Thread: Portal 2 / Episode 3 - Valve is fucking with us

So a few days ago, Portal was updated with a new achievement, which also implemented a bunch of new items all around in the game, in each map specifically. Radios. They play a morse code audio track.
There are 26 tracks all in all, and some kind of method known as SSTV, people have been able to extract pictures from the audio tracks.

Here they are:






















Now, all the pictures from the first to the twenty second, people have been able to get letters and numbers from, that present an MD5 hash, which subsequently was translated into a landline number in Kirkland, US. This landline you can connect to with one of those old dial-up modems, and from there open a Bulletin Board System session, a kind of communication system used back in the old days. If you can authenticate yourself with the system with the correct username and password, which were recovered from some of the morse code mentioned earlier, the BBS terminal will put out a lot of ASCII pictures. You can see those on these links, pretty huge stuff:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2..._human_bbs.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...tation_bbs.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...hamber_bbs.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...pports_bbs.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...om3_inc_bb.png

This is the biggest picture that was extracted, and it is most likely concept art from Portal 2:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2801/...b95fd393_o.jpg
A noise reduction filter has been applied, and without the filter, you can see some text, which is just weird memos from the owner of Aperture Science, Cave Johnson. Stuff about witchcraft among other things. I can't track down this version right now.
edit: here it is actually!
http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/930...sciilarge2.png

So far people have hit a roadblock, and can't really extract more information. The BBS terminal is putting out new pictures all the time, but it doesn't seem too relevant to the entire thing.

I can credit all this to the Steam forums btw. where I believe most of this was figured out. There is also a SomethingAwful discussion going on, and they are probably trying to make some break throughs, most likely keeping quiet about it until they get something concrete.

This is awesome, I haven't seen it before. Thanks Marvo.

I think Valve said they won't be giving us anything about Ep3 and portal in 2010, which made people quite pissed. But seeing these things makes me wonder if perhaps it's just that they are doing "their thing" again, which would be pretty awesome. On the other hand they may just be doing this to compensate the fans after getting caught in their standard practice of "Valve time" with all the delays. Anyway, all other game developer companies are so distant and "commercial", but Valve just has this wierd way of doing things and connecting to their fanbase. Makes me all excited about HL again.

Oh and did you see the chicken robot from Portal 1 in those pictures? very cool.

The Game Developer's Conference (GDC) starts in a few days. Valve will most likely make an announcement on there.

L4D 3

I. Can't. Wait.

I'm glad they decided to do something interesting with the upcoming release...

The GDC is on March 11th.

You can check out the Steam Forums for a link to an IRC server where everything is being talked about.

Right now, we just have to leave all the puzzle solving to the guys with the BBC equipment. Also, do not call the number if you find it. You'll only be getting in the way.

Here is the link to the Steam Portal forums.

Check it constantly because people are finding things every 30 seconds. I've found a couple things myself.

Originally Posted by Bonsay

This is awesome, I haven't seen it before. Thanks Marvo.

I think Valve said they won't be giving us anything about Ep3 and portal in 2010, which made people quite pissed. But seeing these things makes me wonder if perhaps it's just that they are doing "their thing" again, which would be pretty awesome. On the other hand they may just be doing this to compensate the fans after getting caught in their standard practice of "Valve time" with all the delays. Anyway, all other game developer companies are so distant and "commercial", but Valve just has this wierd way of doing things and connecting to their fanbase. Makes me all excited about HL again.

Oh and did you see the chicken robot from Portal 1 in those pictures? very cool.

Valve hasn't said anything at all about Ep3.

We can only hope they say something during the GDC or E3, which E3 is in June.

However, I would believe they will most likely talk about The Passing, which is the Left 4 Dead 2 DLC that is supposed to have both the L4D Survivors meet up with the L4D2 Survivors.

I followed the Steam forums for a few hours and concluded that nothing new is gonna show up. Most of the time people are just hunting ghosts. Some went as far as calling complete strangers who happened to own websites that seemed related to Portal, and ask them obscure questions.

Right now I'm just sitting back and checking the SA thread+Steam forums every couple of hours.

Originally Posted by Marvo

So a few days ago, Portal was updated with a new achievement, which also implemented a bunch of new items all around in the game, in each map specifically. Radios. They play a morse code audio track.
There are 26 tracks all in all, and some kind of method known as SSTV, people have been able to extract pictures from the audio tracks.

