Though I suggest we take this with a grain of salt, the Portal 2 release date has been nailed down to February 9, 2011. We here at Pixel Well, though not begrudgingly, usually consider Valve’s release dates tentative at best. We reminisce fondly of standing around a ping-pong table talking about how cool Half-life 2 would be for, well, ages. Check out this additional gameplay video, where you can hear some of the grand voice acting by Stephen Merchant who plays Wheatly the robot in the game. Lets keep our fingers cross that in a mere couple of months we’ll have the new installment securely in our ravenous mitts. Thanks to Game Informer for the news.

Hey guys. You might already know the passing has been released on every platform, though you’ll have to pony up for the Xbox version. Here’s my micro commentary/review…

So with the new DLC for Left for Dead 2 every thursday a special “mutation” will be announced for the next week. For the first go around we’ll see realism versus, which sounds like it’ll be a lot more fun for the zombies that for the survivors. There’s also an achievement tied to this, where you have to participate in so many of these mutations.

Kinda gimmicky. I mean, doesn’t it sound kind of like an official server hack? I recall when they first implemented the survival mode, which totally made sense. And they had the map to back up the mode. But this… Its interesting to compare the development and implementation of DLC in Left 4 Dead vs Team Fortress 2. Every time something is added to Team Fortress 2 it just seems so much more credible. Still, I can’t really say, it could be a ton of fun. Keep an eye out for the DLC coming this week, and the mutations every Thursday in the following weeks.

Check out this tidbit regarding the first showing of Portal 2. This comes from a press release directly from the horse’s mouth:

“Valve would like to invite you to a special Portal 2 press showing on Monday, June 14 at the Regal Theater in the LA Live Event Center (adjacent to the convention center). The event will begin at 7 pm. Beverages will be served.”

Who knows what the world will see, let alone those let inside the event. Are you ready for Portal 2? I sure am.

For everyone rabid for some more of the same zombie whackin’, you’ll be pleased to know that The Passing DLC for Left 4 Dead 2 will be released next week. For me personally, as an owner of Left 4 Dead 2, I’m only vaguely tickled by the news, the game seeming to exist on some other far off planet… You know what I mean? I might boot it up to see what its all about, but it might just get swept up in the undertow.

Also, the new episode will only feature 3 of the old survivors, which is slightly backwards to me. I mean, there is something to be said for innovation, but won’t that mean we’ll know which survivor died? I think the linear story arc hasn’t been worn out enough to warrant the revelation of the dead survivor before we see how they die. But perhaps I’m wrong.

Check out the original blog posting here, along with some pretty cool Valve game mashups.

This is kind of cool, though slightly sledgehammer to the fourth wall type of deal. Sam and Max are coming out with another episode, and to celebrate that Valve is releasing a bunch of Sam and Max items with the purchase of the new Sam and Max game, The Penal Zone. The first you can see above being Max’s severed head. The rest are as follows. Check out the whole post at the Team Fortress 2 blog.

Max’s Severed Head

It’s not often you’re given the gift of a beloved character’s decapitated head by the very studio responsible for that character. Still, we’re not complaining. It’s soft, it wicks away moisture in the heat of battle, it highlights our eyes. It’s got us thinking about all the other game characters we could be wearing around as clothes.

Max’s Pistol

Who wouldn’t want to squeeze off a couple rounds with the murder weapon of choice of a sociopathic cartoon rabbit? Probably quite a lot of people, when you get right down to it. Luckily, those people are all well-adjusted contributors to society with no police records, spotless credit ratings and few unresolvable moral failings. They also probably have no interest in playing TF2, so that means more murder-rabbit gun shooting for the rest of us.

Sam’s Revolver

This might look like an ordinary revolver, until you realize that it helps a talking dog solve crimes. How many crimes has YOUR dog solved lately? And let’s face it, his revolver kind of sucks too. Man, we want to talk about this gun more, but we can’t get over how much your dog sucks.

Hey guys, I just wanted to link to three videos that are pretty cool, all done with the Team Fortress 2 characters and whatnot. Check ‘em out inside.

Not only has Valve updated their homepage, but a vague site which will obviously contain Portal 2 in the future has cropped up. Though there isn’t much to make of it, I’m surprised that Valve has…