Tech Olive

Portal 2 has been announced as Valve‘s first game to use Steamworks on the PS3 (which was announced at last year’s E3). What does this mean for PC and Mac gamers? Cross-platform co-op play.

Also, even more surprisingly, gamers that purchase a copy of Portal 2 on the PS3 will be able to download a free copy of Portal 2 through Steam on their PC or Mac by linking their Steam and PSN accounts.

via [Big Download]

Back in September of last year, GameStop updated their Portal 2 store page with pre-order bonuses: $5 off and “Custom Bots” for the game’s co-op gameplay, but what exactly that meant was unclear.

GameStop has finally updated the game’s page in their online store to offer an image of what these custom bots will be (see above, or click here for larger). Hopefully this little nugget of content will keep our Portal 2 cravings at bay until the game’s April 19th release date.

While it doesn’t come at quite a huge surprise, Electronic Arts has announced that they will be in charge of the retail distribution of Valve‘s Portal 2. Also, the puzzle shooter’s release date will see a slight change from what we last heard. The game will now release on April 21st, 2011.

[Press Release]

Sad news for all the Portal fans out there. Valve has announced that the sequel puzzle shooter won’t be hitting the market until April 20th of next year (April 22nd for Europeans). The game originally was slated for release later this year and then was delayed for February 2011. Now it looks like we’re going to be waiting a couple more months. No reason was given as to why the game was delayed again.

via [Shacknews]

GameStop updated their product page for Portal 2 and added some very interesting pre-order bonuses. On top of the unsurprising $5 discount, anyone that pre-orders the game will also get “exclusive ‘Custom Bots’ for the cooperative multiplayer game included in Portal 2.” Unfortunately, no other information is known about what these custom co-op bots will actually look like, though it’s safe to assume that they will resemble the game’s default bots (pictured above) with a variation in colors. If nothing else, this mystery will no doubt be solved when the game releases on February 9th.

[GameStop via Joystiq]

During an interview in the UK publication of PC Gamer, Gabe Newell mentioned that Valve had three or more big surprises coming over the next 12 months. And, in typical Valve fashion, that was all the information we got. Let the speculation begin.

“”We have three pretty big surprises in the next 12 months at least. I can guarantee you people are going to be surprised at stuff we do. That isn’t going to stop any time soon. I’m just laughing because… people will be shocked again.” — Gabe Newell

Our hopes? Well, you remember Portal 2‘s delay back in June? Perhaps Valve delayed Portal 2 so they could pull another “The Orange Box” move by surprising gamers with a package deal of Half-Life 2: Episode 3 bundled with Portal 2 and a few Team Fortress 2 goodies perhaps? With our luck, all three of these surprises will turn out to be console-related and will mean nothing to PC gamers anyway. What are your expectations?

via [CVG]

Valve released some tasty information on GameTrailers TV last night. Firstly being a teaser trailer for Portal 2‘s co-op (which you can view after the break) but, more interestingly, we got details of a new campaign coming to Left 4 Dead 1 and 2. Releasing October 5th, the new three-level campaign will be titled The Sacrifice and will focus on the events of the original survivors’ struggle just before the meet up with Left 4 Dead 2‘s survivors in the previous DLC campaign, The Passing. And of course, the DLC will come to PC gamers at no charge.

The content doesn’t end there! L4D2 will also be getting L4D1‘s No Mercy campaign and Valve will start releasing a massive 150-page online comic this September. The comic will tie up the two Left 4 Dead storylines and the events leading up to The Sacrifice.

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Since its reveal at E3 this past June, all there was left to do was simply wait for a Portal 2 release date from Valve, but even that was a game in itself for some reason (we should have known). However, Game Informer, who wrote a 12-page cover story in their April 2010 issue, has reported that Valve told them at Gamescom that Portal 2 will be arriving February 9th, 2011. Valve has also told Game Informer that Wheatley, a British robot character in the game (and who was featured in past trailers), will be voiced by Stephen Merchant, who was a writer and an actor for the British version of The Office, as well as a current writer for the U.S. version.

via [Game Informer]

In the wake of Portal 2‘s latest delay, we were left with nothing but a vague “2011″ release date to look forward to. Thanks to Gamestop’s store listing, we just might have a new release date for Portal 2. While there has been no official word from Valve, Gamestop seems fairly confident that Portal 2 pre-orders will ship out on March 31st, 2011.

Valve has released the final four parts (of seven) of their behind-closed-doors Portal 2 gameplay demonstration videos to the public. For those that haven’t seen the previous three parts, head here for part 1 and here for parts 2 and 3. Once you’ve witnessed their awesomeness, hit the break for even more footage.

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