History Trivia / Portal

** MikePatton plays the aggression core; see his page for what else he's done.
** Also, her Anger Core is literally VideoGame/TheDarkness. That explains a lot.
** ''Portal 2'''s "Adventure Core" is appropriately voiced by [[{{Uncharted}} Nathan Drake]], also known as NolanNorth.
** So are the defective turrets.

** Also, her Anger Core is literally TheDarkness. That explains a lot.

** NiceJobBreakingItHero, and by association, its {{Snowclone|s}}:

** NiceJobBreakingItHero, and by association, its {{Snowclone}}s:

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: In earlier concepts for a sequel to ''Portal'', Cave Johnson was positioned to play a significantly larger role, including [[spoiler:being subject to BrainUploading (which, in the final release, he ''wanted'', but he likely died before it could happen), and undergoing an existential crisis concerning the fact]].
** [[spoiler:He succeeds in one of the universes in the Perpetual Testing Initiative. He then finds it boring, and ends up rewriting all literature to include the Ghostbusters. Seriously.]]

** [[spoiler:He succeeds in one of the universes in the Perpetual Testing Initiative. He then finds it boring, and ends up rewriting all literature to include the Ghostbusters. Seriously.]]

** The other ''Portal'' {{meme}} that was beaten into the ground was love for the CompanionCube. Shortly after [=GLaDOS=] is revived, you [[spoiler: find a new Companion Cube, which is immediately destroyed. [=GLaDOS=] "apologises" and provides another...which she also destroys. Then she gives you another, saying that it's worthless anyhow, and they have warehouses full of them]].
*** [[spoiler: Trying to take the third one with you to the next testing chamber gets you an achievement... [[YankTheDogsChain and then [=GLaDOS=] destroys that one too]].]]

** EllenMcLain is the voice of [=GLaDOS=], the ''TeamFortress2'' announcer, and the ''Half-Life 2'' Combine Overwatch. Due to how the Overwatch sounds in ''[=HL2=]: Episode Two'', it leads to a ''lot'' of EpilepticTrees.

* ThrowItIn: [[http://www.gamingangels.com/2011/03/pax-east-2011-portal-2-solo-and-an-interview-with-erik-wolpaw/ In this interview]], WordOfGod reveals that the blood splatters weren't meant to be in the game at all. However, they weren't even noticed until too late in development, and were so ingrained into the engine that, by that point, it would have been better to just leave them in the game. Valve went out of their way to remove the blood splatters for the sequel, however, hence its lower rating compared to the original.

* ThrowItIn: [[http://www.gamingangels.com/2011/03/pax-east-2011-portal-2-solo-and-an-interview-with-erik-wolpaw/ In this interview]], WordOfGod reveals that the blood splatters weren't meant to be in the game at all, but they weren't even noticed until too late in development, and were so ingrained into the engine settings that they decided it'd be better to just leave it in the game. They went out of their way to remove them for the sequel, however.

* ThrowItIn: [[http://www.gamingangels.com/2011/03/pax-east-2011-portal-2-solo-and-an-interview-with-erik-wolpaw/ In this interview]], WordOfGod reveals that the blood splatters weren't meant to be in the game at all, but due to engine settings, they weren't even noticed until too late in development. By that point, they decided it was better to leave it in the game anyway.

** Ellen [=McLain=] is the voice of [=GLaDOS=], the ''TeamFortress2'' announcer, and the ''Half-Life 2'' Combine Overwatch. Due to how the Overwatch sounds in ''[=HL2=]: Episode Two'', it leads to a ''lot'' of EpilepticTrees.

*** [[spoiler: Trying to take the third one with you to the next testing chamber gets you an achievement... [[YankTheDogsChain and then GLaDOS destroys that one too]].]]

*** [[spoiler: Trying to take the third one with you to the next testing chamber gets you an achievement... [[YankTheDogsChain and then GLaDOS incinerates that one too]].]]

* HeyItsThatVoice: Ellen [=McLain=] is the voice of [=GLaDOS=], the ''TeamFortress2'' announcer, and the ''Half-Life 2'' Combine Overwatch. Due to how the Overwatch sounds in ''[=HL2=]: Episode Two'', it leads to a ''lot'' of EpilepticTrees.

* MikePatton plays the aggression core; see his page for what else he's done.

** [[Spoiler: She's also an opera singer in real life.]]

* HeyItsThatVoice: Ellen [=McLain=] is the voice of [=GLaDOS=], the ''TeamFortress2'' announcer, and the ''Half-Life 2'' Combine Overwatch. Due to how the Overwatch sounds in ''[=HL2=]: Episode Two'', it leads to a ''lot'' of EpilepticTrees. MikePatton plays the aggression core; see his page for what else he's done.

