NERDGASM: THOUGHTS ON PORTAL 2

So all this Portal nonsense has got my brain whirling about what Valve has up their faucet. With the next game set "hundreds of years in the future" I have to wonder about the time travel factor. At the end of Episode 2 we saw (SPOILERZ) the Borealis, a ship thought lost for years, appear out of nowhere. Maybe Chell has something to do with its reappearance. With that of course, comes the possibility that Alex comes up with the crazy idea to go back in time to save Eli. With that comes the even crazier idea to go back further and stop the events at Black Mesa from ever happening. Of course, this would all be thwarted by control-freak G-Man who attempts to teach Gordon a lesson about changing the past, only to have Freeman do something stupid anyway, causing a cataclysmic temporal paradox that would set up a new environment for HL3.

While playing through Black Mesa in the past and likely encountering Past Gordon and Shepard, I really do hate time travel and completely doubt that Valve would do anything that drastic. Honestly, I think their biggest setback with release dates is story. There are giant, gaping holes in the entire Half Life story already, and when they added Portal into the mix it likely changed what little of it they had mapped out. The series really does have the most engaging plot I've ever played through, but with so little known, and such large amounts of time between releases, things get frustrating. During all this time, crazy fanatics like myself spend their hours posting their thoughts and revelations about the unknown in the Half Life universe on the internet. Valve gets wind of this, maybe somebody hit a little too close to home, and due to their incessant need to SURPRISE EVERYONE, it's back to the drawing board. They simply CAN'T release a PREDICTABLE game. And while I appreciate this to the fullest, it really does take a toll on a lonely nerd's heart and soul.

So, in reality, it's anyone's guess as to what the hell's going on with the Half Life story, and that guess is most likely wrong.

I heard something about D.O.G. being turned into a weapon by the Combine. I think I'd like that. The whole G-Man-is-actually-future-Gordon thing is probably out the window by now seeing as eveyone's caught wind of the theory.

Time travel however, does still seem a highly viable option.

We still have to get the Combine's homeworld as well eventually.

Adrian Shepard is still M.I.A.

There's also THIS little all-too-revealing piece of information. Knowing Valve though, they might just be putting stuff out there too make us run in circles. Doesn't seem like them at all to put major plot details out in the open like that.

I think what we can count on though is that whatever happens at the end of Portal 2, it will have a major impact on the Half Life saga, and will likely tie the two series together finally. The only connection we really had before were subtle references to Black Mesa and GLaDOS's brief mention of "out there" and how she's "the only thing between us and them".

Whatever it is going to have to wait til Fall though, unless we're told otherwise on March 11th.

What say you, fair reader(s)?

-BR13N