portal 2 the final hours что это
Final Hours
NEW: Read about the making of the “Peer Review” DLC and the future of Portal 2 in a just-released bonus chapter!
The Final Hour of Portal 2 takes you deep within the top-secret offices of Valve, creators of Half-Life, for an unvarnished look at the creative process behind the new video game Portal 2. Journalist Geoff Keighley was granted unprecedented «fly on the wall» access to Valve over the past three years to create this staggering 15,000 word multimedia experience. From the hush-hush Portal prequel that was shelved to the last minute scramble to complete the game’s story, The Final Hours of Portal 2 is a gripping and dramatic story brought to life by exclusive photos, videos, interviews, interactive experiences, and other surprises. Watch the teaser trailer.
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to create a video game?
In The Final Hours of Portal 2 you’ll step inside the offices of Valve in Seattle to experience the development of Portal 2 first hand. Journalist Geoff Keighley chronicles the creation of this new game and reveals never-before-told details that will be a must-read for any fan of Valve. The 15,000 word story is complemented by dozens of photos, interactive diagrams and multimedia features, plus interviews with Valve founder Gabe Newell and actor Stephen Merchant (the voice of Wheatley).
In the Final Hours of Portal 2 Valve reveals:
Interactive Highlights include:
Longtime game journalist Geoff Keighley is the host and executive producer of Spike TV’s GTTV, as well as The Bonus Round on GameTrailers.com. The recipient of TJFR «Top 30 Journalists Under 30» award in 2004, Keighley has written for Entertainment Weekly, TIME, and Business 2.0. He is also the co-chairman of the Game Critics Awards.
The Final Hours App was designed by Joe Zeff Design.
For more information of Geoff visit his own site, GameSlice.com
Follow Geoff on twitter
About Final Hours
Q: Have you written other Final Hours stories before?
A: Yes, I wrote a number of Final Hours stories in the late 90s and early 2000s as part of my Behind the Games series on GameSpot. The games I covered included Black & White, Metal Gear Solid 2, Unreal, Quake III Arena and Prince of Persia in 2003. The last story was The Final Hours of Half-Life 2, which published in 2004. Most of them are still archived up on GameSpot. As part of the Behind the Games series I also wrote pieces about the downfall of the game company Trilobyte (the company behind The 7th Guest) and Ion Storm, the mega game-developer envisioned by id co-founder John Romero.
Q: Why did you stop writing The Final Hours series in the first place?
A: There isn’t a particularly good or interesting story here. I wrote most of the original Final Hours stories during college. After graduation I thought that if I was going to stay in the games business, I wanted to devote most of my time to sharing our amazing industry with as wide an audience as possible. So I began writing for Entertainment Weekly and pursuing opportunities on TV at networks like G4 and Spike. I always hoped to return to the Final Hours series one day, but wasn’t ever sure I’d find the time to write another one.
Q: How did the Final Hours stories begin?
A: I’ve never told this story before, but I first came up with the idea in August of 1997. I had just started college at USC, and at the end of the first orientation day I felt a little out of place. So I turned on the TV in my dorm. As I flipped around I ended up on VH1, which happened to be premiering a Behind the Music Episode on Milli Vanilli. (Believe it or not you can watch the episode online here: http://vimeo.com/6659561) Over the next hour I watched a fascinating documentary about the fall of the lip-syncing pop group. When it was over I thought to myself, ‘Why doesn’t the game industry ever have good narrative stories written about it that profile the people, not the products?’
A few months later I met a guy named Vince Broady. With two partners he had started this website out of an old travel agency building in San Francisco. It was called GameSpot or the G-Spot. He liked my personal website GameSlice, and asked if I wanted to do something with him. I talked to him about writing a story about the making of a game and the people behind it. His wife Susan suggested that we can it ‘Behind the Games,’ and Vince generously agreed to serve as my editor.
The first story I wrote was about the making of Unreal in early 2008, and that was assembled via phone and email interviews where I re-assembled the story of the game’s development. I loved writing that story so much that I thought the next step would be to actually immerse myself in the “final hours” of a game’s development – to be a fly on the wall. But first I needed to find a game developer who might be willing to let me see them at their worst during the final stressful days of squashing bugs.
It wasn’t an easy ask, but I knew the game I wanted to target first: Half-Life from Valve. So I pitched their publicist, Genevieve, and their founders, Gabe & Mike, on the idea of letting me come to their office for a few days to observe how Half-Life was finished. Gabe took me to a sushi restaurant near Valve to hear my pitch. At the time I wasn’t very good with chopsticks, but I managed to get through lunch and explain my idea of chronicling the good times and the bad on the project. Gabe thought about it and said that yes, that idea sounded cool. I took a few days off from my sophomore year of college and headed to Valve to write the story.
