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FREE PORTAL IS FREE - It's actually HL2:EP3 in disguise but don't tell anyone
Impersonator
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
OP gently borrowed from http://blackopsservers.com/blackops/portal/index.html
Basically, people have hit a brick wall. BBS connections seem to change in a random pattern and churn out various ANSI images, this is a recollection of them, so far:
So today (3/1/2010) there was an update to portal that has caused an uproar in the community. The main focus are these new sound files.
There are a ton of new sounds found in the GCF.
They are all named dinosaur##.
The Sound files
Some of the sounds just sound like screeching. A select few sound like morse code.
The sounds that sound like morse code have been tanslated by the community.
dinosaur1.wav = INTERIOR TRANSMISSION ACTIVE EXTERNAL DATALINE ACTIVE MESSAGE DIGEST ACTIVE
dinosaur5.wav = 9e107d9d372bb6826bd81d3542a419d6
MD5 of "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog"
Try it yourself!
dinosaur12.wav =
SYSTEM DATA DUMP ACTIVE
USER BACKUP ACTIVE
PASSWORD BACKUP ACTIVE
dinosaur17.wav =
BEEP BEEEEP BEEP BEEP
BEEEEP BEEEEP BEEEEP
BEEP BEEEEP BEEP BEEP
This converts to '.-.. --- .-..' which decodes to "LOL"
All of the other sounds can be converted into images?! WTF?!?! Anyway. Heres the app they used to do so.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/sv1/files/sonic-visualiser/1.7.1/sonic-visualiser-1.7.1-win32.zip/download
Here are the sounds converted to images for you.
dinosaur2
You can see this equation in the picture above
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauss%27s_law_for_magnetism
dinosaur3
dinosaur4
dinosaur6
dinosaur7
dinosaur8
dinosaur9
dinosaur10
BBS = Bulletin board system?
dinosaur11
dinosaur13
Referring to a N-sphere???
dinosaur14
dinosaur15
dinosaur16
dinosaur18
dinosaur19
Phone number layout?
dinosaur20
dinosaur21
dinosaur22
dinosaur23
dinosaur24
dinosaur25
dinosaur26
All Images in one
Better quality?
You can see in some of the pictures there are markers that say stuff like #/32.
Each of these pictures seem to have a number or letter than can be broken down like so.
01/32 - 9
02/32 - 4
03/32 - 5
04/32 - 9
05/32 = C
06/32 = 6
07/32 = C
08/32 = A
09/32 = C
10/32 = 8
11/32 = C
12/32 = 2
13/32 = 0
14/32 = 3
15/32 = B
16/32 = 8
17/32 = 1
18/32 = 2
19/32 = 8
20/32 = B
21/32 = 7
22/32 = C
23/32 = C
24/32 = 6
25/32 = 3
26/32 = 0
27/32 = 6
28/32 = 8
29/32 = D
30/32 = 4
31/32 = F
32/32 = D
From images: 9459C6CAC8C203B8128B7CC63068D4FD
Translates to BBS#: (425) 822-5251
Try it yourself
Audio when trying to call the number = http://www.supload.com/listen?s=tyXqpe
Phone number results
We can get some Latitude & Logitude
Connecting to that number via telnet =
The title of this login screen is GladOS 3.11.
3/11, as in March 11th?
Gabe Newell is set to recieve the Pioneer Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards on 3/11, March 11th.
Possibly we will receive more news on March 11th?
Entering "backup" as the username and password will show
People seem to be getting a lot out of this dialup host thing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DXvs0NV6uw
Basically, people have hit a brick wall. BBS connections seem to change in a random pattern and churn out various ANSI images, this is a recollection of them, so far:
Impersonator on
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Posts
Edit: Oh, Ep. 3? I'm expecting an entire "Orange Box 2" at this point. Dunno what the 3rd game will be, but seeing as how this will probably be the culmination of the HL2 arc in complete, hopefully it'll be related to that.
Okay, I guess that's a bit testy. While I understand plenty of people are hardcore into this stuff, I'd just rather Valve announce whatever it is they're trying to do, and then I can start doing the requisite 4-5 year wait for it to come into fruition.
Oh that Cave Johnson...
Translated:
Hah!
I do hope for another Orange box. Maybe Red this time? Or Blue?
Honestly, I don't think Valve is going to go any other route, save for the "mainline" games.
I mean, they admitted that calling them Ep. 1/2/3 was a mistake, and they should've been Half Life 3 at this point. But even past that, The Orange Box sold so unbelievably well... and was rated so highly.. that they'd be silly not to try for it again.
