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Half-Life 2? Rubbish. Left 4 Dead? A stain on the history of videogames. Valve has declared that Portal 2 is its greatest triumph yet, even though it’s not even finished. Speaking with 1UP, Gabe Newell stated that it’s “pretty clear” to his internal team that the long-awaited sequel is absolutely amazing. 

“One of the nice things about The Orange Box was it allowed us to try out a couple of different things, and Portal really seemed to resonate,” explains Newell. “We got the signals that we wanted — this is what people liked; this is what people didn’t like. And to us, it was like, ‘OK now we know how to take this big,’ so that’s what we’re going to do with Portal 2.

“Oh Portal 2’s great. It’s the best game we’ve ever done.”

Usually I’d warn against hype, but if any company is good at making games live up to the PR nonsense, it’s Valve. I can’t wait to see what the team manages to do with Portal 2. If it’s the best thing Valve’s ever done, it’s probably going to be really, really good. 

Gabe Newell: Portal 2 is “The Best Game We’ve Ever Done” [1UP]

Fans are railing against 2K Games after it was suspected that the newly released BioShock 2 DLC, the Sinclair Solutions Test Pack, wasn’t really downloadable content, but a mere key to unlock stuff already hidden on the disc. Like Namco Bandai does all the time. 

Suspicions were aroused thanks to the small file size of the alleged download. The file is 108kb on Xbox 360, and 24kb on PC, which is pretty damn tiny. Naturally, people are upset to think that 2K is taking the piss out of them, and one poster on the official forums believes that it should be labeled “unlockable content” rather than downloadable content to reflect its true nature. 

Honestly, publishers  should be held to some advertising standards when it claims that unlockable extras are DLC. If you’re merely purchasing a key to activate something on the disc, that’s not downloadable content, and it’s wrong for companies to advertise it as such. Whether 2K has gone this controversial route or not remains to be seen, but it does throw this issue back to the fore, and it’s something that I believe should be examined. 

What about you? Do you believe that unlockable content should not be called DLC, or do you think that it’s fine to have such content masquerade as a download?

BioShock 2 DLC already on disc? [CVG]

The Sony Wiimote, codenamed PlayStation Move, was revealed in all its glory at GDC, and Peter Molyneux isn’t impressed. Claiming to have not been surprised (and who could, really?), the game designer and Microsoft thrall declared that Move was not as big a step as Project Natal.

“We’re not really surprised, are we?” says Molyneux. “I mean, at E3 last year we saw they were having a wand, and that’s kind of what I expected. It looks like they’ve taken a step forward but it’s not as big a step as something like Natal, I don’t think. This is purely me talking personally, but I think maybe it’s slightly more a device for the core than it is for the casual market, because I think it’s quite precise.

“As a designer it’s another one of those things I’d love to get my hands on and to play around with. As a consumer, everyone’s talking about motion control now — I mean, I’m starting to get confused. It’s kind of like the arms race, with the Wii MotionPlus and now the Sony Move and now I’m getting kind of confused.”

Molyneux makes a fine point here. I don’t know about anybody else, but I already have a Wii, and I didn’t buy the PS3 because I wanted another one. I’m not fond of Sony’s current plan to cram Move into all of its games, and I’m not keen to see the PS3 turn into a more expensive Nintendo system. Frankly, I don’t think all the consumers who bought into the Wii craze will rush out and buy another one either.

Peter Molyneux’s Question Time [Eurogamer]

Telltale Games isn’t done with the Sam & Max adventure series. The studio has announced the third downloadable season, “The Devil’s Playhouse,” which looks to begin hitting in monthly increments starting on April 15th.

Perhaps more startling is the fact that Telltale is set on plopping the new 5-part season onto PSN. As revealed last afternoon via press release, and during their shindig at GDC a foggy night ago, the series premiere, “The Penal Zone,” will debut on PSN as well as the PC and Macintosh. Check below the fold for the first trailer, which teases a bit of the series’ story. Spoiler: it has something to do with Max getting psychic abilities.

So far, Slider is the only PlayStation Move title I want to play. Which is really saying something. Probably.

GDC is still going on this week in San Francisco and we brought you a ton of original content today. Check it all out and let us know what you think of it all!

GDC 10 Originals:
GDC 10: Lead and Gold is no Team Fortress
GDC 10: Mount and Blade: Warband impressions
GDC 10: Magicka in moving pictures
GDC 10: Falling to your death: The Canabalt postmortem
GDC 10: Green Day: Rock Band details, release date
GDC 10: the Indie Game Maker Rant
GDC 10: Is this PlayStation Move’s answer to Wii Bowling?
GDC 10: Tripping the art fantastic
GDC 10: Windows 7 Mobile is game-focused, ready
GDC 10: Molyneux on Fable III
GDC 10: The best (and sexiest) Move game ever: Slider
Uncharted 2: ‘moving away from QTE’s was the way to go’
GDC 10: GAMMA 4, by cactus
GDC 10: Move: The Shoot has me spinning
GDC 10: Quantic Dream designed its own motion control device for Heavy Rain
GDC 10: Hands-on with Bit.Trip Runner
GDC 10: First Mass Effect 2 PDLC announced
GDC 10: God of War III game director says game’s visuals could be improved
Metroid: Other M was almost an on-rails game

GDC 10 News:
GDC 10: Take a gander at MI: SE 2: LeChuck’s Revenge
GDC 10: Sony Move Party girl looks like Amber Lamps
GDC 10: Sony’s Move trailer: Wireframed imagination
GDC 10: New Red Faction planned for March 2011

