Portal Wiki - User contributions [en]

Portal

2017-01-15T12:29:50Z

Llirium: Added Linux release date (SteamOS hadn't released yet as of that date). Source: https://steamcommunity.com/games/Portal/announcements/detail/2146245233461347788

{{stub}}
{{SpoilerHeavy}}
{{Quotation|'''GLaDOS'''|Stand back. The portal will open in three, two, one.|sound=GLaDOS_00_part1_entry-7.wav}}
{{hatnote|This article provides information about the video game, Portal. For information about the game mechanic, see [[Portals]].}}
{{Game infobox
| appid = 400
| free = no
| game-name-override = Portal
| boxart-image = PortalBoxart.jpg|300px
| developer = [[Valve]]
| publisher =
*Valve Corporation
*Microsoft Game Studios (XBLA)
| distributor =
*Electronic Arts (retail)
*Steam (online)
| engine = [[Source_Engine|Source Engine]]
| released =
*Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 (The Orange Box retail)
**North America: October 10, 2007
**Europe: October 18, 2007
**Australia: October 18, 2007
*Microsoft Windows:
**Steam October 9, 2007
*PlayStation 3:
**NA December 11, 2007
**EU December 14, 2007
**AUS December 20, 2007
*Microsoft Windows:
**(retail stand-alone): NA April 9, 2008
**Rest of World April 11, 2008
*Xbox Live Arcade:
**October 22, 2008
*Mac OS X:
**May 12, 2010
*Linux:
**June 24, 2013
| modes = Singleplayer
| genre = First-person puzzle/platformer
| ratings = *ESRB: T
*OFLC: M
*PEGI: 12
*USK: 12
| requirements =
*Windows
**Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000
**CPU: 1.7 GHz (3.0 GHz recommended)
**Memory: 512 MB (1 GB recommended)
**Graphics hardware: DirectX 8 video card (Direct X 9 video card recommended)
**Network: Internet Connection
*Mac
**Operating system: Leopard 10.5.8, Snow Leopard 10.6.3
**Memory: 1 GB
**Graphics hardware: NVIDIA GeForce 8 / ATI X1600 or higher
**Network: Internet Connection
*Xbox 360
*PlayStation 3
}}

'''''Portal''''' is the original game of the ''Portal'' series. It is a single-player puzzle-based video game developed by [[Valve]] and released as part of [[The Orange Box]] on October 9, 2007 for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360; the PlayStation 3 version released at the later date of December 11, 2007. ''Portal'' was also re-released as part of the launch of Mac OS X support for Steam on May 12, 2010; to celebrate it was given away for free until May 24, 2010 to Steam users on a promotional page on the Steam website. Further to this, Portal has been made available for free again for a limited duration as part of the [[Learn With Portals]] project in 2011.

== Synopsis ==
{{main|Story}}
{{spoiler text|Portal's plot is revealed to the player via audio messages from [[GLaDOS]] and side rooms found in the later levels. According to The Final Hours of [[Portal 2]], the year is established to be "somewhere in 2010" — twelve years after its abandonment. The game begins with protagonist [[Chell]] waking up from a stasis bed and hearing instructions and warnings from GLaDOS about the upcoming test experience. This part of the game involves distinct test chambers that, in sequence, introduce players to the game's mechanics. GLaDOS's announcements serve not only to instruct Chell and help her progress through the game, but also to create atmosphere and develop the AI as a character. Chell is promised cake and grief counseling as her reward if she manages to complete all the test chambers.}}

