That panel is a part of some sort, to be flown on a resupply craft to the International Space Station this coming Friday. "An anonymous tech at NASA," is responsible for laser-engraving Wheatley, the antagonist of Portal 2 the Space Core on the part, Valve said in its official Portal blog on Friday. "And please note that when we mentioned an 'anonymous tech at NASA' we weren't kidding," Valve added. "NASA in no way officially endorses secretly laser-engraving characters from Portal onto their spacecraft."

I'll refrain from making jokes as they carry a spoiler hazard (it's a year after release, but so what). You either know why this is ironic already or have the means of finding out for yourself. It's a clever tribute to the game and the character. The full size picture is available at the link.

[Correction] It's the Space Core. Both it and Wheatley end up in space in the game anyway.

Wheatley in Spaaaaaaace! [Portal Blog]

This montage of Portal 2's ATLAS and P-body raising hell in Liberty City comes to you from the same guy who commissioned the insane death-dealing R2-D2 mod for Grand Theft Auto IV. It is outstanding. Just sit back and enjoy.

Sure, it's fairly cheap and easy to make yourself a Portal-themed mirror with some paint and a quick trip to IKEA. But what really makes a portal fun isn't just its blue or orange halo but rather, that trippy infinity effect.

For that, you need two mirrors. And some LEDs. Or if you're not particularly good with putting things together, you just need this Etsy seller to do it for you.

The downside is, they're not nearly as effective in the broad daylight. But at night, or in a darkened room? Not going to lie: it's kind of tempting to try to leap through them.

Portal Mirrors [Etsy]

I'm not sure if this is a case of Portal making Katamari Damacy cuter, or Katamari Damacy making Portal cuter. Either way, this mesh of two awesome video games is confusingly amazing. Expand the image for the full effect.

Though, I'm not entirely sure how a video game featuring the two would actually work. I suppose you'd have to roll your way through portals. Or would the katamari roll up the portals in its rampage? What black holes would we be creating then?

The possibilities are both horrifying and exciting.

Guys I'm not even sure anymore. [Squid Von Bob]

Toy company NECA, who recently released an official replica Portal gun, is letting people kick their Aperture fantasies up a notch with an entire licensed outfit.

Going on sale soon will be a pair of long socks fashioned to look like the game's Long Fall Boots and, for those who really like to get in character, the same orange jumpsuit that hero Chell wears in both Portal games.

The suit looks to be available in both men's and women's cuts, and costs $100. It'll go on sale next month.

Portal [BigBadToyStore, via Super Punch]

The concept is fairly straightforward. Each side has their own portal, which they can move one step in any direction. Going through a portal means your piece's particular style of movement continues through your opponent's portal. There are a couple of other details and rules, so you should watch the full video for them.

Definitely going to try playing this one with my dad. Since, you know, I beat him that one time. And I may very well do so again.

How to play Portal Chess! [YouTube via Reddit]

The wonderfully named Killer Duck Decals sells, well, decals. Stickers for your phone or smallish electronics.

But not just any stickers. These NES controller iPhone decals kind of make me wish I had an iPhone, not going to lie. (The store does stock some Android decals! But not, sadly, for my phone.) On the other hand, the potato GLaDOS decal will fit very nicely on my iPod touch. And maybe our Roku is close enough in size to an AppleTV unit to get away with that Portal motif. Because I'm pretty sure I need that.

There are many, many more where these came from; hit up the link to make every device you own even more geeky. Did someone say flux capacitor?

Killer Duck Decals [Etsy]

Chell, hero of the puzzle-packed Portal series, doesn't have a whole lot to say. Like many classic video game protagonists, she's intentionally silent: a personality-free avatar designed for you to inhabit and control however you'd like.

But she can talk, says Portal 2 writer Erik Wolpaw in an excellent interview published today by the Gameological Society. She just won't.

"Having people stand around while you talk is tough in games, so if we can actually remove one whole character's dialogue, that saves us a bunch of time for all the other characters," Wolpaw said. "At no point were we ever thinking that, 'Aw, we need to make Chell talk! This game is lacking in personality!' She probably can talk, though. In our minds, she can talk. She's just pissed off the whole time and is refusing to dignify any of the things going by speaking about them."

I love that explanation. Check out Gameological for the full interview—it's a great read.

Funny People: Erik Wolpaw, Portal 2 head writer [Gameological]