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Portal 2

Platform(s): PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Genre: Puzzle
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Valve
Release Date: April 20, 2011 (US), April 22, 2011 (EU)

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'Portal 2' (ALL) To Get Exclusive Hydra Motion Controller Content

by Rainier on Jan. 10, 2011 @ 5:58 p.m. PST

Portal 2 introduces players to a host of fresh puzzles and devious new test chambers in never-before-seen areas of Aperture Science Labs. It also reunites them with GLaDOS, the occasionally murderous computer companion from the original Portal.

Features single and multiplayer co-op modes. The single-player portion of Portal 2 introduces a cast of dynamic new characters, a host of fresh puzzle elements, and a much larger set of devious test chambers. Players will explore never-before-seen areas of the Aperture Science Labs and be reunited with GLaDOS, the occasionally murderous computer companion who guided them through the original game. The game's two-player cooperative mode features its own entirely separate campaign with a unique story, test chambers, and two new player characters. This new mode forces players to reconsider everything they thought they knew about portals. Success will require them to not just act cooperatively, but to think cooperatively.

On the PS3 Portal 2 will be supported by Steamworks, a complete suite of game features and services including auto updates, community features, downloadable content, and more. Previously deployed on the PC and the Mac, Valve's Steamworks development platform will make it possible to deliver the higher level of service gamers have come to expect.

Razer and Sixense are partnering to bring gamers the ultimate motion tracking technology that provides superior control to bring a whole new user experience.

In the past three decades companies have attempted to use a variety of technologies in order to produce affordable and reliable motion control solutions. The most serious contenders have been ultrasonic, optical, and inertial. All have fallen short due to inherent technical limitations. (see Table 1: Contrasting the different types of 3D controllers)

Inertial systems have recently made major breakthroughs thanks to the latest accelerometer and gyro sensor technologies. They've done a great job of introducing the concept of 3D game control to consumers around the world in gaming, but nothing has fundamentally changed because the same limitations remain. Controllers that rely on inertial thrust to infer user intent cannot determine where the controller is located; they can trigger animations but little more.

The magnetic motion sensing technology used by Razer computes exactly where the controller is located and how it's oriented at all times, down to the a millimeter in position and a degree in orientation. It then reports these values with no shadowing and no drift. In gaming that's the difference between guiding a character and actually being that character.

The controllers will be used in racing games as highly responsive steering wheels; in track editors, reaching directly into the game environment to snap track pieces together; or in flight simulators with one controller serving as a flight stick and the other as a throttle. Players will experience fluid 1-to-1 interaction in RTS games; zooming, rotating, giving unit commands, and generally monitoring the state of the field of play effortlessly and intuitively.

Razer's motion sensing system links up to four controllers to a compact base station that generates a magnetic field that’s weaker than the one generated by a hair dryer. The controllers sense changes in this field and compute position and orientation relative to the base station.


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