Portal 2

[mmosu]

Is anyone else waiting for this one?  I didn't expect to get sucked in by a puzzle game right now, especially since I didn't play Portal 1 (which was part of the Orange Box compilation) but after watching and reading up, I'm really excited for this game!  The idea itself is creative and the execution looks incredible.  If you haven't seen this, check it out:

http://ps3.ign.com/objects/064/064329.html

[spaceboy]

I think it'll be great from what I've read and seen (I too have never played the first).  But I'm going to have to pass, at least right away.  What's neat is the co-op can be played across PC and PS3.  It's just not in the cards to pick up in April.  I'm intereted to hear more on it though.

[Art Blade]

Maybe JRD is as he used to like portal (1) a lot.

[PZ]

It will be interesting to read your impressions - I've not seen anything quite like this before.

[fragger]

Portal was a very original and very well executed game concept which I felt was offset a bit by not having a huge amount of replay value, well not for me anyway. There's one solution for each of the puzzles and having solved them there's not much incentive for going through them all again other than to see if you can complete them quicker or more efficiently. There is a kind of "challenge" sequence of puzzles which are unlocked once the game proper is completed, these are some of the same levels already played but with a bunch of twists introduced and made tougher. Maybe number 2 will be a completely different kettle of fish. I guess maybe about once every few months I have another playthrough of Portal, it is a lot of fun - once in a while. I do like the humour in it, especially that goofy song during the end credits :-D From what I've seen, the puzzles in Portal2 looks like they'll be tougher than in the orig.

[mmosu]

Yeah, I had really thought about that replay value, but I still think I'll get this one.  Some of the videos of Portal 2 are downright mind-warping  :o.  It's so cool that you can look into the portals and see what's on the other side, or even see yourself entering the first portal as you come through the other side - brings to mind all the little thought puzzles you've ever heard about time travel or the ability to move at the speed of light and what not.  I've actually spent the last hour looking at copies of the orange box on ebay, I would really like to play the original before 2 comes out.

[fragger]

It does provide some sense-confounding moments, like putting a portal on a wall and one on the ceiling and finding yourself looking down on yourself, or having a portal on the floor and one on the ceiling directly above it, stepping into the floor one and finding yourself in an infinite freefall loop. You can actually get out of that though by holding down your move-forward key while you're falling and eventually you'll land on the floor again at the edge of the portal. Many of the puzzles require both lateral and imaginative thinking to solve. I won't give anything away here :-D

If you do get the original, stick with it. For a while it appears to be just a sequence of puzzles, but there's a big twist to it further on.

I think you'd enjoy it, mate. It should be good preparation for #2!

[Dweller_Benthos]

I replayed the original back when they updated it with the radios and that whole strange puzzle that gave hints to the game. Still like the concept and how they are tying it into the Half Life 2 story line, looking forward to the new one, but don't know when I'll squeeze time from Minecraft in order to play it.

[Art Blade]

D_B, it always makes me smile when I see you mention Minecraft and that you're still happy with it :) Basically because I remember when it was introduced here and how I thought no one would ever want to play a C64 graphics game these days. Good thing there are still games for us out there we take pleasure in constantly playing them :)

[fragger]

Interesting that you guys mention the durability of some old games as I was playing one just last night. Back in the early 1990s a company called Talonsoft was producing a range of games called the Battleground series. These were all turn-based combat strategy games played on a map with a hexagonal grid, just like the military simulation board games of the 70s but with prettier maps. I have all five of their American Civil War ones which I still like to get into from time to time. These games were originally written to run under Windows 3.1 on a 300x200 screen resolution. I've had them since the day and they have run without a problem under every version of Windows ever produced, and in every screen resolution. They even run on my 1920x1080 res widescreen monitor without the graphics getting stretched - just more of the map is visible on screen. I guess because they're relatively simple games with no flashy 3D graphics or animation, they just take every new development in OS or displays in their stride. Of course the unit images and the hexes have gotten smaller and smaller as my monitor resolutions have increased over the years, but the nature of the games is such that it's not important to be able to see the units close up. Every increase in resolution has simply made the games nicer to look at and in fact more playable because less map scrolling is necessary and more of the situation is visible at once.

Some old games just get better with age :-X

But back on topic (sort of), I'll be interested to see how they weave the Aperture story into the Half-Life 2 story. And I'm still hanging out for Episode 3, dammit :D

[mmosu]

The previews still describe Aperture as a "company gone mad with science".  I never got in to Half-Life, so I can't comment much outside of that...