{{spoiler text|Chell proceeds through the empty Enrichment Center, interacting only with GLaDOS. Over the course of the game, GLaDOS's motives are hinted to be more sinister than her helpful demeanor suggests. Although she is designed to appear helpful and encouraging, GLaDOS's actions and speech suggest insincerity and callous disregard for the safety and well-being of the test subjects. The test chambers become increasingly dangerous as Chell proceeds, and GLaDOS even directs Chell through a live-fire course designed for military androids as a result of "mandatory scheduled maintenance" in the regular test chamber. In another chamber, GLaDOS boasts about the fidelity and importance of the Weighted Companion Cube, a waist-high crate with a single large pink heart on each face, for helping Chell to complete the chamber. However, GLaDOS then declares that it "unfortunately must be euthanized" in an "emergency intelligence incinerator" before Chell can continue. Some of the later chambers include automated turrets with child-like voices that fire at Chell, only to sympathize with her after being disabled ("I don't blame you" and "No hard feelings"). }}

{{spoiler text|After Chell completes the final test chamber, GLaDOS congratulates her and prepares her "victory candescence", maneuvering Chell into a pit of fire. As GLaDOS assures her that "all Aperture technologies remain safely operational up to 4,000 degrees [sic] kelvin", Chell escapes with the use of the portal gun and makes her way through the maintenance areas within the Enrichment Center. Throughout this section, GLaDOS still sends messages to Chell and it becomes clear that she has become corrupt and may have killed everyone else in the center. Chell makes her way through the maintenance areas and empty office spaces behind the chambers, sometimes following graffiti messages which point in the right direction. These backstage areas, which are in an extremely dilapidated state, stand in stark contrast to the pristine test chambers. The graffiti includes statements such as "the cake is a lie" and pastiches of Emily Dickinson's poem "The Chariot," Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "The Reaper and the Flowers," and Emily Brontë's "No Coward Soul Is Mine," mourning the death of the Companion Cube.
GLaDOS attempts to dissuade Chell with threats of physical harm and misleading statements claiming that she is going the wrong way as Chell makes her way deeper into the maintenance areas. Eventually, Chell reaches a large chamber where GLaDOS's hardware hangs overhead. GLaDOS continues to plead with Chell, but during the exchange one of GLaDOS' personality core spheres falls off; Chell drops it in an incinerator. GLaDOS reveals that Chell has just destroyed the morality core, which the Aperture Science employees allegedly installed after GLaDOS flooded the enrichment center with a deadly neurotoxin, and goes on to state that now there is nothing to prevent her from doing so once again. A six-minute countdown starts as Chell dislodges and incinerates more pieces of GLaDOS, while GLaDOS attempts to discourage her both verbally with a series of taunts and increasingly juvenile insults and physically by firing rockets at Chell. After she has destroyed the final piece, a portal malfunction tears the room apart and transports everything to the surface. Chell is then seen lying outside the facility's gates amid the remains of GLaDOS. One of the final scenes is changed through a patch of the PC version that was made available a few days before Portal 2's announcement; in this retroactive continuity, Chell is dragged away from the scene by an unseen entity speaking in a robotic voice, thanking her for assuming the party escort submission position (a reference to GLaDOS's request that she assume this position after escaping).
The final scene, after a long and speedy zoom through the bowels of the facility, shows a mix of shelves surrounding a Black Forest cake and the Weighted Companion Cube. The shelves contain dozens of other personality cores, some of which begin to light up before a robotic arm descends and extinguishes the candle on the cake. As the credits roll, GLaDOS delivers a concluding report: the song "Still Alive", considering the experiment to be a huge success.}}

== Development ==
Portal is Valve's professionally-developed spiritual successor to the freeware Narbacular Drop, the 2005 independent game released by students of the DigiPen; the original Drop team were employed at Valve. Certain elements, like the orange/blue system of identifying the two different portal ends a player can have open at a time (one connecting to the other), have been retained. The key difference in the signature portal mechanic between the two games is that in Narbacular Drop the player can place a portal on a wall visible through another portal, whereas in Portal, the HPD cannot fire a portal shot through a portal; however, the HPD can fire a portal shot while the player is standing in a portal.

