Aperture Science Website Details

[Ðasani]

All the things found in the www.aperturescience.com website

As you enter the website it will bring you to a command prompt just like the style found in MSDOS. From there you are given the choice of typing "help" which will inform you that a Crisis team is coming to aid you (it will also list a bunch of random reasons for your plea for help) or "login" which will then bring you to enter in your "username" and "password". For your "username" anything is applicable as long as it's more than 2 characters long and for your "password" you will have to put in either "portal" or "portals". Either way you'll be brought to another command prompt, and as of now the only commands that are applicable are the ones present below:

Commands

* "thecakeisalie" Brings you to a message with some video feed of a "relaxation chamber"
* "help" "lib" Gives you the list of commands
* "append" "attrib" "copy" "format" "erase" "rename" Gives you an error about the disk being write protected
* "dir" "catalog" "directory" "list" "ls" "cat" Shows you "Apply.exe" as the only application available
* "ip" Shows your UID(+L) code
* "interrogate" Gives an error if no parameter is provided, otherwise gives an error about 'illegally initiating diciplinary action'
* "tapedisk" Gives an error about the user not being authorized to transfer system tapes
* "logout" "bye" "logoff" "valve" Someone says "Bye" and you are sent either to your homepage if you have one or to www.Steampowered.com
* "apply" Executes the registration application

Entering in "apply" will bring you to some instructions giving you the choice of typing "continue" or "quit" and if you enter "continue" a message giving your "(UID(+L)" (Unique Identity Number Plus Letters) will appear and you are told to memorize it, but if you notice carefully at the numbers/letters displayed blinking. Every fews seconds a random assortment of characters are being altered so remembering it is pointless. After typing "continue" it will bring you to 50
questions mostly multiple choice. Some of the things you will notice as you answer the questions: in some questions a letter will be flashing which if you record them will spell out "thecakeisalie", and at random moments you will notice a flashing cake which looks like this: thecakeisalie (http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y273/FuzzyTomatoHole/thecakeisalie.jpg)

After answering all the questions you will finally be told to enter in your "UID(+L)" which is CASE SENSITIVE even if you do enter it successfully you are still given the failure message, and you are neither given the choice to make lower case letters, so it really doesn't matter. After the failure message you use to be able to see a message along with some video feed of a "relaxation chamber" but now you are just told to wait for a Crisis team to come aid you. Instead, You can just
type "thecakeisalie" after you log in and it will bring you straight to the message with the video feed. And if you hit the enter key it will toggle you between the video feed and something that looks like a bill.

As far as we can tell, the site has already been decompiled and there doesn't seem to be any further information to be leaked unless we get some kind of hint from valve or more material is added on to the site. So if your curious at all go check it out yourself.

For further information and more of an in depth analysis visit this link: http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/User:AndrewNeo/Analyzing_ApertureScience.com

[Samon]

Stickied.

If you want reply, please add factual information regarding the site.

[Qhartb]

The IP that added the link (www.aperturescience.com) to Wikipedia has only ever made one other edit on Wikipedia, done 7 minutes earlier the same day as the Portal update: it editted the article "Marc Laidlaw" (Valve's fiction writer), updating who he currently shares an office with.

That IP is provided by the ISP Comcast, and traces back to Minneapolis, MN.

12:34:37 August 31, 2006 - The flash file was last modified
13:08:?? September 1, 2006 - Wikipedia was updated to have a link to that site
04:43:07 September 2, 2006 - Google crawled the site

So whoever put it on Wikipedia put it up fast and is close enough to Valve to know who shares Laidlaw's office. I wasn't able to find a reason for a Valve employee to be in Minneapolis.

[tehsolace]

During the original thread, they updated the .swf file from ApertureScience16.swf to ApertureScience17.swf to fix a typo they had made in the scripting.

It stands to reason that if they make any other changes, then they will change the filename again to perhaps ApertureScience18.swf. Every few days I go to the site and look at the HTML source to see if the filename has changed or not.

[Hectic Glenn]

Well from that feed, here is a high resolution shot of the 'relaxation chamber' we can see.

http://www.halflife2.net/news//1159402405_portal1.jpg

They make the comment. 'There isn't even a door', and the screenshot shows that there is indeed no doors, however there is a portal within the chamber allowing access. You can even see the CCTV camera on the wall through the glass.

[-smash-]

I wonder how portals work on glass...

[d00d]

Where did you get that still from?

[-smash-]

Where did you get that still from?
Front page news...

[AHA-Lambda]

Doesn't that countdown look like from the show Lost?

*mumbles 4 8 15 16 23 42 repeatedly*

[Crimo]

the only command it accept for me is help.... im doomed

EDIT: oops i forgot to login, me bad

[DarkDamo]

has anyone tried going to "http://ep2.half-life2.com/" and tried entering things at the end of the URL? might get the next clue from there if we can figure out to put...

its possible, remember the "tests" before hl2 came out.

[SoupJebusa]

I typed in www.aperturescience.com in the msn search engine, and it came up with the normal page, and the link to a download, from www.aperturescience.com;

this is the address: www.aperturescience.com/security02.flv

I haven't downloaded it, so I have no idea what it is...

[ath1337]

Woah thats cool, maybe this is the next step... anyone know how to see whats in that file?

[Hypnosos]

It's the same video that you get when you login and write "thecakeisalie".

[markedwards17]

I just got in on this whole thing today, and I've read as much as i can so far, all i can say is, this is awesome. I was really into halo 2 and stuff, but i was too late for the ilovebees thing; by the time i had heard about it, it was already over. I love when game developers do these types of things! It basically guarantees that they will get everyone who goes to www.aperturescience.com and gets freaked out and interested to buy HL2 ep2, which might not be a bad thing. I personally can't wait for HL2 ep2 and Portal to come out, so good job valve, you're getting some of my money.

ANYWAY, on with what i was going to post about. The last person who posted in this thread got a link to an .flv file (I don't know if this has already been dealt with or not, if it has, forgive me, as i said, i just got in on this today). I personally downloaded it and investigated. For those who don't know, an .flv is a type of video file used by the program called Flash, which was used to make the whole aperture science website. An flv is an embedded video file. So, if you decompile a flash file (an swf) and there happens to be video in it, the video will be in .flv format if you export it. Flv's are used in flash video player websites, like google video and youtube, etc. This way if you try to steal the video off of the site, you will only have it in flv format, which, for most, is useless. And since the players that play the embedded videos on these video website are flash players, they use the extension .flv to play videos that were once in a normal video format. I happen to have Macromedia Flash MX, and if you import that specific .flv from that url that the previous person posted, you can view the video contained in that .flv file.

Sadly, at least the way I did it, the video is nothing more than about 15 seconds of just black. If anyone else does this, and can actually see something, please talk about it. I think this .flv is a dead end, but it would have been cool if it was a video with something in it. It might have just been used as a placeholder in the actual flash movie of the website, or possibly the security cam video feed, and for some reason it is black. Man i love a good adventure on the intarweb. Discuss.