[Dweller_Benthos]

They sure are taking their time with HL Ep 3, that's for sure. Scuttlebut is that Gordon will get his hands on a portal gun in some capacity once they release the thing. I haven't checked in a long time to see what the new rumors are, so that might be out of date.

Yeah, Minecraft is taking up a lot of my free time, and it's not really "retro" or "old school" in my opinion, just because the graphics are blocky. It actually takes some horsepower to run the thing, and with a texture pack mod to increase the graphics resolution, it can look quite good. Besides, who can't love a cubic pig? lol

[Art Blade]

better love a cubic pig than smoke a pubic cig  :-()

[mmosu]

better love a cubic pig than smoke a pubic cig  :-()

???  Worst mental image ever . . .

Anyway, I broke down today and ordered a used copy of the orange box.  Apparently with the impending release of Portal 2, the orange box has become a hot commodity and it's driving the prices up.  I got mine for $24, but I saw some for more than $40 in "like new" condition, so I guess my price is not that bad for that many games on one disc.  Only downside:  4 - 12 days for ground shipping from Nevada  :D  :-D

I'll soon be portaling it up in search of cake . . . mmm, cake . . .

[PZ]

better love a cubic pig than smoke a pubic cig  :-()

^+-+

[Art Blade]

 ;D

[mmosu]

If anyone's interested, here's a link to a flash version of Portal - kind of lame compared to the real thing but still fun for a few minutes . . .

http://www.addictinggames.com/portalflashversion.html

[spaceboy]

I just pre-ordered P2.  I had a $20 credit coming to me from Amazon (for ordering KZ3  ;D )  and it was supposed to go towards Motorstorm Apocalypse, which has been delayed due to the horrible events in Japan.   Anyways, Amazon is now offering another $20 credit for pre-ordering P2 so I got 20 off and will get another 20 to spend.  $36 for P2 delivered on release day!  gotta love it.

I never played the first, I may never, but that's ok...this looks like great fun.

PS3 version is supposed to get a free download version for the PC - AND PS3 and PC players are supposed to be able to play Co-op together.  There is a separate co-op campaign in addition to single player.   We may be able to get some good co-op stuff going here across platforms!

[Binnatics]

Hey this looks great! I just completed microsoft tinker, which was an odd but quite intelligent game. I really enjoyed the puzzles after all these heavy action games. I will check it out when it comes out. Must b cool.

[mmosu]

Cheers Binnatics, and welcome!  :-X

My copy of the orange box arrived and I'm about to finish my first playthrough of Portal 1.  It's been really fun so far - I appreciate the wacky story line that keeps getting weirder by the minute  :-X  At any rate, it's getting me psyched for Portal 2!

Hey space, I'm gonna need a co-op partner . . .

[fragger]

mmosu, after you're finished with Portal you might like to give Half-Life2 a look. Some aspects of the storyline may be a bit nebulous to you if you haven't played the original game but it doesn't matter to the gameplay. Just be warned it's not an open world game by any means, it's very linear in fact, but it does have a high immersion factor. I like the way the game's future dystopia setting is depicted, there's aspects of some of the classic FD movies like THX-1138 or Fahrenheit 451. This one's sort of like 1984 meets War of the Worlds. I always thought the character animation and voice acting in it was a cut above, it has a strong storyline and the graphics and sound are terrific for an "older" game.

Geez, I sound like a salesman, don't I? ::) Sorry about that, I didn't mean to :-()

[spaceboy]

Hey space, I'm gonna need a co-op partner . . .

sounds great!

check out this link for some pretty neat videos   http://thinkwithportals.com/media.php

[fragger]

Man, I'd be up for that too, except: a) I don't trust my internet connection to hold for long enough (I get a lot of dropouts, which would suck for both parties in a co-op game) and; b) the disparate time-zone factor - usually when I'm online everybody else here is either asleep or at wor - er, their place of employment, and vice-versa.

Still, if you guys do get into it, I'd love to hear your impressions :)

[mmosu]

I'm really tempted by Half-Life fragger.  The only thing that prevented me up until now was fear of being totally lost on the story - there have only been a few times I've picked up a series in the middle.

On a related note, I wrapped up my first playthrough of Portal tonight . . . LOVED it!!!  I liked the dark and unexpected twist that the story took in the final part, and the fight with GLaDOS was hilarious (my favorite was the orb with the angry voice  :-())

"This was a triumph
I'm making a note here - huge success"  :-()

[deadman1]

Portal - Still Alive Credits Song in Full 1080p HD


Portal: A Day in the Life of a Turret (Machinima)