You’ll just want to skip this text and head straight inside for the gallery of Portal 2 concept art. All the images here are taken from Gameinformer, and some of them are definitely new, while others still haven’t graced Pixel Well yet. Take a look anyway, and expect more speculation it the weeks to come.

Is Aperture Science through? Does Portal 2 and Aperture Science’s destruction tie into the discovery of the Borealis? I have a feeling we’ll find out a lot more about Episode 3 on the heels of Portal 2…

In a recent interview conducted by CVG Gabe Newell has explained Valve’s resistance to changing the foundation of Gordon Freemans Character. When asked if Valve planned to give Gordon more of a persona in the upcoming games, Gabe had this to say:

“We haven’t had a reason to change that. Most of what I’ve seen to date has been gimmicky and is entertaining for just a minute or so.”

In terms of hearing Gordon Freemans voice, Gabe responded by saying:

“We’re not philosophically opposed to this, but we don’t have any good reasons to do it. Right now making your companions more interesting and compelling seems a more fruitful avenue to explore.”

I happen to be playing through Half-Life 2 again just this morning, and I have to admit I’m completely comfortable the way Gordon is in the games. I mean, I do feel like you become the character more, though at the time Valve used that rationale it sounded like rubbish. In the same vein, in looking at Half-Life 2 I really appreciate what Valve did to innovate in the series versus what they do to stay the same, or more precisely, keep the franchise’s mechanics intact. In this way Gabe’s response feels entirely adequate, and I can only imagine what would happen if you had a Marcus Fenix jumping onto a strider and punching it in the face, only to chainsaw-bayonet his way out the bottom, turning to Alyx to say, “I think I got some on me.”

Also, just because it creeps into my mind every time I think about Gears of War: “Its a GIANT WORM.”

Finally the day has arrived– Episode 3 has a release date and a screen shot to whet our appetites for the upcoming game set to come out like gangbusters.

Not surprisingly, the news released regarding Episode 3 is earth-shattering and ground breaking at the same time. Our inside source from Valve gave us some of the details surrounding this elusive title. Find out more inside…

You may not be surprised (especially ’cause you’ve probably already seen it) but the passing has been delayed to an ambiguous date of “spring” as revealed on the Xbox show, “Sentuamessage.” Besides wondering if that was an official show, my first reaction wasn’t really of overwhelming dissapointment. As I watched the footage of presumably more New Orleans streets spotted with the living dead, overturned cars, and four survivors sprawing bullets everywhere, I felt not even a twinge of excitement. Let me tell you that I’d probably accept a cage match for anyone that would begrudge Valve the title of one of the best game producers ever before I further my reflection of my non-reaction.

You see, to me, Left 4 Dead 2 represents a rarity in this day and age for me, if not the majority of folks, where game buying is hyper-informed. You and I don’t buy Crappy Castle Adventure because teh webz told us from two hundered sources that the crappy in the title applied to more than just the Castle that you visit in-game. I queried, and the collective gave me a green light. I even played the demo. But I played the game for like a week. Shame on me, you say, for buying a game that you didn’t end up caring about after so much research. Touche. A well earned touche. But I can still say something about the hindsight of all this…

Gabe Newell of Valve studios (yeah, that one) recently was in an interview with Edge magazine where he explains the need to create new impact making situations, whereas the old ones are now ineffective.

…part of each project [needs] to respect the fact that simply repeating the past isn’t going to have the same impact now as it did then.

Gabe goes on to say that this means ramping up the spectrum of emotions touched:

I feel like we’ve gotten away from genuinely scaring the player more than I’d like, and it’s something we need to think about, in addition to broadening the emotional palette we can draw on.

When asked what Gabe said would do the trick, this is his response:

The death of their children. The fading of their own abilities.

Which, you know, should be a pretty good start. You may start to wonder, as much as I did, how these two ideas could factor into Half-Life Ep. 3. I mean, what else could this be about? You may have also, just like me, immediately connected the “death of their children” bit to a Heavy Rain type of game, the two thoughts colliding making me slightly wary. I have to say, though, that the end of Half-Life 2 Ep. 2 I shed a tear. That’s right. Suffice to say I trust Valve with their abilities to touch the emotions, or I suppose now, the broad palette.

So what does that mean for the industry as a whole? Well I have some idea…

Today the actor who portrayed the infamous villian in the Half-Life 2 saga, Robert Culp, has passed away. He was 79.