== Update history ==
{{main|Patches}}

== Soundtrack ==
{{main|Portal Soundtrack}}

== See also ==
* ''[[Portal: Still Alive]]'' {{n}} an exclusive Xbox Live Arcade version of the game containing the original content as Portal, as well as 14 new [[test chambers]] based upon [http://portal.wecreatestuff.com/ Portal: The Flash Verison], and new achievements.
* ''[[Portal 2]]'' {{n}} the sequel to the original game, released in April 2011.
* [[List of default keys]]

[[Category:Portal| ]]
{{TestChambersNav}}

{{Portal Series}}

Portal 2

2017-01-15T12:03:14Z

Llirium: Added minimum specs for SteamOS + Linux, accurate on Steam as of this edit's date. Been years since Portal 2 was out of beta on Linux.

{{stub}}
{{SpoilerHeavy}}
{{Quotation|'''GLaDOS'''|Okay. Look. We both said a lot of things that you're going to regret. But I think we can put our differences behind us. For science. You monster.|sound=GLaDOS_chellgladoswakeup06.wav}}
{{Game infobox
| appid = 620
| free = no
| game-name-override = Portal 2
| boxart-image = Portal2cover.jpg|300px
| developer = [[Valve Corporation]]
| publisher =
*Valve Corporation
| distributor =
*Electronic Arts (retail)
*Steam (online)
| engine = [[Source Engine]]
| released =
*Retail
**April 19, 2011 (NA)
**April 21, 2011 (EU and AU)
*Steam
**April 19, 2011 (INT)
| modes = Single-player, cooperative
| genre = Science fiction puzzle-platform game
| ratings =* ESRB: E10+
* OFLC: PG
* PEGI: 12
| requirements =
*Windows
**Windows XP or later
**3.0 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or 2.0 GHz Dual Core Processor
**1 GB of RAM on Windows XP or Windows 7 (2 GB on Windows Vista)
** 7.6 GB hard disk space
**DirectX 9 graphics card with 128 MB RAM
**Sound card DirectX 9.0c compatible
*Mac OS X
**Mac OS X v10.6.7 or later
**2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo processor
**2 GB of RAM
**7.6 GB hard disk space
**ATI Radeon HD 2400 / NVIDIA GeForce 8600M / Intel HD Graphics 3000 or higher
*SteamOS + Linux
**Ubuntu 12.04
**Dual core from Intel or AMD at 2.8 GHz
**2 GB of RAM
**nVidia GeForce 8600/9600GT / ATI/AMD Radeon HD2600/3600 / OpenGL 2.1
**8 GB hard disk space
**OpenAL Compatible Sound Card
*PlayStation 3
*Xbox 360
}}
'''''Portal 2''''' is the sequel to the award winning and hugely successful ''[[Portal]]'' developed by [[Valve|Valve Corporation]]. It features a single-player story set after the events of ''Portal'''s story; and a brand-new [[Co-op]] game mode, featuring additional [[test chambers]] designed specifically for Co-operative play. ''Portal 2'' was released April 19, 2011 on the Steam platform. Retail release in North America started on April 19, 2011; and later, Europe and Australia on April 21, 2011.

== Plot ==
{{main|Story}}
{{Spoiler|''Portal 2'' takes place an indeterminate amount of time after the events of ''Portal'', which saw [[Chell]] destroying the sentient computer [[GLaDOS]], and landing outside the facility, only to be dragged back inside of [[Aperture Science]] where she was ultimately placed in a [[Relaxation Chamber]] by [[Doug Rattmann]] for the indefinite future.}}

{{Spoiler|After considerable time has passed, [[Wheatley]], a [[personality core]], that has helped to maintain Aperture Science during the absence of GLaDOS arrives at the room of the awakening Chell. With a desire to flee the crumbling facility, Wheatley and Chell begin their quest to escape Aperture Science to return to the real world. After separating from Wheatley and completing a series of tests revisited from ''Portal'', Chell reunites with Wheatley and head to what they believe will be escape. They must cross through the chamber of GLaDOS who lies broken and dismembered on the floor of her chamber, they enter the breaker room looking for a way out, and instead accidentally reactivate GLaDOS. They rise up through the floor just in time to witness GLaDOS pulling herself back together and taking over the facility again. Chell and GLaDOS quickly reunite, culminating with GLaDOS using a robotic arm to drop Chell into the incinerator, and guiding her back towards a new series of tests that GLaDOS intends to force Chell to run continuously until she dies.}}

