portal2
Latest
Xbox One X enhancements come to 'Red Dead Redemption' and 'Portal 2'
Red Dead Redemption 2 might not launch for several months, but Microsoft is giving you the next best thing. The company has added Xbox One X visual enhancements to six classic Xbox 360 games, including the original Red Dead Redemption. If you've wanted to revisit John Marston's saga on your 4K TV, this is likely as good as it gets until the sequel arrives. Not that the other games are obscure -- Darksiders, Gears of War 2, Portal 2, Sonic Generations (the first time it's available on Xbox One, in fact) and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed are making the leap as well.
'Portal 2' and 'Left 4 Dead' are now playable on Xbox One
The list of Xbox 360 games backwards compatible with the Xbox One has now reached 200 titles with the addition of fan favorites Portal 2 and Left 4 Dead. Additionally, support was also added for Flashback, Brain Challenge and Babel Rising. Microsoft announced the backwards compatibility feature during last year's E3, and rolled it out over the holiday season.
'Portal' turning into a game of hyperdimensional pinball
Developer Valve legendarily has a hard time counting to "3" but that doesn't mean getting your hands on some new Portal action is too far out of reach. It just might not be in a place you'd expect. The long-running Zen Pinball series is taking a Newell-blessed trip to the test chambers with the "Aperture Science Heuristic Portal Pinball Device" table. As you might expect, there are plenty of nods to the series, with GLaDOS passive aggressively taunting while Chell jumps through the eponymous ingresses and co-op robots ATLAS and P-Body handling multi-ball duties. It's $2.99 for consoles, Mac and PC and $1.99 on mobile come May 25th.
Intel's Perceptual Computing demonstrations hands-on (video)
We've just spent time with Intel's Mooly Eden, who is spearheading the chip maker's push into what it's calling "perceptual computing," which is using natural and intuitive interactions to control your PC. The company has partnered with Creative on a Kinect-esque 3D depth-camera that can be used to control applications and play games, do faux-green screen broadcasting and collaborate with colleagues. While Microsoft's motion-tracker is designed to encompass a whole room, Intel's has a shallower depth of field that's more suited for close-up work. We got to play with the company's demos away from the noise of the show floor, as well as playing a gesture-based version of Portal 2 by Sixsense that's shorn of the controllers that Eden used to demonstrate it in 2011. Interested in seeing what's likely to appear in what the company promises is the very near future? Head on down past the break.
Your Portal gun isn't as cool as Hack-a-Day's Portal gun (which actually levitates a companion cube)
There you were, thinking your NECA-produced Portal gun replica was super neat all on its own. Well, okay -- it is -- but wouldn't it be even cooler if you could use it to make a baby companion cube levitate in mid-air with it? That question is exactly what lead to Hack a Day's creation of just such a device, as seen in the video below the break. By reappropriating a magnetic floating globe's parts and attaching said parts to both the gun and a homemade companion cube, Hack a Day were able to recreate at least part of the magic Chell experiences in her Aperture Science adventures. Of course, if you move the gun too much, the companion cube will fall out. Just think what that does to its psyche! You monster. [Image credit: Caleb Kraft, Hack a Day]
Valve taunts us with prospect of official Portal 2 sentry turret replica (video)
A Holy Grail of gamer memorabilia is the Portal turret replica -- as much a tech toy as proof that you can sing "Want You Gone" from memory. It's already been coveted when made in small batches by fans, so you can imagine the hysteria when Valve Software itself posts a teaser video (found after the break) at its store's Facebook page showing what looks to be a near life-size, computer-linked version of Aperture Science's typical sentry from Portal 2, minus the laser targeting and live machine guns. After that, however, we're left to guess whether or not it's just a decoration for Valve's offices or a commercial product to buy alongside a Companion Cube plushie. We've asked Valve about providing more details in the near future and will let you know if the developer is any more talkative than its robot guards.
Valve Source Filmmaker makes a movie out of any Source game, now you're directing with Portals (video)
Creating machinima with a video game engine usually requires accepting one of two truths: either that it will require a lot of fudging or that it will have all the sophistication of playing with action figures. Valve Software isn't very happy with that dichotomy, which is why it's posting its very own movie-making tool, Source Filmmaker, as a public beta. Any game that runs on the Source engine, whether it's Left 4 Dead 2, Portal 2 or another in the family, can have gameplay run-throughs edited and dissected right down to custom facial expressions. As Valve expounds in the video after the break, throwing a gaming-grade PC at the task gives directors the advantage of seeing exactly how any changes will look in the final scene; there's no rough wireframes or pre-rendering here. Budding Francis Ford Coppolas can sign up for an invitation to the Filmmaker beta at the project page. If you'd just like to see how far someone can go with the end results, we've also included the latest Team Fortress 2 character profile video, Meet the Pyro, after the jump.
