Oh so very, very clever. Now I understand how they managed to get all those indies to join them with making this adventure. See: great marketing. Well played, Valve, well played!

Sonsofbitches.

Even though I have the potato sack I don't have portal 2, so not gonna waste my time with getting it released earlier, too bad guys! :D

play the potato sack and it unlocks faster very cool valve http://www.aperturescience.com/glados@home/

To be perfectly honest, I thought the I love Bees ARG was better. Even if the game it was marketing isn't as good as Portal 2 is bound to be. :)

I hate valve.. they chose the one time in years i have no money and cant afford Portal2 to release it -.-

If this was Half-Life 3 I would be pretty irritated that digital delivery buyers get it several days before boxed retail. That would really piss me off.

Since it's Portal 2 though I don't care that much.

Even if people were pissed off, Valve could just release a retail collectors hat and everyone would be friends again.

It makes sense. Valve's big business is Steam. Also, games are heading towards an all-digital future.

Also, this is further proof that Valve are the greatest developers ever. This helps out indie devs, this helps out themselves, and this helps out consumers. Win/Win/Win!

Ignoring the debate about boxed versus digital because wow would that be a waste of time, the point is all their customers should be treated the same. This includes console purchasers. I dislike the idea of my $45 not getting me the same release day as your $45. It's no big deal and I am not jonesing for Portal 2 enough to care much really, but if this were my GOTY then I would be pretty annoyed.

Yeah, yeah... saint Valve. Everything they do is designed to make them more money and yet people act like they are running a charity. In any case it helps out SOME consumers, which is the whole point. Some not all.

So what? They should be saints and monks who develop steam and games our of their goodwill, without earning any money in the process? Come on, they're a business company. And if they help the consumers in the process, then where's the problem? Ok, you refuse a digital copy, I'm sure you have your reasons, but you are a minority. In gaming, we all have to adapt to the trends. If you don't, you can stay on gog.com forever, that's why they're here :)

I really don't see anything bad about this. Indie developers get an incredible boost, valve gets PR points, Portal gets released earlier and everything people have to do, is play games. Genius.

What does ARG stand for? I dont get it. Im not excited the least about this steamworks rented game.

I've 2 potatos, thanks to meat boy. How about making a meal by using both of them now? lol

My thoughts exactly. Also, the page has been updated now - all computations in 'The Wonderful End of the World' are complete. I'll be moving on to 'The Ball' myself, when I get home later today. See, I know this is marketing, but it is the good kind that benefits the many, not just the one.

Edit: removed a segment that was really out of place here. Sorry about that.

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I was wondering what those bars were when I realised they didn't correlate with the number of players playing them, some seem to need alot more players than others it seems...