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Avoid murdering all of your test subjects with this Aperture Science gas mask
One of the only downsides associated with flooding your test facility with a deadly neurotoxin is that everything dies. That may sound like the obvious and desired result, but what if you, in your capacity as a malevolent and cunning artificial intelligence, want to keep a single test subject alive while the rest asphyxiate horribly?Costume artist Two Horns United may have found a solution to this classic scientific dilemma with his custom built Aperture Science Portal Gun Gas Mask. While the inner workings of the mask's machinations are not fully explained, we assume it uses portal technology to funnel clean, breathable air into your squishy human test subject's dreadfully inefficient lungs. AIs interested in integrating post-traumatic stress disorder into their testing regiments can get on the waiting list by messaging Two Horns United on his DeviantArt page.
Custom-made Aperture Science gas mask will make sure you're still alive, won't open portals
Valve's Portal series has been used as the pretext for many achievements outside of puzzle gaming, including getting hitched. Keeping you from shuffling off this mortal coil, however, is still new. Two Horns United has given a gas mask a decidedly nerdy visual upgrade that resembles the game's iconic Aperture Science Portable Quantum Tunneling Device, right down to the light-up energy chambers. Best of all, unlike some homebrew projects, you'll have a (probably limited) chance at buying one yourself after June. Coworkers might look at you oddly as you strap a portal gun to your face during a safety drill, but you'll have the quiet satisfaction of knowing you're truly ready for a neurotoxin attack, not to mention taking the title of a Jonathan Coulton song very literally.
Portal 2 Perpetual Testing Initiative success leads to Workshop sale
Valve's "Perpetual Testing Initiative" has already been yielding results, and they provide evidence for the hypothesis that people still like playing Portal 2. Since the DLC's release on May 8, the company reports that over 35,000 user-created maps have been uploaded, which have been downloaded over 1.3 million times.To celebrate this successful experiment, Valve has discounted several items on Steam, including, of course, Portal 2, which costs just $6.79 right now! Fellow Steam Workshop title Skyrim is on sale for $40.19, and several Workshop items within Team Fortress 2 can be found for 50 percent off.
This realistic Portal turret is the reason you should stay in school
This shooting, talking, laser-pointing Portal turret made by a Penn State University Advanced Mechatronics student is pretty impressive, even without its final casing. The turret tracks the position of a specific pink shirt and asks innocently after potential victims if it goes without stimulation for too long, eventually locking on and shooting foam darts at the rosy intruder.We say it's pretty impressive in the sense that we want a dozen and we're astounded at the level of detail and care put into such a project, but at first we read the title too quickly and thought this guy had created working portals, which would be way cooler. The lesson here: However awesome your final university project may be, the things we make up in our heads will forever be more awesome. Sorry, dude.We'll still take 12 of those turrets. Thanks.
NECA introduces P-body style Portal gun replica
All right, maybe we didn't really notice that the Portal gun used by P-body in Portal 2 co-op looked different. But NECA did, and designed a replica of that attractive, striped gun. The lights for this one, of course, are different from the original (we noticed that much!), glowing in orange and red.NECA plans to make 5,000 of these, "and we'll do our best to make sure it reaches those who were not able to purchase the [previous] replica," the company said. Retailers will be announced next week.
This is not a test: Portal 2 sales top 4 million, map editor DLC out today
Portal 2 has sold more than 4 million units worldwide since its launch on April 18, 2011, and Valve is slowly but steadily (mostly slowly) supporting it with new content, such as today's batch of DLC, the Perpetual Testing Initiative. The Perpetual Testing Initiative offers players a map-editing tool, which looks a lot like this, so fans can make testing chambers to rival GLaDOS'. And make maps shaped like penises, probably.The map editor in today's DLC is accessible for new players, yet robust enough to satisfy hardcore ones, Valve tells NeoGamr. Valve's first attempt at fan-made maps, the Hammer editor, is tech-heavy and complicated for most people to get a hang of, most likely because it's Valve's in-house map creation tool – still, players have created more than 400 maps with Hammer. However, without a standardized way to share the maps, most of these have gone unnoticed by the larger community.The Perpetual Testing Initiative's puzzle maker allows users to export their creations in Hammer's native format and continue building with the more powerful tools, if they so choose. The simple map editor is "incredibly powerful for all of its simplicity and can easily reproduce pretty much every puzzle from Portal 2," Valve said.
50 more Portal gun replicas available for pre-order tonight
NECA's plan to sell an official replica of Aperture's handheld portal device – otherwise known as the Portal gun – has run into the double-whammy of rabid demand and puny production output. NECA is offering another 50 (!) replicas, which will be available for pre-order starting tonight at midnight ET, according to its Facebook page.Just, uh, leave one for us, okay? Please? We'll buy you a delicious piece of – ah, nevermind.