{{Spoiler|Meanwhile, Wheatley attempts to find a way to get out from under GLaDOS and continue their attempt to escape facility, with Chell's help, he intends to disable her turret production line, disable her [[Deadly Neurotoxin]] and then shut her down once again to facilitate their escape. He reunites with Chell and they escape through the bowels of the building. After achieving their goals and enter GLaDOS' now rebuilt chamber, the computer system detects an alternate core and begins the process of a core transfer, which GLaDOS promptly refuses, prompting the Stalemate Button to be activated. Chell works her way to the button, finally hitting it, which then swaps out the cores of GLaDOS and Wheatley. Wheatley, corrupt with the power from the entire facility of Aperture, quickly turns on Chell, and shoves GLaDOS into a potato battery as revenge. He knocks them down an elevator shaft where they fall to the remnants of the previous incarnation of the Aperture facility.}}

{{Spoiler|GLaDOS (in potato form), has now informed Chell that Wheatley was designed to make extremely poor decisions, in order to turn GLaDOS into somewhat of a moron in an effort to control and dampen her homicidal tendencies. She informs Chell that Wheatley's lack of stability is going to cause the destruction of Aperture Science killing everyone and everything inside the facility. Before Chell can decide whether or not to help, GLaDOS is swooped away by a bird and Chell heads off to attempt to find a way back into the primary facility.}}

{{Spoiler|Chell uncovers the remnants of a 1950's Aperture Science guided by the voice of the now deceased Aperture Science founder [[Cave Johnson]]. She enters a series of tests, often having to navigate between them in unconventional ways due to the deterioration of the lower facility. At this time we learn of Cave Johnson's secretary/assistant, [[Caroline]], of which Cave is rather fond. Chell reunites with GLaDOS in the nest of the bird that took her. GLaDOS, insistent that she can't lie with only 1.1 volts of power, implores Chell to take her with her to put her back in her body and stop Wheatley from destroying the facility. Chell ultimately agrees and attaches GLaDOS to her [[Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device]] and they continue to try to find a path towards the upper facility.}}

{{Spoiler|As Chell continues to run through tests from the 1970's, and 1980's, GLaDOS becomes curious about Caroline and Cave who she keeps hearing in the recorded guidance in test chambers. She comes to a realization, that she chooses not to share with Chell, and they head towards the newer Aperture facility. In an effort to get back up, Chell must turn on pump stations Alpha, Beta, and Gamma which connect [[Repulsion Gel]], [[Propulsion Gel]], and [[Conversion Gel]] to the newer facility. Repulsion and Propulsion Gels were Apertures attempt at a dietary supplement, whereas Conversion Gel, made from crushed up moon rocks which ultimately lead to the death of Cave Johnson, is used as an ideal portal conductor. When painted on any surface, the ASHPD can be used as designed. They reach the newer facility where Wheatley has taken full control.}}

{{Spoiler|Wheatley, now in the body of GLaDOS which has a built in euphoric response to testing, forces Chell to begin a series of tests to fill Wheatley's new found insatiability for testing. These begin with a rather weak attempt by Wheatley to create a test chamber, but ultimately lead to test chambers stock piled by GLaDOS and shoved together crudely by Wheatley. Chell passes through these chambers, and once again finds her way out of the control of Wheatley and into the bowels of the facility. They arrive at Wheatley's test chamber which, he says, has been designed with the entire purpose of not allowing Chell to defeat him. Chell causes Wheatley to destroy a pipe containing Conversion Gel, allowing portals to be used in the chamber which ultimately leads to his destruction. With help from GLaDOS, Chell attaches corrupt personality cores to Wheatley.}}

