Valve ARG Gives Fans Power to Release Portal 2 Early
- Thread starter Tom Goldman
- Start date
Perhaps. But:Baneat said:
1. Nowhere does it state all the bars need to be filled for an early release.
2. The current "early launch" is still earlier than the actual release date. Admittedly, little over an hour earlier, but having been in the sort of situation where I'm sitting about doing nothing, counting down the seconds for games to release on steam, I'll take what I can get =p
The community surrounding the ARG seem to have a plan in place to get these bar filled up quicker. And if we can get some good content cheaper in the meantime, not much to argue against is there?
Hah, yeah it is. I think I'd just completed Persona 3 when I created this account, and it was the first name that came into my head that wasn't already taken.Timbydude said:Hmm, I didn't know that. I'll definitely try opening all the ones I own.Akihiko said:
P.S. If your username is a reference to the Persona 3 character, then my respect for you just doubled.
I see where you're coming from, but bear in mind this is also to give increased prominence to indie developers.SamStar42 said:
Incidentally, I have 1 2 3 KICK IT! (Drop That Beat Like An Ugly Baby) running in the backhround as I type this.
You realise there is a Steam group up coordinating the completion of each games requirements, currently it's 1.. 2.. 3.. Kick It! and that one is almost done then they'll move onto the next thing and play that till it's finished.Baneat said: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.Daverson said: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?Baneat said: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 sadNephus said:
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 =\
They may have overestimated the enthusiasm generated by this (not much)
Actually, knowing Valve, they'll probably release it in a few years as they proceed to make TF3 and L4D4(or is it 3? I dont even know anymore).mastermarty said:
So here's what's happened so far:
Everyone was excited for Portal 2.
Valve starts this ARG. To be involved you have to buy a pack of indie games for admittedly a great price, despite a few of them are outright shovelware. (I'm looking at you Dejobaan) Valve supporting the indies, everyone is pleased.
Everyone goes RABID for Portal 2 (the usual fanboys start throwing around theories that this is actually about HL:Ep3 instead of Portal)
Excitement builds and builds until everyone is going absolutely insane with lust over getting their hands on this game.
The "4/19/2011 7AM = 4/15/2011 9AM" hint is dropped at some point. 4/19 is the official release date, but a time has never been given.
Every interview with people from Valve starts mentioning 7 AM very deliberately when they mention the release date. Which suddenly starts the entire community going rabid over getting an early release that they dared not hope for even with the hint.
The community starts to split between people who've ordered on Steam (hoping for early release) and those who ordered through retail (assuming that they were getting screwed). Fights start breaking out on the SteamPowered User Forums between the 2 factions, but they are fortunately few and far between.
The ARG is apparently being solved too fast, so Valve starts spreading out messages that we deserve a break for our efforts so far to buy time to come up with more content.
A few videos start coming out on youtube claiming to be the end cinematic to the game. People were upset at first, then pretty much decided that they looked too shitty to possibly be real. The videos are squashed extremely quickly, even for youtube, with copyright claims from Valve, leading some to hold on to the idea that they were genuine.
Everyone is pretty much pleased with themselves and the whole event at this point. The next day a few more puzzles come out, are quickly solved, and then it all leads up to... a timer. Counting down to 4/15/2011 9AM. Everything points to an early release as a reward for the community's efforts.
Pirates on consoles start posting gameplay videos to youtube. Looks like the leaked endings were real afterall. People still raging in denial though. Fights start breaking out over the videos now on the SPUF.
The timer ends, and gives us... another timer. We're told we have to grind playing the potato pack games in order to get the game early. Doesn't sound too bad until people start calculating just how slow the completion bars are moving. Fans are confused, some are hopeful, others feel betrayed. More fights break out on SPUF, the community fractures even further. The HL:Ep3 fanboys still remain resolute that we're getting some announcement (poor misguided fools).
Another marketing push both on Steam and on the countdown page to BUY BUY BUY so you can maybe play the game a few hours early. All good will generated by supporting indie devs has been cashed in at this point. The fans rage on the forums. Fighting is becoming almost constant.
No one in Valve is responding to anything at this point. edit: On the forums, the mods let the fights rage on, but any links posted to spoiler videos are gone within seconds of posting. They're out there, but they don't care that their entire fanbase is crumbling.
So that's where we are so far, the hopeful idling games (what fun!), some people flat out raging, and a larger and larger number of people posting on the forums about how this has completely taken away any excitement they once had about the release. Many are seeking refunds from Valve because retailers are selling the game for cheaper, and will still probably release earlier than this "early" release everyone has been working so hard on for 2 weeks.
The once unified community on the official forums is now in shambles. Congratulations, was it worth it?
I think this is going to go down in history as "how NOT to release a game".
There is a shred of hope amongst some fans that the leaked endings, and even some of the gameplay (just wait till you figure out what all this potato nonsense is about) is actually a fake version put in by valve to prank the pirates. In reality, this seems misguided at best since all the content has come from console versions.
So, now we watch a bar fill on a website, with dwindling interest. I haven't been excited about a game release in years, and Valve has managed to inflate that to almost bursting, then ruin it to the point where I just don't really care about it. I might play it next month, but the word Portal just leaves a dirty taste in my mouth right now.
Of interesting note, my captcha is "gincycle PTSD". Seems fitting. This has been handled about as well as someone drinking gin can handle a bike, and some of the fans are going to have post traumatic stress disorder over this.
Everyone was excited for Portal 2.
