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Dark Horse compiles Valve comics
Dark Horse Comics has revealed Valve Presents: The Sacrifice and Other Steam-Powered Stories. According to the listing on Comic Book Resources, the 304-page book contains Left 4 Dead's The Sacrifice comic, along with stories from the worlds of Team Fortress 2 and Portal. The comic book compilation will launch on November 16 for $29.99. Although there are no further details regarding the Portal and TF2 comics, we'd guess they are Valve's online comics in physical form.
Watch Gabe Newell's excellent Games for Change keynote in full right here
Sure, you read our thorough coverage of Valve co-founder and president Gabe Newell's Games for Change keynote last month, but we know how you like moving pictures. We do too! And that's why we're doubly happy to finally present the entire, highly entertaining speech, just above.
Test chamber music, Vol. 2: Another free Portal 2 soundtrack download
Asimov was dead wrong about the robot apocalypse -- as it turns out, our benevolent overlords at Aperture Science are pretty kind, after they've tried to kill us, at least. Valve has released Volume 2 of its Portal 2 soundtrack for free download, much like its predecessor, Volume 1. The second installment of "Songs to Test By" contains 18 new tracks and 14 ringtones for iPhone and Android devices. New songs include "Bring Your Daughter to Work Day," "I AM NOT A MORON" and "PotatOS Lament," and you can now have the orange or blue portal sound as your messaging ringtone. Volume 3 is "coming soon" so turn up your cell phones and get ready to really impress the opposite sex with your nerd-noise machines this summer.
Portal 2 map contest winners chosen, available to play now
The contest is over, the winners have been chosen, and you can now pick up the winning maps from the "Summer Mapping Initiative" contest being held by Valve for Portal 2. A map called "Patent Pending" took the top prize by offering a wide mix of mechanics, another called "Infinifling" that's focused on "mid-air portaling techniques" ended up in second place. "Edifice," based in some of the destroyed Aperture chambers, picked up an honorable mention. All of the maps are free to download; just get the file, put it in your maps folder by following the instructions on the official blog and use the dev console to load it up and play. Congrats to the winners. Valve's also hosting a Portal 2 music video contest for the song by The National included in the game. The deadline on that one is coming up in the middle of July, so you've still got time to film and upload it to YouTube. Good luck!
Portal 2 / Phoenix Wright combo is brilliant, potentially spoilersy
Sentient robot spheres and anime lawyers are like peanut butter and waffles; they're not the first two things you'd think to put together, but when you do, oh man. Hop past the break and spend a hilarious 25 seconds with this delightful Portal 2 / Phoenix Wright mash-up.
Newell sees no distinction 'between games and educational games'
The majority of Valve president and co-founder Gabe Newell's keynote address yesterday at the Games for Change Festival was dedicated to his perception of games as educational tools. And that was fitting for the event, which is dedicated primarily to the educational and socially beneficial elements of gaming, and fitting for Valve Software, a company known most recently for releasing a game steeped in science. Newell explained: "The interesting thing about Portal 2 is it doesn't sort of fit the traditional simplistic model of what a game is. It's not a collection of weapons. It's not a collection of monsters. It's really about science. It's about spatial reasoning, it's about learning physics, it's about problem solving. And often, during the course of the game, you're going to be solving problems with somebody else. The social model inside of it is collaborative and not competitive." After rolling a short clip of the game for audience members, Newell went on to profess, "There seems to be this distinction between games that are educational, and games that are going to be commercially successful. I'm not really sure I buy into that." Citing sales of Portal 2 as proof, Newell pointed out that Valve has seen "$165 million dollars in gross revenue" from the game since April 18. "We can do this. We can make educational, commercially successful games, which are gonna help us both on the game side and on the educational side." He reaffirmed this to me in an interview after the speech, saying, "I just don't believe in this distinction between games and educational games. A lot of times [the label] 'educational games' is a way of being an excuse for bad game design or poor production values."
Here are your Portal 2-inspired combustible lemon hand grenades
Get mad, internet! Chris Myles beat you to the punch.
Portal 2 Authoring Tools for schools: Newell explains
Sure, we already think Portal 2 is a wonderful educational tool, but Valve wants to convince everyone else of that fact. And not by evangelizing the title to college-aged people the world over, but instead by turning the game into a more direct learning experience, with custom tools to match educational programs. "We just add another layer on top of the authoring tools to simplify the production of those spaces," Valve head Gabe Newell explained to us this afternoon. In so many words, the level creation tool for the PC version of Portal 2 gets another layer of interaction on top of the placement of, say, platforms or boxes. "If you give us a lesson plan, we can give you a tool that allows kids to build content to lock down those lessons," Newell detailed. "The number of times I solved problems about how fast will this be going at this time -- how about if it's on the moon?" In his words, "It's a lot easier to get people excited about it [education] if they're on the moon and they get to throw the rock at the piece of glass that breaks the glass that lets all the robots fly out." We can all agree on that, Mr. Newell. Without indicating when the education-focused version of Portal 2 will be released, Newell confirmed that his studio is currently building the application. "The layering on top of it of the framework for giving people a direct physical experience of physics is there, but you have to tell me exactly how you want to measure whether or not your students are successful or not." While we're certainly interested to see what Valve cooks up, we have to imagine that the students of the world are far more intrigued.
Newell: Portal 2 has sold 3 million copies since launch
Speaking at Games For Change in New York City (right now), Valve's Gabe Newell casually noted that Portal 2 has sold 3 million copies since its release on April 18. He didn't specify platforms, as it was an incidental reference and not a press release -- but he's probably referring to all platforms (PC, Mac, Xbox 360, and PS3). Since Newell is one of the only people on Earth with access to Steam sales data, that 3 million number is likely to be one of the most accurate estimates of Portal 2's sales we'll ever see. For comparison, the first Portal had sold four million copies as of Portal 2's launch -- though that number doesn't take Steam into account.