Q: Why did you decide to return to the Final Hours series now?
A: This is a good question. For a few years I’ve been thinking about writing a Final Hours story, and have been quietly documenting events at Valve (and a few other studios). To be honest I always have wanted to write another Final Hours story; the question was if I had time to do it.
If I had to point to a moment where I decided to go all in and do it, it would be last September when I was watching The Social Network in a New York theater. You may remember that brilliant opening scene between Mark and Erica, where she ends their conversation about his internet postings with the dismissive and pejorative line, ‘Ok, good luck with your video game.’ As I walked out of the theater that line stuck with me and reminded me that it’s still easy for outsiders to see games as something trivial or worthless.
We all know they aren’t, but game journalists don’t do enough to share what makes games (and the creative process) so special. When I open a video game magazine or go to many of the top websites I am often amazed at the lack of good journalism about games. There are so many interesting stories out there to write and for whatever reason they are never written.
So I thought I’d write another Final Hours on a new platform, iPad, and see if there is an audience for journalism like this. I’ve spent a significant amount of my own money to build this multimedia story and really have no idea if it will make back its money. But I thought I’d run an experiment and see what the market is for a Final Hours in 2011.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the Final Hours of Portal 2?
A: The Final Hours of Portal 2 is the story of the creation of the new video game Portal 2 from Valve. This multimedia journey takes you through over 3 years of development and shares new insights into the creative process behind the game.
Q: I don’t understand, is this an article? A book?
A: The core of this App is a 15,000 word story about the making of Portal 2. But the story is filled with dozens of photos, screenshots, audio clips, videos from development, and some interactive experiences as well.
Q: What was your vision for this App?
A: I wanted to write a Final Hours story for the iPad, but also take advantage of the iPad to surround the story with interesting interactive experiences. As a kid I remember playing with early versions of Microsoft’s Encarta on CD-ROM and loving the interactive diagrams. So I’ve included some fun interactive elements like puppeting Wheatley and playing with Portals.
Q: How can I read The Final Hours of Portal 2?
Q: I don’t have an iPad. Will The Final Hours of Portal 2 ever be available to read on the web or other platforms?
A: While I don’t have any announcements to make at this time, I am exploring ways to make the story available on more platforms in the near future.
Q: Why would you make this for iPad? I don’t own an iPad but really want to read it. It’s not fair!
A: I know this will be a frequent question. I started with iPad because I love the device; in many ways it helped inspire me to write this story. It’s a good platform to publish log-form journalism with multimedia elements. But I do realize that iPads are expensive to own and many Valve fans may not have one. If the iPad version is somewhat successful I am committed to getting this story onto other platforms. I appreciate your patience.
Q: Why are you charging money for this story?
Q: If I buy this app am I going to see lots of ads and sponsors throughout it?
A: No, there is zero advertising or sponsorship.
Q: How was Valve involved in the creation of this story?
A: Gabe and everyone at Valve generously gave me access to their offices, and more importantly, their personal stories, photos, and time. They let me observe them at their worst, sit in on private meetings, and left me completely unsupervised most of the time. Heck, I even had my own keycard to the office! More than anything else they trusted me to tell their story, and I hope I’ve honored that trust.
A story like a Final Hours is really only possible under these conditions. You may wonder why you don’t see more journalism like this about games, and a lot of it has to do with access. Far too often today’s game studio visits are tightly scripted, with an over-controlling publicist parading you around an office while an advanced team scrubs every white board before you turn the corner. I guess you have to be careful in a world where one Tweet can spoil a top-secret project, but it doesn’t lead to very good journalism. Valve is transparent about its creative process, and that’s something I don’t find at many studios.
I really have to thank Gabe and Doug Lombardi, Valve’s VP of Marketing (and overseer of all things PR-related) for letting me do what I needed to do, and to Chet Faliszek, who was invaluable in helping coordinate assets, interviews and scheduling. Chet’s the kind of guy who emails you to say, ‘Are you sure there’s absolutely nothing else we can get you?’ as you’re wrapping up a project. These guys were incredibly busy these past few months but always made me feel like a priority.
And to those cynics out there, I should note that Valve did not have any approval over this story and did not pay me to write it.
Q: Have you played Portal 2?
A: Yes, I was lucky enough to play the final version of Portal 2 in mid-February right after it was finished. I have completed the single and co-op campaign.
Q: I have another question that isn’t answered here. What should I do?
A: Contact Geoff by filling out the contact form.
Portal 2 the final hours что это
Представители Valve официально подтвердили догадки фанатов о том, что вторая часть головоломки Portal уже находится в разработке.
По словам разработчиков, в новой игре нас ждёт нечто большее, чем несколько комнат. На данный момент формируется концепция новой игры. Никаких дополнительных деталей о проекте пока не известно.
