toblix

Portal 2

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I've only ever read about these ARG's after the fact before now and although I haven't been a participant in this one, watching it all unfold has been great.

There's 40-odd minutes left on the timer and I'm intrigued more than ever about what is going to be revealed. I might be a tad disappointed if it's just an early release as like Scrobb's, I've just moved house and it's both an expensive outlay and a good way of acquiring a million tasks that must be accomplished. I can't see myself having the time to experience this with everyone so I might have to abandon the internet until I get my hands on it!

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Kind of funny how some people find the idea of an early release disappointing whereas some are absolutely salivating at the idea.

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If I had it pre-ordered/loaded and had the time this evening (or even this weekend) to join the fun it would be ace. But that's not the case for me unfortunately. I still think it's cool for everyone else though!

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I don't really care if Portal is released early but I love the idea - if it turns out to be true - that Valve is challenging a few hundreds of their most hardcore fans to make it happen, and since these really care about earlier release; they'll try even harder than before.

It makes me want to say "Reinforcement marketing never look so good" but if doesn't feel like marketing, more like a way Valve found to connect with their core audience - the educated/brainy gamers that clicked with the Portal humor - and reward them with free, sophisticated and entertaining content that has real-life impact.:tup:

Also, coincidence or not, the valveARG wiki is now down.

Edited by vimes

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GLaDOS@Home

I love Valve so much. I think it's great what they are doing for and with indie developers. Makes me want to buy a sack of potatoes even though I already own most of the games I want to play and won't gain anything Portalwise.

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Clever bastards.

I have to say, this is one hell of a gesture towards indie developers — using a high-profile release to generate sales for games most people would never even hear of. Granted it's a bit cheap and probably quite frustrating for those gagging for Portal 2, but it's nice to see that even after so long Valve is committed to the little guys. :tup:

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Like I said, I probably won't benefit from this at all, having pre-ordered the game from The Hut (lot cheaper than the euro prices at Steam), but I have nothing bad to say about their strategy. The release would be in a few days anyway.

There is something beautiful about people all over the world playing indie games together towards a higher goal of being able to play a big budget game a little earlier. I want to see those numbers soar.

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It makes me want to say "Reinforcement marketing never look so good" but if doesn't feel like marketing, more like a way Valve found to connect with their core audience - the educated/brainy gamers that clicked with the Portal humor - and reward them with free, sophisticated and entertaining content that has real-life impact.:tup:

Ditto. This is just so impressive.

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i'll tell you this for one thing: it worked on me. i'm finally going to play Amnesia after buying it 5 months ago.

also that bar is filling up agonizingly slow but i imagine it will shoot up pretty dramatically once Americans start getting home from work/school

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Do we know if it's just having played the games or how much you play?

I've already played (but not finished) all the games in the pack.

This will make me jump back into The Ball, which will either end in me finally liking The Ball, or wishing for Portal The Second's release even harder.

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also that bar is filling up agonizingly slow but i imagine it will shoot up pretty dramatically once Americans start getting home from work/school

After two and a half hours, it seems we are 3% complete. (Their progress bar image has a hundred notches in it and we are at three.)

If trends continue, we'll be playing Portal 2 by Monday night!

Though as Purple Future pointed out, more people will likely start playing tonight and over the weekend.

Do we know if it's just having played the games or how much you play?

That's what I can't figure out. How difficult is it to earn those potatoes?

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Alternatively, it worked on me - cancelled PS3 order on amazon and got it on Steam. God damn you valve.

Oh yeah, anyone want Portal 1? I've got an extra copy.

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if you have Defense Grid, there are some really easy potatoes in there. bit.trip.beat's aren't as easy but they're still pretty easy. i got 7 of them in about an hour i guess?

i'm going to leave defense grid running in the background while i do some other stuff. hope that helps

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Erm.. so how does this actually work?

I thought having the game running equals cpu time. What do the game progress bars mean? And what do you do with potatoes? And don't say wrap them in aluminium foil, stick them in the oven and then eat them.

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Erm.. so how does this actually work?

I thought having the game running equals cpu time. What do the game progress bars mean? And what do you do with potatoes? And don't say wrap them in aluminium foil, stick them in the oven and then eat them.

slice em up and fry them.

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Or, wash them, put some olive oil and some squeezed out garlic in a dish, quarter the potatoes, drizzle them with olive oil, thyme, salt and grated cheese. Put in the oven for 20-30 minutes.

AND WE HAVE NOTHING IF NOT THYME TILL PORTAL 2 RELEASES, AM I RIGHT, YOU GUYS?

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the popular optinion (i.e. irc and reddit) is that the individual game bars are just a percentage of total players for that game, so none of the individual bars will fill up unless everyone who owns a game is playing at the same time. Instead, it's just a guage to see how many is playing what.

Valve says that just playing the games counts. However, and this is important if true, some believe that the number of potatoes you have act as a multiplier for your cpu time. So if you have a bunch, your time will be weighted heavier than if you don't have any. So striving for some potatoes while you play the games will make the progress go faster.

And of course, if you are awesome enough to get all 36, they've promised a special reward (that is not a TF2 hat). A lot of those potatoes are pretty hard to get though, or require you to have already played/unlocked stuff in the game.

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the popular optinion (i.e. irc and reddit) is that the individual game bars are just a percentage of total players for that game, so none of the individual bars will fill up unless everyone who owns a game is playing at the same time. Instead, it's just a guage to see how many is playing what.

There are wrong opinions and this is one.

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Fucking genius. Just absolutely fucking genius. I thought the "Potato Sack" was the payment the indie developers were getting for being part of Portal 2's ARG... but this is just. Wow.

Sure, you can be cynical about it, but it's just so damned clever, turning all that salivating, anticipation for Portal 2, all that energy, into support for indie devs. We've been played like a fiddle, but damn if I don't mind.

Edited by ThunderPeel2001

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me too, but i think we may be barking up the wrong tree in this thread

Yeah I figured, but I'd rather try here first.

So all I need to do is leave Super Meat Boy (or whatever Potato Sack game you have) running right?

At least Valve is doing this with indie games and not their own or some other big publisher's.

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Any Thumbs want to split the cost of Pre-Purchase Portal 2 - Two Pack? You save 20% off the cost of Portal on Steam and get Portal 1 for free (if you don't already own it).

PM me if you're interested. I'll buy the double-pack. You PayPal me the money and I'll gift you Portal 2 and 1. (Or we can do it the other way around.)

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