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[scogoth]

This is the worst end to an unbelievably well done boring and fruitless ARG ever. They need to coin a new term for 'jumping the shark' just for this. 'Idling the computation?'

Think its more accurate now.

 

[Zombie James]

ETA right now is 4:30AM EST on Tuesday.

 

[kamspy]

So different games take off different amounts of time. Maybe Defense Grid The Awakening will take off 24 hours and get this party started. Hints people! We need them!

... :|

 

[Blizzard]

Of course not. The potatoes are completely worthless

Hardly!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/creamy-garlic-mashed-potatoes-recipe/index.html

*edit* HAHAHAHA at picture below me.

 

[Joe Molotov]

This is the worst end to an unbelievably well done ARG ever. They need to coin a new term for 'jumping the shark' just for this. 'Idling the computation?'

 

[Red]

I swear I'm going to see these bars in my sleep.

 

[TheOGB]

Fools, they're not getting ready to realease Portal 2 early

Spoiler

they're releasing Ep3 early :O


oh how crazy would that be, huh?

 

[butter_stick]

Idling in Defense Grid to speed up the 24 hour warp jump.

 

[rasberryjam]

At least if Portal 2 comes out on tuesday, the combined forces of it and Mortal Kombat will make tuesday one of the best days ever. So that's cool!

 

[Oreoleo]

BOATS AND HOES

 

[dave is ok]

Think its more accurate now.

Eh, I liked the actual puzzles during the first two phases and the Portal 2 themed content in phase 3.

The ridiculous cash grab attempt + forcing people to leave their computers running games all weekend for no reward whatsoever in phase 4 really killed it.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

 

[DrForester]

Fools, they're not getting ready to realease Portal 2 early

Spoiler

they're releasing Ep3 early :O


oh how crazy would that be, huh?

The site would have had everything filled up ten times over by now.

 

[Sibylus]

This is the worst end to an unbelievably well done ARG ever. They need to coin a new term for 'jumping the shark' just for this. 'Idling the computation?'

Flubbing the spud.

 

[Campster]

We might finish 2 or 3 games by tomorrow night, unless Valve steps in. That puts the release at post-midnight tomorrow, EST.

Yeah, at this point that's more or less a certainty. By the time I wake up tomorrow Audiosurf will hopefully either be done or nearly done, but that still leaves the 5 most challenging games left.

At this point I wouldn't even consider this an early release, to be honest. If Valve had never mentioned 7 AM PST as the specific launch time, they could just as easily flip the switch 2 AM EST and it wouldn't seem unreasonable/early. By this ARG's logic, midnight showings of films are "early" releases because they happen hours before they were going to show anyways.

 

[Red]

ThoseDeafMutes: that's what it feels like I've been doing all weekend. Just staring at those bars.

The more I think fuck you bars the faster they fill.



fuck you bars

 

[Forkball]

I just want to thank everyone for their hard work. Because of your weeks of detective work and countless hours playing random games and accomplishing seemingly impossible tasks, we can now get Portal 2 seven hours earlier.

 

[corn_fest]

you have to wonder why Valve is letting this happen.
they have to be in forums and IRC and see that people are almost universally disappointed... why not just activate a "potato multiplier" and gain some goodwill back from the fans?

 

[TheOGB]

The site would have had everything filled up ten times over by now.

That is, if they weren't lying to us about it being Portal 2


I dunno, but this is an extremely undwhelming finish to this whole experience. :/

 

[hamchan]

lol

Bit.Trip knocked 30 minutes off the timer.

This is kinda sad

 

[Weenerz]

What is the official release time for the people on the east coast?

 

[dave is ok]

I just want to thank everyone for their hard work. Because of your weeks of detective work and countless hours playing random games and accomplishing seemingly impossible tasks, we can now get Portal 2 seven hours earlier.

It's a Half Life tie in. The Seven Hour War came as a result of angry consumers only getting Portal 2 seven hours early.