[Dr_Crowbar]

I just got in on this whole thing today, and I've read as much as i can so far, all i can say is, this is awesome. I was really into halo 2 and stuff, but i was too late for the ilovebees thing; by the time i had heard about it, it was already over. I love when game developers do these types of things! It basically guarantees that they will get everyone who goes to www.aperturescience.com and gets freaked out and interested to buy HL2 ep2, which might not be a bad thing. I personally can't wait for HL2 ep2 and Portal to come out, so good job valve, you're getting some of my money.

ANYWAY, on with what i was going to post about. The last person who posted in this thread got a link to an .flv file (I don't know if this has already been dealt with or not, if it has, forgive me, as i said, i just got in on this today). I personally downloaded it and investigated. For those who don't know, an .flv is a type of video file used by the program called Flash, which was used to make the whole aperture science website. An flv is an embedded video file. So, if you decompile a flash file (an swf) and there happens to be video in it, the video will be in .flv format if you export it. Flv's are used in flash video player websites, like google video and youtube, etc. This way if you try to steal the video off of the site, you will only have it in flv format, which, for most, is useless. And since the players that play the embedded videos on these video website are flash players, they use the extension .flv to play videos that were once in a normal video format. I happen to have Macromedia Flash MX, and if you import that specific .flv from that url that the previous person posted, you can view the video contained in that .flv file.

Sadly, at least the way I did it, the video is nothing more than about 15 seconds of just black. If anyone else does this, and can actually see something, please talk about it. I think this .flv is a dead end, but it would have been cool if it was a video with something in it. It might have just been used as a placeholder in the actual flash movie of the website, or possibly the security cam video feed, and for some reason it is black. Man i love a good adventure on the intarweb. Discuss.

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/6627/funnayty7.jpg

Please read this (http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?t=112648) thread(yes, all of it) and then do all your "teh investigations".

[Mahalis]

Very very old news. security02.flv is indeed the video feed, nothing we haven't seen before. Don't know why you had trouble seeing it.

And by the way... FLV is used on video websites because Flash can play it without any external codecs, not because it's particularly secure - there are dozens of programs that convert .flv to .mov, .avi, and so on.

[SoupJebusa]

I knew people had found the video actually, I just didn't know that what I found was the same thing, since I had no way to view it, and I didn't know that .flv meant it was a flash thingy.

[markedwards17]

I figured it was sort of old news...I did read most of the thread, and then at the time, one of the newest posts was about that external .flv the flash movie refers to, so i decided to check it out for myself and open it up in flash. Someone made a good point: flv's are used on video sites because they don't require other codecs to make them work, and all you need is the flash player. Anyway, I decompiled the swf from aperturescience.com (yes, i know, that has been done before) and spend a good few minutes looking at the actionscript code contained in the movie. It is quite a lot of text, and if you have no idea what actionscript is, then you probably won't want to take a look at it. For those people that do want to see how the whole site works, and haven't already decompiled it and taken a look at the actionscript, I'd be happy to send it or attach it or link to it on my website if anyone is interested. I have it in a .txt, so yeah, if you want to get your hands on the actionscript, gimmie a shout. I think its rather amazing how the whole thing works, and how they actually built a whole pseudo-DOS system. I don't think there is a whole lot more to be explored from the actual swf file, so I guess we will have to wait for ApertureScience18.swf to come out before we can see. I hope they add more later. The whole thing is a really good hype building scheme. I'm hyped.

[Hectic Glenn]

I feel that, as you said we've reached the endpoint with what we can do. Although i'm always looking for the next stage along, Valve will continue without anyone knowing at some random point. Let just hope we spot it. I've got a few hunches, based on the previous tests valve did for Half-life 2.

[Robcwise]

how is that a photo of the feed, when the video feed at www.aperturescience.com is in nightvision. That photo isn't even where the camera is.

[Karst Orbb]

Having read both the original aperturescience post as well as this one, I can't help but wonder why no one thought that "the cake is a lie" had something to do with the movie Office Space. It seems a little silly, but so does the seemingly impossible third test.

First of all, there is a scene in the movie where Milton, a stapler-obsessed, pathetic human being, is told that he will receive a piece of cake as long as everyone keeps passing the plates of cake around, rather than simply eating one as soon as the get one (the employees are all standing around a birthday cake and are trying to circulate cake to the outer edges via constant passing, with the assumption that there is enough cake for everyone). However, Milton does not receive a piece of cake, despite his compliance with the "Just pass" instruction; in that fashion, his cake is a lie. Secondly, there is a post on page 5 of the original thread that reads

Incidentally, the IP that added that link (the link to aperturescience.com) to Wikipedia has only ever made one other edit on Wikipedia, done 7 minutes earlier the same day as the Portal update: it editted the article "Marc Laidlaw" (Valve's fiction writer), updating who he currently shares an office with.

That IP is provided by the ISP Comcast, and traces back to Minneapolis, MN.

12:34:37 August 31, 2006 - The flash file was last modified
13:08:?? September 1, 2006 - Wikipedia was updated to have a link to that site
04:43:07 September 2, 2006 - Google crawled the site

So whoever put it on Wikipedia put it up fast and is close enough to Valve to know who shares Laidlaw's office. I wasn't able to find a reason for a Valve employee to be in Minneapolis.

Does it really matter with whom Laidlaw shares an office? Probably not, unless someone at Valve is desparately bored or lonely (which they shouldn't be, considering how many people with love all of Valve once its copious amount of work is complete). Or perhaps they're subtly referencing his office in order to allude to Office Space. Maybe I'm just being stupid. Plus, I don't really see where this new information, even if correct, gets us.

Feedback would be appreciated.

[Robcwise]

I imported the website www.aperturescience.com onto my frontpage, and the whole website is just a .swf file. Im not sure if this has been posted already though.
This is what I found in the html code. Not sur if it's gonna help.

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
<title>ApertureScience</title>
</head>
<body bgcolor="#000000">
<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" width="100%" height="100%" id="ApertureScience" align="middle">
<param name="allowScriptAccess" value="sameDomain" />
<param name="FlashVars" value="refid=1">
<param name="movie" value="ApertureScience17.swf" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#000000" /><embed src="ApertureScience17.swf" FlashVars="refid=1" quality="high" bgcolor="#000000" width="100%" height="100%" name="ApertureScience" align="middle" allowScriptAccess="sameDomain" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" />
</object>


</body>
</html>

[ZoFreX]

Ok let's update the requirements for posting here to "read the thread AND don't be a total idiot".

[Jintor]

Basically, Robcwise, no offence, but at least 12 dozen more people have already done that, and the fruits of their labour are all at the beginning of this thread.

[XYC2006]

They lied about the cake...

Yellowcake is used in the preparation of fuel for nuclear reactors, where it is processed into purified UO2 for use in fuel rods for PHWR and other systems using unenriched uranium. It may also be enriched, by being converted to uranium hexafluoride gas (UF6), by isotope separation though gaseous diffusion or in a gas centrifuge to produce enriched uranium suitable for use in weapons and reactors.

Half-life (as in isotopes), enrichment center, (yellow) cake...