Licensed Portal 2 turret replica to arrive later this year, leave ammo at home
If an enthusiast-built Portal 2 turret piques your interest, Gaming Heads' Valve-licensed miniature replica may very well force your wallet open. Modeled using Portal 2's in-game assets and cast in "high quality poly-stone," these mini-turrets aim to intimidate intruders with a motion activated light-up eye. In addition to the stoic and silent basic model, the company's offering an exclusive edition, which plays sounds and voice samples from the game. Only 1,100 of these hand-painted facsimiles will be produced (350 with sound, 750 without), but the company notes that other figures based on the adorable death machines are in the works. Pre-orders have already begun, so collectors will want to act fast -- provided they're ready to pony up $300-325, of course.
Valve announces Steam for Schools, helps teachers create educational Portal 2 levels
Who ever said being a scientific guinea pig couldn't be educational? With Steam for Schools, teachers can now use Portal 2's level editor to create lessons focused on boosting critical thinking, spatial reasoning and problem solving skills. Announced at the Games for Change festival in New York City, the educator edition of Steam comes with a free copy of Portal 2 and the Portal 2 Puzzle Maker. Students and teachers alike can use the tools to create puzzles, but distribution is handled by teachers alone. (That's right, kids -- no level sharing unless the teach says so.) An accompanying website serves as a gathering place for teachers to collaborate, and aims to provide sample lesson plans centered on science, technology, engineering and math. If you're an educator who can't wait to bring a Portal-assisted physics lesson to life, see the links below to sign up for the ongoing beta. Now if you'll excuse us, we're off to "study."
One day, Portal 2 in motion DLC will come to PS3, it's such a shame the same will never happen to Xbox
Remember Razer's Hydra controller that came with a motion-controlled version of Portal 2? PS3 owners will be receiving those same levels as a DLC later this year with added support for the PlayStation Move. Players will be able to manipulate objects in order to solve puzzles with more flailing limbs than you can shake a stick at when it arrives later this year.
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.
ThinkGeek and Aperture Science do what they must, intro more Portal-themed goods because they can
Been yearning for more Portal 2-inspired goods from ThinkGeek? Fret not, dear test subject, the company's got some products ways that should satiate your desire for Cave Johnson-approved chachkas. Newly up for grabs are a $15 Aperture Science shower curtain, a $35 motion-sensing plush turret and a $40 Cave Johnson talking portrait -- think Billy Bass, but with a Portal twist. ThinkGeek's also announced a $30 Companion Cube cookie jar (the perfect companion for its Portal cookie cutters) and a $30 PotatOS Science Kit, complete with an insult-spewing "talking GLaDOS module." Sadly, the latter duo don't have an official release date just yet, and are merely listed as "coming soon." Of course, like the cake, they could just be lie. For the sake of science, portal past the break to find a press release with more details.
Steam Trading steams out of beta in a cloud of, er, water vapor
Steam Trading's emerged from the hot wet clouds of beta after more than a million in-game items were swapped in the first month of testing. Purchased in-game objects can now be bartered between all players of Team Fortress 2, Portal 2 or Spiral Knights and more games will be supported soon. The bigger news is that you can also exchange Steam gifts and extra copies of games you've got -- such as that spare edition of Half-Life 2 that you downloaded with the Orange Box bundle -- as long as they're unplayed. Hey, cash it in and go buy your avatar something nice.
Proposing with portals: how really romantic gamers pop the question
Unless you proposed from orbit, chances are your marriage request was not nearly as elaborate as Gary Hudston's. And, perhaps outside of 2008's homebrew Bejeweled proposal, no where near as geeky either. Hudston hired a skilled developer to create series of custom levels for Portal 2 that his potential betrothed would have to play through. When it heard about his apparently not so secret project, Valve even helped him secure Ellen McLain, the voice of GLaDOS, to record original audio. You can check out the hilarious and heartwarming video after the break or just play through the levels yourself by downloading them at the source link. Sadly, unless you happen to be the future Mrs. Hudston, you'll be no closer to marrying yourself off after solving its puzzles.
