Today, several major internet sources including the guys over at 1UP, received an email from Valve informing them that the Portal 2 presentation at the upcoming E3 event has been cancelled. The slot will be filled by a 'surprise' announcement, the email went as follows:
Dear Subject Name Here,
Aperture Science is pleased to inform you that we have partnered with Valve to announce the gala CANCELLATION of the June 14 Portal 2 event at the Regal Theater. The event will be replaced by a surprise. And even though the cancellation of the event certainly counts as a surprise, we are pleased to further announce that the cancellation of the event is not THE surprise. However, per International treaties regarding the definition of the word "surprise", of which both Aperture Science and Valve are signatories, the time, date and content of the actual surprise will only become available as you experience the surprise.
If you'd like to ask fruitless questions about the E3 Portal 2 surprise or, more fruitfully, schedule an appointment to attend a Portal 2 screening at the Valve booth during E3, please contact Valve's Special Envoy to Surprises, Doug Lombardi.
Thank you for [[RECORD SCRATCH!!!]]
PS: The surprising record scratch is also not the surprise.
This news is certainly a shock for most; but it is not unlike Valve to pull such a stunt. Portal 2 is one of the most highly anticipated games of this year, so any news on its progress and release would have been very welcome to most. The sequel to the 2007 hit game Portal has been hugely hyped all over the Internet but details have been fairly limited since the March 5th announcement of its release.
Portal 2 is set hundreds of years after the first game in which the super computer GLaDOS still remains intact despite its apparent destruction at the end of the first game. The game will also be played as the same protagonist, Chell, who has been in a state of stasis since the first game. In addition to the typical single player Portal 2 campaign consisting of several GLaDOS created trial levels and "behind the scene" levels, the sequel will also have a large cooperative campaign; both players will have their own portal gun and each player will be able to move through the portals of either player freely, making for far more complicated puzzles than were previously possible with one gun.
But the real question is what does Valve have in store that is more important than Portal 2 news? Are we finally going to receive an announcement about Half-Life 2 Episode 3? The surprise itself may well be Portal related but who knows what they have in store.
Portal 2 is expected to hit in Q4 of 2010.
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