Here they are:






















Now, all the pictures from the first to the twenty second, people have been able to get letters and numbers from, that present an MD5 hash, which subsequently was translated into a landline number in Kirkland, US. This landline you can connect to with one of those old dial-up modems, and from there open a Bulletin Board System session, a kind of communication system used back in the old days. If you can authenticate yourself with the system with the correct username and password, which were recovered from some of the morse code mentioned earlier, the BBS terminal will put out a lot of ASCII pictures. You can see those on these links, pretty huge stuff:

Who/how would anyone be able to determine this?

Originally Posted by youssarian

Who/how would anyone be able to determine this?

We have amazing people who can decode the images with special programs. While we're not really sure what all of the images mean, some people have been able to figure out what's in the image.

Edit: Good news/Bad news

http://forums.steampowered.com/forum....php?t=1173159

So, it's been confirmed that Valve is pretty much going to port Steam to the Mac. That's cool for Mac users, however, this seems to take up more space at the GDC. What I mean is, Valve has announced both The Passing for Left 4 Dead 2, and now this Mac stuff which could potentially keep Valve from talking about Ep3 and Portal.

One of the images for the Mac promo is:


One thing I'd like to point out is that the Team Fortress 2 Turret (which is representing the PC) can be upgraded, while the Portal Turret (representing the Mac) just looks pretty. Coincidence?

It's about time we got some Ep3 info... the whole point of episodic releases was that we got a little chapter every six months or so, lol. I reckon Ep3 will be epic though. Ep2 was brilliant.

Also, since when did they rule out info in 2010? That'd really be pushing it a bit too far, you'd have expected them to have made Half-Life 3 by 2011.

This is more than likely related to Portal 2 rather than EP3. Perhaps a cross-over might happen.

Here's what we know though:

Cave Johnson (owner of Aperture Laboratories) is preserved as a GLaDOS-like robot. Judging from his memos, he's insane, much like GLaDOS.

Chell survived the explosion at the end of the first game, as she was dragged away by an android.

Episode 3 will involve a ship owned by Aperture Laboratories, known as the Borealis. It is a very high-tech ship, that has abilities that even the Black Mesa scientists are afraid of. Need I remind you, the Black Mesa scientists did not hesitate to create a resonance cascade (resonating energy, multiplying forever) in the first Half-Life game, so the Borealis is probably capable of teleporting the Earth or something.

CONFIDENTIAL

October 17th, 1976

Re: Human Enrichment & Testing Initiative, Resource Acquisitions



1. "Low Risk" Human Resource Acquisitions



a. Hoboes and Tramps

Lives spent wandering aimlessly, cowering before authority, and drinking

concussive amounts of home-distilled potato alcohol make hoboes the perfect

Human Enrichment test subjects. The hobo questions nothing, will follow orders

if fed, and, like all hoboes, has a restless, wandering heart. (Note: The

wandering heart of the hobo should not be confused with Drifting Heart

Syndrome, which several transients contracted during testing.)



b. Child Orphans and Foundlings

Deep-rooted abandonment issues leave most orphans highly susceptible to

shame-based psychology (for a complete list of opportune moments to obliterate

the esteem of test subjects, please consult Training Video #89-D, "You'd

Perform This Test Better if You Had Parents"). Recent advances in the use of

scorn, flattery used in an ironic context and naked contempt as motivational

tools have yielded similarly profitable results.



c. Psychiatric Patients

Past experience shows these fellows are simply not shy at all about carrying

on, disrupting tests and defecating just about anywhere that pleases them.

Frankly, itís off-putting, and small wonder why Aperture-brand mental

institutions are being phased out in favor of more orphanages.



d. Seniors

Frail, brittle hands make holding science devices difficult. Most were born

before the advent of science, and can become confused and disoriented when

asked to participate in relatively simple tests (teleportation, invisibility,

adjusting esteem levels of orphan children).

lol Valve.

Originally Posted by Marvo

This is more than likely related to Portal 2 rather than EP3. Perhaps a cross-over might happen.

Episode 3 will involve a ship owned by Aperture Laboratories, known as the Borealis. It is a very high-tech ship, that has abilities that even the Black Mesa scientists are afraid of. Need I remind you, the Black Mesa scientists did not hesitate to create a resonance cascade (resonating energy, multiplying forever) in the first Half-Life game, so the Borealis is probably capable of teleporting the Earth or something.

Well, Portal and Half-Life are in the same universe, so whatever is related to Portal is related to Half-Life.

Also, Gman was the one who orchestrated the Resonance Cascade. Eli knew about Gman, because he said "Prepare for unforeseen consequences" just before everything went to hell. Unfortunately, we never got a chance to talk about the Gman...

And according to the Half-Life saga story guide website (which Valve said was the most accurate time line site for half-life), the Borealis disappeared 5 years before the resonance cascade even happened.