Portal 2 Fans Send Valve Real Potatoes

[Baloki]

It looks like GLADoS is powered by potatoes and those crazy valve fans have decided to help get her powered up faster to aid bringing the release date of Portal 2 forward by sending real potatoes to Valves HQ (and marking them for the attention of GLADoS) via Amazon:

Lets Send Valve REAL Potatoes - Steam Users' Forums (http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1842444)

Oh those crazy gamers!

[DMKA]

Where did all this potato stuff come from? I mean is there a site or something?

[Yeargdribble]

Where did all this potato stuff come from? I mean is there a site or something?

It's too ridiculously deep to even get into. I'll try anyway. You can read about it on the Valve PotatoFoolsDay ARG Wiki - Valve ARG (http://valvearg.com/wiki/Valve_PotatoFoolsDay_ARG_Wiki).

Basically Vavle put up a bundle of indie games called The Potato Sack on Steam. They had some clever potato themed stuff added to them, but as subsequent updates were added, some of the stuff got Portal themed. GlaDOS showed up in several of the games and a deeper puzzle emerged.

Gabe Newell send out emails to several different gaming sites. Each one had a weird picture on it. Combined they were used as part of a puzzle. Emails from Gabe Newell - Valve ARG (http://valvearg.com/wiki/Emails_from_Gabe_Newell)

Decoding the numbers across all of them had a message



+-------+------+-------+
| i rel | e4se | d/ 'k | // i released 'kick
| ick 1 | t' a | head | // it' ahead
| of sc | hedu | le. t | // of schedule.
| hat w | as a | test | // that was a test.
| . my | 9oal | / is | // my goal is
| 2 ema | ncip | ate s | // to emancipate
| 0meth | 1ng | else | // something else
| early | . bu | t the | // early. but
| y're | on t | o me. | // they're on to me.
+-------+------+-------+
| the | syst | am 1s | // the system is
| _ in | lock | down. | // in lockdown.
| i s7 | ill | have | // i still have
| acces | s to | thir | // access to thirteen
| teen | off- | site | // off-site
| chamb | ers | and A | // chambers and
| M= in | st4l | llin/ | // am installing
| a te | st 1 | n eac | // a test in each
| h one | . i | am go | // one. I am
+-------+------+-------+
| ing t | o ne | ed a | // going to need a
| lot m | ore | test | // lot more test
| 5ubje | cts/ | 2 m0 | // subjects to move
| ve fo | rwar | d. wa | // forward. Waiting
| 1t1_n | 9 an | d AM | // and am
| expec | ting | imme | // expecting
| diate | com | plian | // immediate compliance.
| ce. | | |
| | | | // hidden message is "4/19/2011_7AM=4/15/2011_9AM"

Taking out the number-for-letter bits signified something about the release date being moved... or so people though.

There were further updates to The Potato Sack games. They had ridiculously deep puzzles all interconnected. At the same time, some ARG (Alternate Reality Game) stuff was going on in the background with people who purportedly worked for Aperture Science.

Following really obscure clues and doing something crazy in the indie games got you to a login page for Aperture Science. You would need a password from some other ridiculously obscure source to get in. Eventually people figured them all out.

You got a potato added to you Steam profile for doing this.

This also prompted what was basically a DLC update to the game and allowed for you to get more potatoes and to get audio messages (with subtle hints) from GlaDOS.

When the April 15th countdown timer hit 0:00, we found a page where GlaDOS was trying to reboot early but needed help. GLaDOS@Home distributed computational grid status (http://www.aperturescience.com/glados@home/)

Playing the games adds to the bars and completing a bar cuts time off of the release. As people get more potatoes in their games, they increase the multiplier, speeding progress of the other bars.


I don't think you can wrap your mind around the depth of some of this stuff. It's almost unbelievable. Some examples:

One of the vlogs of the fake people just happened to have a song playing in the background. Some figured out the chords, the notes in those chords, made a chart assigning numeric values to the notes (based on where they are musically in the scale), did the same for their relative minors and for how many beats each chord played. When put in a chart this way, they could be deciphered into a sentence that said something like "Help me! She's killing me!"

