Hidden Portal 2 message deciphered News • News • Eurogamer.net

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Valve GDC BSOD joke points to E3.

Valve's Portal-inspired blue screen of death, which popped up during Gabe Newell's GDC Awards speech last night, had a hidden message.

Buried in hex code was the message, "Suspend until EEE". Internet detectives on the Penny Arcade forum spotted it (and Kotaku spotted them).

From that we can deduce that Portal 2 will be shown at this summer's E3 in some form, which takes place 15th-17th June.

Gabe Newell was honoured at the GDC Awards with a Pioneer Award for his work with Valve.

Portal 2, revealed last week, will be out this "holiday" on PC, Mac and Xbox 360. There will be a separate two-player co-op campaign and new gameplay feature physics-changing paint.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

Comments (19) Latest comment 2 years ago

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geeza2020 #1 2 years ago

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every time i hear anything about this game, i pee a little bit in excitement
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ChthonicEcho #2 2 years ago

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This is quickly losing its appeal. I really loved the absolutely brilliant ARG that preluded the Portal 2 announcement, but the same trick shown multiple times is losing its appeal.

That said, I am curious what they will show in E3. I'm still foolishly hopeful for Episode Three.
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mr_ruberfon #3 2 years ago

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episode three please!!
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altitude2k #4 2 years ago

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Episode 3....no thanks.
HL3 please (it bloody wants to be a full sequel by now).
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ignatiusjreilly #5 2 years ago

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Come on, I am as big a Half-Life fan as anyone but I can't be the only one getting bored by the same "Ep 3 plz!" comments in every story about Valve?

Edited by 1 at 12/03/10 @ 10:22
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Eldritch #6 2 years ago

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A true piece of unadulterated nerdism! \o/
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Timbercottage #7 2 years ago

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There won't be a HL3, or at least not one following the Gordon story, Valve have said that the episodes for HL2 is HL3.

Sad times.

Looking bloody forward to Portal 2 though!
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ignatiusjreilly #8 2 years ago

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@Timbercottage

Are you saying there will be no more Half-Life games (with Gordon freeman) after Episode 3? I haven't heard that before...

Or do you just mean that it will be called HL4, not HL3?
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StooMonster #9 2 years ago

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Timbercottage: There won't be a HL3, or at least not one following the Gordon story, Valve have said that the episodes for HL2 is HL3.

Yep, I think the naming of HL2 episodes was a rare slip-up with Valve. When they started Ep1 I reckon they thought "We'll knock these out every six months" but as they've taken huge amounts of time, and they enhanced the engine as they went along too, Gabe and crew changed the PR spin to "the episodes are in effect HL3".
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Uncle_Fishboy #10 2 years ago

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I know I will get killed for this but am I the only person who though Half Life 2 was...dare I say it....a bit crap? All that driving through sewers in a crappy to control dune buggy and shooting testicles with mouths. Didn't do it for me.
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ignatiusjreilly #11 2 years ago

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^ Burn him.
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StooMonster #12 2 years ago

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Had EDGE through my door this morning, and it's got a huge multi-page feature on history of HL2.

/Wonders if this is start of marketing campaign for HL2:Ep3
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darleysam #13 2 years ago

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Damnit, the PA forums are filitered at work. What's the usernames of the guys who cracked it?
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Spuzzell #14 2 years ago

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@Uncle_Fishboy

You're entitled to your opinion! Good on you.

Obviously you're incredibly wrong though. And probably going to hell.
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Spuzzell #15 2 years ago

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@darleysam

The article links to a post by someone called Undead Scottsman who converts the hex. No idea if he was the first though.
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darleysam #16 2 years ago

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Sweet! Cheers. Figures it'd be him, dude's a huge Half-Life nut.
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Xeopuppy #17 2 years ago

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What about Half Life 2: Episode 3 for god sake...
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lucky_jim #18 2 years ago

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Buried in hex code was the message, "Suspend until EEE". Internet detectives on the Penny Arcade forum spotted it (and Kotaku spotted them).

The sentence surely was meant to finish with words to the effect of "and as usual, EG spotted Kotaku"!

Sorry, that's my first ever jibe about EG cribbing from Kotaku. It doesn't bother me that they do so, it just seemed like too good a whinging opportunity to pass up!
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MaxHughes #19 2 years ago

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I didn't get it at first :/ But I re-read it and then it made sense E3
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