Jun 16, 2011

Razer Hydra Motion Controller Now Available With Portal 2 and Extra Levels

Portal 2 - Valve

The Razer Hydra motion sensing controller is now available for purchase and shipping via Steam in the United States.

Extend your natural body motion directly into the game and interact with the virtual world in complete three dimensions, as you would in real life.

The Razer Hydra comes bundled exclusively with a copy of Portal 2 and comes with the Portal 2 Sixense Motion Pack DLC. Play Portal 2 like never before with the detailed object manipulation only available with the Razer Hydra. Plus, the Motion Pack includes a set of 10 custom single-player Portal 2 maps that can only be solved with true six degree-of-freedom.

Jun 15, 2011

Valve Want A Video For Exile Vilify

Portal 2 - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (John Walker)

I love grumpytrousers mumblers The National, so was particularly excited when I found out the band would be contributing a specially written song to Portal 2. And somewhat disappointed when Exile Vilify appeared in the form of the broadcast of a tinny radio in a hidden corner. Then I found this and listened to it eight hundred times in a row. Soon there will be excuses to listen to it many times over again, as Valve have set the challenge of making a video to go with the song. The winner will receive a prize pack, including a guitar signed by the band, and some Portal 2 merch. Videos need to be up on YouTube (tagged “PORTAL2NATIONALEXILE”) by July 15th. Let’s see an RPS reader win this one.

Jun 15, 2011

The Portal 2 Music Video Contest

Portal

Sharp-eared music fans will have already found the haunting track "Exile Vilify" by The National in Portal 2. Clearly Rat Man is a big fan of of the song, based on some of the art decorating the walls of his dens. But as any museum fan can tell you, there's nothing a fancypants painting can say that a YouTube video can't say a hundred times better.

Visit the video contest site

Jun 13, 2011

Portal 2's Chell Has Busted Out, and Is Having Her Photo Taken

Portal 2

I couldn't bear another week of kids dressed up as Final Fantasy characters. So for this instalment of Fancy Pants, we're looking at a single person in a single costume.

That person is Emiri. That costume was made by marimbamonkey14. And the shoot is of Portal 2 star Chell.

While the prop work isn't the greatest, that's not all there is to good cosplay. Good locations, a good outfit, good photos and a model who looks like the source material all do just as much to go toward great cosplay as an authentic gun would.

If you like what you see here, marimbamonkey14's Deviantart page has a great shoot based on the first Portal (including a neat anthropomorphic take on GlaDOS) you should check out as well.

marimbamonkey14 [Deviantart]

Fancy Pants is a look at the world of cosplay (costume play), where people dress up as their favorite video game characters. Sometimes it works! Sometimes it...yeah.

Portal 2's Chell Has Busted Out, and Is Having Her Photo Taken

Jun 5, 2011

This Portal 2 Action Figure is a Work of Art

Portal

You know, it's probably more of a "doll", but whatever. Flickr user nael has built himself a Portal 2 action figure/doll, and as you're about to see, it's amazing.

The attention to detail is what first grabs you, as Chell's jumpsuit is stitched to perfection and even her chicken leg boots are perfectly recreated in 1/6 scale. Then you notice...well, more attention to detail, like the painstaking work done on the Portal gun and the fact it lights up.

Portal custom [nael @ Flickr, thanks Gudulon!]

This Portal 2 Action Figure is a Work of Art

Jun 1, 2011

Wow, Somebody Built (Another) Real Portal 2 Robot

Portal 2

Atlas, one of Portal 2's co-operative testing robots, is making the jump from the monitor screen to the real world, courtesy of some amazing work at Technically Magic.

The guys at TM, specialists in props and costumes for ads and music videos and the like, built the little guy from scratch for a GameStop competition.

Look at the detail! Look at his little illuminated face! Delightful.

Portal 2: Atlas [TM, thanks everyone!]

Wow, Somebody Built (Another) Real Portal 2 Robot

Jun 1, 2011

Mod News: Clever Girl

Half-Life 2 - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Lewis Denby)

Quite a lot of mod news this week, apparently, even though there’s very little for you to actually play. There’s a long-awaited update from Jurrassic Life, as well as plenty of other gubbins related to Half-Life 2, Crysis, Stalker: Clear Sky, Portal 2 and Dirt 3. That’s a lot of games! Read on to find out what’s what.
(more…)

May 31, 2011

Portal 2's "Want You Gone" Sounds Even Better When Sung by Electric Guitar

Portal 2

Need a reason to learn how to play the electric guitar? YouTube musician FamilyJules7X demonstrates how well mad guitar skills and gaming go together in his triumphant electric cover of Jonathan Coulton's "Want You Gone."

GLaDOS wants you gone so badly she sings a song about it at the end of Portal 2. Most test subjects get the hint right away. If they didn't, I can easily imagine the maniacal artificial intelligence turning to something a bit less subtle, possibly involving multiple electric guitars. Something like this, for instance.

For more guitar-driven excellence from FamilyJules7X, be sure to check out his rendition of "Still Alive". These two tunes are going to live a long and happy life on my MP3 player, far from the prying eyes of electronic megalomaniacs.

Want You Gone Portal 2 Guitar Cover [YouTube - Thanks Dustin!]

May 26, 2011

Portal 2 Update Released

Portal 2 - Valve

Updates to Portal 2 have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

Portal 2

Fixed rare case where the final section could not be completed
Fixed invalid memory read in paint shader
Localization fixes

May 26, 2011

Portal 2 mapping contest kicks off

Portal 2

Community site thinkingwithportals.com have launched a new Portal 2 mapping contest. Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to create the best singe player or co-op test chamber you can think of, and submit it to the Thinking With Portals download database before 11:59pm EDT on June 6. Entries submitted at midnight will be incinerated in the nearest Aperture Cleansing Oven.

The best two mapers will receive an Ultimate Portal 2 Gift Pack signed by the Portal 2 developers and both maps will be featured by Valve on The Portal 2 site. Read on for the rules of entry.

You'll find full details on the Thinking With Portals contest page. The rules are below. Good luck!

Maps must be submitted no later than June 6th at 11:59pm EDT.
Both Singleplayer and Co-op maps are allowed. You may submit one map of each game mode.
Maps cannot contain custom assets of any kind. No exceptions. Spend your time working on your puzzle, not making models, textures, sounds/voices, or other extra content.
Maps must contain both an Entry and an Exit elevator, the style of which as appropriate for your map theme. 1940's Aperture maps can use the old style elevators, destroyed Aperture can use the destroyed looking elevators, and so on.
Maps must be able to be completed without using engine or portaling glitches of any kind.
Entries must be uploaded to the ThinkingWithPortals.com Download Database and uploaded in a compressed file format (such as ZIP, RAR or 7z).
Entries must include the source VMF.