Monday, April 18, 2011

The ultimate Alternate Reality Game?

Today I want to take a break from retro games to talk about something that has been on the mind of the gaming community for the last few days.

Portal 2 and Valve's Alternate Reality Game (ARG)/publicity stunt.

What started as a grouping of awesome indie games for a low price (The Potato Sack) has culminated in the potential early release of one of the most anticipated games of the year.


"Why is this such a big deal MrNelson?" I'll tell you why.


Because Valve is notoriously known for delaying their games. No release date given is ever set in stone. Now, because of this, fans, and Valve head Gabe Newell, have declared that all Valve games are developed under Valve Time, meaning that it will be released when it is good and ready. This is the first time ever Valve has ever done something where the consumers can try and get the game out before its official release.

In short, it is unprecedented.

And on top of that, there are the rumors that this game may end up being the reveal for the much anticipated Half-Life 3 or Half-Life 2: Episode 3 (depending on whether or not Valve wants to put out a full on sequel rather than another episode).

Now, even though I don't have it preordered on Steam (I've got it preordered at Best Buy for $35!!), I would like to see Portal 2 released early just to see Valve Time defied. There are people out there that think that Valve shouldn't have done this, because at the rate the time is being reduced, the release will only come about 7 hours ahead of schedule. And then there are people that don't think it's fair for people to have bought the digital version to get it early, while the console gamers have to wait.

Regardless, everyone will get this game, and everyone will enjoy it.

"I'm sure we can put our differences aside. For science. You monster."

5 comments:

  1. It doesn't seem as if it got released earlier.

    If I'd bought the Potato Sack bundle just to get Portal 2 earlier I'd have been pissed. Cause at the most I'd have gotten it just an hour or two earlier. But it is an interesting stunt by Valve.

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  2. You didn't have to buy the pack just to get it earlier, as long as you had it preordered on Steam you could get it whenever the ARG completed. And it did get released early on Steam, as rather than release at midnight, like retailers, Steam generally releases either at 1 p.m. EST or 10 a.m. EST.

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  3. It's been too long a wait for Ep. 3... it's like they don't even care about it.

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  4. portal 2 is just alround awesome. its just too short :(

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