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Valve's Portal Part of the Half-Life World

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the my-story-nerd-is-jumping-for-joy dept.

1up had the chance to sit down with Valve to talk about Half-Life 2: Episode 2, Portal, and Team Fortress 2. They've come away with some great information, with probably the most exciting information focused around Portal. In a writeup of the visit, Matt Leone reveals that Portal is actually a part of the Half-Life 2 world. The protagonist is a new character, and eventually the fascinating puzzle/fps title will hook back into the Half-Life story at large. From the article: "'The origins of this character will be clear... eventually,' says Swift. Given that Portal has now been in development for just over a year, we wouldn't be surprised to see a few retroactive references pop up in Episode 1 as well, but for specifics we'll have to wait to hear more from the creepy narrator that taunts you while you play (yep, the same one from the first trailer)." For video and all the details, check out yesterday's episode of the 1up show.

25 comments

  1. TFS by Kagura · · Score: 0, Redundant

    In case the slashdot gets servered:

    1up had the chance to sit down with Valve to talk about Half-Life 2: Episode 2, Portal, and Team Fortress 2. They've come away with some great information, with probably the most exciting information focused around Portal. In a writeup of the visit, Matt Leone reveals that Portal is actually a part of the Half-Life 2 world. The protagonist is a new character, and eventually the fascinating puzzle/fps title will hook back into the Half-Life story at large.
    From the article:
    "'The origins of this character will be clear... eventually,' says Swift. Given that Portal has now been in development for just over a year, we wouldn't be surprised to see a few retroactive references pop up in Episode 1 as well, but for specifics we'll have to wait to hear more from the creepy narrator that taunts you while you play (yep, the same one from the first trailer)."
    For video and all the details, check out yesterday's episode of the 1up show.

  2. Old-ish by the-amazing-blob · · Score: 2, Informative

    The fact it's in the HL universe has been known for a while. The only new info I found was that you don't start out with the two-portal gun.

    1. Re:Old-ish by SCPRedMage · · Score: 2

      Right-o, it was stated when the title was announced, if I remember correctly. Nothing to get excited about here.

      --
      My sig can beat up your sig.
    2. Re:Old-ish by Chibi-Hikaru · · Score: 1

      So if I want to play Portal is it an expansion so I have to buy HL2 or is this a stand alone title?

      --
      http://www.cafepress.com/hikarudesigns/ http://www.bricklink.com/store.asp?p=hikaru
    3. Re:Old-ish by drb_chimaera · · Score: 2, Informative

      Portal is being released as part of Half Life 2 Episode 2 (Due Feb next year I think) - Its a standalone expansion to Half Life 2 and the follow on to Episode 1.

    4. Re:Old-ish by kafka47 · · Score: 2, Informative

      If you want to play Portal right now, you could try it's predecessor, Narbacular Drop.

      This won the student showcase prize at the Independant Games Festival, and the designers used it to demonstrate the concept of the 'Portal mod' to Valve.

      /K

  3. First post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Never can I get the first post. :(

  4. Portal Importance! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The fact about Portal that must not be overlooked is that the voice dialogue is written by the two guys behind oldmanmurray.com

    If you haven't ever read OMM, your education in gaming and games journalism is about to begin. Those guys make Penny Arcade looking like fucking bigfoot.

  5. TF2? No thanks. by remembertomorrow · · Score: 1

    http://fortress-forever.com/

    --
    Registered Linux user #421033
    1. Re:TF2? No thanks. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You haven't even played TF2 yet. Premature, perhaps?

      Nice plug, anyway.

    2. Re:TF2? No thanks. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      While I appreciate the effort, Fortress Forever really doesn't look like it's bringing anything new to the table. TF2, on the other hand, looks fantastic.

  6. Mod him up! by ichigo+2.0 · · Score: 1

    Thanks man, this'll come in handy if slashdot gets slashdotted! Mod the parent up informative!

  7. I don't care by Turn-X+Alphonse · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    I post this every time a HL2 story comes up and every time 2 people reply going "works fine for me" and another 2 say "yes, it's broke for me to".

    I don't give a toss what Valve are working on. I've had nothing but problems from Episode 1, from the CD trying to install to an invalid location (\ and / are not the same Valve) to the fact that when ingame none of the scripts run. So in effect I've got an expensive AOL CD and yet Valve arn't doing anything to fix it.

    Ep 1 has been out months now and the only patch has been to fix a "too hard" Zombie fight. Which *GASP* I can't get to because no scripts will run for me to even get in game.

    Valve tech support is a joke. You have to jump through hoops to contact them and then they just parrot what you already read on the support page or tell you to reformat and try again..

    To add to this pleasure, I found out the problem is also the same problem the torrented version had, within a week the pirated version had a fix, so whenever I ask for help on any form I get help from pirates which I refuse to use as I don't feel like getting banned from playing TFC because Valve can't patch shit.

    So yea, Ep 2, great. TF2, weee not like you didn't promise that 5 years ago and Portal.. Yep couldn't careless either. FIX YOUR BROKEN SHIT VALVE.

    Now 5 guys will mod me as flamebait because I expect a game I buy to run if the original ran without a hiccup.

    --
    I like muppets.
    1. Re:I don't care by Turn-X+Alphonse · · Score: 1

      Note to anyone replying.

      Original as in HL2, not HL1.