[GordonFreeman911]

By god I think you have it XYC. (Seriousness)

[Hectic Glenn]

Very interesting theory i must say, could well have a connection, after all we don't really know anything about how the portal gun works, the company, the main character - could fit in anywhere.

[Rennmniscant]

I don't think Robcwise's clumsiness was really that useless, because through reading that again, I took note of the ApertureScience17.swf filename again. I didn't notice anyone commenting on it earlier in anything prior, but to me that may point another finger at where Aperture Science labs are.

The 17 may well just be a 17th draft, or just consequential to the publishing of the page, or whatever, but maybe its whoever shoved it on the web giving another subtle hint.

17. Well duh, lemme think...? City 17 anyone? Or somewhere within the precinct? A thought I had just then could be the combine testing their newest local teleporting technology on some puny humans. Didn't Mossman say that the combine weren't working with the same entaglement system as they were? Quick local transport for the troops, I think that's a viable theory.

Lab 17 anyone? If nobody else was saying it, I guess I'll be the the dumbcluck to say it.

And XYC'06, you're a freakin genius!

[XYC2006]

I didn't play HL1, but I found these things in the Plot Summary (found on this site):

Chapter 14: ... Past the houndeyes and the beam-firing objects hanging from the ceiling, Gordon finds a cave that contains an alien teleportation device. Placing yellow crystals into three pedestals, Gordon powers up the machine and steps inside.

Chapter 16: ... Gordon arrives in broken portal inside a cave. Nihilanth’s voice is heard again: “Lie, you all lie, you all die.” This asteroid is in a new area of Xen. ...

OK both seem to happen at Xen.
The yellow crystals are they a result of enrichment? Needed for portals?
The Nihilanth talks about lying...

Off track?

[Hectic Glenn]

Heh this is all very conspiracy nut, although i have to admit there are connections between the cake is a lie and those things, i'm unsure if such a distant link is anywhere near the solution. I kind of feel portal will totally separate from the HL universe to begin with, us just knowing the world and character and we won't find the merging of the stories till later. I'm not sure if they will entwine with HL2 or HL1 (more likely i suppose with the portals). Very interesting speculation though.

[586FAC75]

Wasn't the Yellowcake theory posted elsewhere on the site and dismissed by other members?

[Polaris]

I didn't play HL1, but I found these things in the Plot Summary (found on this site):

Chapter 14: ... Past the houndeyes and the beam-firing objects hanging from the ceiling, Gordon finds a cave that contains an alien teleportation device. Placing yellow crystals into three pedestals, Gordon powers up the machine and steps inside.

Chapter 16: ... Gordon arrives in broken portal inside a cave. Nihilanth’s voice is heard again: “Lie, you all lie, you all die.” This asteroid is in a new area of Xen. ...

OK both seem to happen at Xen.
The yellow crystals are they a result of enrichment? Needed for portals?
The Nihilanth talks about lying...

Off track?
No, yellow crystals are natural part of Xen geology, this crystals maybe contains uranium or another radioactive element in their structure (hence Nonlinear Transuranic Crystal in Gordons thesis) but yellowcake is not not crystallic material, it's only concentrate concentrate of uranium oxides and other solutions.

[XYC2006]

Wasn't the Yellowcake theory posted elsewhere on the site and dismissed by other members?

Possibly. Nevertheless, I've been browsing through most of the pages related to Portal and I haven't seen anything about it.

Like most of you I'm quite intrigued by this Portal stuff (and of course HL2). I saw the Portal video on Steam a couple of days ago and have been trying find out what exactly it is (OK it's just a game, huh ...).

[ZoFreX]

I don't think Robcwise's clumsiness was really that useless, because through reading that again, I took note of the ApertureScience17.swf filename again. I didn't notice anyone commenting on it earlier in anything prior, but to me that may point another finger at where Aperture Science labs are.
It was only commented on 20 times in the original thread, and it's mentioned in the 3rd post on this thread, so I can see how you missed that :rolleyes:

The cake connection is interesting, but it's far more subtle than anything Valve have ever done with their little games...

[XYC2006]

I don't think the filename has anything to do with the location of the labs. The 17 refers to the version of the GLaDOS, namely 1.07. Not? (wasn't this mentioned earlier?)

Could perhaps somebody from Valve tell us whether we are close or not? I guess if we were too close they could just add some more stuff to keep us off the solution for a while yet...

[DarkDamo]

just to point something out to you guys...ive only noticed this in the last day [havent checked in a while]

Warning: mysql_fetch_object(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in /valve/www/www.aperturescience.com/index.php on line 30

now i remember seeing that the 1st time i did the test when it sent you to the camera right away...updating the file or just a random error?

and also, is the website "http://aperturelaboratories.com/" going to the same SWF file as aperturescience.com?

[Mahalis]

A preview-article type thing someone posted a while back mentioned the "computerized voice" that "...tells me that both cake and grievance counseling will be available."
Just a random theory here – the Aperture Science folk don't know much about humans. They took, perhaps, some bureaucratic procedures – the "orientation videos," for one – and a cheap motivator, the kind someone asked on the street might suggest – cake – and started up their test program with that information and little more. This would also explain the bizarre application questions – how would they know what would be relevant to employment and what wouldn't? – and the hints of ominous, exaggerated bureaucracy – 'obtain authorization to not discontinue filling out the form,' 'wait to be collected,' and so on. Whoever's running Aperture just doesn't get how we work – they're trying to imitate the way human [businesses? labs? whatever] work, for some reason, and getting it wrong. This conflict might also explain why, as mentioned in the same article as well as a few others, the AI-or-whatever running the tests starts going crazy; it can't deal with this new way of doing things.

[DarkDamo]

thety have since fixed the error that i posted just before, or the problem with the server has fixed itself

[Jintor]

A preview-article type thing someone posted a while back mentioned the "computerized voice" that "...tells me that both cake and grievance counseling will be available."
Just a random theory here – the Aperture Science folk don't know much about humans. They took, perhaps, some bureaucratic procedures – the "orientation videos," for one – and a cheap motivator, the kind someone asked on the street might suggest – cake – and started up their test program with that information and little more. This would also explain the bizarre application questions – how would they know what would be relevant to employment and what wouldn't? – and the hints of ominous, exaggerated bureaucracy – 'obtain authorization to not discontinue filling out the form,' 'wait to be collected,' and so on. Whoever's running Aperture just doesn't get how we work – they're trying to imitate the way human [businesses? labs? whatever] work, for some reason, and getting it wrong. This conflict might also explain why, as mentioned in the same article as well as a few others, the AI-or-whatever running the tests starts going crazy; it can't deal with this new way of doing things.

That sounds good. Like a really exaggerated version of... whatsit called? Being foreign?

[586FAC75]

Cake or death? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKNdwlzLTn0)

[Mahalis]

Like a really exaggerated version of... whatsit called? Being foreign?
Pretty much. Like evil Borat. :p

[allthe_gundams]

Can anyone make any connections between this and the seven hour war? Or maybe another thing that happened in the Half-Life universe.

