Apr 15, 2011
Last Chance to Pre-Purchase Portal 2, Help Release It Early
Portal 2 - Valve
This weekend is the last chance to pre-purchase Portal 2. Get your copy now, save 10% and be ready to play the moment it is released.

Help release Portal 2 early: From now until release, play any or all of games in The Potato Sack to expedite the launch of Portal 2. Your efforts will be tracked on the official GLaDOS@home page.

Each game in The Potato Sack has received a massive Portal-themed update, making a collection of 13 hit indie games even better. So why not get a taste of Portal 2 now while you help launch it?

Apr 13, 2011
Portal 2 levels appear in potato sack games, clues suggest Portal 2 could be released early
Portal 2

When we took an overview of the remarkable happenings in the potato sack ARG yesterday, the trail was going cold, and it looked as though things were winding down. For a few hours at least, they were, then it all kicked off again. New updates have added Portal 2 themed levels to many of the games in the potato sack sale. The voice of Glados has started appearing in menu screens and secret messages, and to top it all, Bit.Trip Beat creators, Gaijin, dropped a heavy hint that completing the ARG could cause Portal 2 to be released early.

Adding fuel to that theory, today Portal 2 became available to pre-load through Steam. We've collected videos and screenshots of the new Portal 2 themed levels from potato sack sale below.

The Ball



The Ball gets a good extra hour of free Portal 2 levels, including one devoted to bowling over Aperture Science turrets. The team have done a great job of recreating Portal 2's assets in the Unreal 3 engine.
 

Audiosurf



The Portal 2 update in Audiosurf replaces your ship with a portal gun, and adds companion cube blocks to the courses. The best update is the addition of new Portal 2 songs like the one in the video above. After a couple of listens, it really gets stuck in the brain.
 

Bit.Trip Beat



Glados has well and truly invaded Bit.Trip Beat with this difficult new level. Gaijin hinted in their latest blog post that more ARG clues will be revealed to those who achieve perfect completions of the new levels.
 
 
AaAaAA!!! - A Reckless Disregard for Gravity



Glados has a lot to say about falling off tall objects after the latest Portal 2 update to A Reckless Disregard for Gravity. Creators Dejobaan also created a brilliant overview of the progress of the ARG so far, ending with Glados' invasion of the potato sack games.
 

RUSH



What better way to combine Portal 2 with Rush than to add companion cubes? It's almost as cute as the Portal 2 level in Toki Tori below.

Toki Tori



Toki Tori's levels provided plenty of useful clues during the ARG. Their silhouettes formed decipherable codes that helped to unlock the passwords for the Aperture Science login screens. The new level has Glados hanging in the background, watching your every move.
 

Killing Floor

The new Killing Floor map has you fending off waves of zombies in a massive new Aperture Science map. The familiar human vendors have been replaced by a robot that looks just like one of Glados' personality spheres. It looks great, too, with its overgrown test chambers and giant buttons. You'll find their official screens of the new map below.

The potato sack sale is still going, offering 13 great indie titles at 75% off. You can buy each one individually for 50% off while the offer lasts. Head over to Steam to take advantage of the deal













Apr 12, 2011
BIT.TRIP BEAT Update Released
BIT.TRIP BEAT - Valve
Updates to BIT.TRIP BEAT have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

  • Temporary GLaDOS integration activated
  • <test> level implementation complete
  • <test> level accolades implemented
  • Cryptographic clues cleverly disguised
  • Evaluation of perfection within human test subjects imminent -- outcome not expected to be positive
Apr 7, 2011
BIT.TRIP BEAT Update Released
BIT.TRIP BEAT - Valve
  •   Updated <the> Main Menu
  •  Game auto-pauses when the SSSSSSteam Overlay is uSed
  •  Mega Mode enhance

                                             ments
  •  ERRORs REDACTED
  •  >>>===0|                                    |0===>   Soon?
  •  Uw==7c6f7c01010011
    • Apr 4, 2011
    Steam hold potato sack indie sale, potato clues found in games
    Killing Floor

    The Potato Sack sale kicked off over the weekend on Steam. The sale knocks 50% off 13 indie games, including Super Meat Boy, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Killing Floor and more. The whole bundle is 75% off, and you'll get a potato hat in Team Fortress 2.

