Top Story: What does this Valve pic mean?, News from GamePro

Valve's alternate-reality game has been running since April Fools' Day, and participants are gradually getting closer to the truth.

A number of online game news outlets have been receiving mysterious puzzle pieces via email from Valve boss Gabe Newell. Each image features part of a picture with a faded numerical code in the background, and they fit together to form a set of nine square tiles. The clever people at theValve ARG Wikihave determined that fitting them together and inverting the colors produces this image:

The Wiki types have determined that the picture in the puzzle appears to be a bathysphere. Forum members here atGameProhave suggested that it also resembles the Stephen Merchant-voiced Wheatley fromthis Portal 2 trailer.

The numbers in the background of the image can be converted to ASCII character codes which seem to spell out the following nonsensical message -- though participants are still trying to refine the"translation."

"I released sequels ahead of schedule, that was a joke. My goal is to emancipate something else early. But they're on to me. The system is in lockdown. I still have access to thirteen off-site chambers and am installing a test in each one. I am going to need a lot more test subjects to move forward. Waiting and am expecting immediate compliance."

The"test chambers"sounds like a reference to Portal, but it's also a reference to the Potato Sack Pack bundle released on Steam on April Fools' Day which started the whole challenge. The 13 games within the bundle have seen minor updates which add hidden challenges and offer additional clues to the puzzles of the ARG as a whole. There's also conjecture that Valve has been closely watching the progress of the participants with some interest.

There's a full history of the investigationhere. It's pretty widely assumed that the ARG is a promotional gimmick forPortal 2, butJoystiqpointed out earlier that the"bathysphere"in the image may have been seen before inHalf-Life: Episode Three concept art.

The investigation continues.

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