      --
      I like muppets.
    2. Re:I don't care by Kreigaffe · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You bought it on a CD?

      Ew. Major ick.

      Use STEAM. Buy everything via Steam. I've never had any problems with any content purchased and downloaded via Steam -- aside from, yes, the first month or two of Steam in which EVERYTHING was broken.

      Seriously, Steam's looking to be one of the greatest innovations in entertainment delivery in the past decade. Or two. Who knows. Bored? Open steam, click on a new game you want, you get charged 5/10/20 bucks, and bam a lil while later there's the whole game. Gotta reformat? Who cares, just download the client, put in your login info, and bam.. there's everything you ever bought, no need to find CDs. On vacation at a friend's computer, bored while they're at work? Getcho that Steam client, you've still got all your games.

      Seriously man.

      You bought the CD?

      --
      ... still waiting for this free-as-in-beer free beer I keep hearing about. :|
    3. Re:I don't care by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful
      I post this every time a HL2 story comes up...

      Why do people do this?*

      Whenever there's an article about Valve, people write the same "Valve sucks!" / "Valve rocks!" comments, even if the comment has nothing to do with the story. Example: even though this article is acutally about Portal, and doesn't have anything to do with the content delivery system, I guarantee that a dozen slashdotters will see a story about Valve, and reflexively copy-paste their stock "omg steam is teh wrostest" comment. And they won't get modded off-topic.

      The same thing happens with articles about Wikipedia. I've never been able to understand it. Slashdot, why does this occur?




      *And you, parent poster. Why go out of your way to post on every HL2 story? Especially when the title of your post is "I don't care"? And especially when you end your post with "Now 5 guys will mod me as flamebait"? I honestly don't get it. Why bother?

    4. Re:I don't care by AbRASiON · · Score: 1

      Whoah there cowboy.

      Before you go implying someone is a dipshit for purchasing the CD, you have to look at some of the reasons why they might do it.

      There are of course a tonne of possible reasons but here's one which sticks in my mind and pisses me the hell off.
      A HEAP of damned software stores dropped it to 10$ and some even 5$ within the first month.
      ONE QUARTER of what we saps paid for from steam.

      What happened to "digital distribution cuts out the middle man and saves you $$$"

      What an absoloute joke.

    5. Re:I don't care by trekie9001 · · Score: 1

      Another, very plausible reason for buying the CD is that the user may have a dial-up connection or a very unstable connection. Plus, installing the game from a CD is almost always faster than downloading from Steam.

    6. Re:I don't care by Kreigaffe · · Score: 1

      True -- for older titles, you probably will pay less in a store.

      But when I got HL2, I got the silver package.. which included DOD:S.. and it was 60 bucks. Less IIRC than it was in a store, and the very day it was released I could play it.. since I had pre-ordered, and pre-downloaded, the program in its entirety.

      Really, though, for an extra 5 bucks I'll stick with purchasing via Steam. It saves me about that much gas anyway, but by using Steam you get to indirectly support 3rd-party modders. Some of those folk put in a TON of work, and some are quite impressive with what they're able to do -- in the past it would be just a hobby, with a rare few exceptionals being brought onboard major companies.
      Steam seems to be taking the angle that, if you develop a mod and want to sell it, and it's good.. just use Steam.

      And I just find that neat. And now Steam's delivering games that AREN'T FPS / mods, too? I dunno. I like the potential, and since I can't contribute to what they're selling, I'll support that in another way -- monehz.

      --
      ... still waiting for this free-as-in-beer free beer I keep hearing about. :|
    7. Re:I don't care by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You mean you *didn't* buy the CD? Ack! What the hell, man?

      You really want to have to re-download several gigabytes of data every time you format your machine or simply want to re-install the product? That's just silly. I like being able to throw in the DVD and re-install the game in a matter of minutes after formatting my machine. Then all I have to do is let it patch itself to bring it up to the current version. Easy.

      You're a silly one, ain't ya? :)

  8. Sheppard by Admodieus · · Score: 1

    Some people thought the character in Portal might be Adrian Sheppard from Opposing Force fame, but this seems to put that thought to rest. I'm still hoping for a bigger role for Sheppard in Episode 2 or 3.

    --
    "It's a reverse vampire...they....they crave the sun!"
  9. HL Portal = Acme magic hole by master_p · · Score: 1

    It seems to me that the portal is nothing more than the Acme's magic hole, the one cartoon characters use to trick their opponents...as a multiplayer game element, it may have some value, but as a single player game it would really mess the exploration aspect of an FPS game.

    1. Re:HL Portal = Acme magic hole by msoya · · Score: 1
      Perhaps you missed that the singleplayer game was designed around it? It would probably screw up most FPS levels, but these levels are designed to be solved using it. I fail to see how this will mess up any aspect of the game.

      What is your point?

    2. Re:HL Portal = Acme magic hole by master_p · · Score: 1

      My point is that it would make exploration very difficult; exploring a 3d world is difficult enough as it is...adding portals to it would make it confusing and disorientating.

    3. Re:HL Portal = Acme magic hole by msoya · · Score: 1
      ...and the point of the game is to escape from a confusing and disorienting 3D world using portals. I found Narbacular Drop fun and interesting, and Portal's pretty much the same - it was occasionally disorienting, but that was the point of the game.

      Clearly the game is not for you, so don't buy it.