Some of the audio files could be viewed as wave forms, and, if you viewed the right way the, the wave forms would actually make out sentences.

One hint suggested a location in the Netherlands. A guy climbed a pole to the second story of a building to get pictures of glyphs that had been taped there (more hints).

What's more crazy is that someone filmed him doing it without his knowledge and posted it on the internet. People noticed that, in the video, a van drove past in the foreground and it happened to have even more glyphs on it to add to the clues.


This **** gets really really deep. It's the most amazing ARG I've ever seen and it just blows my mind, but most of it is well beyond my skill. Now that I've gotten all 36 potatoes from the games (with a guide), it blows my mind that people were able to figure out some of this stuff before there was a guide. It's truly amazing.


Incidentally, if you take the words "Portal Two" and remove R, L and W, it spells potato.

Also, the concept of the potatoes is that they can generate little amounts of electricity (maybe you did that experiment in HS to power a watch or something). So getting potatoes was GlaDOS's little ploy to make you help her come back online.

Now she's having people run the games to leech CPU power from them. That's the concept anyway.

In the end, the game might be released a day earlier at best, but it's fun as a concept and I've really been enjoying it.

Also, getting all 36 potatoes is supposed to net you something special, but if you haven't started, I wouldn't even try at this point. I used all day Friday and Saturday as well as this morning to get all of mine and it was very hardcore.

[DMKA]

Where did all this potato stuff come from? I mean is there a site or something?

It's too ridiculously deep to even get into. I'll try anyway. You can read about it on the Valve PotatoFoolsDay ARG Wiki - Valve ARG (http://valvearg.com/wiki/Valve_PotatoFoolsDay_ARG_Wiki).

Basically Vavle put up a bundle of indie games called The Potato Sack on Steam. They had some clever potato themed stuff added to them, but as subsequent updates were added, some of the stuff got Portal themed. GlaDOS showed up in several of the games and a deeper puzzle emerged.

Gabe Newell send out emails to several different gaming sites. Each one had a weird picture on it. Combined they were used as part of a puzzle. Emails from Gabe Newell - Valve ARG (http://valvearg.com/wiki/Emails_from_Gabe_Newell)

Decoding the numbers across all of them had a message



+-------+------+-------+
| i rel | e4se | d/ 'k | // i released 'kick
| ick 1 | t' a | head | // it' ahead
| of sc | hedu | le. t | // of schedule.
| hat w | as a | test | // that was a test.
| . my | 9oal | / is | // my goal is
| 2 ema | ncip | ate s | // to emancipate
| 0meth | 1ng | else | // something else
| early | . bu | t the | // early. but
| y're | on t | o me. | // they're on to me.
+-------+------+-------+
| the | syst | am 1s | // the system is
| _ in | lock | down. | // in lockdown.
| i s7 | ill | have | // i still have
| acces | s to | thir | // access to thirteen
| teen | off- | site | // off-site
| chamb | ers | and A | // chambers and
| M= in | st4l | llin/ | // am installing
| a te | st 1 | n eac | // a test in each
| h one | . i | am go | // one. I am
+-------+------+-------+
| ing t | o ne | ed a | // going to need a
| lot m | ore | test | // lot more test
| 5ubje | cts/ | 2 m0 | // subjects to move
| ve fo | rwar | d. wa | // forward. Waiting
| 1t1_n | 9 an | d AM | // and am
| expec | ting | imme | // expecting
| diate | com | plian | // immediate compliance.
| ce. | | |
| | | | // hidden message is "4/19/2011_7AM=4/15/2011_9AM"

Taking out the number-for-letter bits signified something about the release date being moved... or so people though.

There were further updates to The Potato Sack games. They had ridiculously deep puzzles all interconnected. At the same time, some ARG (Alternate Reality Game) stuff was going on in the background with people who purportedly worked for Aperture Science.