Valve starts this ARG. To be involved you have to buy a pack of indie games for admittedly a great price, despite a few of them are outright shovelware. (I'm looking at you Dejobaan) Valve supporting the indies, everyone is pleased.
Everyone goes RABID for Portal 2 (the usual fanboys start throwing around theories that this is actually about HL:Ep3 instead of Portal)
Excitement builds and builds until everyone is going absolutely insane with lust over getting their hands on this game.
The "4/19/2011 7AM = 4/15/2011 9AM" hint is dropped at some point. 4/19 is the official release date, but a time has never been given.
Every interview with people from Valve starts mentioning 7 AM very deliberately when they mention the release date. Which suddenly starts the entire community going rabid over getting an early release that they dared not hope for even with the hint.
The community starts to split between people who've ordered on Steam (hoping for early release) and those who ordered through retail (assuming that they were getting screwed). Fights start breaking out on the SteamPowered User Forums between the 2 factions, but they are fortunately few and far between.
The ARG is apparently being solved too fast, so Valve starts spreading out messages that we deserve a break for our efforts so far to buy time to come up with more content.
A few videos start coming out on youtube claiming to be the end cinematic to the game. People were upset at first, then pretty much decided that they looked too shitty to possibly be real. The videos are squashed extremely quickly, even for youtube, with copyright claims from Valve, leading some to hold on to the idea that they were genuine.
Everyone is pretty much pleased with themselves and the whole event at this point. The next day a few more puzzles come out, are quickly solved, and then it all leads up to... a timer. Counting down to 4/15/2011 9AM. Everything points to an early release as a reward for the community's efforts.
Pirates on consoles start posting gameplay videos to youtube. Looks like the leaked endings were real afterall. People still raging in denial though. Fights start breaking out over the videos now on the SPUF.
The timer ends, and gives us... another timer. We're told we have to grind playing the potato pack games in order to get the game early. Doesn't sound too bad until people start calculating just how slow the completion bars are moving. Fans are confused, some are hopeful, others feel betrayed. More fights break out on SPUF, the community fractures even further. The HL:Ep3 fanboys still remain resolute that we're getting some announcement (poor misguided fools).
Another marketing push both on Steam and on the countdown page to BUY BUY BUY so you can maybe play the game a few hours early. All good will generated by supporting indie devs has been cashed in at this point. The fans rage on the forums. Fighting is becoming almost constant.
No one in Valve is responding to anything at this point. edit: On the forums, the mods let the fights rage on, but any links posted to spoiler videos are gone within seconds of posting. They're out there, but they don't care that their entire fanbase is crumbling.
So that's where we are so far, the hopeful idling games (what fun!), some people flat out raging, and a larger and larger number of people posting on the forums about how this has completely taken away any excitement they once had about the release. Many are seeking refunds from Valve because retailers are selling the game for cheaper, and will still probably release earlier than this "early" release everyone has been working so hard on for 2 weeks.
The once unified community on the official forums is now in shambles. Congratulations, was it worth it?
I think this is going to go down in history as "how NOT to release a game".
There is a shred of hope amongst some fans that the leaked endings, and even some of the gameplay (just wait till you figure out what all this potato nonsense is about) is actually a fake version put in by valve to prank the pirates. In reality, this seems misguided at best since all the content has come from console versions.
So, now we watch a bar fill on a website, with dwindling interest. I haven't been excited about a game release in years, and Valve has managed to inflate that to almost bursting, then ruin it to the point where I just don't really care about it. I might play it next month, but the word Portal just leaves a dirty taste in my mouth right now.
Of interesting note, my captcha is "gincycle PTSD". Seems fitting. This has been handled about as well as someone drinking gin can handle a bike, and some of the fans are going to have post traumatic stress disorder over this.
So basically, Valve's community is so needy and over-entitled that Valve can't even try to give them the small reward, of relasing a game a few hours earlier in exchange for a little effort on the community's part, without them going into a massive hissy fit.Nephus said:
I honestly don't know why Valve gets raged at so much by their fans for giving them so many generous deals, when you barely hear any complaints against Activision for its $15 DLC thats released a day after the launch of their $60 games.
Ok, here's the scenario:
Buy on steam, get ARG, buy additional games to participate, spend weeks solving puzzles to unlock last minute grind fest to "earn" "early" release of 12 hours.
Buy at store, go to midnight release, get game "early".
That's why people are upset here.
Buy on steam, get ARG, buy additional games to participate, spend weeks solving puzzles to unlock last minute grind fest to "earn" "early" release of 12 hours.
Buy at store, go to midnight release, get game "early".
That's why people are upset here.
Ok, so Valve put a sale up on a bunch of indie games with extra portal levels that can also be accessed without buying it from the sale. People buy these games that are on a very inexpensive sale to participate in the ARG. Actually playing these games you got for the ARG will unlock the game you're waiting for early, basically punishing people who only got the games for the ARG instead of the actual fun the can be experienced within the game.Nephus said:
Its not grinding if you're having fun, if you're not having fun stop playing. Its your own fault if you bought a game you don't enjoy.
Not much of a moneygrab when you take into consideration that it's seventy-fucking-five percent off.
Zechnophobe said:
Good idea, but is it based on the play-time in that session, or how much it has been opened by several users world-wide?
Meh. I'm probally going to leave KF Open overnight anyway.
Why do I get the feeling a similar marketing campaign by EA or Activision wouldn't be greeted as warmly?
I checked in the morning and the bars were barely filled except for one of them. Now there are two games filled and the rest are coming along well. Amnesia is currently the lowest. End of the World and Kick it are complete. Aaaaah! is about half way done.
