[MNC]

Okay, let’s try this again.

Thread music (Open in new tab, CTRL+CLICK THESE)
If you’re in the portal mood
If you’re in the Half Life mood

Greetings, all test subjects.

As of March 1st, 2010, Portal got a surprise update, one that we will all remember as the Portal Frequency (Yeah that's something even I wouldn't use or remember, so if anyone can come up with something better for this date, feel free )

The update

Portal Update Released Product Update - Jason Ruymen Updates to Portal have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. Portal Changed radio transmission frequency to comply with federal and state spectrum management regulations

What did this do?

For starters, it added a new achievement to Portal.

“Transmission Received”
“..?”

Suddenly people wondered, “What is this update? What’s it for?”
When you get in-game, you will notice the radio in your relaxation vault looks different. There’s a red light on it. By grabbing the radio and going through the door, you will soon find out that at the right spot, the radio will find a different frequency and spout morse at you. You will find there are other radios, spouting all kinds of sounds at you. The sound the radios make when they desintegrate through the emancipation grid is also different.

That’s what the update did. Radios all throughout the Test Chambers have been placed. By whom? Or what? What do they tell us? (Well yeah, it was Valve, but play along please!)


What do I do?
There are a total of 26 radios, each with a different message.
Here’s where you can find each one of them(YES THIS IS A GUIDE)
Some of them are morse, some of them are garbled messages. The morse messages translated to this:

1. interior transmission active external data line active message digest active 2-4 are different 5. 9e107d9d372bb6821bd91d3542a419d6 6-11 are different 12. system data dump active user backup active password backup active 13-16 are different 17. beep beeeep beep beep beeeep beeeep beeeep beep beeeep beep beep 18-26 are different

Others, as crazy as it might seem, were garbage. But! The garbage in turn, turned out to be encoded images. These could be accessed with SSTV These were the following images:

Thread containing images

What does this mean!?
That's what this thread is for. Speculate all you want. So far, the signs point towards Portal specifically, but since the universes of both Half Life and Portal are one and the same, we never know what may happen. GDC will probably be our best bet.
Really good theory IMO
My take on this, I'm pretty disappointed it's not directly related to Episode 3, but Portal 2 is fuckawesome as well, ofcourse.

What do we have so far!?

Morse Translations
Picture containing all BBS pictures so far
SSTV Images
New desintegration sound; voices can be heard

So, a short timeline:

• New achievement in update.
• Radios discovered all over the game. What do they do?
• Some radios sent out morse code.
• Morse code gets translated; See above.
• Other radios send out garbage – turns out to be images!
• On the images there are letters and numbers; they were an md5 for a BBS number; a number for a BBS (Bulletin Board System).
• When dialed correctly, a login screen appeared. Proper credentials have been found, and pictures have been received from the BBS. This is the most up to date image as of now:
  
  

NEW UPDATE (03-03-2010)

Portal Update Released Product Update - Jason Ruymen Updates to Portal have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. Portal Added valuable asset retrieval

Oh dear. Valve has done it yet again! A new update was released on March 3rd. Valuable asset retrieval has been added. The following were added to Portal

• 2 new dinosaur_fizzle sound effects

  (Another voice can be heard...? (Alyyy[x]?)

• A new ending *SPOILERS*

  Valve outdid themselves. They added a bit to the ending for storypurposes.

• A new credits sequence?

  This might also be totally unrelated and just a normal credits sequence. There's nothing exciting in here.

What the ending contains:An android comes up to Chell, offscreen. It says:"Thank you for assuming the party escort submission position" and drags Chell off to places unknown.
What does this new update mean? Obviously,The valuable asset is Chell, and she is being retrieved. What faction is the droid from? Aperture Science... Or something else? We don't know.

Discuss away people!

One final note; this thread is far from complete. There's all kinds of modem sounds and facts (The phone number originates from Kirkland, Valve's original studio location.)
And no, it has not been confirmed to be 2 games in one. Stop pestering people Twiggy! :p

[Armitage]

SURPRISE EPISODE 3 RELEASE

CONFIRMED

PANIC/HYPE

[MNC]

SOMEONE THAT CAN DO MORSE DO IT FAGGOT

[geeko420]

I'm sooo confused.... BUT WAIT.... hype building..........HYPE BUILDING!!!!!

[Ten-Song]

Something about Portal! I have no idea what's going on, but I'm excited!

[randomwab]

Wait, what the hell's going on? They added a morse code message into Portal? Huh?

[Pankaks]

Something about Portal! I have no idea what's going on, but I'm excited!