Razer totes Hydra sticks and 6400dpi dual-sensor mice to E3 2011, we go hands-on
Razer's Sixense electromagnetic orb threw around plenty of intradimensional portals at CES, but sadly the company wouldn't let us play. Today at E3 2011, however, we were finally handed the reins. Those twin sticks are impressively responsive and accurate in the specially-made Sixense levels for Portal 2, and it's a heck of a lot of fun to physically stretch out blocks, reposition portals with a twist of the wrist and physically throw objects through the air. However, we got the impression that outside of games particularly designed to work with the sticks, it might be a different story. Waving the right stick around works pretty adequately for controlling the mouse cursor, but when we exited out to Windows, the sticks didn't work -- apparently, controls have to be mapped separately in a desktop client to work with the OS and other games or programs. We don't think many PC gamers will mind the six-foot range and wired tether here, but it does restrict those hoping to kick back with a game on the big screen. %Gallery-125856% We also got to try Razer's new "4G" dual-sensor technology, which will be rolling out to new Mamba and Imperator gaming mice right away -- it pairs a laser sensor and an optical sensor for more precision when lifting mice off a surface for advanced first-person shooter mousing techniques, not to mention 6400dpi tracking. We took it for a spin with a handy Razer Mamba, and we immediately fell in love -- whether we flung the mouse around haphazardly, furiously swiped it across the mousepad or simply tried for a quick headshot, it kept up with us. The cursor does creep if you lift and drop very rapidly, though, and without an original Mamba to compare with, it's hard to say just how much better it was. Thankfully, that won't be much of a factor in your purchasing decision: you'll pay the exact same $130 for the Mamba or $80 for the Imperator when they hit shelves this month. PR after the break. Update: Razer points out that you can in fact use the controller in Windows, enabling mouse movement and toggling the cursor with button 4, and left and right clicking with the right trigger and button 1.
DIYer builds his own CNC mill, fabricates a Weighted Companion Cube to show off
So you've built your own homebrew CNC mill and want to test out some recent modifications? That's a question few ever have to ask themselves, but DIYer Jamie Nasiatka recently did, and came up with the bright idea of making his very own Weighted Companion Cube. As you can see above, things turned up pretty well, and you can check out the complete build process at the source link below -- yes, it lights up, and changes colors. Let's just hope no one tries to throw this cube through a Portal t-shirt.
Super Mario gets a Portal gun, you monster (video)
Before Portal 2 there was Portal, and before Portal there was Super Mario Bros. Bring these together and you get a mushroom-chomping Italian plumber ruling the 2D world -- outside the cold confines of Aperture Science -- with the infamous Portal gun. The next logical step? Turn this into a first-person game. Go on, Reggie, make it happen.
Razer Hydra motion controller gets summer release, Portal 2 bundle
Remember the Razer Hydra controller that let you materialize portals with a real electromagnetic orb? Those motion sensing sticks will be available for pre-order in May and will go on sale in June, two months after this week's release of Portal 2, the game it was first demoed with. However, Razer'll still charge you for a copy of the murderous robot game if you want the fancy gizmo, as it's pricing the bundle at $140 -- understandably more expensive that the "below $100" price that it was targeting for the controller alone. Two months is a pretty long time to wait to play the already-available title, and Razer isn't offering any info on a standalone version of the Sixense-based magnetic peripheral. On the upside, though, Joystiq got its hands on a list of compatible titles, which includes 122 games on top of the aforementioned sequel. That list and the official press release after the break.
Portal 2 out now
Thanks to the hard work of the folks who purchased Valve's Potato Sack promotion, the Portal 2 alternate reality game has finished, and the long-awaited sequel is now available on Steam. The game officially releases tomorrow for consoles and PC, but since the Steam version is compatible with SteamPlay, it's also available for the Mac from day one. Portal was one of the best games of the past few years, and every indication is that the sequel will be just as inventive and fun. If you've been waiting for it, the wait is over. Go and enjoy!
Intel waves around Razer's Sixense motion-sensing sticks, plays Portal 2 on the big screen (video)
For any new peripheral to succeed in the market, it needs a killer app. Seems like Razer found one -- at Intel's press conference at CES 2011, it got to demo Portal 2 with its Sixense motion controller. We were on hand to see it in action, and it looks like the game's tailor-made to take advantage of your precision arm-waving; moving the right stick controls a tractor beam that emanates from the Portal Gun, such that your protagonist can reach though those game-twisting wormholes without sticking her neck out. But don't take our word for it -- see for yourself after the break!
