Portal 2 Hype & Theory
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010It’s been an age since i updated my blog, sorry about that but i’ve been busy with Uni. I’ve spent a while writing this theory based on the recent Portal Update which saw the continuation of Valve drip feeding information about Portal 2 to the community. Thought i might as well post it here.
11th March can be the only reveal we’re getting from all of this. It just makes sense, in order to build the hype and get people to keep digging.
Yes, Gabe is getting an award then but Valve as a business are also at the GDC as an exhibitor, so they obviously have something to show. Yes they’re probably going to be showing the L4D2 DLC off again; maybe even this is when they’ll drop information about the Engineer update.
However, the GDC runs 9th through to the 13th of March, the 11th being the start of the actual ‘expo’ part of the event. When better than to drop the bomb of Portal 2 for their 2010 Holiday Release?
Although it saddens me I don’t think we’re gonna see Episode 3 here, there isn’t enough information for that – this has to be and only can be Portal 2.
After all it certainly seems Valve only turn out one major release of their own making in a year. Let’s face it that’s a good thing, they churn out heaps of DLC after-all!
Left 4 Dead 2’s release was Valve in 2009 and since it’s been DLC all the way since then, the core development team must be up to something. ‘Still Alive’ being on a jukebox in L4D2 an easter egg? To me that was Valve telling you what they were developing next and the actual beginning of this information drip teaser.
Based on the giant image montage of the BBS outputs GLaDOS 3.11 is pretty much the last piece of information we get, i.e. the reveal date, with the exception of information from C Johnson, former Aperture Science CEO. So where does he fit in?
GLaDOS was destroyed, she’s Still Alive and was obviously somewhere after the explosion at the main Aperture Facility in a very basic, logic driven program. In order to restore herself properly she must have had to access various systems, one of which being where the AI created from Cave Johnson’s mind and memories was stored.
Cave Johnson was cast months and months ago based on information relating to the casting call and was identified in that as being ‘a side kick and eventually the main antagonist’ due to an increasing level of psychosis. This is bound to be caused by his furthered mental capacity via machinery and computing and not being able to cope with it. After all he was denied his Olympia by the humans who fought to save his mind, that’s obviously your fault in the end!
Now perhaps due to GLaDOS’s weakened state and the removal of her emotional components in the last game (Morality, Curiosity, Emotion, Cake) they are now both the same, the foundation of GLaDOS is in Portal 2 but the various previously manufactured personality traits (from the cores) are all down to Cave’s stored consciousness.
From the casting call script samples, it appears that things will be very much the same, a ‘test subject’ having to complete a series of trials, guided by the AI in control of the facility. ‘CaveDOS’ is obviously doing this now as the basic, core functionality of the programming instructs ‘him’ to do so.
It’ll be the rest of his discovery and pondering of his memories followed by his logic driven realisations that cause him to turn sour as you progress, resulting in him being much like GLaDOS and out to get you.
This is just GLaDOS again. With a new mind.
And that is awesome.
Ok, so i watched a few more of the larger E3 pressers and have had my brain filled with gaming based goodness - and badness - coming in the next 12-18 months. Here’s how i reacted to the rest of the conferencess i watched in the format of the Fail Scale.