Valve Prompts 'Portal 2' Speculation With Bizarre Steam Update

Some video game marketing campaigns target the lowest common denominator of their fan bases, and others, like the one embedded in a Steam update for "Portal" this week from Valve, respect users for the calculus-savvy problem-solvers they are. Encrypted images found in the new download included a lineup of security camera photos that were nearly as mysterious, but with Gabe Newell scheduled to appear at GDC 2010 next week, many are assuming the scrambled pics have something to do with "Portal 2."

A new Steam achieved surfaced in the update titled "Transmission Received," and it didn't take long for users on the Steam Users Forum and elsewhere to decrypt sound files added to in-game radios and discover that Morse code messages found therein could be translated into image files. Those of us with I.Q.'s under 300 were left to marvel at these intelligent data crunchers' intuition and speculate about what the scenes contain.

Subsequent explorations through a rabbit hole of encoded phone numbers and ASCII art produced more images, according to Kotaku, and about all I'm sure of is that they contain robots and references to Aperture Science.

This may be the one time since I graduated college that I wish I'd gone ahead and taken Calc II, as I have little more to say in response to these findings than, "Wow, good show, message board posters, and Valve, you should and Gabe Newell deserve every inch of that GDC Pioneer Award this year."

What do you think Valve mysterious "Portal" update means? Would you like to see "Portal 2" released this year? Share your responses in the comment section below.

Tags portal, portal 2, Steam, valve