Are you helping to unlock Portal 2 early?

For the handful of people who still aren't aware, Valve have been involved in a rather cool marketing twist, before the Portal 2 launch. If people play any of 13 selected games, they can help unlock Portal 2 early via Steam.

Portal 2 is one of the most awaited games this year. The original title proved a massive seller for Valve, creators of Half Life and Left 4 Dead – and justifiably so too, because it combined humor, with addictive, intelligent puzzle game play.

April 1st was the start of a very entertaining Valve concept, to build up excitement for the launch. ‘Potato related' jokes and content started to appear in some games. Web users then started poking around inside the updates to make sense of coded images and messages.

This hunt for information led to a countdown timer on ApertureScience.com – ‘Aperture' being the fictional research firm which was featured in Portal and the upcoming Portal 2.

GlaDOS, the franchise's antagonist wrote “We need raw computational power to speed up the reboot process.”

So gamers can help the ‘reboot' time by playing Steam versions of 13 selected games, with titles such as Defense Grid even getting free PORTAL style levels with a recent update (including speech from the witty computer ‘GlaDOS')

Defense Grid April 2011 Portal 2 ARG Updates:

• Two free new and original Defense Grid Levels with new voice acting and story.
• Portal's GLaDOS invades the network and brings a new style of level design to Defense Grid.
• New computer console off the main menu. Poke around in the old computer archives, try out puzzles, and learn some DG back-story.
• Tesla towers now recharge faster and do more damage.

April 13 update:

• CHAS level is now unlocked for everyone!
• Recruiting is still important, so keep it up.
• Tony has one more trick up his sleeve
• Three more clues to find

Portal 2 may or may not be released a little early on STEAM, but it will hit retail stores for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Macintosh and PC on April 19th in North America and April 21st in Europe (sorry, but US get it earlier).

KitGuru says: Valve are certainly getting the ‘community' involved with this. Very cool.

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