'The Final Hours of Portal 2' iPad app tests the waters of for pay videogame 'making of' stories
Geoff Keighley tests whether gamers will pay for an in-depth look behind the scenes at their favorite games with his 'Final Hours of Portal 2' iPad app.
If you're hungry for more Portal 2 love, yes, there's an app for that. Geoff Keighley, known best today for hosting GT.TV on Spike but whose body of work stretches back to 1992, has created an in-depth behind the scenes piece on the game titled "The Final Hours of Portal 2" as an iPad app.
Priced at $1.99, the Final Hours of Portal 2 combines a 15,000 word story delving into the making of Portal 2 with the multimedia capabilities of the iPad for supporting photos, audio clips, videos, and other interactive elements. "iPad is the perfect platform to bring the amazing story of Portal 2's development to life in a new, innovative way," said Keighley.
It's an interesting experiment in modern videogame journalism. Keighley visited Valve over the three years the game was in development to put together the story, conduct interviews, and put together the media to complete the package. Not an uncommon time investment for similar "making of" books, but it definitely stands in contrast to the get-it-posted-five-minutes-ago nature of online reporting. Keighley previously wrote similar stories as part of his Behind the Games series at Gamespot, the last of which, "The Final Hours of Half-Life 2," was published in 2004.
The audience on the Net also expects to get its content for free. How willing people are to pay, even if only a couple bucks, will be an interesting experiment to watch. I'm interested to hear your thoughts on the subject in the comments.
More information on the app can be had on the Final Hours of Portal 2 official site.
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Garnett Lee posted a new article, 'The Final Hours of Portal 2' iPad app tests the waters of for pay videogame 'making of' stories.
Geoff Keighley tests whether gamers will pay for an in-depth look behind the scenes at their favorite games with his 'Final Hours of Portal 2' iPad app.-
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hmmm...actually, Keighley's 'Final Hours of Half-Life 2' is really good: http://www.gamespot.com/features/6112889/index.html
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Yeah part of this was an experiment in bite-sized journalism -- It's really more of a 'making of' book than a single article. (It is 15,000 words long). I'm just surprised you thought all the info was already up online, there are quite a few things in the story that haven't been reported on (even now after the App has been out a day).
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I think you said it best with "get it posted five minutes ago." I just bought this game two days ago... and while I've racked up 8 hours of gameplay, I feel abnormally behind the times. The fact that there's even a forum about this, an article titled "The Last Hours..." and an iPad app for an iPad I don't even own yet... I have this feeling that I'm 2 months behind. I sit here typing and trying to finish my beer before bed while realizing I can't possibly keep up. I feel old. Thanks Shacknews.
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