Everybody is so confusing!
Ep. 3 will be the last "episode" in this arc that is done by Valve themselves and written by the dude who has been writing the HL story from the beginning. There will be a HL3, the way the arc is pointing almost demands it.
There might be more episodes in the future, but they'll deal with other aspects of the world/other characters. To be honest, You could have easily called Portal something like "Half Life Episodes: Portal" and it would've fit. But that would have ruined the surprise.
Valve have said that Episode 3 will be the last part of the Half Life 2 saga, but there will be a Half Life 3 - to what it will concern only Valve knows *cue mysterious music*
Edit: Beat me to the punch Athenor
These are way more interesting than announcements of an announcement.
Anyway another orange box seems likely, if the game is coming out this fall they could have another multiplayer game packed in. Counter-Strike 2 seems the most likely candidate since they've mentioned it before but that might be overoptimistic.
I'm also wondering what Ep3 is suppose to do. When we had the original HL2, it was fantastic and new and a display of new technologies. I think it was innovative gameplay.
If they give us the same gameplay I'll be dissapointed.
Graphically they can certainly do some neat things but I doubt anything game breaking, the engine they're using is awesome and has been patched and updated, but its still old hat.
Story wise...well maybe back in the day, HL had an interesting story and all that, but I doubt we'll be getting any kind of good information or closure. We'll probably end up with MORE questions than answers when its all said and done. Which is a shame.
I'll still buy this, and be excited and finish it in one sitting (we all know we're only getting 6 hours of gameplay), but its really time they just finish the story of Gordon and start something new.
Ever wonder why it took HL2 so long to come out? It's because they worked to make an engine that would scale properly to whatever tech is thrown at it. And so far, just looking at L4D and TF2.. it's scaled pretty damned well.
And while combining Portal/Gravity gameplay probably will wait forHL 3 (when the physics engine can handle it), for me personally I just want to see the next chapter in the story. Oh, and some wicked-cool snow effects.
I just assumed once halo did it with their grenades and meleeing I just assumed all games would follow suit.
Story wise I'm pretty sure we know more about the TF2 world than the HL world.
There was no reason HL2 took so long. Valve just sat on their ass, don't get me wrong, they made an amazing engine. But don't forget that they've patched the hell out of it.
HL strength lies in how they present the game and story to the player. Not the game play itself.
like, at all
maybe make the starting pistol fire bullets and not hardened peas
Just like I assumed that after Goldeneye all games would feature a free-targeting system? But only a handful of games since have used that system.
At this point, FPS's controls/style are dictated by the designers, not by the engine. There is nothing stopping Valve from adding quick actions. In fact, there never was -- Half Life 2 was released well after Halo.
And for the record? Quick-melee was in Duke Nukem 3D. So by extension all FPS's since 1994 should've had it, right?
Edit: The damage done by the weapons is probably a result of the extremely heavy playtesting and focus groups that Valve does. Just enough oomph to feel satisfying, while still preserving a challenge.
I'm excited for this game. But better games have come and gone.
I really don't see how quick-melee and quick-grenade make games better. I mean, for things like L4D, having a quick melee makes a ton of sense, and the game does have the option. For a game like HL, where melee is really only for head crabs.. it's not such a big deal. Plus the game uses quick switch on Q, I believe, so it isn't like it is that hard. Hell, half the time I set my mousewheel to just switch weapons automatically.
Neither here nor there, though. Ep. 3 is gonna be a blast, especially as Alyx gets more and more pissed.. as others have said.
Duh.
i don't see why it's taboo to say that half life contains painfully outdated mechanics by now
and that it could stand to add something to the pistol/magnum/smg/AR/shotgun/crossbow/rocket launcher arsenal
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssss
Recharging health is fun! Also I think what I've been horribly trying to say is that yes, HL is built around outdated mechanics.
If I have to drive another freaking horrible vehicle around... I'm going to continue playing, but not enjoy it.
Totally, they should add some kind of crazy gun where you can lift up objects in the world and throw them.
If Gabe even breathes a word about Episode 3, I'll need a change of boxers.
An Orange Box 2 would seal the deal on needing new pants entirely.
Outdated mechanics? Definitely. I don't believe health regen is one of them.
No matter what they do, whenever they finally relase EP3, by the time anything else HL related comes out, we'll all be long dead.
That'll show em!
Actually, my only problem with the vehicles in HL2 was the airboat section was slightly longer than it should have been.
I had little to no trouble actually driving them.