 

[rasberryjam]

you have to wonder why Valve is letting this happen.
they have to be in forums and IRC and see that people are almost universally disappointed... why not just activate a "potato multiplier" and gain some goodwill back from the fans?

They probably think this is hilarious.

 

[darthbob]

I just want to thank everyone for their hard work. Because of your weeks of detective work and countless hours playing random games and accomplishing seemingly impossible tasks, we can now get Portal 2 seven hours earlier.

Fuck, I thought we were supposed to get the game normally, at midnight Tuesday. Now we'd be lucky to even do that. : /

Valve, I am disappoint.

 

[Red]

you have to wonder why Valve is letting this happen.
they have to be in forums and IRC and see that people are almost universally disappointed... why not just activate a "potato multiplier" and gain some goodwill back from the fans?

We are being trolled.

 

[TheOGB]

It's a Half Life tie in. The Seven Hour War came as a result of angry consumers only getting Portal 2 seven hours early.

Ohshit

 

[butter_stick]

you have to wonder why Valve is letting this happen.
they have to be in forums and IRC and see that people are almost universally disappointed... why not just activate a "potato multiplier" and gain some goodwill back from the fans?

It's their weekend. For Valve staff that involves hookers and blow not IRC and bars.

 

[Campster]

What is the official release time for the people on the east coast?

Official, non-modified time is 7 AM PST or 10 AM EST.

With the general predictions that we've shaved off seven to ten-ish hours, that puts the release sometime around midnight to three AM EST, 9 PM to 12 AM PST.

 

[dave is ok]

you have to wonder why Valve is letting this happen.
they have to be in forums and IRC and see that people are almost universally disappointed... why not just activate a "potato multiplier" and gain some goodwill back from the fans?

It's pretty clear they never actually wanted Portal 2 to release this weekend. Probably so the retailers wouldn't bitch about lost sales, ironic considering so many have broken the street date.

Valve could have sped this up at any time and instead let people waste their time.

 

[Jenga]

AT THE 24 HOUR MARK GLADDOS SHALL ACTIVATE


MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE

believe

 

[rasberryjam]

What is the official release time for the people on the east coast?

I think it would be 12 pm on Tuesday, maybe 5 am as it stands.

Edit: Beaten with more accurate info!

 

[corn_fest]

I don't care enough to go downstairs and change from idling bit.trip to The Ball :/

 

[TheExodu5]

you have to wonder why Valve is letting this happen.
they have to be in forums and IRC and see that people are almost universally disappointed... why not just activate a "potato multiplier" and gain some goodwill back from the fans?

I can only assume that a retailer deal says that they cannot release the game before the 19th. So they went ahead and pulled the marketing stunt off anyways, giving the false impression that if people worked at it hard enough, they'd get the game before that.

 

[EmCeeGramr]

you have to wonder why Valve is letting this happen.
they have to be in forums and IRC and see that people are almost universally disappointed... why not just activate a "potato multiplier" and gain some goodwill back from the fans?

Robin Walker has taken over the Valve offices and is skinning people to turn them into hats.

 

[Joe Molotov]

I just want to thank everyone for their hard work. Because of your weeks of detective work and countless hours playing random games and accomplishing seemingly impossible tasks, we can now get Portal 2 seven hours earlier.

There's no way around it, men; Gabe went in dry, and he didn't even give us fair warning to bite the pillow.

 

[Red]

I can only assume that a retailer deal says that they cannot release the game before the 19th. So they went ahead and pulled the marketing stunt off anyways, giving the false impression that if people worked at it hard enough, they'd get the game before that.

Which is cruel. I don't understand what they were thinking. Why not just lead the ARG up to the standard release? It doesn't make any sense creating this fruitless goose chase.

 

[Campster]

I can only assume that a retailer deal says that they cannot release the game before the 19th. So they went ahead and pulled the marketing stunt off anyways, giving the false impression that if people worked at it hard enough, they'd get the game before that.

