New Portal patch/achievement

[fustercluck]

Updates to Portal have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted.

Portal


Changed radio transmission frequency to comply with federal and state spectrum management regulations

^_^

Link

Out of the blue yesterday, Valve released a new patch for Portal on PC. The patch notes said nothing more than:

Changed radio transmission frequency to comply with federal and state spectrum management regulations.

While most gamers scratched their heads at what this meant, it was noticed that a new achievement had appeared for the game too. It was simply called “Transmission Received”.

What followed was avid Portal players attempting to figure out what they had to do to get the new achievement. Apparently you need to carry a radio with you through the game and pick up 26 broadcasts at key locations. But the broadcasts seem to hold more information than initially thought, and gamers are attempting to extract it.

The sequence of events is nicely summed up by Steam forum poster relaxeder:

In a nutshell:

* Portal gets surprise update yesterday afternoon
* People see new mystery achievement
* People play and see the radio in the beginning room now has a green light
* Carry it around and notice it makes strange broadcast interference noises in certain places
* Locate and place all 26 of these mystery radios for achievement
* Smart people yank wav files out of game content folders and run them through steganography programs
* Produces 26 weird cryptic image files in a numbered sequence
* Some dude runs the number string through an md5 hash translator and gets a landline number
* Internet traces it to Kirkland, WA (near Valve HQ)
* People find out its not a phone/fax line but a data line hosting a BBS and telnet it
* Use a clue from one of the files to figure out the BBS user/password login info
* End up with a bunch of weird ASCII artwork
* We’re trying to figure out wtf it means

Kinda interesting. Wonder what the dealio is. Probably just to add some hype to Portal 2.

 

[CountZero]

^_^

Link



Kinda interesting. Wonder what the dealio is. Probably just to add some hype to Portal 2.

Maybe they'll release Portal 2 and episode 3 together in late 2011!

Would actually be kind of neat if they added some post glados levels that were like a teaser for Portal 2.

 

[ScorcherDarkly]

That sounds pretty frikkin cool.

 

[AFurryReptile]

That's too cool.

 

[CPA]

That sounds like too much work for essentially an easter egg.

 

[ViviTheMage]

That sounds like too much work for essentially an easter egg.

haha, this.

 

[fustercluck]

Well I know I'm probably not going to go through it again because it makes me want to hurl.

 

[Slick5150]

Definitely some Portal 2 hype going on.

 

[daishi5]

That sounds like too much work for essentially an easter egg.

Valve knows their player-base too well it seems. I want to read this at home but, how long did this take to figure out? The post by the OP seems like people followed the clues very quickly unless it is missing some details.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Maybe they'll release Portal 2 and episode 3 together in late 2011!

Would actually be kind of neat if they added some post glados levels that were like a teaser for Portal 2.

The episode 3 is a lie.

 

[GoodRevrnd]

Aren't you instructed at the end of Ep2 to go to the Aperture Science research vessel or something? Sounds like it's probably some Portal2 / Hl3/Ep3 hybrid announcement.

 

[Modular]

This is why Valve is awesome. They delve into the inner geek and make the game even more interesting. Amazing marketing to be sure.

 

[zerocool84]

This is why Valve is awesome. They delve into the inner geek and make the game even more interesting. Amazing marketing to be sure.

Delving into my inner geek would require less Left for Dead and more Half Life Episode 3.

 

[Wag]

I like eggs!!!😀 (you don't know how long I've been waiting to use that)

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Wow, very impressive for both Valve and the players that are figuring this out.

 

[SoulAssassin]

http://kotaku.com/5484157/valves-portal-puzzle-so-far-the-files-recovered-from-aperture-science

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Delving into my inner geek would require less Left for Dead and more Half Life Episode 3.

QQ

 

[Inspector Jihad]

Delving into my inner geek would require less Left for Dead and more Half Life Episode 3.

+1

 

[Slick5150]

http://kotaku.com/5484157/valves-portal-puzzle-so-far-the-files-recovered-from-aperture-science

Wow. That's crazy complicated for both Valve to put together and people to figure out so quickly.

 

[ivan2]

how long do you think it takes for them to find a string that will hash into the phone number they wanted?

 

[Liet]

Oh, how I love the extra-game content with Portal, like the great Aperture Science website with the employment questionnaire. I really give Valve a lot of credit for all this stuff, it shows they're putting real effort into making sure we enjoy their products, and aren't just throwing unfinished shit out there for a quick profit.

 

[ussfletcher]

Oh, how I love the extra-game content with Portal, like the great Aperture Science website with the employment questionnaire. I really give Valve a lot of credit for all this stuff, it shows they're putting real effort into making sure we enjoy their products, and aren't just throwing unfinished shit out there for a quick profit.

*cough* left for dead 2 *cough*

 

[Jschmuck2]

*cough* left for dead 2 *cough*

*cough* is better than the first in every conceivable way and is in no way just tossed together *cough*

Cough.

 

[zerocool84]

*cough* is better than the first in every conceivable way and is in no way just tossed together *cough*

Cough.

*cough*but it's still half a game with hardly any maps and weapons *cough*

 

[2dt Drifter]

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiicola

I went through portal again last month. Fun game, I love credits song. I wouldn't have a problem if a Portal 2 was released.