Что же касается подробностей о третьем эпизоде Half Life 2, то их мы узнаем не раньше чем через несколько месяцев.
Portal 2 анонсирован
Выходит к следующему сезону праздников. Пока это всё.
Имеется в виду сезон зимних праздников во главе с Рождеством (GameStop уже принимает предварительные заказы на игру, обещая её выход 26 октября 2010). Больше подробностей (целых 12 страниц) будет в новом номере журнала Game Informer, где расскажут о новой игровой механике, сюжете и некоторых сюрпризах!
На сайте Game Informer открылся специальный раздел — Portal 2 Hub, где за двенадцатью квадратами скрывается какая-то новая информация о грядущей игре. Пока что открыт только один квадрат, рассказывающий про анонс игры и что ждёт читателей журнала в апрельском выпуске. Запоминайте эти дни марта и заглядывайте к ним (или к нам) за новой информацией: 8, 10, 12, 15, 17, 19, 22, 24, 26, 29 и 31 число.
По уже имеющейся информации от Game Informer, в игре будет присутствовать совместное прохождение, которое будет выделено в отдельный режим, со своим уникальным сюжетом, картами и двумя новыми персонажами. Этот новый режим заставит игроков заново обучаться не только мыслить портально, но и помнить о напарнике.
Также Даг Ломбарди уже успел очертить круг будущих покупателей игры — владельцы персональных компьютеров и консоли Xbox 360. PS3 (не говоря у же о Wii) так и остаётся аутсайдером продукции Valve.
Portal AGR: последние данные
Судя по всему, с анонсом Portal 2 поток новых головоломок от Valve должен иссякнуть, т.к. событие уже состоялось. Тем не менее, давайте соберём вместе всё то, что было найдено за последние дни с момента нашей последней подборки информации.
Фанаты продолжали искать новую информацию среди всех звуковых файлов, особенно среди файлов с радиопомехами, на которых якобы были слышны голоса. Были предприняты попытки очистить звуки от помех и вычленить голоса. Вроде-бы что-то получалось и кто-то слышал голоса Аликс, Барни, Кляйнера, обращения к Челл (главной героине Portal), однако даже сами носители языка отмечают, что услышать всех этих персонажей и их фразы можно только при наличии хорошего слуха и… фантазии. Поэтому особо верить во всё это мы лично вам не советуем.
Помните Минерву? А её создателя Адама Фостера? Уверены, что должны, но на всякий случай напомним. Минерва — одна из одиночных модификаций для Half-Life 2, выполненная на очень высоком уровне, не сильно отстающем от уровня Valve, созданная независимым разработчиком Адамом Фостером. После выхода нескольких частей мода, Адама пригласили на работу к Valve и он с радостью принял предложение. Неугомонные фанаты нашли его страницу на Flickr (сервисе для хранения фото и видео) и наткнулись там на оригиналы двух картинок, зашифрованных в звуках появившихся после первого обновления Portal. Интерес фанатов также вызвал тот факт, что на одной из фотографий изображен навигационный компьютер, управлявший полётом космических аппаратов в программе Аполлон, что тут же попытались привязать к спутнику, запущенному в космос в конце Half-Life 2: Episode Two. 
Третьего марта на BBS Aperture Science, при соединении, появилось новое приветствие. Оно включало строку «примерное время окончания», состояние которой менялось случайным образом («к моменту тепловой смерти вселенной», «доисторическая эра», «последний четверг»), а также индикатор, который с течением времени постоянно увеличивался. По оценкам фанатов, которые строили графики зависимости скорости заполнения шкалы от времени, она должна была дойти до завершающей стадии пятого марта, что собственно и произошло, вылившись в анонс Portal 2.
В официальном анонсе содержались плохо скрытые символы (drattmannh0nee), давшие новые авторизационные данные к доступу на BBS: логин — drattmann, пароль — h0nee. По аналогии с логином cjonson было предположено, что это логин человека по имени D. Rattmann, что вскоре подтвердилось при вводе старых данных (backup/backup): по ним был открыт доступ к BASIC исходникам программы по расшифровке «Aperture Image Format», автором которых как раз и является Даг Раттманн. А вот при доступе с данными Дага были получены три новые картинки, расшифрованные его же утилитой:
На этих картинках нас поздравляют с успешным прохождением пробных испытаний совместного тестирования и обещают связаться с нами, когда начнётся настоящее тестирование. Прямейшая отсылка к уже известной информации о том, что в Portal 2 будет совместный режим прохождения для двух игроков.
Остальная найденная информация пока что не представляет особой ценности и до сих пор изучается фанатами. Равно как и продолжаются поиски каких-то новых вещей, которые могу появиться в ближайшее время. По крайней мере все на это надеются.
The Final Hours of Portal 2
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