{{Spoiler|Once the cores are attached to Wheatley, he becomes corrupt, initiating another core transfer. However, in one of the most intelligent premeditated moves Wheatley performs, he has booby trapped the stalemate button, launching Chell back into the chamber, a single portal laying under Wheatley's hanging body. Alive despite the explosion, Chell reaches for her Portal gun, and, remembering that moon dust creates an ideal portal surface, aims it through a hole in the ceiling at a full moon high in the sky. She fires, causing the space core, the adventure core, Chell, and Wheatley still attached to GLaDOS' body flying into space. GLaDOS quickly regains control of her body, knocks Wheatley into space, and pulls Chell back into the facility. GLaDOS monologues regarding no longer having the desire to kill Chell, and instead just wants her to leave the facility forever. She sends Chell up an elevator, past a chorus of turrets singing an opera directly to Chell, and out into a wheat field. Moments later the [[Companion Cube]], burnt and beaten, is thrown up after her and lands on the ground next to Chell.}}

{{Spoiler|Now in space, a remorseful Wheatley comprehends the choices he made, and what he might have done differently. Wishing he had, instead, helped Chell to escape rather than wind up in space.}}

{{Spoiler|The game concludes, yet again, with a song sung by GLaDOS surmising the events of the game. The song, [[Want You Gone]], written by Jonathan Coulton indicates that, despite claims that Caroline has been deleted, is still present inside GLaDOS, and that deleting Chell from her memory bank will make GLaDOS feel better. The song concludes with GLaDOS simply telling Chell she wants her gone.}}

== Development ==
Development on ''Portal 2'' begins shortly after ''[[Portal]]'' was released. It originally was planned to not include any portals in the game, utilizing a new mechanic called '''"F-STOP"'''. ''Portal 2'' was also planned to be set in [[Aperture Science]]'s earlier days, specifically during the 1950's era. When asked one of the members that worked on ''Portal 2'' that the game wasn't going to include portals, and how would the game be a sequel to ''Portal'', and more specifically, use the ''Portal'' title. He replied with, "We'll deal with it later.", hinting it was to focus on the game's mechanics first.

''Portal 2'' was also conceptualized as set after the events of ''Portal'', and [[GLaDOS]] would test the new subject, named [[Mel]], similarly to how it was with [[Chell]]. After playtesters were disappointed after GLaDOS didn't recognize the player as the one who killed her in the first game, Mel was rejected as a result.

Mel also appeared alongside Chell in the co-op mode of ''Portal 2'' for a while before both being ultimately replaced by [[Atlas]] and [[P-body]].

There was also going to be a fourth [[Gel]] planned for the game. Also inspired by "Tag: The Power of Paint", the fourth Gel was named [[Adhesion Gel]]. Bearing a purple texture, it originally allowed Chell to walk up walls. It was canceled due to playtesters became too disoriented and often had motion sickness while trying to pass a [[Test Chamber]] with Adhesion Gel. The coding (although it does not have any texture and bestows no effects on the surface it was painted on), is left in the game files.

== Release ==
=== ARG ===
{{See also|Portal 2 ARG}}
==== The Potato Sack ====
The Potato Sack is the name of an alternate reality game (ARG) created by the Valve Corporation and the developers of thirteen independent video games to promote the release of Valve's title, Portal 2, in April 2011. Valve president Gabe Newell envisioned the game as a "Cross Game Design Event" in December 2010, and allowed the developers a free rein to design the game using Valve's Portal intellectual property. The game, requiring players to find and solve a number of puzzles hidden within updates of the thirteen games, ultimately led to the opportunity for players to release Portal 2 about 10 hours earlier than its planned release by playing games under the pretense of powering up GLaDOS, the sentient computer antagonist from Portal 2. The ARG's theme of potatoes is based on plot elements within Portal 2, specifically that for part of the game, GLaDOS's personality module is run off a potato battery.

