Valve ARG Gives Fans Power to Release Portal 2 Early

[The Artificially Prolonged]

Valve release a game early? Repent the end is nigh.

I'm loving Valve's marketing of Portal 2 proof that advertising companies are usless, promoting your product while boosting sales for indie developers is amazing. If only I had more money to buy some more of the potato sack games . Anyway I'll do my bit with a marathon Audiosurf session

 

[jamesworkshop]

While this appears to be part money grab, I think it's one that rewards fans handsomely. Anyone into the Portal mythos should enjoy the content added to the Potato Sack, which in certain cases such as Amnesia: The Dark Descent's is quite significant. Even if the game isn't released early, the Portal 2 ARG has been a fun ride, and an amazingly clever way to market a game.

Source: GLaDOS@home [http://www.aperturescience.com/glados@home/]

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in the case of ammnesia unless you knew about it you would never make the conection between justine and portal

 

[venn2011]

But they'll only release it on Steam early. I want the PS3 version.

I'm waiting for PS3 version too. But I don't mind waiting few more days. I do have AudioSurf, but I'm not very good at it & I gotten bored with it in the end. I still play it time to time, but... I don't want to burn my energy for this.

 

[The Random One]

Well, I'd better go buy those games...

...before those selfish ARG players finish the thing and the discounts go away. I swear, the nerve of some people.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

I got a question.
Does this also work if you buy the game loose from the potato sack?
I would like to play the Portal level from ball but don,t want to buy the sack.

Here's how it works.

Steam keeps track of hours played and when your playing each game. Logging in time on each game, accellerates the release of the digital release of Portal 2. You don't need to buy the sack, you don't need to play every game, just have one and play it.

 

[iDoom46]

I think this is brilliant.
Valve is the only company that could turn marketing and advertising into a game- with incentives. I wish more companies would do stuff like this. It sure as hell would make things a lot more fun, thats for sure.

Hell, I'm getting Portal 2 for the PS3, but I'm more than happy to jump in and help out the people on Steam get it early. Just sounds like a barrel of fun to me.

We have fun, Valve gets money, we get something in return for our effort.
Its a win-win-win!!

 

[TiefBlau]

I got a question.
Does this also work if you buy the game loose from the potato sack?
I would like to play the Portal level from ball but don,t want to buy the sack.

Yes.

Any Audiosurf owner right now would notice the blue-and-orange icon it has just acquired

 

[rvdm88]

The thing i wonder about is, was the entire 3 week ARG just big setup to what's going on now. I mean 3 weeks of riddles, clues, reallife trips to reallife destinations, finding hidden texts, finding conceptart and following characters.

Leading up to:

A dynamic release date with probably 1 to 2 days profit on the normal release date.



I mean srsly, they had enough hype to announce Portal 3, Halfife2:Episode 3, and 5 new Half-Life installments.
I hope they'll add more clues and prove this is just a small diversion.
Also, a reason most ARG players are "upset" is because they have been playing those 13 games for 3 weeks straight... hunting clues, getting potatos and discovering the "unknown" indie games.

And the conclusion is... they have to do it some more!



valve = trolls

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

Of course people will be angry with this tactic. I'm assuming most will either think "cool" or be neutral, but we gamers seem to have some entitlement issues. Of course Valve wants you to buy their products, it's business. I think this is a very cleaver way of doing it that hurts no-one.

A lot of people are way too mad about it though. "I have to pay $40 to get the game I already paid for early!!"

Some people forget that the Potato Pack actually has 13 games in it. You know, games? Those things you play? Not just that, but 13 incredible games. I mean, if you don't have Super Meat Boy already, I'd argue that it's worth the $40 asking price alone!! You buy games to get more games. How is that a bad deal?? And independent games, no less - all from game studios that definitely deserve the recognition and support. But hey, I guess that makes Valve assholes!

Some people are just self-entitled twats, I guess.

Also, a reason most ARG players are "upset" is because they have been playing those 13 games for 3 weeks straight... hunting clues, getting potatos and discovering the "unknown" indie games.

And the conclusion is... they have to do it some more!

They don't have to do anything. I think this is more for the "everyone else" crowd, with those who have been working on the ARG's main focus getting more people to play those games. And don't worry, I'm pretty certain there's going to be a better conclusion to the ARG than this. Developers are still dropping hints.

 

[qbanknight]

Points for creating a brilliant and fun marketing campaign Valve, now can you please tell me how to unlock the challenges for AaaasaaAAsh! A Reckless Disregard for Gravity?

 

[rvdm88]

Points for creating a brilliant and fun marketing campaign Valve, now can you please tell me how to unlock the challenges for AaaasaaAAsh! A Reckless Disregard for Gravity?

here ya go:

http://valvearg.redpointsoftware.com.au/wiki/AaAaAA!!!%20A%20Reckless%20Disregard%20for%20Gravity%20-%20Valve%20ARG.htm

 

[V TheSystem V]

Very good marketing technique, shows Valve want Indie companies to get the money they deserve for some standout games...

