Portal 2 trailer | Hacker News Reader

Portal 2 trailer

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95 pointsMikeCapone31 comments

What made Portal compelling was the learning. And the pacing was slow, frankly, because it was teaching you to learn a new mechanic and think in a new way. I'm not saying it has no replay value, but playing through a second time is so much easier that the jokes are most of the interest - the gameplay itself is no longer compelling. So the sequel will have to step up the pace and the difficulty, or introduce some new mechanics, or maybe both.

I hope the rumors of Chell being a fleshed-out character aren't true. I liked how, in the first game, she was more of an avatar than a character. It wasn't like I was playing a character in a game, it felt I was playing the game. The character's goals aligned perfectly with mine - just get to the end of the level. I don't want to lose that feeling in Portal 2.

Portal did have challenge maps which I for one found legitimate challenging.

In agreement: One of the things I like about sequels, especially for things like Portal, is that they are much more able to just jump into the action. Portal 1 is in some sense the tutorial level.

For a movie example, while the first Harry Potter was enjoyable, it spends almost the entire movie just setting up. The later ones I enjoyed much more because they were done setting up.

Sequelitis is bad, but I think it's an error to mistake that for sequels being bad in general, though I freely concede I understand where the temptation to simplify that concept comes from.

Anyone that enjoyed the Harry Potter movies clearly didn't read the books, and has no right to complain.

Honestly, my time is much better invested in the Discworld books.

Below are some new gameplay videos, which showcase a wide variety of new game mechanics. Particularly the second two show a lot of new tricks they're going to be bringing to the sequel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5THiN8szSKM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq2mZoKkqMw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGlyQmmvj0w

Also, I'm really looking forward to the coop campaign.

Lasers and gels and tractor beams oh my!

I'm really looking forward to this game.

Awesome vids, thanks for the links. And it looks like they're using more DigiPen student ideas again. The gels seemed to be straight out of Tag: https://www.digipen.edu/studentprojects/tag/

(Disclaimer: I'm a CE student there.)

Edit: ah, looks like someone already caught that hours ago!

Apparently the co-op is much more challenging that the single-player, so maybe that will satisfy.

In an interview they said that a major goal of Portal 2 is to keep it just as accessible as the first one. I won't be just a "more difficult Portal 1". And judging from the trailer and Gameplay videos, there will be lots of new mechanics (e.g. some kind of fluid dynamics).

They also said that it would be about twice as long as the first game. I'm not sure if I'd want that. I like short games and to me, part of Portals appeal and "replay value" is that you can easily play it in one sitting.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/06/16/wolpaw-lombardi-t...

I was wondering how they were going to improve on the first game, but the clearly up'd the ante. The longer gameplay video had some very amazing looking puzzles with the different liquids (propulsion and repulsion)

Do you have a link to said video?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfAl48VREsA

It seems to take some cues from another game, the name of which I forget, where you could shoot different colored paint on surfaces to make them behave differently.

[edit: fixed with correct link ]

Tag: The Power of Paint. https://www.digipen.edu/studentprojects/tag/ It's from DigiPen, the same place that the original Narbacular Drop team was hired out of to do Portal!

Edit: The Tag team has also been hired by Valve. http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/62689

Also this three-part videos:

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5THiN8szSKM

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq2mZoKkqMw

3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGlyQmmvj0w

The first one contained a bit of spoilers though.

I heard a rumor that there's going to be cake in Portal 2.

That is a lie.

I admit I didn’t like parts of the first game as much as I’d hoped, but after playing the commentary and enjoying the “escape sequence,” I’m looking forward to the sequel. I just hope that the developers’ lessons learned designing that last level will carry through to the new game. The last couple of test chambers sucked due to not separating complex puzzles from the timed ones.

If you're using Youtube's html5 beta(and are on a supporting browser) the video uses webm. That's the first I've seen it out in the wild.

Definitely will play that one. It seems it is hard to capture on video what made the game so great, though.

Also, am I the only one who finds sequels depressing? There rarely is a point in beating the enemy in a game anymore, because they will ALWAYS be back.

Apropos of Portal, but unrelated to the release of Portal 2, this Youtube clip is one of my favorites: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L-rrkyvApU

What happened to terminal velocity?

What made Portal such a great game is that it actually forces you to think. Most blockbuster games seem to follow a formula much like the formulas you might find in Hollywood blockbusters...they are still entertaining, but you really don't get that sense of "accomplishment" you get from playing something like Portal or Braid (an equally great game!!).

I hope it's longer than the first one.

I approve of linking to this, but the URL is wrong. It should be http://youtube.com/watch?v=U5iM9YSs0Q8

Please explain why? Both links work, both videos are identical.

I believe the link has been updated since I posted my comment. At the time, it took my iPad to the YouTube front page.

I think that linking to the Valve posted video makes a little more sense to me. Either way it's the same video.

The link was non-functional when I tried it, at least on my iPad. It works fine now.

Since portal does a lot of mental stretching on spatial aptitude sandbox environment, this game could be a breakthrough test for school exams / exercises.

...if it weren't already a popular game where some people will have prior exposure and therefore a big advantage.

Good point. Definitely an iteration or a version of an educational platform geared towards students.

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