That's what bothers me about it, really. Two weeks of hype and untold amounts of effort to move the game forward from 7 AM (when people can't play it because they're about to go to work) to 12 AM (when people can't play it because they need to go to sleep). This is de facto not an early launch at this point, short of shenanigans happening in the next 24 hours to seriously boost the rate the bars are filling. If the game can't come out before the 19th, fine, but don't tell me that if I click my heals together, wish with all my might, and run 19 Steam clients idling in Amnesia that I can get it before then.

 

[Weenerz]

Hrm, if people buying from Steam aren't getting unlocked at midnight, then I'm going to cancel and buy it from a store. I'd rather have a midnight launch. That's what I thought we were working with.

 

[TheExodu5]

Which is cruel. I don't understand what they were thinking. Why not just lead the ARG up to the standard release? It doesn't make any sense creating this fruitless goose chase.

I wasn't cynical enough to call this a shameless marketing stunt at first, but judging by how Valve has handled this, I'm leaning towards that at this point.

At least it's Valve and some awesome developers (aside from Dejoban) getting our money.

 

[TheOGB]

AT THE 24 HOUR MARK GLADDOS SHALL ACTIVATE


MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE

believe

 

[Mairu]

wOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Thanks to my friend for getting me the last few potatoes when I was getting lazy

 

[WEGGLES]

you have to wonder why Valve is letting this happen.
they have to be in forums and IRC and see that people are almost universally disappointed... why not just activate a "potato multiplier" and gain some goodwill back from the fans?

No kidding.

There'll have to be something incredible at the end of all this to make it worth it.

This isn't fun. Doesn't feel mysterious any more... I have Audio Surf in my task bar going... hoo boooy!

 

[dave is ok]

Which is cruel. I don't understand what they were thinking. Why not just lead the ARG up to the standard release? It doesn't make any sense creating this fruitless goose chase.

They could have just pushed back the timeline of the ARG and released all of the Portal themed content in the Potato Sack this weekend for the final phase and people would have been happy.

The only problem was that might not offer enough incentive to people to buy those games if they didn't already own them. So they went with a final phase that wasted a ton of peoples time, but gave them a huge marketing push as a thank you to the developers who helped out with the ARG.

 

[TheRagnCajun]

Well, I guess the ARG was a big waste of everyone's time...at least we got some free content. Can't argue with that, but making everyone idle their games in a fruitless attempt to release portal2 early was a big blunder. Well, not tonight. I'm packing it in.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

Hrm, if people buying from Steam aren't getting unlocked at midnight, then I'm going to cancel and buy it from a store. I'd rather have a midnight launch. That's what I thought we were working with.

I hope you enjoy installing it on steam and then waiting 5 hours until it unlocks.

 

[Campster]

Hrm, if people buying from Steam aren't getting unlocked at midnight, then I'm going to cancel and buy it from a store. I'd rather have a midnight launch. That's what I thought we were working with.

Steam generally doesn't unlock games at midnight. Left 4 Dead 2 was a pretty big fiasco about this, as were other big Valve launches.

That said, depending on how early we actually manage to move it, this one may be different. It's looking less likely with each passing hour, however.

 

[TheExodu5]

They could have just pushed back the timeline of the ARG and released all of the Portal themed content in the Potato Sack this weekend for the final phase and people would have been happy.

The only problem was that might not offer enough incentive to people to buy those games if they didn't already own them. So they went with a final phase that wasted a ton of peoples time, but gave them a huge marketing push as a thank you to the developers who helped out with the ARG.

I'll settle with how you said it. The perfect balance of cynicism and good will.

 

[Blackheim]

So, anyone been brave enough to poke their head into the Steam forum to see what the fallout is like over there? *not gonna risk it for fear of irate people posting spoilers*

 

[BuddhaRockstar]

wOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Thanks to my friend for getting me the last few potatoes when I was getting lazy

Congrats, although I'd almost not want a golden potato as I would be reminded about this shitty ARG everytime I looked at my profile. It would be like getting a tattoo to commemorate that time you spent all day on the toilet with explosive diarrhea.

 

[dave is ok]

I wonder if this stupid ARG was the reason Portal 2 was pushed from February to April.

I really hope not.