[Hectic Glenn]

Can anyone make any connections between this and the seven hour war? Or maybe another thing that happened in the Half-Life universe.
Well...only what we have done so far, there's been a few guesses at the connection. Valve have said the stories will entwine somehow, but perhaps through story they've not yet explored in the Half-life universe, or something we know very little about. With the portal storms in HL1, and openings for Xen creatures to come through, you'd think it's most likely they'd use that as the connection.

[allthe_gundams]

They changed something on the site BTW. The colors page is now a little different, and when you try to get your ip it says [undefined]. For the first favorite color question, does #51 say Flax for you? It said silver for me a while ago...

[allthe_gundams]

I just found something else out. Between 1982 and 1985 there were 3 types of computers made with things called boss keys. These were the IBM XT and AT computers. The boss key is designed so that if a boss comes by when your playing a game you press f1 or f10 and it goes to a general productivity chart. Doesn't this sound familiar? Maybe kinda like the thing at the end...

heres the wikipedia link for the boss key:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boss_key

One other thing, the date on the GLaDOS system directly corresponds to the date that these computers had boss keys in them. Maybe GLaDOS has a boss key?

[ZoFreX]

Boss keys are ridiculously common features. There is nothing in that flash file that we haven't already found. Nothing. We decompiled it to source code, we have found everything, that tantilising sneak peak is really all there is to it, at the moment. If anything new develops, please insert it in the handy space below this post by typing it in the usual manner and gently depressing the submit button. If not - woah boy, woah!

[Orunlu]

A preview-article type thing someone posted a while back mentioned the "computerized voice" that "...tells me that both cake and grievance counseling will be available."
Just a random theory here – the Aperture Science folk don't know much about humans. They took, perhaps, some bureaucratic procedures – the "orientation videos," for one – and a cheap motivator, the kind someone asked on the street might suggest – cake – and started up their test program with that information and little more. This would also explain the bizarre application questions – how would they know what would be relevant to employment and what wouldn't? – and the hints of ominous, exaggerated bureaucracy – 'obtain authorization to not discontinue filling out the form,' 'wait to be collected,' and so on. Whoever's running Aperture just doesn't get how we work – they're trying to imitate the way human [businesses? labs? whatever] work, for some reason, and getting it wrong. This conflict might also explain why, as mentioned in the same article as well as a few others, the AI-or-whatever running the tests starts going crazy; it can't deal with this new way of doing things.


Anyone else think of something that looks human... but is kind of not right?. I read this and immediately thought of the G-Man, the way he is just a bit not right, and kind of inhuman. Maybe him, or people like him are the ones running the show.

[allthe_gundams]

Definately a possibility

[GordonFreeman911]

Yes, i'd have to agree that it is a possibility.

[valentin_rad]

I kinda have this big test today so I'll have to assume that nobody has already said this... so let's begin
The whole thing smells like "The Island" from a mile away, I mean, come on, no contact from the outside, everyone working not knowing on what, those stupid white boxes that I can't really remember where i've seen 'm, see the movie.

Anyways just by reading what you're presented with when you type help is evidence enough that this is one of Valve's publicity stunt.
The question we should be asking is why? I guess this whole portal thing is some kind of new revolutionary gameplay idea (well, not really) that Valve probably thinks will go unnoticed if they don't make the fans "want more". Still it was kinda fun to get that whole fear dot com feeling... MS-DOS, really, maybe this was Newell's idea, since he worked at Microsoft especially in the early years when DOS was really big...

[DarkDamo]

ohhh i remember now...a while ago when i was in physics i was looking in the text book and i saw a logo in there that looked almost the same as the aperture science logo. the one that sorta looks like a camera or something.

Im pretty sure the chapter that was in was talking about light and stuff....if i still had the textbook here i would look it up but ive taken it back already [end of school]

just a thought

[allthe_gundams]

I was looking at the portal trailer again today, and I noticed that the ASHPD had writing on it. It was blurred (probably by the editors on purpose) but I think I could make out F-22 written on it. I think this could stand for female 22 or female test subject 22. What do you guys think?

[Vass]

Very possible. It sure isn't The F-22
http://www.defesanet.com.br/imagens/lm/f-22.jpg

[allthe_gundams]

:) no, but the plane is pretty badass, I have a cousin who worked on the competing YF-23 fighter, unfourtuneatly it lost the contract... this does not make the f-22 any less badass however...

[DarkDamo]

It was blurred (probably by the editors on purpose)

it was blurred cause in the trailer they were using the post-processing effect of depth of field!

[Benefactor]

Hi all!

I didn't find anything about the following in this thread nor on http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/User:AndrewNeo/Analyzing_ApertureScience.com, so I'm posting it now.

A friend of mine noticed something different at http://www.aperturescience.com/ while he was writing down his UID(+L) in notepad. While we know the UID isn't just impossible to input successfully because of the lowercase issue, it's changing as well. I took these screenshots with aprox. one minute apart:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v226/_JesteR/uin1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v226/_JesteR/uin2.jpg

Has anyone else noticed this?

[Jintor]

It's in the first post, dude.

[suzaku]

Morning, this is my first post at the forum etc, and just to prevent starting off too bad, I'd like to apologize if anything of this has been posted already. I'd just like to make sure it's "documented" before I forget it, and the previous thread is a bit much to read while I'm at work.

I find the interrogate command quite interesting, seems like we're missing some part there. I tried with "Interrogate GMAN" etc, but it didn't work, as I'm sure others have noticed aswell earlier. But what came to my mind is to try "Interrogate 00" or "Interrogate Gordon", 00 being the number of the relaxation room we see on the cam. Haven't had time to try it yet.

Regarding the boss-key theory, indeed there's a bosskey in the "message" from the so called coworker, which is also even more visible in the code from version 16 (http://paste.uni.cc/9884), with a function even called bosskey. I also noticed that except enter & space, the right arrow works as a bosskey aswell, might be worth checking out in the rest of the system.

I also think it's a good idea not to just settle with "User: whatever" & "Pass: portal/portals", but keep on trying to find a new way to access the dos, "Gman" didn't work as password unfortunately. :D

I read somewhere in the first post at the first 5-6 pages that you can only wrist numbers & letters while answering the questions, maby at all times, however I noticed that you can write questionmarks(?). Hope it helps someone figure out something new. :)

Once again I apologize if these things have been mentioned earlier.


Quicky EDIT before I'll eat some lunch:
Has anyone tried to referring in any way to the game it's said they got the "idea" from? Narbacular Drop

New EDIT:
I know I might just be picky now, but when using the TAPEDISK command just after having logged in, and get the errormsg(ERROR 18 [User not authorized to transfer system tapes]), shouldn't this imply just a bit that there's another "profile" that's available through some digging with the "normal" one? :)

[ZoFreX]

One: We have the source. You are not going to find any more usernames and passwords because there are none.

Two: Yes, repeatedly, over and over and over. Valve hired the ND people.

Three: See One.

[suzaku]

One: We have the source. You are not going to find any more usernames and passwords because there are none.

Two: Yes, repeatedly, over and over and over. Valve hired the ND people.

Three: See One.

Bah, where's the fun in it if you look through the source? :/

[Jintor]

Bah, where's the fun in it if you look through the source? :/

If you can get high of pure unadulterated code... ;D

[Benefactor]

It's in the first post, dude.

