One of the developers we respect, for their games AND their general approach to things, is Valve.
They seem like a fun bunch. They don’t take themselves too seriously and they’re not afraid to get out there and actually talk to the people playing their games.
Then they do cool stuff like this…
A seemingly innocuous new update to the PC version of Valve’s cult hit puzzle game Portal has turned out to be far more than anyone expected, and could be the first instance of using a three year old game itself to hint at future titles.
The update’s changelog only wryly stated that Valve had “changed radio transmission frequency to comply with federal and state spectrum management regulations”, causing players to note that each section of the game had been updated with a new radio object. At first glance, the new radios appeared to be the same that otherwise normally existed inside the game, which simply chirped out a samba version of the game’s iconic end-theme song. Only later was it discovered that these new radios each contain a hidden audio file that’s transmitted when you carry them to one particular point in each of the game’s levels.
Things have moved on since then, with images, morse code messages and double encoded numbers finally revealing a dial-up number for the original Aperture Science Bulletin Board System.
Gamers worldwide have been scouring the new information and revealed messages from Aperture Science Lab founder Cave Johnson – all coming from a nice early version of GlaDOS herself.
The resulting media coverage shows just how involved and interested people are in this ‘meta game’ and how well people respond to being given something to play with.
According to Kotaku:
One theory being bandied about by forumgoers is the version of GlaDOS responding from the BBS, which is 3.11, is a reference to March 11, the date that Valve will supposedly reveal more about what this Portal puzzle is all about. It’s also the date the Valve founder Gabe Newell will receive his Pioneer Award at this year’s Game Developers Conference Awards.
We’re agog and admiring.
- Brian (@flackboy)
