Portal 2 Confirmed by Valve

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Valve's acclaimed puzzle-action hybrid Portal will be given a sequel, according to the game's lead designer Kimberly Swift.

"Well, I believe Doug Lombardi who is our lead marketing director at Valve, has announced Portal 2," said Swift in an interview with G4TV.

Lombardi had previously stated that more Portal was on the way, but Swift's comment is the first mention of a true sequel to be made thus far.

No further details on the project were provided.

Portal won the Game Developers Choice Award for Game of the Year last night in San Francisco. It also took home the awards for Innovation and Best Game Design.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    February 21, 2008 6:04 PM

    Portal 2 is a risk.

    If something is VERY good, changing it at all, even adding to it, there's a much greater chance of it going down rather than up.



    However, most people would agree that HL2 was better than HL1, and definitely improved the franchise.

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      February 21, 2008 6:06 PM

      All sequels are definitely risks, but I think Valve has proven that they know how to properly expand a universe. I'm looking forward to this! :)

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        February 21, 2008 6:13 PM

        [deleted]

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          February 21, 2008 6:49 PM

          I hate that I can't find a link, but I thought it was mentioned a while back (early last year?) that Valve was intending to refer to Portal (either through Aperture Science, or the main Portal character) in EP3.

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            February 21, 2008 7:54 PM

            Yeah, I saw/read this somewhere too.

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              February 22, 2008 7:05 AM

              Game Informer review

              GI: You mentioned in the original presentation that Portal will take place in the Half-Life universe. Will that connection be made in Portal or Episode Two?

              Lombardi: It happens while you’re playing through Portal. And you will play as a new character that we haven’t introduced yet that will have a role in Half-Life games in the future.

              GI: That’s interesting how you said that. Will this be a character that we might see in Episode Three?

              Lombardi: Perhaps.

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        February 21, 2008 10:49 PM

        > All sequels are definitely risks

        That depends... if the franchise has sold very well before, then there is not much risk involved other than making a game that won't sell yet another sequel. But with the current hype around Portal they can be fairly sure that a second part itself would sell.

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      February 21, 2008 6:13 PM

      multiplayer portal? Fun potential.

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        February 21, 2008 6:38 PM

        [deleted]

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          February 21, 2008 7:55 PM

          That sounds stupid. You should cut yourself.

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            February 21, 2008 7:57 PM

            [deleted]

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            February 21, 2008 7:57 PM

            But seriously, my CPU is no slouch and Portal still gave it a run for its money. Trying to get something like multiplayer working just seems impossible.

            And besides, one of the neatest things about Portal is that you're all alone.

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              February 21, 2008 10:34 PM

              What settings were you running on? There was barely anything going on.

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                February 22, 2008 7:02 AM

                Well in his defense, Portal staring through multiple portals (like when you have the blue one right behind you and the orange one right in front of you and you could in theory stare into infinity) does tax systems pretty well - which is why there's a setting for the max number you can see through in the options.

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              February 22, 2008 3:27 AM

              Adversarial multiplayer Portal: Use the portal gun as a weapon to portal your opponent in to a hazmat-filled vat. For points!

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      February 21, 2008 6:17 PM

      I think gameplay wise they'll be fine, you don't need to add too much. If the sequel added nothing but new levels i'd be happy.

      The story is what's gonna be hard to keep at the same quality i think.

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      February 21, 2008 6:19 PM

      Certainly the risk is biggest with very pure, minimalist games. The tendency with sequels is often to add more on top of what was often originally a very carefully structured core where each detail was meticulously planned and balanced, resulting in what were previously very tight gameplay loops getting disrupted by the new elements. Serious Sam 2 was a good example of that. The original game was beautifully trimmed down to the basic elements of FPS gameplay and the battles were meticulously crafted, but in the sequel the addition of vehicles, turrets and physics objects needlessly complicated the purity of the game's style and disrupted the rhythm, flow and pace of the battles.

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      February 21, 2008 6:22 PM

      yup agreed.

      seems like portal would be about as difficult as they come for trying to do a sequel that doesnt crap things up.

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        February 21, 2008 6:34 PM

        No more surprises really the next time around.

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      February 21, 2008 6:53 PM

      Portal 2: The Escape. Now it's a stealth game.

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        February 21, 2008 8:03 PM

        It turns out portals don't just go through space; they can also take players back through time.

        All the way back to 1944.

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      February 21, 2008 8:59 PM

      I'm not sure how they can really top the GLaDOS boss battle finale of Portal. The actual battle wasn't that big but everything that went on around it made it so special.

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      February 21, 2008 11:27 PM

      If they somehow come up with an equally funny glados and make it longer, it'll still own!!

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