Valve announces ‘Portal 2′ music video competition

If you haven’t run into The National’s haunting tune “Exile Vilify” in your playthrough of Valve’s Portal 2, it’s time to start over. (Really, it’s close to the beginning.) Apparently the band really needs a music video for the song, or at least that’s what it sounds like — from now until midnight on July 15, Valve is running a contest to determine the best music video for the song. To enter, upload your version of the music video to YouTube and tag it with “PORTAL2NATIONALEXILE.” Sounds like a weird movie title. The winner will receive a prize package containing an autographed guitar as well as a collection of Portal 2 merchandise. For reference, here’s the song, if you haven’t heard it yet.

Read more →

Hey, part of the ‘Portal 2′ soundtrack is free

Valve announced yesterday via their Portal 2 blog that they’re releasing the official soundtrack of the game as an “aural stimulus.” Okay, actually, it’s all written in Aperture-speak, which is far funnier than I could ever muster on my own. So I’ll just quote it. With Aperture-brand turrets, boots, bots and panels flooding the applied science aisle of your local department store, you could forgive the up-and-coming test lab for taking a breather. Judging from their latest press release, though, their laurels remain untouched by backsides. Bolstered by recent breakthroughs in the field of jazz smoothing, Aperture announced today the first of three downloadable aural stimulus packages. Whether you’re a mega-science corporation with decades of test experience, or a young start-up liberating your first test subject from non-testing with a chloroform-soaked rag, Aperture guarantees results. Wake up your test subject, open the chamber door, and press play–let Aperture’s patent-pending rhythmic

Read more →

Review: Portal 2 (PC/Mac, PS3)

Rating: E-10+ Players: 1, online and splitscreen co-op Genre: Puzzle/Platformer/Basically Undefinable Despite the Fact That I Just Tried Publisher: Valve/EA Developer: Valve Software Release Date: April 19, 2011 BUY   I’m trying my best to keep this review spoiler-free (the pictures don’t even show any puzzles!), but really, if you want the ultimate enjoyment out of this title, don’t read any reviews. Not even mine. If you want the really quick version with absolutely no spoilers, I’ll just say that Portal 2 is incredibly enjoyable. Get it. And then come back to me when you’re done. I’ll wait. When I played the first Portal, I did so after being incredibly spoiled. Well, I guess I can’t complain, since I did it to myself by watching YouTube videos of every chamber. What can I say? I didn’t know if the game was ever coming to PS3. How funny that the PS3

Read more →

GamingAngels Weekly Roundup Episode 4

Hey there, Angels! We’re back with two-thirds (PLUS ONE-THIRD, A.K.A. EVERYONE) and it’s time for some news. As well as Trina’s English accent (for about ten seconds, anyway). Show notes are below the player. Download the file here. First — what do we think the next gaming gimmick’s gonna be? (Thanks, @ind1fference!) And a little bit of what we’ve been playing this week. The news isn’t as listy this time around — as Elizabeth says, it’s a weak week. We make the best of what we’ve got, though! We do go into the PSN debacle, what Sony should be doing for us, possible recompense for some paying users, the new Nintendo console, the slightly-less-new Nintendo 3DS, and Valve just being awesome and giving out Portal 2 DLC. It’s a fun listen, in any case. Also, in a Very Special Episode of Weekly Roundup, Tiffany tells you how to donate to

Read more →

Free Portal 2 DLC coming this summer

Valve Software announced this afternoon that the first add-on content for Portal 2 will be released this summer. The creatively-titled “Portal 2 DLC #1” (that’s probably just a working title, but this is Aperture, so who knows) will contain new test chambers, challenge mode for both single- and multiplayer modes and leaderboards. (I tried to get a little more detail by clicking the link offered in the press release, but that…well, it went to the Left 4 Dead blog. I don’t know whether to read into that or not, especially because of the ARG before Portal 2′s release.) UPDATE: Doug Lombardi says it’s a random mistake. It would be cool if it wasn’t, though. This content will be free for all platforms. Valve also announced that Portal 2 is its fastest-selling release since Half-Life 2, so that’s also pretty impressive.

