Portal 2 DLC: Perpetual Testing Initiative trailer

[Video Link] A terrific trailer for Portal 2 DLC: Perpetual Testing Initiative, coming May 8, 2012. (Via What the Christ)

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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hexmonkey

May 2? The end of the video says May 8th…?
nixiebunny

Looks like a Minecraft ripoff.

Discuss.
- rocoty
  
  Lol.
ComradeQuestions

So basically it’s a level editor, and we’re the multiverse rubes being asked to create additional content for the 8-hour game we paid $60 for last year? Eh, I’m in.
- mappo
  
  Shut up and take my money!
- Ean Moody
  
  No, we’re the creativity slaves creating the blueprints that will be GIVEN to the multiverse rubes. After we complete our mandatory 36-hour creativity and relaxation shifts, we’ll be allowed a completely non-optional all-expenses paid testing experience.
  
  And yeah. $60 for an 8 hour game (about what you got for Gears of War or whatever other AAA title you care to name), and they’re releasing a free level editor to give that same title near-infinite replay value and let you have fun annoying and frustrating your friends.
  
  Sign me up please.
  
  P.S. Rumor is the DLC will be free. They’ve not announced a price, and paid DLC isn’t Valve’s thing.
Donald Petersen

Well, it’s about damn time. I’m fed up with Skyrim, not into Max Payne, still reluctant to pay my money for Mass Effect 3, and Bioshock Infinite is six months away. I played through Portal 2 again last week just for lack of anything better to do, was re-impressed at how fun it is, and am itching for new content. Or, in this case, the ability to create more content.

Now, my quandary: do I break my own self-imposed moratorium on release-day purchases? Has Valve been that good to me?

Why, yes, I believe Valve has.
- politeruin
  
  I believe it’s free on PC and Mac. As was their previous DLC.
- Ean Moody
  
  They have indeed. I can think of few (if any) other companies I give the same amount of trust to as Valve. Why? They’ve earned it, and I’ve never been burned.
  
  Also, I’ve heard the same rumors as politeruin. This level editor may be a free release.
  - Donald Petersen
    
    Aw, crap. PC and Mac only. I’d held out hope for an Xbox version, akin to Halo’s Forge.
    
    Guess I’ll have to buy Mass Effect 3 after all.
    - politeruin
      
      A… *splutters* console user? You poor, unfortunate soul.
      
      Seriously though, i’m glad valve are one of the few remaining games devs still focused on proper gaming machines. Comments about portal 2 being consolfied within an inch of its life go here.
      - DrKumAndGo
        
        Are there people with nothing better to do with their time than be snotty about the specific sub-variety of computing hardware that other people play video games on?
        
        Take that nonsense elsewhere, please.
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        That pretty much covers it.
      - politeruin
        
        @DrKumAndGo
        
        Read the comment again, love, and take it in the spirit it was intended. Take YOUR nonsense elsewhere. Good day, sir.
    - penguinchris
      
      This was one case where I felt smart for buying a PS3 – the PS3 version of Portal 2 came with a Steam code so you get a computer copy too.
      
      I’m not sure exactly what my thinking was at the time, but I was intending to play it on my computer despite it not being a games machine (it’s a 2009 13″ MBP which runs TF2 and other Source games quite well, but it’s not ideal) since it’s a fairly precision-oriented game.
      
      But I decided to try it on the PS3 just for kicks and it was fine – no problem controlling where I wanted to put portals. Which is good because my hard drive is perpetually nearly full.
      
      However… now I may need to clear some space to install it on my computer after all!
      
      Also, it wasn’t that smart of a decision to get the PS3, as my only friend who plays games only has an Xbox. So I still haven’t played the Portal 2 co-op.
      - Donald Petersen
        
        I haven’t played the co-op, either. Who’s your Xbox-having friend? ;^)
        
        I find it difficult to believe that games like Portal are measurably more fun on a PC than on a console… at least insofar as I’d be able to tell. I don’t think I’ve played a PC game since Myst V: End of Ages. There have been times when I’d wished I was playing the last two Fallout titles on PC, just so I could have fun with the G.E.C.K. editor, but otherwise I’m a casual enough gamer that my aging Halo 3 Edition Xbox 360 is all the game I need or want.
      - penguinchris
        
        @boingboing-096f32c997988c54d6d7c09ff0be4d32:disqus My x-box-having friend played Portal 2 on his PC. Otherwise I’d borrow his copy and you and I could play the co-op on x-box (my brother has an x-box I could borrow) :)
        
        Coincidentally, the only other games I’ve actually played lately are the past two Fallout games. I couldn’t imagine playing them on a console though because I can’t get through them without cheating a little bit!
        
        It just takes way too much time for me to level up enough to take on the more difficult enemies – I played each of those games for at least 50-60 hours and even so I didn’t feel like I leveled up naturally enough. So I cheat, in small ways, like giving myself extra weapons (to repair the best guns that I actually found in the game not to get ones I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise) and ammunition. I guess maybe there is a way to enter cheat codes on consoles? I don’t know but I’m guessing it’s easier on the computer.
      - Donald Petersen
        
        I don’t think the Xbox Fallouts have cheat codes… certainly nothing like the console commands in the PC versions. I have used an exploit or two. There’s a character in the Point Lookout DLC whose repair skill increases by 5% (up to a maximum of 100%) every time you visit, so I’ve used him to keep my Alien Blaster in top-notch repair, for example. But otherwise, I just plowed through, slowly but surely. (I think I have 120+ hours invested in each of those two games.) For New Vegas, I even played in Hardcore mode, meaning I needed to eat, sleep, and drink periodically to avoid dying. In retrospect, it didn’t really make the game more fun, or even much more challenging, just more tiresome. Practicing improving my aim can be fun, as can strategizing. Resource management, however, is for accountants.
Andrew Singleton

I note the Diamond Guy from the valentine’s Day video still is there. Still happily spinning away with his diamond in lap.
zeronumber

Ahem. Oh so nice to hear another Cave Johnson bit. To be sure he is the truest American we have all never met. Valve rules. Uh, but what I want, and in wanting probably won’t get, is access to the fruits of the labors of the multiverse deemed most worthy by the siphon and blessings of the Apeture big shots. Hey they design it, we paid for it; let the good times roll. RIP Cave baby. That is unless he makes a shameless re-app in the neververse or enventuallity of PORTAL 3.