.

[Mikey Jr.]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[Charron]

THINGS! HAPPENING! LOUD! WORDS!

[How About No]

geez u guyz lol

[ILikeFeet]

ummm, what?

[V_Ben]

WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON.

can somebody please figure this one out?

["IAMBEEFLESS"]

You might want to edit your post MNC

[Hugbot]

SOMEONE THAT CAN DO MORSE DO IT FAGGOT

Get it typed out in dots/dashes it'd be easier to decode AAAAAAAAAAAA

[Mad_Ban]

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF---!!!!!

*starts steam up on his elderly PC*

SOMEONE THAT CAN DO MORSE DO IT FAGGOT

Err....

[dc`]

HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT

[evlcookie]

I'm guessing something about GDC? Didn't valve say they would have a few announcements there?

Fraps and youtube the morse code so gaf detectives can work on it!

[SnakeXs]

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

[MrMister]

IT JUST UPDATED HALF-LIFE 2: EPISODE 2 FOR ME ALSO

WHAT THE FUCKKKKKKKK

[richisawesome]

Maybe Portal 2?

I'm sure I heard it was a possibilty somewhere before. But still, HL EP3 would be the best outcome.

[burgerdog]

SOMEONE THAT CAN DO MORSE DO IT FAGGOT

Getting a little too excited there, bud.

[ismaboof]

EXCITEMENT

[Captain Pants]

SOMEONE THAT CAN DO MORSE DO IT FAGGOT

So eloquent. Ugh.

[Pankaks]

MNC
Banned

[V_Ben]

MNC Banned

that was quick.

[afternoon delight]

BEST NEWS HINT OF THE YEAR. FACE MELTING. WILL THE REVEAL FINALLY APPEAR?

Valve is the only company that I cream pants over. Because I respect the Free-mahn.

[Mama Robotnik]

Big new Portal Update, I gets crazy and relate it to Episode three

But all I see is

Words new Portal Words, Words Words Words and Words Words Words Episode three

Well done. You've hyped me good and proper.

[Amir0x]

Someone got a little too excited.

[[Nintex]]

WAT?

[A Link to the Snitch]

I came

[richisawesome]

MNC Banned

Holy shit.

Today is indeed crazy. Either way, my Portal has just updated too. Hm.

[SolidsnackooFoxhound]

Someone got a little too excited.

I kinda figured he was gonna get banned. I just kept refreshing to see when it would happen : \.

[blame space]

[Ysiadmihi]

Hmm forgot I didn't have Portal installed. I was wondering why Ep 2 updated though.

[geeko420]

I wouldn't be surprised if the Iphone has a App that decodes Morse code, would make it easy to decode to probably. Gaf Detective Squad is on the job!

[Brinbe]

wow

[noisome07]

[Arcipello]

time for GAF to scream in caps!!!!!

[Anksta]

We still don't know what this means though...

[taoofjord]

I'm re-installing Portal right now just for this! I'm such a dork.

[Lakitu]

I just want a teaser trailer... anything on Episode Three. I weep in my pillow at night after the way the last one ended.

[Hylian7]

I am so excited right now! Something tells me it's Portal 2 related, but I hope it's Episode Three!

[A Link to the Snitch]

We still don't know what this means though...

Obviously, the message is confirming Half-Life 2: Episode 3, Portal 2, Team Fortress 3, and Left 4 Dead 3 will be bundled in The Orange Box 2 this summer.

[KittyKittyBangBang]

can someone please explain to me what the fuck is going on?

people better keep themselves in check when throwing the words "Portal" and "Episode 3" around

[Charron]

There's apparently 26 "Dinosaur" clips with the morse code.

And there's radios in every room/level.

[SalsaShark]

[Scipius]

Well, the radios now have a red light on them. The achievement also lists "0/26" and in the second level I found a radio on top of the camera (which wasn't there originally).

I destroyed the first level radio by walking it into the emancipation grid, but it didn't register anything. With the second though, I noticed the light turned to green as I was about to exit. You will then hear a signal instead of music and the achievement part will register, 1/26.

Time to go through Portal again then. Wonder what's its purpose?

[Peronthious]

Woah neat. Saw the update, didn't think it was anything special.

[Fredescu]

The best thing to do under the circumstances would be to expect the best possible outcome. That way only disappointment can follow.

[Kifimbo]

can someone please explain to me what the fuck is going on? people better keep themselves in check when throwing the words "Portal" and "Episode 3" around

http://store.steampowered.com/news/3533/