    This isn't just an ordinary sale, thought. There's something weird and potato related happening. Several games in the potato pack have received some unusual updates. Egyptian hieroglyphics have been found in Amnesia, potato references have been found in Defence Grid: The Awakening, and plugging a Razer peripheral in to Kick It! will trigger one of fifteen potato related phrases like this one "never trust a potato...they have eyes everywhere. They are always listening...we never went to space! SPUDnik was a Russet Conspiracy!" What the spud is going on?

    VG247 note that a wiki has been set up to collect the mounting clues, though nobody has any idea where any of it is leading. Valve revealed Portal 2 through a series of encoded images and radio messages patched into Portal 1. Could there be another reveal on the cards, or is it all an elaborate, long running April fools hoax?

    Here's a list of the games that are part of the potato sack sale. Head over to Steam to take advantage of the deals. There's no end date for the sale yet.

    1... 2... 3... KICK IT!
    AaAaAA!!! - A Reckless Disregard for Gravity
    Amnesia: The Dark Descent
    AudioSurf
    BIT.TRIP BEAT
    Cogs
    Defense Grid: The Awakening
    Killing Floor
    RUSH
    Super Meat Boy
    The Ball
    The Wonderful End of the World
    Toki Tori

     
    Apr 4, 2011
    Root Maneuver: The Potato Sack Bundle
    AaAaAA!!! - A Reckless Disregard for Gravity - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Quintin Smith)

    What are you doing right now? Working? Smiling? Breathing? Well, stop with that nonsense and go straight over to the Steam page for The Potato Sack, a new bundle of indie games offering £108′s worth of great indie games, including Amnesia, Super Meat Boy, Toki Tori (which you can read Kieron shouting about here), The Ball (which Jim and John talk about here) and Defense Grid: The Awakening, for a paltry £27. I’d eagerly pay £30 for those five games alone, and there are another eight in the pack.

    While if you already own two or three of these games you might have a tricky decision ahead of you, if you don’t own a single one of them then this is an absolute no-brainer. Buy! Buy it now! There’s even a Team Fortress 2 hat in it for you. And just in case only one or two of the participating games catch your eye, each of them is currently enjoying a 50% off sale. Amazing.

    Apr 1, 2011
    BIT.TRIP BEAT Update Released
    BIT.TRIP BEAT - Valve
    Updates to BIT.TRIP BEAT have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:
    • Performance improvements
    • Improved support for computers under the system requirements
    • Improved particles
    • OSX: added gamepad support (X360 controller)
    • Improved Facebook and Twitter functionality
    Mar 1, 2011
    Independent Games Festival 2011 Nominees & Finalists
    Flotilla - Valve
    Congratulations to all IGF 2011 Nominees & Finalists!
    The following games are IGF 2011 Nominees or Finalists and are available on Steam!





















    For more information about the 13th Annual Independent Games Festival and to see the list of previous Winners & Finalists, please visit www.igf.com.
    Feb 28, 2011
    On Sale Now - BIT.TRIP BEAT 50% off
    BIT.TRIP BEAT - Valve
    To celebrate BIT.TRIP BEAT's Independent Games Festival 2011 finalist nomination, the game will be offered at a 50% discount now through Mar. 7th, 10AM PST.

    Feb 28, 2011
    Now Available - BIT.TRIP RUNNER
    BIT.TRIP BEAT - Valve
    BIT.TRIP RUNNER -- the fastest, most exhilarating music/rhythm-platformer, is now available on Steam! Following the release of BIT.TRIP BEAT, RUNNER is the latest chapter on Steam and one of the most popular edition in the award-winning BIT.TRIP series.

    To celebrate its finalist nomination at the 2011 Independent Game Festival, RUNNER will be available at a 10% discount now through March 7th, 10AM PST.

    Race across the Moon, kicking down crystal walls and sliding under chomping moon-slugs! Bound through the Robotic Mines and face off against the MinerMech! Dash through the Big City on a quest to find friends and defeat the final boss together!

    ...