I didn't see it, but if it's there can you tell me were it is?

Belive me, I really tried not to make an unnecessary first post.

[Puzzler]

Does anyone else see the connection between a ridiculous bureaucracy and the G-man, the intergalactic bureaucrat?

[gainax2k1]

i read through most of the 40 page thread and didn't see anything about it, and while not terribly useful (and possibly just a funky thing flash does...), but if you put the URL in directly for the flash ap (http://www.aperturescience.com/ApertureScience17.swf), all the letters you type in are doubled, so you can't log in or anything...
ex:

LLOOGGIINN

somewhat ammusing, if nothing else

[Russian Mafia]

I don't see anything... Not Found

The requested URL /ApertureScience17.swf) was not found on this server.

[gainax2k1]

yeah, my link accidentally includes the last ")" of my side note
here's to make it easier on everyone:

http://www.aperturescience.com/ApertureScience17.swf

[Russian Mafia]

Hmm... it doesn't type double for me.

[gainax2k1]

odd... must just be some software quirkiness... i'm using the newest firefox (2.0.0.1) on XP, latest flash, blah blah blah.

clearly not anything useful then, my bad...

[mchris]

I think it’s easy to get a bit carried away looking for secret codes and messages on the website/flash. Think of it being like a slightly elaborate ‘teaser trailer’ which is giving you a few little tidbits of information about the storyline of the game, that you can work out with a little background knowledge and by picking up on a few clues.

We already know that Portal fits into the Half-Life timeline. We know that the Black Mesa incident takes place in the early ‘noughties’. If we look at the date of the operating system, which we know is roughly 20 years out of date, we can say that this game probably takes place a few years after BM, but not that long after. Which puts it at about the same period as the Portal Storm although probably before the 7 hour war. We can also say with some degree of certainty that Aperture Science is not run by the Combine or the Xen so it’s probably only one of a few different things: a human commercial entity, a human government entity (possibly with a commercial fa?ade), or a cover for some other power to which we have not yet been introduced.

What else can we say? Well GMan has access to Portal technology at the time of the BM incident, so in theory it’s a proven technology. This suggests that it’s not a testing facility for a new technology, leaving the natural conclusion that it’s a facility for testing and/or training people to some ends. We can also theorise that since this is taking place within an already established timeline, unless the events in the game extend beyond EP2, it has no global bearing on events set in motion by Gordon Freeman, although it’s possible that it will have some as-yet-unknown crossover. We can also say that probably GMan has some involvement.

A couple of other interesting points: In the flash, your anonymous messenger mentions people ‘leaving the building’. This suggests that it’s not a large underground complex like Black Mesa, or at least if it is, then the ‘subjects’ probably don’t know about it. One other thing which struck me: the motto of Aperture Science There’s a hole in the sky, through which things may fly, I wonder if this is some kind of reference to the Portal Storm.

So there’s quite a bit we can put together from this Aperture Science site, but I don’t think looking for cryptic messages or codes is going to reveal anything, as that seems far too complex to be a marketing too. Don’t forget, Valve want to sell games and drum up interest in their new release. They’re not going to give you an unsolvable puzzle, just something which requires you to do a little bit of thinking, and give you more to think about as a reward.

[Atomic_Piggy]

Well GMan has access to Portal technology at the time of the BM incident

We don't know this though. He can bend time and space yes, but that doesn't mean he has portal technology. I'm not dissing you; the rest of your post is fine.
...However, there is a note in RtB that mentions the BMRF incident happened in 2003. Although this is only concept art, it si the best lead we've got (and judging from the calendars it was december at the time).

[Rim-Fire]

We don't know this though. He can bend time and space yes, but that doesn't mean he has portal technology. I'm not dissing you; the rest of your post is fine.
...However, there is a note in RtB that mentions the BMRF incident happened in 2003. Although this is only concept art, it si the best lead we've got (and judging from the calendars it was december at the time).
At the end of HL1 he teleports you around the place and offers you a job, if you step into the portal. In OP4 he is seen walking into a portal at the dam.

[Atomic_Piggy]

That doesn't mean he uses machinery however. The portal in Op4 is already there, and though it is clearly waiting for him convieniantly, that doens't mean he made it. Besides, I never said he didn't teleport, but for all we know he's a super-advanced bieng like the advisor and can bend time and space at will using his mind. There is no evidence to suggest machinery is involved.

[Jintor]

I didn't see it, but if it's there can you tell me were it is?

Belive me, I really tried not to make an unnecessary first post.

Entering in "apply" will bring you to some instructions giving you the choice of typing "continue" or "quit" and if you enter "continue" a message giving your "(UID(+L)" (Unique Identity Number Plus Letters) will appear and you are told to memorize it, but if you notice carefully at the numbers/letters displayed blinking. Every fews seconds a random assortment of characters are being altered so remembering it is pointless.

J00 didn't try hard enough. :D

[mchris]

We don't know this though. He can bend time and space yes, but that doesn't mean he has portal technology. I'm not dissing you; the rest of your post is fine.
...However, there is a note in RtB that mentions the BMRF incident happened in 2003. Although this is only concept art, it si the best lead we've got (and judging from the calendars it was december at the time).

I suppose, yeah, there's no specific conclusive evidence to say that G-man does have access to it, although it's my understanding that the technology used to put Freeman into stasis is based on the same family. I can't remember the term used for it, but it does seem to suggest that this is the case. Anyway, for arguments sake, I suppose we can scratch that as being speculation for the time being.

If we were to take the 2003 date as being canon, then we could say that Portal is set around the same time as the BM incident. Another possible theory is that the Aperture Science facility is part of Black Mesa, and the reason it's on lokdown is because of the incident. If you follow that line of thought through to conclusion, maybe you're the one that end up helping G-man to help Freeman, by opening the portals he uses at the end of HL1. More speculation though since the phrase '20 year old technology' probably isn't totally accurate and would be a figure that's rounded up or down. And we can't be totally sure of the date of the BM incident anyway. I suppose if anything it opens up the possibility that it's taking place before the incident, which is interesting.

My knowledge is sketchy here, but doesn't Freeman launch a portal-generating satellite at the end of HL1, which is what allows the portal storm to take place in the first place? Put that together with the motto of Aperture Science, plus the fact that Portal may be set at the same time or even just before the BM incident, and the implications are slightly sinister...

[Rim-Fire]

This thread is getting way too off-topic but if I had to bet I'd say that Aperture Labratories have a conection to the g-man.

[pitdragon]

Look,I've found out something/s about it,but I will only tell it in email.When enough people know it will I post it.

[Atomic_Piggy]

What's the point of that exactly. If your going ot belong to a fansite teh idea is to share your theories and ideas, not matter how ridiculous they are (unless its Freeman = GMan in which case GTFO). We respect your opinion. Kind of.

[Tomohashi]

I don't know if it's been posted, but there's no 's' in the question regarding the favorite letters of the 4 people.

