Long read: The beauty and drama of video games and their clouds

"It's a little bit hard to work out without knowing the altitude of that dragon..."

If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

Hidden Portal 2 message deciphered

Valve GDC BSOD joke points to E3.

News by Robert Purchese Associate Editor

Updated on 12 Mar 2010

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.

Read this next