This is how you'll edit Portal 2 levels
Portal 2's level-editing DLC, the Perpetual Testing Initiative, will push the boundaries of physics and patience on May 8 for PC and Mac, and the above video shows us exactly how. It appears prolific level creator TopHATTwaffle originally uploaded the video but took it down at Valve's request, and it has since been uploaded by another, less remorseful Internet denizen.The walkthrough shows a blank map as it switches between edit and playthrough modes, and the ease of creating unique, new Portal 2 levels. The only thing we think it's missing is the vocal stylings of J.K. Simmons, but we'll just content ourselves with drinking whisky and yelling at the screen every now and then.
ThreeA Toys unveils prototype Portal 2 and Metal Gear Solid 2 statuettes
Chinese design house/ridiculously detailed toy company ThreeA Toys had many different prototype products on display during its ReVenture event in Hong Kong this weekend, but the ones we're most interested in are the astonishingly accurate reproductions of Portal 2's Altus and P-Body and Metal Gear Solid 2's Metal Gear RAY.All three statues are prototypes and as such there's no information regarding availability, pricing, how articulated they might be or what they'll even look like once they've been painted. It's also difficult to tell whether this RAY model is the manned version created by the Marines, or the unmanned mass-produced model designed by the Patriots. Either way, we desperately want these things adorning our various fireplace mantels as soon as humanly possible. Check out high-resolution shots of all three statues in the gallery below.%Gallery-154312%
Portal 2 'Perpetual Testing Initiative' DLC trailer introduces multiverse crowd-sourcing
One of GTTV's world exclusives during last night's broadcast was this Portal 2 trailer for the next free batch of DLC, the Perpetual Testing Initiative. The DLC allows players to create their own puzzles and publish them to Steam Workshop for others to critique and play.The Perpetual Testing Initiative goes live on PC and Mac on May 8 – still no word on whether consoles will get this DLC, but at least we all get a humorous new trailer narrated by Cave Johnson right now.
Portal 2 puzzle editor DLC warps to PC and Mac May 8
The "Perpetual Testing Initiative" DLC will arrive for the PC and Mac versions of Portal 2 on May 8. The free expansion will allow players to design their own puzzles, then publish them to the Steam Workshop for review and play by other players.There's currently no word on when, or if, this content will be available on consoles. The PS3 version of the game supports Steam for multiplayer gameplay, but Steam Workshop support hasn't been announced; there's no Steam integration in the Xbox 360 version.
Watch the toy Portal gun do its thing
Toy maker NECA demonstrates its replica Portal gun in this video. It lights up in both orange and blue, and makes appropriate Portal-y sounds! In short, the toy does everything you'd want a Portal gun to do ... except for the one thing you'd want an actual Portal gun to do.NECA notes on its Twitter page that pre-orders in the US are currently sold out, but "other opportunities" are coming. Perhaps you should keep an eye on that Twitter page for your next chance to get in a clicking race with other ravenous Valve fans.
Life-size inflatable Portal turrets: the secret to a sophisticated home
There are plenty of shows on HGTV that will try to convince you their opinions on decorating are the end-all, be-all definition of tactful home decor, but that just ain't true. In fact, we doubt any decorating show currently broadcast today would recommend these new life-sized inflatable Portal turrets from Think Geek, even though they're clearly the coolest.At $24.99 a pop, these 40-inch replicas can add a touch of sophistication to literally any room in your house, provided said room isn't located in the vacuum of space -- these are inflatable, after all. Best of all, these helpful sentries aren't produced in limited quantities like some other Portal merchandise we've seen lately, which means your only decorating limitation is the depth of your wallet. Remember, nothing says class like the incredibly specific smell of inflatable plastic toys.
Portal Gun arrives at Think Geek, goes on sale mid May
Despite a brief scare last week, NECA's replica Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device is still on its way to virtual store shelves, albeit in fairly limited quantities. Think Geek's listing for the gun has gone up with an estimated availability date of May 18, although pre-orders do not appear to be part of the plan.Instead, interested enthusiasts register to receive an email notification once the Portal gun goes on sale; from there it's first come, first serve. NECA has only manufactured 5,000 of the $140 replicas, and considering that Portal 2 sold three million copies in its first two months on the market, we expect demand to be fairly high. Remember when you learned about sharing in kindergarden? This is why.