Portal 2 Sixense DLC -- and actual Hydra controllers -- available from Steam
If you're excited about both motion controls and Portal 2 -- or you're so eager for more Portal 2 content that you're willing to pay $140 for it -- the new "Sixense Motion Pack" DLC is available for download on Steam, including six new levels that feature stretchable blocks. Of course, you need the Razer Hydra motion controller device itself to be able to play this content. And you can get that through Steam, as well. No, really. You can order a controller through Steam. Who knew? The controller comes with the DLC and a free copy of Portal 2. Which you'll likely be giving away, if you're the Portal-crazed person we mentioned at the top of the post. [Thanks, Jason G.!]
Valve, The National testing Portal 2 music video contest
Valve and The National are teaming up for a music video contest based on the band's "Exile Vilify" track from Portal 2. Using whatever means necessary -- they don't even have to think with portals -- participants have until July 15 to submit a music video for the song on YouTube with the tag "PORTAL2NATIONALEXILE." Valve, The National and "the community" will select the winner, who'll receive a fabulous prize package of Portal 2 merch and a guitar autographed by The National. That's all the rules, so go nuts. If you need to give the track a listen before letting those creative juices flow, check out the song after the break. If you want the full Portal 2 soundtrack, you can download that from your buddies at Joystiq right here.
Buy one, get half off a second select Xbox 360/PS3 game at Best Buy
Before you indulge that sudden, irresistible desire to purchase two recent PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 games, allow us to pass along some helpful information. Best Buy is offering a buy one, get one half-off deal on several PS3 and Xbox 360 games including Dirt 3, Portal 2, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Red Faction: Armageddon, and Crysis 2. You could even double up on Duke Nukem Forever and Homefront, if that's what you're into for some reason. Regardless of the critical response to the Duke, it's pretty impressive to get a 50% off deal on a brand new game like that ... right? [Thanks, Eric!]
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.
Portal homage pops on stage
This Portal performance by NOTN Cosplay may lack the precisely synchronized movements that drama majors would demand, but conceptually it's got a lot of heart.
Test chamber music: Valve offers free Portal 2 soundtrack downloads
A generous free offering from Valve will allow you to reflect on all those great times you had with Portal 2. Or, if you haven't gotten it yet, it'll allow you to get a preview of some of those great times you'll have sometime in the future. Or maybe it'll allow you to think about the great times you're having, as you're having said great times. For you non-sentimental types, it's a bunch of free Portal 2 music. The publisher posted "Volume 1" of "Songs to Test By," containing 22 tracks from the game. It also posted a set of six iPhone/Android ringtones made from recognizable soundtrack snippets. As a bonus, if you play them all at the same time, you'll hear exactly what this year's PAX will sound like. You can download the soundtrack from Valve -- or from us, right here!
Portable Portal 2 Personality Cores are ready for adventure
We've grown quite attached to the Personality Cores we've met in our jaunts through Aperture Science, and leaving the adorable AIs in the gameworld has always been hard for us. You too? Cheer up! Now you can bring them with you, thanks to robot engineer Chris Myles.
Brink vaults to the top of UK charts
Brink took the top spot on the UK all-formats charts last week, and even the PlayStation 3 version (which couldn't support online play last week) became the best seller on the platform. With the PSN restored, it should soon receive the matchmaking updates added to the Xbox 360 version. Lego Pirates of the Caribbean sailed into second for its debut, while Zumba Fitness held a solid footing at third, experiencing only a two percent drop in sales. The rest of the top ten is a mix of the regulars, except for THQ's MX vs ATV Alive, which premiered in the tenth spot. It'll be interesting to see how that "budget" title performs on the charts, since most of its revenue is expected to come from DLC. Head past the break for the UK All Platforms top ten.
April NPD: Mortal Kombat wins for Outworld, Xbox is top console again
The Mortal Kombat reboot rose up against franchise fatigue, an incapacitated PSN, and space-time-tunneling competition to claim the top spot on the NPD's April sales charts. Turns out there's a big audience out there for seeing inside some dude's body as his bones are breaking. Oh, and for accessible, fast-paced fighting games. (But mostly the X-ray bone breaks.) According to the NPD, Mortal Kombat sold just under 900K copies. Portal 2, of course, came in at No. 2. Likely as a result of these two games, total US spending was up 20 percent year-over year, from $802.4 million in 2010 to $961.2 million in 2011. Microsoft can also claim some responsibility for the high numbers -- it informed us that the Xbox 360 was the top-selling console last month, moving 297,000 units (a year-over-year increase of 60 percent).
More Portal 2 'Insane Cube Tricks' documented
We were shocked by the things YouTube user Schrobotindisguise was able to accomplish in Portal 2 with nothing more than a cube and a steady aim -- again, we feel like the worst Portal players ever. Further evidence of his unparalleled cube skills can be seen in the video just past the break.
Portal 2 Authoring Tools now available in beta for PC gamers
Finished Portal 2 but haven't had your fill of Aperture Science testing chambers? Aside from handing out a slew of free content in the coming months, Valve is releasing the Portal 2 Authoring Tools -- essentially giving PC users access to some of the nuts and bolts behind the developer's critical hit. The tools are free for owners of the game on PC, and can be found in the Tools tab of Steam accounts. As with previous Source Engine mod kits released by Valve, you'll be able to employ all of the game's assets: single player and co-op levels, character skins, sound effects, music, and 3D models are all at your disposal. Beyond the basics, Valve is including an updated version of Faceposer (facial animation software), some "examples maps and instances to help build new maps," and an "updated suite of command-line compiling utilities." That last part sounds dangerous, so we'll leave it up to you to figure out what it does.