Following really obscure clues and doing something crazy in the indie games got you to a login page for Aperture Science. You would need a password from some other ridiculously obscure source to get in. Eventually people figured them all out.

You got a potato added to you Steam profile for doing this.

This also prompted what was basically a DLC update to the game and allowed for you to get more potatoes and to get audio messages (with subtle hints) from GlaDOS.

When the April 15th countdown timer hit 0:00, we found a page where GlaDOS was trying to reboot early but needed help. GLaDOS@Home distributed computational grid status (http://www.aperturescience.com/glados@home/)

Playing the games adds to the bars and completing a bar cuts time off of the release. As people get more potatoes in their games, they increase the multiplier, speeding progress of the other bars.


I don't think you can wrap your mind around the depth of some of this stuff. It's almost unbelievable. Some examples:

One of the vlogs of the fake people just happened to have a song playing in the background. Some figured out the chords, the notes in those chords, made a chart assigning numeric values to the notes (based on where they are musically in the scale), did the same for their relative minors and for how many beats each chord played. When put in a chart this way, they could be deciphered into a sentence that said something like "Help me! She's killing me!"

Some of the audio files could be viewed as wave forms, and, if you viewed the right way the, the wave forms would actually make out sentences.

One hint suggested a location in the Netherlands. A guy climbed a pole to the second story of a building to get pictures of glyphs that had been taped there (more hints).

What's more crazy is that someone filmed him doing it without his knowledge and posted it on the internet. People noticed that, in the video, a van drove past in the foreground and it happened to have even more glyphs on it to add to the clues.


This **** gets really really deep. It's the most amazing ARG I've ever seen and it just blows my mind, but most of it is well beyond my skill. Now that I've gotten all 36 potatoes from the games (with a guide), it blows my mind that people were able to figure out some of this stuff before there was a guide. It's truly amazing.


Incidentally, if you take the words "Portal Two" and remove R, L and W, it spells potato.

Also, the concept of the potatoes is that they can generate little amounts of electricity (maybe you did that experiment in HS to power a watch or something). So getting potatoes was GlaDOS's little ploy to make you help her come back online.

Now she's having people run the games to leech CPU power from them. That's the concept anyway.

In the end, the game might be released a day earlier at best, but it's fun as a concept and I've really been enjoying it.

Also, getting all 36 potatoes is supposed to net you something special, but if you haven't started, I wouldn't even try at this point. I used all day Friday and Saturday as well as this morning to get all of mine and it was very hardcore.

That...is amazing.

I don't even have the words to express how mesmerized I am by all this.

[NorthernChaosGod]

Yearg, that is the coolest thing I have ever read.

[escobert]

*sends potatoes*

[Yeargdribble]

I was following really close early on, but so much of it goes over my head. Occasionally, I'd read something that would just make my mouth hang open. Stuff like subtly placed braille all over certain levels of games that someone just happened to recognize and decode. The music one was nuts. The fact that someone went and found the actual bathysphere from the original e-mails and live-streamed some of it.

There are still a lot of unanswered questions.

While all of The Potato Sack games weren't stellar, the unique humor of GlaDOS was transferred amazingly well into those games and it's creepy hearing her voice. It was especially amazing in The Ball and Defense Grid where she has a good deal of dialogue. The part in The Ball was really great because it includes 7 test chambers that you have to do with the ball as well as cubes and she's jeering you the whole way in her normal fashion.

[Raistlin]

Holy crap, Yearg. I too am utterly amazed at people were able to decipher those incredibly intricate puzzles. That :bou::bou::bou::bou:'s insane.

The wonders of the internet. No matter the puzzle, someone, somewhere, can figure it out.

[G13]

That's pretty awesome. I wonder if Valve set it up to have someone film that guy climbing the building so the van would be seen. Freakin' amazing.

[Jiro]

This is what games need to do. Generate some fucking awesome real world :bou::bou::bou::bou: as well as selling copies. This is taking the "the code is on the box" to an extreme and I love it.