Large numbers of people participated in solving the puzzles within the ARG. Reaction from players and journalists was mixed; some saw the ARG as a show of strong support and commitment by Valve for independent game development, while others thought the ultimate conclusion was of limited benefit to justify buying the games to begin with.
==== The First Update ====
On the release date of the Potato Sack bundle, players found the games within it had recently received updates. Most provided an immediate cosmetic change by replacing or adding assets that referred to potatoes. When players started looking deeper into these new assets, they discovered a series of glyphs that referred to other games associated with specific letters, as well as nonsense sentences that lead to specific cyphers. Other hints were less direct, using online services such as Twitter and YouTube to embed clues. In the case of Toki Tori, sections of new levels included braille code that referred to latitude and longitude coordinates of Two Tribes' headquarters. One player, "Jake_R", traveled to Two Tribes, where he discovered the glyphs and cyphers posted outside their headquarters. Several of Two Tribes' developers, upon learning of his presence, began filming him from a barbershop across the street. They would later use this footage of him climbing a pole to find these clues as part of another clue during the second phase.
==== The Second Update ====
On April 7, each of the games in the Potato Sack received a second major update. Players found that by completing certain tasks in the game, they would be presented with login screens for the fictional Aperture Science corporation within the Steam interface. Other tasks and clues led to passwords that could be used to log into these Aperture Science screens. These provided players with compressed archives of pictures that consisted of Portal 2 artwork, including photographs from around Seattle (where Valve is based) embedded in their alpha channels. (Section not finished)

==== Early Release ====

== Post-release ==
=== Update history ===
{{See also|Patches}}

=== DLC ===
==== Sixense ====
{{Main|Portal 2 Sixense MotionPack DLC}}
The '''''Portal 2 Sixense MotionPack DLC''''' is an exclusive DLC available to owners of the [http://www.razerzone.com/minisite/hydra Razer Hydra]. The DLC includes specific levels and mechanics that make use of the Hydra's motion detection functionality.

==== Peer Review ====
'''Peer Review''' is the first DLC released for ''Portal 2''. Released on October 4th, 2011; this DLC introduces Challenge modes for both single-player and [[Cooperative Testing Initiative|co-op]], a leaderboards system, and a mini-hub area reserved for additional co-op tracks. This DLC adds the first of many additional courses to come with the introduction of the Art Therapy testing course.

==== Perpetual Testing Initiative ====
{{Main|Perpetual Testing Initiative}}

'''Perpetual Testing Initiative''' is a DLC released on May 8th, 2012; this DLC adds the anticipated in-game [[Puzzle Creator]] - fully integrated with the [[Steam Workshop]], allowing the community to easily create, share, and play a wide range of ''Portal 2'' puzzles.

The DLC also adds the stick figure "[[Bendy]]" as a playable test subject, to avoid interfering with the storyline by having [[Chell]] test the community chambers.

=== Portal 2 in schools ===
{{main|Portal 2 - Education Version}}
During a keynote presentation at the {{w|Games for Change|Games For Change}} festival in 2011, Valve director Gabe Newell mentioned that the company was beginning to work with schools to build curricula around ''Portal 2'', looking into "how to teach attraction, repulsion... [they] need to be clear on what their metrics are... what the outcome is, what they're optimizing for".<ref>[http://kotaku.com/5814405/ Kotaku: "Liveblogging Whatever Smart Stuff Gabe Newell Has to Say Today"].</ref>

== Trivia ==
* {{Spoiler|Shooting a portal to the moon as the ending was originally an easter egg "3 minutes into the game", which caused the player to be sucked out of the test chamber and die - and was an alternate game ending.}}<ref>http://www.giantbomb.com/podcast/?podcast_id=224</ref>

== See also ==
* ''[[Portal]]'' – the original game of the series.
* ''[[Portal: Still Alive]]'' – an exclusive Xbox Live Arcade version of the game containing the original content as ''Portal'', as well as 14 new [[test chambers]] based upon [http://portal.wecreatestuff.com/ Portal: The Flash Version], and new achievements.

== References ==
<references/>

{{TestChambersNav}}
{{Portal Series}}