Read more →

GamingAngels Weekly Roundup Episode 3

We’re back down to two-thirds AGAIN, so Tiffany and Elizabeth cover the week’s best news along with the question of the week, what we’ve been playing (yes, Portal 2 is in there), and more. Full show notes are below the player. Download the file here. The question of the week: What game excited us the most, but ended up being the biggest letdown for us? (Thanks, Brian!) The critics and fans are disagreeing a little bit about Portal 2. What’s up with that? Revisiting Kinect in Netflix — it’s no Minority Report, that’s for sure. The ESRB is using robots to rate downloadable titles. Basically. No one’s going to abuse that, ever. Someone at the New York Times seems to think that gamers falling in love in MMOs is some odd phenomenon, because really. Like gamers are ever going to find love IRL. And hey! The PSN is down again.

Read more →

GamingAngels Weekly Roundup Episode 2

Howdy, Angels! It’s time for our second Weekly Roundup. This week, we’re down to two-thirds, no thanks to storms and power outages, but Trina and Tiffany still cover the best of this week in gaming. Show notes are right below the player! Download the file here. The question of the week this time: What games made us know we love games? (Thanks, @thesournurse!) We also cover: Ads in achievements Our look at Resistance 3 this week Using the power of the force to control Netflix on Xbox 360 thanks to Kinect Portal 2′s possible early release The news from Game Informer on Nintendo’s next console, along with a discussion on where games journalism is now and where it should be Visit the links to read more. We also announced a contest for a Gears of War 3 beta code! Listen to find out how you can win, though I will

Read more →

GLaDOS needs your gaming power to speed up her reboot processes

So, maybe you haven’t been keeping up with Valve’s latest Portal 2-related ARG. That’s fine. There are two things you need to know: Potatoes are important, and Valve’s Potato Sack promotion is even more important. GLaDOS really wants to reboot early. She really wants your PC/Mac copy of Portal 2 to get activated, because that’s when she’s back. But she can’t do it alone. Surprising. So…she’s borrowing us in much the same way you can use your PS3′s power to keep some research going — she’s started GLaDOS@Home. Play the games in Valve’s Potato Sack bundle to help GLaDOS power up, and you get Portal 2 early. Some games need more players than others. The value-per-player is a bit different per game. So check out GLaDOS@Home to see where you’re needed. Really, all I have to say about this is: Go Valve. They’re getting people to buy a ton of

Read more →

Meet Aperture’s Long Fall Boot along with information about Steam on PS3

Silly humans and their errors getting in the way of science! Aperture Science has finally figured out a way to eliminate some human error from their experiments with the portal gun — boots! And not just any boots, either. Long Fall Boots. Oh yeah. No more falling on your face (and breaking your very expensive gun) when you’ve got these babies on. Take a look! Cool, right? Good job, boots-who-were-in-no-way-aided-by-the-test-subject-wearing-them! Valve also released a whole FAQ on the Steam integration that will be launching along with the PS3 version of Portal 2 next week — a thing which will, by the way, turn all of these preorder reminders into…well, order reminders. Among the information, there’s a whole section on Steam Cloud for PS3 as well as a list of instructions for redeeming DLC codes on Steam: How do I redeem my preorder downloadable content (DLC) code in Portal 2? If

Read more →

Aperture Science reveals the Home Safety Turret to potential pre-investors

Maybe it’s just me, but these little videos detailing the “investment opportunities” you can take advantage of with Aperture Science are still hilarious. This week, we learn about the Home Safety Turret, which apparently comes with a 33,000-page manual and is very, very dangerous — unless you program it properly! The turrets still come filled to the brim with bullets, have a wide variety of fashion options for the fashion-conscious scientist or home user (What’s up with that stripey orange one?) and still have that charming voice going for them. You’ll feel guilty about knocking them over in no time. Portal 2 is out in two weeks — April 19.

Read more →