Just when we thought we will never hear anything new about Portal (one of the best games of 2007, if not of all time), Valve released the Radio Update. The official release notes read: Changed radio transmission frequency to comply with federal and state spectrum management regulations.
The update places a number of radios around the game’s levels. When picked up and placed in a correct location in the level, the light on the radio turns green and the player can hear some cryptic messages. Forums are going wild as people start decoding the messages.
Portal: Radio in test chamber 05
The new update sends players on a viral, digital scavenger hunt, much like the promotion for Nine Inch Nails’ Year Zero album did, back in 2007. The radio transmissions feature morse code messages, as well as modem noises that can be decoded into images using SSTV software. Some sounds can be cleaned up to reveal messages, other need to be processed through various types of audio analysis programs.
Within hours, players decrypted tons of data, ranging from mathematical equations, MD5 hashes, phone number for a BBS, passwords and voice recordings. It is all still quite vague and full of speculation, but all the data seems to be pointing at the imminent announcement of Portal 2 as well as Half-Life 2: Episode 3.
You can follow the collective investigation on the official Portal forums at:
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=82
…or through a fan-made Portal Radio Puzzle Wiki at:
http://pugsoft.info/radio/
Better yet by playing Portal again by yourself. If you just came back from a three-year long space mission and haven’t had a chance to play this fantastic game, this would be a good time to pick it up. You can get it from:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/400/
I recommend getting it as a part of The Orange Box, if you don’t own one already. for just $10 more you will also get Half-Life 2, HL2 Episodes 1 and 2 as well as Team Fotress 2 – some of the best PC games there are.
Good hunting!