plop rugrats in front of a game like portal and start scribbling notes.

Little secret. It has already started, and you were one of the test subjects. Didn't you see the cameras?

*goes searching for the Portal thread"

Oh shit...'07?  It's been that long?  Damn, son...

Anywho, this game is apparently now free on Steam.  Of course, I'm sure everyone here's played it already, right?  Right? ಠ_ಠ

Only free until the 20th.

Also, way to mega-necro.