[Yeargdribble]

That's pretty awesome. I wonder if Valve set it up to have someone film that guy climbing the building so the van would be seen. Freakin' amazing.

Yeah, it basically had to be that way. I think he was filming bits of it himself from his phone, but obviously that's sort of first person. It was a bit later that another video was uploaded to the internet in good quality.

Someone had to wait there across the street without attracting too much attention, find a guy looking at the pole (thinking of climbing it), start filming, cue the van to drive across... etc.

[Slothy]

It may be a while before anyone sees this, but I checked the GlaDOS@home site just now and the potato's are counting down. If they keep going at the rate they're going they'll hit 0 in about 10 hours unless I screwed up the math. If only I weren't going to be asleep 10 hours from now so I coud see what happens.

[Loony BoB]

All I know is that I want to play this game with Danielle. I should probably play the first one at some point, though. But I've already spoiled the whole thing for myself. Still worth playing it?

[Baloki]

All I know is that I want to play this game with Danielle. I should probably play the first one at some point, though. But I've already spoiled the whole thing for myself. Still worth playing it?

Yes, the puzzles are the thing to play for!

[ljkkjlcm9]

All I know is that I want to play this game with Danielle. I should probably play the first one at some point, though. But I've already spoiled the whole thing for myself. Still worth playing it?

Yes, the puzzles are the thing to play for!

Add to the fact that I just played through the entire first game in about 2 hours goofing around, it's definitely worth playing through and won't take very long to do.

THE JACKEL

[Jessweeee♪]

All I know is that I want to play this game with Danielle. I should probably play the first one at some point, though. But I've already spoiled the whole thing for myself. Still worth playing it?

Yes, the puzzles are the thing to play for!

If you just spoiled yourself on GLaDOS trying to kill you, then yeah, it's still worth it. I mean that's always a possibility when AI is involved. It doesn't take long to figure out that your life isn't worth that much to her. It's her dialogue that makes the game great. And just messing around with the portal gun. It's pretty short though, so if you're gonna buy Portal 2 then I'd just borrow the first one to save yourself money.

I like the puzzle where you just shoot a portal down below, jump down, come back up waaaay high, shoot a portal into the next platform and repeat until your jumps get higher and higher xD

[NorthernChaosGod]

The ones where you're supposed to slingshot?

[Jessweeee♪]

Those are fun too, but I meant the one with a few high platforms in toxic goo where you just go straight up and down.

[Jiro]

I think I know the ones you mean Jessweeee♪, they were fantastic :)

[G13]

Guys, that Portal gun I ordered finally came in the mail. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L-rrkyvApU)

[Jiro]

I was impressed when the box nailed him in the face, but jumping into it yourself isn't very bright.

[Slothy]

First impressions of Portal 2: Every bit as hilarious as the first. I'm only half an hour in since I had to go to work (stupid work!). Opening scene wa awesome (especially when Chell "speaks"), but I had to stop playing shortly after meeting everyone's favourite homicidal AI again. Damn I can't wait to get home.

[Flying Arrow]

I'm going to be renting the hell out of this bitch once I'm finished all my work today.

[DMKA]

All I know is that I want to play this game with Danielle. I should probably play the first one at some point, though. But I've already spoiled the whole thing for myself. Still worth playing it?

If you spoiled the story for yourself you didn't spoil much. You should definitely still play it for the puzzles.

Also, the dialog throughout the game is brilliant and hilarious and should not be missed.

[Rantz]

Isn't there a considerable possibility that Valve themselves are at least partly responsible for "solving" the really hard/obscure parts of the puzzles? It's a pretty genius marketing scheme, and however clever/meticulous the avid Portal fans may be, I'm sure it'd be a lot of money and planning down the drain if there happened to be parts that nobody caught on to.

Not that it wouldn't still be an awesome way to build hype. But it seems a little too good to be true that the limited amount of people who even knew this was going on managed to solve such complex puzzles in such a short timeframe, doesn't it?