* HeyItsThatVoice: Ellen [=McLain=] is the voice of [=GLaDOS=], the ''TeamFortress2'' announcer, and the ''Half-Life 2'' Combine Overwatch. Due to how the Overwatch sounds in [=HL2=]: Episode Two, it leads to a ''lot'' of EpilepticTrees. MikePatton plays the aggression core; see his page for what else he's done.

* FanNickname:
** "Portal Kombat": The release date of ''Portal 2'', simply for coinciding with that of ''MortalKombat9''[='=]s; the temptation to switch out the "M" in "Mortal" for a "P" proved to be too great.
*** It doesn't help matters that both Noob Saibot and Scorpion have [[FinishingMove fatalities]] involving creative use of portals.

** ''Portal 2'' features Stephen Merchant (writer of the original ''TheOffice'') as Wheatley, as well as J.K. Simmons ([[Film/{{Spiderman}} J Jonah Jameson]], [[GeneratorRex White Knight]], [[AvatarTheLegendOfKorra Tenzin]]) voicing a recording of Aperture Science founder Cave Johnson. NolanNorth voices several defective personality cores and turrets, while DeeBradleyBaker voices the co-op bots.
* ThrowItIn: [[http://www.gamingangels.com/2011/03/pax-east-2011-portal-2-solo-and-an-interview-with-erik-wolpaw/ In this interview]], WordOfGod reveals that the blood splatters weren't meant to be in the game at all, but due to engine settings, they weren't even noticed until too late in development. By that point, they decided it was better to leave it in the game anyway.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: A very early version of ''Portal 2'', based on an internal prototype called F-Stop, was supposed to be a full prequel to ''Portal'', taking place decades before the main game and focusing on Aperture's origins, with a brand-new game mechanic that Valve absolutely loved - and without a single ''portal'' in sight. Testers, on the other hand, [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks weren't so happy about the concept]], insisting on having Chell, [=GlaDOS=] and the Portal Gun in the sequel.
** Valve released short Aperture Science videos showcasing the various new gimmicks, including Aerial Faith Plates, the Gels, the Thermal Discouragement Beams, and the Pneumatic Diversity Vents. The last is completely absent in the final game. Although the player does travel through vents at several points, they're cutscenes, not a gameplay element.
** Originally there were meant to be more personality cores the player would interact with apart from Wheatley. The audio commentary explains they scrapped them because there were too many, and there wasn't enough time to give each one a decent amount of characterization. Some of the cores got recycled as [[spoiler: the cores you use to corrupt Wheatley during the final battle - notably, the Space Core, the Adventure Core, and the Fact Core.]]
** Originally there was meant to be an additional audio recording in Portal 2 revealing that [[spoiler:Caroline strongly objected to the mind upload and struggled against it]], but they cut it out because J.K. Simmons felt that it sounded too much like [[spoiler:rape]].
** Originally Wheatley had a different voice actor (Valve animator Richard Lord). Though still British and with similar dialogue, Wheatley seems like a very different character from how he is in the final game. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWQasZbjy_I You can checkout the original Wheatley here.]]
** If Stephen Merchant turned to be unavailable, Valve were in talks to have Richard Ayoade - best known as Moss from TheITCrowd and Dean Learner/Thorton Reed from GarthMarenghisDarkplace - play Wheatley instead.
* [[HeAlsoDid She Also Did]]: Most of the animation of Personality Cores in the sequel was done by Karen Prell, AKA Red from ''FraggleRock''.

** Valve released short Aperture Science videos showcasing the various new gimmicks, including Aerial Faith Plates, the Gels, the Thermal Discouragement Beams, and the Pneumatic Diversity Vents. The latter is completely absent in the final game. Although the player does travel through vents at several points, they're cutscenes, not a gameplay element.

** Originally there was meant to be an additional audio recording in Portal 2 revealing that [[spoiler:Caroline strongly objected to the mind upload and struggled against it]], but they cut it out because Cave Johnson's voice actor felt that it sounded too much like [[spoiler:rape]].

* CrackIsCheaper:
** The first instalment averted this, as it came free with the Orange Box and was later given away for free.
** The second, however, has this for the american market if you consider this a part of the Half-Life series. It is one of the few games that cost $60 USD with some additional DownloadableContent coming for the co-op mode. Pre-orders on Amazon.com lowered the price about five bucks, so if you missed out, tough luck. In continental Europe even more so, since it costs 50€ (72$) there. But this is the standart price for most high-profile games so nobody thinks this is out of the ordinary.
*** $43.06 on pre order from steam. $48 if you bought it on release date. GB Prices. Crack is cheaper how?