...but I was hoping for a Half Life 2 Episode 3 reveal. A lot of the clues pointed to it!

Ah well, I'm just thankful Portal 2 is coming out next week, and I have some pure Valve gold sitting in my disk tray.

 

[NathLines]

How to get potatoes if you haven't seen it already.

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1vPutCkoZKA9XL5ZjSuNXfX8NfoeHW3xcrv7DgalKUfE&pli=1

 

[Anezay]

Must... buy... potato sack... Get... Portal 2... early...

 

[Nephus]

Don't bother. Some guys did the math, it'll take longer to unlock the "early" release than it'll take for the normal date to pass by. The prevailing theory is that valve ran into a legal issue with brick and mortar retailers when they tried to release the game early, so they've concocted this mess to stall until the official release date. Might get it a few hours early, but that'll do nothing more than coincide with midnight releases at the retailers.

 

[Baneat]

Don't bother. Some guys did the math, it'll take longer to unlock the "early" release than it'll take for the normal date to pass by. The prevailing theory is that valve ran into a legal issue with brick and mortar retailers when they tried to release the game early, so they've concocted this mess to stall until the official release date. Might get it a few hours early, but that'll do nothing more than coincide with midnight releases at the retailers.

Pretty much this, they did one of the 13 games and knocked off a whopping 50 minutes from the timer. 1 game (which had a low threshold) in one day, out of 4, and the reward was 50 minutes. Fuck it, stop fooling around and I'll just play at the agreed release date. Anyone seen that episode of The Simpsons(Or was it malcolm?) where there was a tv cartoon playing and the main character would die if you didn't phone in and pay money to keep the show running? This is what it feels like. A big fuck-you and an enormous anti-climax to a well-designed and intricate puzzle. I r sad

 

[Daverson]

Don't bother. Some guys did the math, it'll take longer to unlock the "early" release than it'll take for the normal date to pass by. The prevailing theory is that valve ran into a legal issue with brick and mortar retailers when they tried to release the game early, so they've concocted this mess to stall until the official release date. Might get it a few hours early, but that'll do nothing more than coincide with midnight releases at the retailers.

Pretty much this, they did one of the 13 games and knocked off a whopping 50 minutes from the timer. 1 game (which had a low threshold) in one day, out of 4, and the reward was 50 minutes. Fuck it, stop fooling around and I'll just play at the agreed release date. Anyone seen that episode of The Simpsons(Or was it malcolm?) where there was a tv cartoon playing and the main character would die if you didn't phone in and pay money to keep the show running? This is what it feels like. A big fuck-you and an enormous anti-climax to a well-designed and intricate puzzle. I r sad

So, a low threshold leads to a small cut in the timer, this doesn't mean a larger threshold won't lead to a larger cut in the time. In fact, it kind of implies it, doesn't it?

I'm quite curious as to how anyone could have done "The Math" when there's not enough information on how the system works to make any real projection. You might just as well try to mathematically predict if Aliens have urinials or all go sitting down =\

 

[Keava]

Translation: Portal 2 is done already, but we're arbitrarily holding it back because you guys are fools.

... You do realize games are done the moment they go gold, which is, on average 6 months prior to release? It's not like the moment the last ; or } in code gets saved they send it directly to retail shops. Boxing, printing, setting up the distribution chains... all this takes some time.

 

[Baneat]

Don't bother. Some guys did the math, it'll take longer to unlock the "early" release than it'll take for the normal date to pass by. The prevailing theory is that valve ran into a legal issue with brick and mortar retailers when they tried to release the game early, so they've concocted this mess to stall until the official release date. Might get it a few hours early, but that'll do nothing more than coincide with midnight releases at the retailers.

Pretty much this, they did one of the 13 games and knocked off a whopping 50 minutes from the timer. 1 game (which had a low threshold) in one day, out of 4, and the reward was 50 minutes. Fuck it, stop fooling around and I'll just play at the agreed release date. Anyone seen that episode of The Simpsons(Or was it malcolm?) where there was a tv cartoon playing and the main character would die if you didn't phone in and pay money to keep the show running? This is what it feels like. A big fuck-you and an enormous anti-climax to a well-designed and intricate puzzle. I r sad

So, a low threshold leads to a small cut in the timer, this doesn't mean a larger threshold won't lead to a larger cut in the time. In fact, it kind of implies it, doesn't it?

I'm quite curious as to how anyone could have done "The Math" when there's not enough information on how the system works to make any real projection. You might just as well try to mathematically predict if Aliens have urinials or all go sitting down =\

The thing is, none of those bars will be filled until very close to the release date anyway, not even close. Killing floor's current projection is 2 days AFTER the official release date, and that's using the current dpixels/dt, which is inevitably higher than tomorrow when people stop giving a shit.

They may have overestimated the enthusiasm generated by this (not much)