News
Portal Radio Patch Mystery: The Plot Thickens
What Does it All Mean?
by Sarah
I think we can all agree that this has been one of the strangest weeks ever for the gaming industry. In addition to the PS3ocalypse and the Activision/Infinity Ward scandal, Valve released a Steam patch for Portal that added radios to every level. When carried to a certain point in the level, each radio would transmit a message. Proving that gamers can do just about anything, these messages have been transferred to images using sound imaging software. These images were then colorizing and de-noised, making their content more easily visible. As seen above and below, this is even more reason to believe that Valve is on the verge of announcing Portal 2 or Half-Life 2: Episode 3—or both.
Click the images to see the full versions, as they are pretty large.
Here are some current theories based on these images:
- Gabe Newell is going to announce Portal 2 on March 11 at GDC.
- Gabe Newell is going to announce Half-Life 2: Episode 3 at GDC. Episode 3 will bring Gordon Freeman to Aperture Labs, where he’ll possibly get his hands on a portal gun and meet our old friend Glad0s.
- Gabe will announce a new compilation similar to The Orange Box (possibly The Orange Box 2) that will have both Portal 2 and HL2: E3, as well as more content, maybe Team Fortress 2 with all DLC included.
- Something else entirely.
I’m pretty sure we’ve covered all of our bases with those possibilities. I would be very surprised if some big news doesn’t come from Valve next week, and the developer isn’t really known for letting gamers down. No matter how this plays out, I’m very impressed by the gamers who have put all of these clues together; it just goes to show what a dedicated community of fans Valve has. Stay tuned for more in the great Portal update mystery of 2010. In the meantime, I'm opening the floor for blind speculation. Ready set go!
[Images found via Reddit]
Comments
Dear Internet,
Huge success.
Love,
Paul
Logically, there's no reason for Gordon or Alyx to go to Aperture Labs. All signs point towards Dr. Rasmussen and the ill-fated Borealis which Aperture Laboratories commissioned, as seen on the monitor in the finale of Episode 2.
Also that one shop with the "combine synth" is probably way off. A few high-res versions and you can clearly make out the gunner sentry in bi-pedal housing. The one on the left has been speculated to house a GlaDos morality core in a similar walking brace. Another image not recolored here is what people are referring to as "the nursery." It's the farthest on the right of the black and white ASCII image that looks like a "J." If you rotate it counter clockwise 90 degrees you can clearly make out two of the humanoid icons from the original Portal trailer. One of them is pointing towards the wall at an object that people are speculating is a "Crib" or a desk.
Aperture vs. Black Mesa maybe?
This is the image above that said it might be gordon freeman. It doesn't look like it, in fact it looks like the person has a bionic portal gun. You can even see the knee attachments for the spring heels
As someone who actually received the ASCII files (lol @my dad still having Telnet on the old Gateway) if you read the text that makes up the images there's mention of "possible test subjects," orphaned children, bums, and the elderly are specifically mentioned by Cave.
So I'm calling it now: new player character (as pictured) is either an as of yet unnamed orphan or Chell returns and is revealed to be an adopted child of Cave Johnson.
Bipedal security drones confirmed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vq9oKn-SJCU&feature=player_embedded