[KineticAesthetic]

*Kills self with really big spike thing*

[ZoFreX]

KineticAesthetic: Use that knife where it'll do some good! (Spoilers: In Tomohashi)

[Benefactor]

J00 didn't try hard enough. :D


Hehehe....I obviously didn't :p

[Ridge]

Something from the Wiki related to Aperture...

Okay, now for the important part that's not quite obvious that reveals how this somewhat plays into the Half-Life universe: He says they're working on twenty year old equipment. The DOS version says 1982, so we can assume this takes place sometime around 2000-2005. According to the Half-Life Saga Story Guide Timeline (http://members.shaw.ca/halflifestory/timeline.htm), this is the point in time after the events in Half-Life 1 where Gordon is in stasis! Particularly, if you want to take the dates precicely, it's when the portal storms occour. Interesting...

[Asuka]

I say this thread gets unstickied. A new thread is made with all the info then locked. Once someone finds something that thread will be updated by the mods.

Its just stupid reading this right about now. Every day same shit posted over and over agian.

[Hectic Glenn]

Hmmm could be a good idea. I don't have the time to look through the entire thread now for the important information, but does the first post still contain the essentials and nothing else new has come up? If so it's not a problem to make a new clean sticky.

[Asuka]

Hmmm could be a good idea. I don't have the time to look through the entire thread now for the important information, but does the first post still contain the essentials and nothing else new has come up? If so it's not a problem to make a new clean sticky.

Pretty much ya. At least from what i have read.

[Maniac11919]

Something needs to be mentioned about the stipulation that this may be the next in line in a series of tests set forth by the developers... I can't recall right now exatly where it was written, but alas it is late and there's sleep to be had. I'll look through the original thread tomorrow (before the stickey) to see if I can find a link. I'm likely one of the few people that read nearly every word of that thread, but if anyone else seems to know what I'm talking about and can find a link to a description of it (had something to do with a hidden link off the main steam or half life website... also helped reveal the "real world counterpart" of where the half-life 2 game is supposed to have taken place...) then that would be appreciated as well. Though it's unlikely that this is another test (because of the length of time it's gone unanswered by the devs), I still think it's worthy of noting in case something does change or some mysterious comment is posted by someone who just registered that leads us to an entirely new website with all sorts of new goodies. God only knows that if it is a test we need the help cuz it would definitly seem we're failing.

Lock that sucker down. I've had enough of reading through new posts only to find an ignorant beast was behind it, followed by some well-intentioned flames. Keep on postin, just don't post what we already know...

[Selkcip]

I think the "link" you are referring to is the "THECAKEISALIE" command, that when entered into the Glados prompt, takes you to a message sent to you by another Aperture Science employee. Is that what you meant?

[Maniac11919]

no not at all... I was reffering to this post:

Operational's Avatar
Operational Operational is offline
Poison Headcrab

Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Australia
Posts: 613
Quote:
Originally Posted by Atomic_Piggy View Post
Can someone please answer me when has something like this been done before with HL2? And where?
http://www.hlfallout.net/articles.php/article_17/
Its a good read. Recommended. This could be the start of test 3.

Quote:
Originally Posted by r?*omhaire View Post
It's working now. Anyone else notice the letter 's' isn't available on page 3?
Read the question its asks you to choose somebody's favourite letter which isn't 's'.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Qhartb View Post
Incidentally, the IP that added that link to Wikipedia has only ever made one other edit on Wikipedia, done 7 minutes earlier the same day as the Portal update: it editted the article "Marc Laidlaw" (Valve's fiction writer), updating who he currently shares an office with.

That IP is provided by the ISP Comcast, and traces back to Minneapolis, MN.

12:34:37 August 31, 2006 - The flash file was last modified
13:08:?? September 1, 2006 - Wikipedia was updated to have a link to that site
04:43:07 September 2, 2006 - Google crawled the site

So whoever put it on Wikipedia put it up fast and is close enough to Valve to know who shares Laidlaw's office. I wasn't able to find a reason for a Valve employee to be in Minneapolis.
Yes I noticed that too, I can't find a mention of the link anywhere else so it could be where valve started this whole thing off.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikael Grizzly View Post
I still think the cake's a decoy. What better way to throw fans off the track and surprise them, than utilize the "fake trails"?
Red Herrings suck. I doubt valve would waste people time with them. I like the valve 10 year anniversary idea better.

Quote:
Originally Posted by DEATH eVADER View Post
How can I remember it, if it keeps on changing after a few seconds!?
That's the Idea . You can't type it in correctly at the end anyway and as I've said I don't think there are correct answers.

[vanzant]

well...kinetic..I share your pain...i did read the 41 pages of the other topic...and...im going to tell you a secret..

THE CAKE IS A LIE!!! MUAJAJAJAJAJAJAJA......

thats what happens when you read the same thing for more than 2 hours, and whe you think..ok everyone knows that...appears someone very exited saying: the letters are blinking and when you put all them together you can read "the cake is a lie"...so...I get mad and i'm leaving to the asylum right now...

cya guys...and remember...

THE CAKE IS A LIE!!!

[Selkcip]

Sorry if you thought what I said was repetitive. I read through most, if not all, of the first thread and this one. As I said before this thread is dead, at this time there is no new information.

[johanz]

VALVE waste time to make webs , not games :(

[JohnnyBeverage]

VALVE waste time to make webs , not games :(


You are so wrong, but you are entitled to your opinion.

[Thecake_is_a_lie]

Oh my god i think I'm going crazy with this portal thing :rolling: :eek:

WAIT A MINUTE hasn't valve\steam had its 10 anaversery so maby thats why it says the cake is a lie.

[Thecake_is_a_lie]

i was just thinking maby if you only shoot one portal you can walk straight through the wall maby thats how you get out of the relaxation chamber.;)

[Mahalis]

If a portal doesn't have another portal connected to it, it's solid and looks weird. You just bounce off it. You get out of the relaxation chamber by timing a portal on the wall.

[Thecake_is_a_lie]

how do u know that?:hmph:

Steam spy? :(

[Jintor]

It's an assumption, but I would hold it to be true.

What I want to know is; what would you see in the portal if it doesn't have a connecting portal?

[riomhaire]

In Narbacular Drop there are 2 portals open by default in each level. From what I've seen portal will probably use the same system. I've seen a screenshot (think it was IGN, unsure) of the portal gun on a stand (ie, you haven't picked it up yet) and 2 portals are clearly already open. Ask Iced_Eagle. He's played the game.

[Jintor]

I guess there'll be an ingame explanation because Aperture Science is controlling your environment.

[Teradonus]

Anyone do the apply command recently? On my computer, some of the letters are flashing during certain questions. It's always the starting letter. I've only gone through it a couple of times, and when the cake flashes on the screen it always weirds me out. Don't know if when they flash is important, but I'll add it anyways. Now that I think about it, it might just signify the word and make a sentence, but it's late and I'm not gonna do that. Anyway, here are the letters:

E A (cakeflash) K (cakeflash) S A I (maybe an E, I might've missed it)

[Atomic_Piggy]

Eaksai?

[Mahalis]

You missed several. It says "THE CAKE IS A LIE". :)

[Mahalis]

It's an assumption, but I would hold it to be true.