Destructoid Originals:
Medal of Honor ‘not necessarily pushing the genre forward’
Experience the war effort from all sides in Medal of Honor

Community:
Something about sex: The case of Jack
Community blogs of 03/11/10
Forum of the day: Starcraft 2 Beta

Previews:
Be the ’scalpel’ and the ’sledge’ in Medal of Honor

News:
Survey hints at Netflix on the DS
Oscar winners working on Ghost Recon movie
Torchlight coming to consoles
Crafting Mama officially announced
Square Enix addresses FF XIII ‘linearity’ complaints
EA ‘disappointed’ by Infinity Ward firings
Uncharted 2 designer concedes story lags in final act
Off-Brand Games: Fighter’s History
An update on the PC version of Split Second
DICE says Bad Company 2 also cures ‘mapathy’
GamesMaster to return to UK TV?
Hanabi Festival hits Europe’s Virtual Console March 12th
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker footage is full of toys!

Media:
Kick pigs in Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition because you can
Gorgeous M&M: Clash of Heroes screenshots, trailer

Today I had the privilege of attending a GDC talk by Yoshio Sakamoto of Nintendo*, who is perhaps most famous for his work on the Metroid series. He divulged many of the secrets behind his history as a producer and gamemaker, including quite a few about the upcoming Metroid: Other M. The most interesting one? While developing the control scheme, there was one thing he was unwilling to budge on: he wanted Samus to “move along a rail”.

Yep, that’s right. His original vision was for Other M to be on-rails, and it would have been if it had not been for Team Ninja.

In disagreement about rails being the best way to go, they first suggested using the Nunchuk, but Sakamoto was very adamant about using the sideways Wiimote scheme. But then they proposed a system where Samus could move freely in a full 3D environment using the control pad. Sakamoto tested this scheme, said it “worked perfectly”, and was finally swayed to change his mind.

What do you think, Metroid fans? Are you glad Team Ninja stepped in, or would you have rather seen Sakamoto’s full vision come to fruition?

* a full summary of this talk is coming soon!

Today I had the privilege of attending a GDC talk by Yoshio Sakamoto of Nintendo*, who is perhaps most famous for his work on the Metroid series. He divulged many of the secrets behind his history as a producer and gamemaker, including quite a few about the upcoming Metroid: Other M. The most interesting one? While developing the control scheme, there was one thing he was unwilling to budge on: he wanted Samus to “move along a rail”.

Yep, that’s right. His original vision was for Other M to be on-rails, and it would have been if it had not been for Team Ninja.

In disagreement about rails being the best way to go, they first suggested using the Nunchuk, but Sakamoto was very adamant about using the sideways Wiimote scheme. But then they proposed a system where Samus could move freely in a full 3D environment using the control pad. Sakamoto tested this scheme, said it “worked perfectly”, and was finally swayed to change his mind.

What do you think, Metroid fans? Are you glad Team Ninja stepped in, or would you have rather seen Sakamoto’s full vision come to fruition?

* a full summary of this talk is coming soon!

[UPDATE: To clarify, Sakamoto meant a side-scrolling rail game, a-la Klonoa.]

God of War III looks amazing. I can’t stress that enough, and I’m still impressed even after having completed the game for review. But according to the game’s director, Sig Asmussen, there’s plenty of room for improvements, which we’ll see in Sony Santa Monica’s next title. 

“Well, I think our studio will use this engine again,” he told me today, “and it’ll get better. And I think we’re probably about 50- or 60-percent at it right now. I think there’s a lot more we can do with it.”

What improvements could be made? For one, Asmussen says the game’s animation system could be tweaked. In fact, he says they already have the tech. 

“I think individually our animations are incredible,” he said, “and our animators are incredibly talented. But I think we could make our system technically better, in the way we blend animations. And I’m pretty sure that we already have the code to do that, and we just didn’t implement it in God of War III because it came in real late.”

He also points to other obvious engine improvements, including lighting, seamlessly transitioning from cut-scenes to gameplay, and more. 

While this might seem like a “captain obvious” — of course it’s working to improve its engine — looking at God of War III, it’s exciting to imagine what could come next. My head, it has exploded.  

As expected, the Mass Effect 2 universe will continue to expand beyond free downloadable missions. Earlier this afternoon I watched game project director Casey Hudson plow through the game’s first chunk of paid DLC, “Kasumi’s Stolen Memory,” that looks to incorporate a new character, a new SMG, and even a unique way to play this April 6th.

The content, which can be launched at any point during the narrative, can be divided into two themed swathes. The first half is exploration-based. The space Rogue Kasumi is seeking an item of value that is tucked deep in a bent rare-item collector’s vault. To get access, Shepard must travel to the collector’s house party, mingle, and discover where exactly that vault actually is. The second half is an escalating series of battles against mechs and soldiers after discovering the object.

Kasumi is, of course, a recruit for the suicide mission (or even after). And the best part is that she hits with fresh moves — the hippest being “Shadowcloak,” the space version of a “backstab.” But  more compelling than the addition of a thief and new moves is the fresh art. The rare item collector has a host of historical items in his house and vault, each lovingly crafted by BioWare’s artists. But The mansion, even the formal wear are all newly-created assets as well.

During the demo Hudson said the DLC was “some of the best stuff we’ve done.” I agree. It’s a fresh look at something within the Mass Effect universe and a different spin on what can be done. I couldn’t get a sense of the pacing during the demo, but I could at least tell the dialogue and action won’t leave you feeling blue. Look for it in April.