Portal 2, Arkham City and BF3 clean up at 2012 BAFTA game awards
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts had its annual awards ceremony for excellence in gaming last night (or earlier today, depending on your proximity to England), with Portal 2 winning the BAFTA for Best Game. Also in contention for that prize were Batman: Arkham City, which ended up winning the BAFTA for Action, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which didn't win anything.Battlefield 3 took home top honors in Audio Achievement, Online Multiplayer, and the publicly voted-upon GAME Award of 2011, edging out its bitter rival Modern Warfare 3 in all three categories. Jump past the break for a full list of the evening's winners and nominees.
Replica portal gun orders canceled by some retailers [update: still coming, says NECA]
Update: NECA claims that the Portal gun is still being prepared, but fell victim to uncontrolled numbers of pre-orders. After slamming on the brakes with certain retailers, the association aims to deliver the replica between May and June in an "organized and fair manner."Original story: NECA -- National Entertainment Collectibles Association -- was set to create a line of replica portal guns for public purchase in May or June this year, but it has stopped production on the piece, citing "issues" and "no longer planning on making it for the foreseeable future," according to information shared via email by distributor Entertainment Earth. "The item was never produced, and to the best of our knowledge will not be delivered to any retailer at this time."Entertainment Earth has logged a protest with NECA, but for now it seems we'll all be $130 richer and a million-fold more heartbroken.[Thanks, Matthew.]
The importance of playtesting: What Portal 2 could have been
When Erik Wolpaw and Chet Faliszek first sat down to write Portal 2, they went mad. It certainly appears that way now, when the final version of Portal 2 that shipped in 2011 was such a resounding success, especially for a highly anticipated sequel. The first iteration Wolpaw and Faliszek envisioned got rid of three important mechanics in the Portal universe: Chell, GLaDOS and, as we knew and are still reeling over, portals. In a talk at GDC, Wolpaw and Faliszek explained why they thought that was a good idea, and how they learned it was pretty much the dumbest thing ever.The original Portal 2 had three new things in place of the classic ideas: F-stop (the new portal mechanic), Cave Johnson (antagonist replacement) and Betty (GLaDOS substitute). Betty was a knee-high personality sphere on wheels, a piece of concept art showed, and she spoke in quick legalese, "like those ads for medicine where they show puppies while they talk about the rectal bleeding you're going to have," Wolpaw said.
Super Mario Bros. and Portal collide in 'Mari0,' now available
Everyone can pack up and go home, because the pinnacle of all human achievement has been reached. Mari0, that Super Mario Bros./Portal mashup we caught wind of last August, has been completed and is now available for free on PC, OSX and Linux.Developed by Stabyourself, Mari0 is a complete recreation of the original Super Mario Bros., with one vital difference: This time, Mario is packing an Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device. The game features simultaneous four-player co-op, a level editor, 33 hats for Mario to wear, free DLC, a Minecraft-esque toolbar for on-the-fly block creation and a slew of other hilarious modifications.
Replica Portal gun coming from NECA in late spring/early summer
Portal has been around for about five years at this point, and over the years we've suffered countless fits of unreasonable jealousy due to the multitudes of homemade, replica Aperture Science Handheld Portal Devices floating around the Internet. Many a night have been spent fantasizing about somehow owning our own without taking out a second mortgage, and now the dream can finally become a reality.Well, not now now, but in a few months. NECA Toys is developing a line of licensed Valve products that include Team Fortress 2, Half Life and Left 4 Dead 2 action figures, but the crowning jewel of the series is NECA's one-to-one scale ASHPD replica. It lights up and everything. The device should be available somewhere around May or June of this year and retail for $130, according a brief video interview with NECA's Randy Falk at The Verge. We predict a mad rush on Repulsion, Propulsion and Conversion gel and Long Fall socks as soon as these things hit the shelves.%Gallery-148349%
Skyrim's Fall of the Space Core mod may be hiding a Portal 2 quest
Valve released Fall of the Space Core, Vol. 1 yesterday as a harmless, clever Skyrim mod featuring a personality sphere from the Portal franchise. As far as anyone could tell, the mod was a cute Easter Egg and the sphere itself didn't do anything -- at least, it hasn't done anything yet.YouTuber Memborable's video -- the one right up there -- shows where to find the Space Core and runs down what is does (and doesn't do). He then accesses the console and types "help portal," which pulls up a list of all the things relating to "portal" in Skyrim. One of these things is titled "portal2quest."Valve hasn't confirmed any Portal-themed quests in Skyrim, but as the mod is titled "Vol. 1," we wouldn't be surprised to see more content, and perhaps even, yes, an entire quest.[Thanks, Jarrett!]