Not only was Robert Culp the face and voice of one of the most insidious intermediaries to “our benefactors”, he was also part of a great show, I-Spy, in which he starred alongside Bill Cosby.

I’m most interested to hear how Valve is going to approach this sad event; I feel as though the actors had a very deep connection to the work at Valve. I’m sure there will be nothing short of tremendous praise. Though I only knew him through his work on the Half-Life 2 saga, I was significantly impacted by the gravity of his work therein. I hope his wife, five children, and grandchildren are doing well.

Valve is busy again with their upcoming iteration of Portal 2. I am very excited for the release of this game as it will play a large role in the upcoming story line for Half Life 2: Episode 3. Game Informer had the opportunity to interview Valve’s concept artist Matt Charlesworth on how the character designs are coming along. The first character that he discusses is the main character from the last game, Chell. All of the designers explored other character ideas for Portal 2 but ultimately came back to using Chell again. The team decided that she needed the same type of look, clean and simple. “Some of the images started with a sporty look – almost like motorcycle gear.” The designers are also looking for a different color scheme and not the orange suit from the first game. Along with the cosmetic look and feel of Chell they also discussed changing her appearance to have a more recognized nationality.

The best result so far is the concept art you see here. Matt states that “The stuff that was more successful was the really minimal approach, and that’s sort of led us to this concept. This just seemed to strike a chord with everyone, because it really seemed like it belonged in the Portal world. It made her look physically capable, but at the same time, there is a vulnerability about her. That’s what is attractive to everybody.” The suit that Chell wears is supposed to represent her as a test subject among the machines of GLaDOS. The design of the suit, along with the hat (which Matt described as reminding him of test pilots) make it so the machines can easily recognize her without having bar codes all over her. That was something the designers felt had been done before. They are all about originality when it comes to Portal 2. “We’re still not entirely sure what we’re doing with the spring heels. They were always something that was in Portal 1, and some of us are attached to them, and some of us aren’t, so I’ve experimented with how we can do with them right this time around, and how we would go about replacing them. Everything should look 10 times better than the first Portal, that’s the goal.”

In Portal 2 there will be a new Co-Op feature where you can play with a friend. In this version of the game the characters are robots made from salvaged parts from personality spheres and turrets. The concept art for the robots looks great and something that will definitely fit into the Portal story line. Matt finishes the interview by saying “We drew them holding hands because it just kind of describes the whole co-op idea, if slightly tongue-in-cheek. Portal’s got a sense of humor. It’s quirky, but it shows that one of the biggest things that is important to Portal 2 will be that you’re playing with a friend. It’s one of those weird things, where somebody just kind of did it, and we had the sort of team moment where we were like ‘yeah that’s pretty cool.’”

Portal 2 is shaping up to be an amazing game. As usual Valve is taking their time in developing all aspects of the storyline and characters. According Gabe Newell from and interview with 1up, Portal 2 is “the best game we’ve ever done.”

So Steamworks is going to offer developers the option to use microtransactions. You as the player will be able to buy digital equipment much akin to the extra content for Dragon Age, albeit at a rate perceived as more palatable. Instead of buying that cup of coffee, save your money and buy something electric.

Though this is certainly a model for the future, what kind of future are we looking at as gamers? Further, not only gamers, but a digital population? This concept is nothing new to the internet veterans. I recall being tempted to buy items on Everquest, though the cobalt armor sales via Ebay were eventually prohibited by the Terms of Service. Even then, however, the thought struck me: what if someone pulled the cord on Everquest and my Cobalt armor that I paid a Jackson for was erased? The question becomes, then, when do we equate digital property with real property?

The trend of microtransactions is, at least, the beginning. We as consumers slowly break away from the concept of a 50$ game and begin to see the purchases of digital content more like the small purchases of everyday life. Beyond the implications in the sales realm (where consumers spend more on small items as a whole than a 50$ purchase), we become more comfortable buying digital knickknacks. When we begin to jack into a real world simulation, we won’t feel as wary when buying those digital shoes, especially if we can feel them through a virtual reality simulation.

The trend is that slowly we can see the breakdown of digital packages (computer games) into digital items, which sometime down the road may share their real life counterpart’s cost. A visual metaphor is that real life, in terms of monetary value (which, shoot, can be said is all value), is slowly balancing out the scales with virtual value. I’m not saying that we should save some money for kung-fu lessons, but will we even flinch when a virtual suit of armor costs in excess of 100$? Here’s to hoping robots don’t figure all this out.