Able to give anyone who’s spent any time in the game an immediate fight/flight response, Valve quietly unveils an actual, life-size functioning Portal Sentry Turret, feature-complete with everything apart from the obvious human hazard.

Draw your own conclusions about what it means that the video was posted to the Facebook account dedicated to Valve’s online shop — there have been widespread reports of the company jumping into the hardware market, right? [via Realm Lovejoy]

Joe ‘Cymon‘ Larson wants you to know his original ASCIIpOrtal video wasn’t all smoke and inter-spatial/dimensional mirrors, and so has just released this latest look at the progress he’s made since — including new filters for the portal views, which should clarify, a bit, what you’re looking at, and nine more minutes of dizzying text-mode puzzle solving.

There seems to be a bit of confusion surrounding the night’s much-posted video of Portal running on an iPhone, which, unfortunately, is simply a single-room fan recreation by some still-unnamed devs after a few weeks hacking about in third-party engine Unity (the same tech driving Flashbang’s Blurst games), but agreed on all counts that it’s a nice piece of kit, whether or not it goes anywhere in the end.

To make up for any potential disappointment, though, I’ll cap this the same way Alice did on her Wonderland blog, with a recreation of Still Alive being played on the UCSB campus’s Storke bell-tower:

Joe ‘Cymon’ Larson finally reveals his upcoming text-only indie ‘de-make’ of Valve’s Portal, in ASCII (appropriately titled ASCIIpOrtal). If you’re thinking “eh, I’ve already seen it done in Flash“, or can’t even fathom how exactly it’d work, get revved up: its “through the portal” view is properly mind-bendingly good stuff.

To say nothing of its simple little ♥ companion cube. [via Erin Robinson]

ONE SHOT: THE MENACING MUNDANITY OF SPOTTING AN APERTURE SCIENCE VAN

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6.16.2009

Brandon Boyer

4 Replies

Apparently spotted on the road by Patrik ‘voxar‘ Sjöberg, this van innocuously marked with the logo of Aperture Laboratories — the Black Mesa rival where the events of Valve’s Portal take place — has to be nothing more than a fan tribute.. right? I mean, right? [via Tristan Mahr]

DIY: A DEEPER VIEW INTO THE PORTAL GUN

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2.3.2009

Brandon Boyer

1 Reply

Well, that answers that: after wondering aloud just how the hell cosplay constructor ‘Volpin’ created the previously featured Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device, Gamedaily updates with an in-depth feature on its assembly.

‘Volpin,’ it turns out, is Savannah college student Harrison Krix, who — after creating the first for his own personal Chell-belle Emily Keith — is doing a second for Portal creator Valve (and, even more ambitiously, a life-size BioShock Big Daddy costume [!!]).

Oh, and the answer seems to be: just lots of foam and tubes, really.

How to Make a Real-Life Portal Gun [GameDaily]

Previously:
There goes my gun: Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device in real …
Still Alive, theremin style – Offworld
The love that dare not execute its algorithm – Offworld

THE LOVE THAT DARE NOT EXECUTE ITS ALGORITHM

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1.23.2009

Brandon Boyer

6 Replies

Via the deviant art of deviantart user peganthytus, Code Sharing, one of two (genuinely quite lovely) images of the forbidden love between gaming’s two most maniacal AI: Portal‘s GlaDOS and System Shock‘s Shodan.

Available as a $16/$45 print.

Code Sharing by peganthyrus [deviantart, via ShawnElliott]

THERE GOES MY GUN: APERTURE SCIENCE HANDHELD PORTAL DEVICE IN REAL LIFE

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1.21.2009

Brandon Boyer

7 Replies

Easily the most incredible cosplay accessory ever created, ’emilyskeith’s real world Portal gun does everything just about perfect, and is so meticulously constructed I — no lie — can’t tell how it was made by anyone other than Aperture Science themselves.

Update: You can see many more pictures detailing its creation via the constructor himself, ‘Volpin’, at his cosplay.com gallery.

Portal Gun [Flickr, via N’gai]

We’re always thrilled to see our cross-cultural interests fortuitously converge, so forgive us this latest Kids In The Hall MySpace tour video, in which Scott Thompson proves himself about as adept at handling Portal‘s Companion Cube as he was at taking care of his Sony Aibo — that is to say (if you haven’t watched the Kids’ ‘Same Guys, New Dresses’ DVD), not at all.

Scott in a horrible mood flees to the back of the tour bus. [via Kotaku]