What I want to know is; what would you see in the portal if it doesn't have a connecting portal?
Nope; it's from the GDC '07 videos. You see a sort of ugly green ripply slime.

(...aaand double post. I should, like, sleep.)

[Shasta]

I don't know if this has already been covered, but the whole "the cake is a lie" thing is clearly referring to the part seen on the trailers for the game where (in game) the trainer voice says something like "when you are finished report to ________ for a rest and some cake" (something like that). It's a hint that there is no cake, just....... (insert something bad here, probably). I mean, it's pretty obvious what the "cake is a lie" is referring to, when the game (and trailer) mentions that you "will" get some cake if you are "good". This isn't just a guess. It's freaking obvious. I know the whole mystery of "the cake is a lie" was around before any gameplay trailers were out, but now that we have seen the reference to cake INGAME, surely you can see that the mystery is over?

Also, why are some of you so sure that the Portal storyline has ANYTHING to to with the Half life story / universe? Have I missed something (not that I'm exactly keeping tight tabs on things) or are you all mental? Just because the guys that gave you HL / HL2 are bringing you Portal and using the source engine, doesn't mean the STORIES have to intersect at ANY point at all. Let me know if Valve have actually said that Portal is in a world / time the directly relates to any events in the HL series or the characters. Because I sure haven't seen any info like that...

[Jintor]

I'm sure one of the guys said it in an interview.

[ZoFreX]

It's been confirmed several times.

http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/721/721723p1.html
Kim Swift: Portal is a first-person, single-player game set in the Half Life universe.

http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?pager.offset=1&cId=3153489
the Portal team is working with Half-Life scribe Marc Laidlaw to make sure it all fits in well with the overall Half-Life story

[Shasta]

It's been confirmed several times.

http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/721/721723p1.html


http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?pager.offset=1&cId=3153489

Really. Because THIS (http://www.digitalbattle.com/2007/03/12/portalhalf-life-2-clarification/) begs to differ. You info: 2006. My info : 2 weeks ago. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

On Planet Half-Life is a story clarifying that Portal is a separate game from Half-Life 2 and does not exist in the Half-Life 2 continuity. It was initially built to be added to Half-Life 2, though they later decided that it would be too distracting. They extracted this information from a couple of interviews to clarify the situation:

[ZoFreX]

Why are you being so aggressive?

Anyway that article clearly states that it's still in the Half-Life 2 universe, just that it won't cross over with the Half-Life 2 games:
Kim Swift, in a conference with fellow game professionals went into detail about Valve's decision to hold Portal's game separate from the action in Half-Life 2. It is still noted that Portal exists within the Half-Life universe. Initially intended to add to the game mechanic of Half-Life 2, they later thought it would be too distracting for the player. The Portal device will only be used in it's own environment.

[Rapstah]

Apparently a Portal guy stated that it wouldn't be in the HL universe, and later changed his/her mind and restated.

I'm still trying to find the interview that said that.

[Shasta]

Why are you being so aggressive?

Anyway that article clearly states that it's still in the Half-Life 2 universe, just that it won't cross over with the Half-Life 2 games:
I'm not being aggressive. I'm just pointing out that it stated on there "Portal is a separate game from Half-Life 2 and does not exist in the Half-Life 2 continuity". Seems pretty conclusive to me. Just wondering why people are still wondering if you will fight Combine etc in portal. Same with the cake thing. Some people STILL seem puzzled by it.

[Laivasse]

Continuity != universe.

[ZoFreX]

No idea about fighting combine but they do exist in the same universe, and (I think it was Laidlaw) said that things would happen in one game that affects the other, so they're in the same timeframe too. The thing that was being clarified was that you wouldn't have the portal gun in episode 2 or 3, which was wondered for a while.

[Narvi]

Really. Because THIS (http://www.digitalbattle.com/2007/03/12/portalhalf-life-2-clarification/) begs to differ. You info: 2006. My info : 2 weeks ago. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Did you read the actual article?

GDC: 2007. Kim Swift, in a conference with fellow game professionals went into detail about Valve's decision to hold Portal's game separate from the action in Half-Life 2. It is still noted that Portal exists within the Half-Life universe. Initially intended to add to the game mechanic of Half-Life 2, they later thought it would be too distracting for the player. The Portal device will only be used in it's own environment. "Doing something new can be a really big risk and adding something innovative to something already exists can often disrupt and create new games," she said.

So the plotlines probably won't intersect, but it is set in the same universe.

[Corp. Sheepo]

"I don't think leaving is in our job description anymore." (on aperturescience.com) is awfully similar to "Government cover-ups are not in my job description!" (from Opposing Force).

I sure hope the main character is Shepard. Here's how the game will go: Starts like half-life.
Subject: Adrian Sheperd
Yadayadayada
Employment: Apperture Science Research Facilities, Arctic Circle
Specialty: Radical Personal Transportation
Experience: Long duration of time with survival based upon his mastery of unstable weaponry.
Status: Cakeless.

[Van_Halen]

Really. Because THIS (http://www.digitalbattle.com/2007/03/12/portalhalf-life-2-clarification/) begs to differ. You info: 2006. My info : 2 weeks ago. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Hehe... Hehehehehehehehehe(Laughs hysterically)

Shasta, promise not to hate me, but in this article that you have linked to they stated...

With Portal co-existing in a world along with Half-Life, crossovers are a definite possibility.

Like how I used your trick against you? ;)

[Mahalis]

I sure hope the main character is Shepard. Here's how the game will go:
The main character of Portal is entirely new, and most likely female. I am getting thoroughly sick of hearing about Shephard.

[Selkcip]

Let's keep having the same pointless arguments over and over again! Yay! *Walks away muttering about how pointless this thread become...*

[Shasta]

Hehe... Hehehehehehehehehe(Laughs hysterically)

Shasta, promise not to hate me, but in this article that you have linked to they stated...



Like how I used your trick against you? ;)
And it still says "does not exist in the Half-Life 2 continuity" as well.

So I'm still right. It's not my fault they put contradictory info on there. "Continuity" I take as them meaning "the HL2 timeline", and if it ain't in the HL2 timeline, it ain't got much to do with HL2. You can go on about "Universe" and "continuity" all you like, but that's how I see it. But I guess we'll have to wait and see.