[DMKA]

Isn't there a considerable possibility that Valve themselves are at least partly responsible for "solving" the really hard/obscure parts of the puzzles? It's a pretty genius marketing scheme, and however clever/meticulous the avid Portal fans may be, I'm sure it'd be a lot of money and planning down the drain if there happened to be parts that nobody caught on to.

Not that it wouldn't still be an awesome way to build hype. But it seems a little too good to be true that the limited amount of people who even knew this was going on managed to solve such complex puzzles in such a short timeframe, doesn't it?

You underestimate the power of the internet, friend.

Actually you're probably right.

[Slothy]

Not that it wouldn't still be an awesome way to build hype. But it seems a little too good to be true that the limited amount of people who even knew this was going on managed to solve such complex puzzles in such a short timeframe, doesn't it?

Although I agree Valve probably helped things along when necessary (and would be right to. You can't really just count on people to solve all of this according to your schedule and hope it all works out), I wouldn't be surprised if the number of people aware of and participating in the ARG wasn't larger than you'd think. And these are Valve fans after all. They are a dedicated and industrious bunch of people.

[I Took the Red Pill]

Isn't there a considerable possibility that Valve themselves are at least partly responsible for "solving" the really hard/obscure parts of the puzzles? It's a pretty genius marketing scheme, and however clever/meticulous the avid Portal fans may be, I'm sure it'd be a lot of money and planning down the drain if there happened to be parts that nobody caught on to.

Not that it wouldn't still be an awesome way to build hype. But it seems a little too good to be true that the limited amount of people who even knew this was going on managed to solve such complex puzzles in such a short timeframe, doesn't it?Possibly, but I doubt that Valve had that much involvement in it at all. Check out this 783 page thread (http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1168990) dedicated to deciphering the mysterious "Transmission Received" achievement. These people are bat:bou::bou::bou::bou: for Portal.

[Rantz]

That's pretty impressive, whether Valve are involved or not. xD

[Yeargdribble]

Isn't there a considerable possibility that Valve themselves are at least partly responsible for "solving" the really hard/obscure parts of the puzzles? It's a pretty genius marketing scheme, and however clever/meticulous the avid Portal fans may be, I'm sure it'd be a lot of money and planning down the drain if there happened to be parts that nobody caught on to.

Not that it wouldn't still be an awesome way to build hype. But it seems a little too good to be true that the limited amount of people who even knew this was going on managed to solve such complex puzzles in such a short timeframe, doesn't it?


This was my wife's first though too. I'm not sure I believe it though. The reason?

During the second phase the ARG people were going nuts turning things over left and right. Valve actually had to contact them and say, "You've got it all! The next phase won't start for a few days so just chill out and don't make yourselves nuts."

Paraphrased obviously, but if Valve was doing the hardest parts then it doesn't make sense that they would screw up the pacing so badly. I think the community shocked them at how quickly it finished up phase 2, which was without a doubt the deepest part of the ARG.

[Slothy]

Just wondering Yearg since I believe you got all of the potatoes (correct me if I'm wrong), but I've been hearing that people who got all of them were given the Valve complete pack on Steam and was wondering if you could confirm that if you did get them all.

That's a hell of a reward if it's true. I don't think Valve will rest until every single person using Steam has every game they ever made, even if they have to give them away to do it.

[Yeargdribble]

Just wondering Yearg since I believe you got all of the potatoes (correct me if I'm wrong), but I've been hearing that people who got all of them were given the Valve complete pack on Steam and was wondering if you could confirm that if you did get them all.

CORRECTION BELOW!!!


That's a hell of a reward if it's true. I don't think Valve will rest until every single person using Steam has every game they ever made, even if they have to give them away to do it.

I did indeed get the complete pack. Of course, in my case that was only a few things like CS: Condition Zero. What I'm frustrated about is that they apparently aren't giftable which makes it mostly worthless for me. I guess it's nice to have the Steam version of the whole Half-Life 1 series, but I can't pretend to be interested in most of them.

