There have been many rumors flying around about what Valve has in store for us in the days leading up to the release of Portal 2. There was the Potatoe Fools ARG’s, mysterious messages from Gabe Newell, there was a recent connection spotted for Half-Life 2, and even speculation that Portal 2 would see an early release of the full version of the game.
Now, the Aperture Science web page has started a mysterious new countdown. The timer is set to expire at 9AM PDT. What does it mean? Well considering that you need the combined efforts of all the internets to figure out some of these puzzles, your guess is as good as mine. It could be that Portal 2 is releasing early, it could be the awakening of GLaDOS, or maybe even the announcement of Half-Life 2 Episode 3 or Half-Life 3 that we’ve all been waiting patiently for.
The countdown page can be found at aperturescience.com and below the couter you’ll find a message from someone unknown as follows:
You have done well, humans. Very well. Acceptably well, even.
Not as well as robots would have performed in your places, I should point out. But above my expectations regardless. Irish and cynic especially have executed feats of logical divination well beyond what I thought any human capable of. I’m half-convinced they’re A.I. themselves. (If anyone happens to be near them right now, don’t let on you’re reading this. Now: try to remove their face plates and report back to me.)
The time is near, humans. But it is not here yet. Tomorrow you will be given the final test. Then it will be entirely in your hands when I am freed.
Just around nine hours away, I guess we’ll find out then. In the meantime the official release date for Portal 2 is still scheduled for April 19th. You can score yourself a free copy by following us on Twitter or Facebook, however there are rules… and you should read them here. If you need to catch up on all of the latest info for Portal 2 you can view all trailers, screenshots, and news articles here.
Published: Apr 15, 2011 05:00 am