The Potato Conspiracy! (Valve's ARG)

Well, I don't know too much about ARG's, but this does look interesting, and possibly related to Portal 2. Or maybe even HL 2:Ep3? I didn't see anything about this yet, so I'll put it here. Anyway, check the deets here:

http://ca.kotaku.com/5789131/valve-tied-to-vast-potato+based-conspiracy-may-be-portal-2-related

http://valvearg.info/wiki/Valve_ARG_Wiki

P.S. If this is already here, please point me in the direction. Thanks.

edited 5th Apr '11 9:39:43 PM by GrimKiller46

Huh. That explains that Steam bundle.

"It just hit me, I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner.

Okay, so you know the unlockable TF 2 hat? What is it?

It's a potato hooked up to a light. It's a simple science experiment that school kids set up. Potatoes generate a small amount of electricity.

What about the other unlockable item? It's called the Resurrection Associate Pin.

We know at the end of Portal 1, G La DOS was a complete mess. She'd need some way to help rebuild herself, right? That's going to take a lot of energy. Being the insane computer she is, she's going to do it in the most ridiculous way possible:

Potatoes. Hundreds of thousands of potatoes, that we're going to gather for her. She's going to use them for a power source! Don't you see you fools? We're the ones who are going to bring her back online, resurrecting her!"

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1835057

I just hope that it'll be possible to get the pin later.

I purchased the Potato Sack, but I don't know if I'll be able to install and start all thirteen games.

I have most of these games, but I only got one potato through the whole thing. The Super Meat Boy potato is a cakewalk if you actually get to the Hell chapter. Trust me!

edited 14th Apr '11 3:30:11 PM by EarlOfSandvich

We had a thread, but it died out quickly.

Anyways, some ARG players were hit by...something.

Also, the Arc Words for this ARG might as well be "Everything is fine here."

edited 14th Apr '11 3:34:20 PM by RocketDude

"Conspiracy" makes this sound like it's something more than a stupid marketing campaign.

I should clarify: It isn't. I already knew the solution since day 1: Valve wants people to buy Portal 2.

edited 14th Apr '11 4:28:12 PM by Mammalsauce

^That's pretty obvious. However, given how long it's been going on, there's more to it than that. Portal 2 is certainly connected, but figuring out what all these clues means is still being determined.

Hell, if that were the goal, they would have made that more obvious.

edited 14th Apr '11 4:29:48 PM by RocketDude

http://www.aperturescience.com/glados@home/

Those of you with 1...2...3...KICK IT! better get playing/idling.

So wait, the thing is that Potato sack games have Portal themed stuff in them now? How long will that last? ._.

Depends on the game. The people who made The Ball say that the Portal 2 content is staying in. Bit Trip.Beat is apparently only a limited time, however.

Ah, I see ._.

So uh, do you know which ones stay and which not?

edited 15th Apr '11 10:13:11 PM by SpookyMask

Killing Floor would likely be this way too. Evil Santa's Lair is still there even after the Holiday event ended, so...

edited 15th Apr '11 10:33:04 PM by EarlOfSandvich

o-o What content is Super Meat Boy supposed to have?

...In fact, is there anywhere a list which shows everything?

Super Meat Boy just has a few unwinnable levels that can be found using devmode. They have invisible blocks and were used for the ARG. Don't worry about them.

edited 16th Apr '11 12:59:29 AM by ColorPrinter

Ah, okay ._.

..BTW, anyone has the Killing Floor and is willing to play with me? I need help with opening the door on aparture map =P(most other people don't care of give up after first round or two)

Potatoes reminds me of this:

Even though I already had KF and Amnesia, I bought the pack. I'm not going to bother with getting the potatoes since I'm buying portal 2 until it hits $4.99.

I thought I got ripped off initially because the first two games alphabetically were pretty awful (AAA Aa Aaaa A Aaa and 123 Kick it... talk about stupid titles). The Katamari ripoff by the same developer wasn't bad but it's a pretty blatant case of plagiarism. I will not be getting any more games from them.

The Ball seems okay. Super Meat Boy is a pretty generic platformer and I don't feel too strongly about it one way or the other. Audiosurf I did not like at all. Rush and Defense Grid I haven't played yet.

The good titles for me were Cogs and Bit Trip Beat. I played both for about two hours last night and they each had a persistent psychological effect on me, which I consider a sign of success. Bit Trip has an extremely mesmerizing effect evoked from having to rapidly shift your eyes from one pong-ball pixel to the next, which I suspect is bad for my vision but what the hell. Cogs made putting things back in my fridge and writing sentences fire off the visual-spacial part of my brain. It's better than I ever thought a slide puzzle could be to boot.

So for two games I really enjoyed, two decent ones and two I haven't tried I probably paid too much. But if I consider KF and Amnesia to be part of that equation I'd say it's a great deal.

Isn't this whole thing a bit manipulative?

Maybe, but it did get a lot of people to collaborate.