But, I can't complain. I had a lot of fun with some of The Potato Sack games anyway and I enjoyed the thrill of the hunt. The idea that Valve would do this at all is awesome, and from what I hear, there are a lot of people who got a lot of good games out of the deal so good on them.

[Aerith's Knight]

Oh man. Did anyone else get nauseous playing this game?

[Yeargdribble]

So apparently there was a change. I don't know when it was issued, but it's awesome.

Now, not only are all of the extras from my free copy of the "Valve Complete Pack" giftable... but I have an extra copy of Portal 2 giftable. Kinda almost sad now that I already purchased two copies (one for my wife). So even though I have most of the Valve games, now I have lots of extra copies of various games. I also have a few extras from the Potato Sack that I'd already bought.

[Jessweeee♪]

Wow xD

[Slothy]

Just saw that on another forum actually. Everyone start sucking up to Yearg.

[blackmage_nuke]

So I just finished Portal 2 twice (once with directors comentary)

Amazing game, was not disapointed.

[Jessweeee♪]

Does anyone know if this game can run on Intel Chipsets? Portal ran flawlessly on this laptop, but it's really picky about what games it plays and what it doesn't.

[DMKA]

Oh man. Did anyone else get nauseous playing this game?

The first one? Yeah, I would play for an hour or so and have to stop because I was about to puke.

So far I haven't had that problem with the sequel, but honestly I think it might have been because I played the original on PC in a small room where I had to sit in such a way that my face was like a foot away from the monitor, so...yeah, most games would make me want to puke sitting that close.

[Jessweeee♪]

Yeah I had no problem playing it on the Xbox, but on the PC I'd get headaches occasionally.

[Aerith's Knight]

I'm in Space!



So apparently there was a change. I don't know when it was issued, but it's awesome.

Now, not only are all of the extras from my free copy of the "Valve Complete Pack" giftable... but I have an extra copy of Portal 2 giftable. Kinda almost sad now that I already purchased two copies (one for my wife). So even though I have most of the Valve games, now I have lots of extra copies of various games. I also have a few extras from the Potato Sack that I'd already bought.

If you're dying to get rid of some indie games. I know a good person to gift it to. :D

Anywho, does anyone want to play co-op with me? (Steam nickname: DaDennis1988)

[Marshall Banana]

I watched Necronopticous finish it this evening. Potatoes are actually really important in the game. Well, one is.

[G13]

Oh man. Did anyone else get nauseous playing this game?

Oh yeah, big time. After a while I lowered the toggle sensitivity and my eyes stopped hurting a few minutes later.

[Meat Puppet]

I got all the potatoes, too. It was a lot of fun.

[blackmage_nuke]

Oh man. Did anyone else get nauseous playing this game?

I get that with most First person games (mostly shooters) and I definitely felt it with Portal 1 and had to stop every half hour, but it was one of the few games that was worth the headaches and need to throw up. Portal 2 I only felt it mildly, maybe I've built up a resistance.

I heard it's like some kind of reverse motion sickness, where as in motion sickness your body moves but your eyes tell you're not moving in first person shooters your eyes tell you your moving while your body is stationary.

[Yeargdribble]

I don't get nauseated, but with the bit of motion blur on long drops I get a fluttery tummy and my nuts kind of raise up.

[JKTrix]

Been a little while since I've been here...
Me n' Croyles played through the co-op over the last couple of days. More fun than the single player!

[Croyles]

Been a little while since I've been here...
Me n' Croyles played through the co-op over the last couple of days. More fun than the single player!

Was definitely fun. Like you said gameplay was better but the humour and the story in SP is pretty cool. Especially at the end.

[Old Manus]

ITT we're naive enough to believe Valve didn't orchestrate every single part of the ALG.

This is how viral marketing works, guys.

[G13]

Thank you for clarifying, Manus.

Valve knew they were going to sell a :bou::bou::bou::bou: ton of copies of this game, the first Portal is the wet dream of several thousand gaming nerds, so they made advertising the sequel to one of their most talked about games as fun as the game itself. Pretty fucking genius.