[Corp. Sheepo]

Dear Mahalis,
I would just like to say that I and the good Mr. Adrian Shepard were both very much offended by your recent post. Yes Valve may have pointed out that Portal's main character will be new and female but me and my fellow underground Shepard uprising resistance which includes but is not limited to Gordon Freeman, Morpheus, Adrian Shepard, Will Ferrel, HeavyWeapons Guy, Chuck Norris, charging zombine, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt all suffer from short term memory loss, which by the way exists, and could not care less about official Valve statements because though Valve is all knowing and wise they sometimes lie (see TF2, Half-Life 2, and release dates). We have been urging Valve for months to make the main character Shepard, (and we hope others will join us) firstly because he is very tired having been in a stasis osprey (with no lavatory) for many years and secondly because he is a benchmark in badassery that can only be captured through Portal. So ye of liitle faith speak not ill of Mr. Shepard or of his chances of making it as the character in Portal because in the Half-Life universe a lot can be done in a small amount of time. In closing, and your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.
Sincerely Corporal Sheperd
P.S. The Cake Is A Lie

[D3n1m_D4n]

I have read all the 41 pages of the other post and all of this one and it seems we are at a dead end. So I'm just throwing ideas out here and even if I'm right it doesn't really move us along. But anyway, in the wiki page it says one of the quotes from the game is "The experiment is nearing its conclusion. The enrichment centre is required to remind you that you will be baked, and then there will be cake." So taking this into acount one can think that the ever popular saying "The cake is a lie" may actually be "The cake is Alie" Alie being a person's name. So Alie may be the name of the new character you are playing. Or, since the voice says at the end of the testing you will get cake, Alie may be the name of someone close to the main character who was taken by Aperture Science. Or I may be speaking complete gibberish.:)

[ZoFreX]

Can we just all agree to only post new stuff if it:
a) Makes sense
b) Is new
c) Is based on more than a tenuous connection formed over a 3 hour period starting at 1am during which you got high

I propose that violators of the code shall themselves be violated with a rusty chainsaw.

[D3n1m_D4n]

Anything but the chainsaw!

[The Reporter]

Has anyone considered that we missed a letter and that "The Cake is Alive?"

[ZoFreX]

http://www.uploadthis.co.uk/uploads/ZoFreX/chainsaw.jpg

[Selkcip]

I say that this thread gets locked and when something comes up, we'll start anew.

[scotland1]

or we can be patiant until it comes out. What am I saying! I can't wait!:bounce: Anyway, there isn't a letter we've been missing, Ive checked many times. And there must be something to do with that shopping list, can't see anything obvious though.

[Smutzzinhienman]

Anybody find it strange they ask if the person has "recurring thoughts of regicide"? Perhaps it has no purpose except to confuse the user but it may be some kinda of global link between GMan and Aperture Science. I think it was posted somewhere that people think GMan and Aperture Science are somewhat linked together.

Now....regicide....taking down the Combine empire?


Just thought I would post that, sorry if it was posted before, or if it makes/made no sense.

[Van_Halen]

I FIGURED OUT WHAT THE CAKE IS LYING ABOUT!!!!

(Samon, don't kick my balls for this... :()

http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/5571/iisacookiepg6.jpg

IT'S LYING!!!!

[GordonFreeman911]

*kicks Van Halen's balls*

That wasn't funny.

[Van_Halen]

*Curls up in a ball*

Auuuuuuu....!

You hurt my feelings...

I thought it was kinda silly, and I was trying to be a smartass too, so :p

[Selkcip]

Stop wasting our time...each time I check the forum I see that there's a new post and I can't not look in case it's something that's not random blathering.

[thezeus18]

EGRET also stands for Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope. I imagine it is rather large.

There is no Large Egret in the animal kingdom. Only a Great Egret, and a Little Egret.

[KineticAesthetic]

Congratultions. Just to be cynical, I think that the site has had as much done and found out about it as is possible.

[thezeus18]

A similar exercise: Solving the 42 puzzle. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/42_puzzle)

[dapaperclip]

Did anyone fail to notice that within one of the portal videos the nice voice says

"The experiment is nearing its conclusion. The enrichment center is required to remind you that you will be baked, and then there will be cake."

Now, I believe that the message "the cake is a lie" means that there is going to be no cake at the end of the test, perhaps?

- I'm also wondering why does it say "you will be baked" does it mean you will be eaten? Wow that would be strange. Anyway. Your opinions? :)

[Mahalis]

Yeah. I think "the cake is a lie" basically means that the cake that you've been promised for completing the testing... well... is a lie. Remember the crazy rooms in the original trailer, full of fire and moving stuff and stuff? I think that's the "baked" part - dunno how they think that's more efficient than just, say, shooting you, but yeah.

[Planetary]

- I'm also wondering why does it say "you will be baked" does it mean you will be eaten? Wow that would be strange. Anyway. Your opinions? :)

Ending up as dinner for a Combine Advisor?

No, they don't have mouths, and the consensus seems to be that the place isn't Combine property at all.

[xxxSaintxxx]

Did anyone fail to notice that within one of the portal videos the nice voice says

"The experiment is nearing its conclusion. The enrichment center is required to remind you that you will be baked, and then there will be cake."

Now, I believe that the message "the cake is a lie" means that there is going to be no cake at the end of the test, perhaps?

- I'm also wondering why does it say "you will be baked" does it mean you will be eaten? Wow that would be strange. Anyway. Your opinions? :)





well if anything it might turn out this whole thing is about you being called to be feed to a huge sand monster , like in a "The island" type a way. Also I recall seeing a kid post about seeing the symbol before of the science site and seeing it in a textbook in a "light " section , well hes right and nto only that but durign the 50 question test one of the questions ask about studying light with a prism...add it together people... theres gonna be somethign about light , to power the gun maybe? maybe the creature whos gonna eta ya liek cake needs light to survive? thats how ya kill it? i dont no...just a guess.


and i have more theorys not stated before in any of the topics but gtg , be on later.:imu:

[ZoFreX]

Which symbol?

[KineticAesthetic]

The Aperture Science symbol. Which is like the iris on the stargate in Stargate SG-1.

[ZoFreX]

I can't for the life of me find it but are we talking about the symbol that looks like *gasps* an aperture? I think it's safe to say you're reading waaaaaaaaay too much into this, xxxSaintxxx.

[AHA-Lambda]

Ending up as dinner for a Combine Advisor?

No, they don't have mouths, and the consensus seems to be that the place isn't Combine property at all.

I still think that the GMan and his employers are behind this.

[thezeus18]

- I'm also wondering why does it say "you will be baked" does it mean you will be eaten? Wow that would be strange. Anyway. Your opinions?


Baked. That's an euphemism for decontaminating something by bombarding it with radiation.

[McCoy]

wow, from what i can see, u all have done a very good job at discovering these things but i think i mite already know all of this. one thing to note though- -some stuff in teh vault is indeed older and more cryptic than the design of the "enrichment center."

hmm....

[McCoy]

hello again...

u no that chick who says stuff on metropolice radio when you kill them??

MAYBE that's the woman speaking in teh game....creepy shit

[McCoy]

y is the mattress on the bed taken out? and y is everything knocked over on the ground haphazardly??

i wish it was october already.....

[Selkcip]

Very insightful McCoy...why is this thread still open?

[Sloth]

Why... Why - thought there was new stuff up!

And what the hell - tripple post in 4 min..?

[Sulkdodds]

Addendum:

There's an easter egg in Portal that, if fed into this website, will provide extra information. If you don't want to experience this cool discovery for yourself, check below:

In one of the wall-spaces where you find the writings and ravings of your predecessor(s?) - specifically, the one with pictures of the Companion Cube - you'll see the following login and username:

cjohnson
tier3

Using these to log into the Aperture Science website and typing 'NOTES' will give you an amusing history of Aperture Science, detailing its origins, its relationship with Black Mesa, and the nature of the Portals and GLaDOS...