Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Those among you with your ears to the internet will have noticed that a mystery has been unfolding around Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Some people are referring to it as an “ARG”. That’s a pretty serious term and shouldn’t be bandied about lightly, but this does have all the hallmarks of one. It all started with a code, or “some gibberish” as I call it, and eventually led to the image you see above. Quite how people worked it out is a mystery to my little meat-brain, which is to say I’m convinced they had some form of calculating device embedded in their skulls. Rather amusingly, even that wasn’t enough though because Eidos Montreal had to release extra clues. To be fair, I didn’t even understand those though. The story so far is here. What does it all mean? Were any of you involved in figuring out what’s happened so far? And am I actually quite stupid for not understanding how any of this worked? Arg(h)!

While the GLaDOS@Home distributed potato-collecting event is still ongoing, hints are emerging that there may be even more to come following its conclusion. Portal 2 being released early is the apparent plan, but could there be something more?

The latest Steamcast (an unofficial fan radio show) apparently aired with a brief Morse Code signal playing over the chatter, which the hosts claim to have been unaware of. You can hear it for yourself below and ponder upon its authenticity, but if it’s real this is what it says:” it’s not over the others have been compromised.”

Ah.
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Only seven minutes left on the Valve’s Potato Sack ARG clock! Join me as I pop open a Coke Zero and stare catatonically at the tumbling numbers, won’t you? I could do with the company, and I’ll be updating this post LIVE as and when anything happens.

Update: If you need something to distract you while you wait, I cannot recommend this link enough.

Update: Less than five minutes to go now!

Update: Two minutes and twenty-eight seconds! Let’s see if I can hold my breath for the remaining time.

Update: no i can’t do it

Update: ONE MINUTE TO GO

Update: HERE WE GO

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RPS tipster du jour Alex Bakke has sent us this link to a countdown timer- the latest discovery following some two weeks of hard work from the participants of Valve’s alternate reality game. After a paragraph of Glados’s trademark sandpaper wit, it closes “The time is near, humans. But it is not here yet. Tomorrow you will be given the final test. Then it will be entirely in your hands when I am freed.”

This possibly means that Portal 2 is coming out today. Why? Click through, dear reader.
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Something’s going on in Valveland. Well, something’s always going on in Valveland: these are clever, playful people. However, this time we (and other sites) appear to be a part of it. We’ve been sent the below two, super-cryptic images from one Mr G. Newell himself. What do they mean? They’re presumably related to the ongoing potato-related ARG, so hopefully by sharing them here we can help the smart cookies who are busy deciphering that along.

Take a look, see what you think. Even the filenames are dripping with bewildering and sinister mystery.

Update: aha! We appear to have one of the final pieces of an existing puzzle… Stick with this story, it’s going to be evolving throughout the day.
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We sort of sat on this one despite all the rumours about it, due to a combination of thinking it was an April Fool’s thing, our usual elderly-style bewilderment and being distracted by my cat chasing a bit of… Oh! Look at her! It’s adorable! She’s rolled over now! And she’s purring! And..

Oops, I did it again. Oh yes, the Valve ARG. This is elaborate and packed with delectable mysteries – but what does it mean?
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Heroes creator/murderer Tim Kring has revealed his next project – an alternative reality game. The idea is, essentially, an interactive TV show – yer timeless wotsit of good and evil, which participants (i.e. you) observe, interact with and even shape as it happens. Exciting! And hopefully nothing at all like Heroes season 2-4.
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More revelations from the ongoing ARG-decoding, which is currently neatly summarised here. The latest is that they’ve been able to dial into an Aperture Science bulletin board and download a load of ASCII art. It’s quite clearly Portal / Weighted Companion Cube-related stuff, but it wasn’t giving much away. But then someone tried rotating some of it…

Whaddaya think? Looks a little Mirrors Edgy to me… And what could these little chaps be?

You might have noticed Steam downloading an update for Portal and HL2 Episode 2 earlier. Just a routine patch, you probably thought. You’re wrong, stupid! Learn to be more paranoid, why don’t you? Important secrets are being revealed…
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