Portal 2

[LordSappington]

They changed the ending of the first slightly; at the end, something grabs you and drags you back inside as you fall unconscious.

[Phoenix Gamma]

Yea, there was an ARG maybe a year ago where a few seconds were added. Also, there's an official comic on sites like Escapist and IGN that covers the timeframe between Portal 1 and 2 and talks about Rattman. It's actually really good!

Originally Posted by LordSappington

Excursion tubes were rendered pretty moot by the funnels or whatever they're called. No point in adding a feature that's like a less cool-looking version of another feature.

Even still, there were other levels that were yanked out completely that were shown in trailers to make the game easier.

And excursion tubes had the bonus of violently tearing panels off the walls. I was actually really looking forward to that since you could basically replicate the ending, but on a much smaller scale, and anywhere you wanted.

[LordSappington]

They probably realized that clever/retarded players would probably rip off every piece of the walls they could, leaving everything a huge mess. I think it'd also subtract some of the hopeless feel to it; when you're in a test chamber, you're not in control, and being able to rip off panels at your whim might hamper that feeling a little.
That's how I felt, anyways.

[Wiffles]

Originally Posted by Chojin

some things that i didn't think were as cool

Spoilers!

portal gun was actually developed by glados, years after civilization as we know it ended. It was never sold because human kind was almost wiped out during HL1. Aperture didnt have portals prior to that, only gels and stuff..

took me like 15+ hours to finish the game. because i like looking for small details rather than running through everything ^^

[Phoenix Gamma]

The Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device, originally marketed in the 1950's as an Aperture Science Portable Quantum Tunneling Device, also commonly known as a Portal Gun or by its acronym, "ASHPD", is an experimental tool used to create two portals through which objects can pass.

1950's

Nope.

[Wiffles]

The 50's gun they had was huge and prolly emitted radiation due to its reactor. Glados made the new version though. But yeah it seems dumb for APERTURE to not release it back then... maybe they were looking to refine the design further?

I never really thought how much they retconned the old story of Portal gun being invented after Cave's death. Absolutely makes no business sense, the again Aperture science never made any sense

[LordSappington]

Aperture wasn't about marketing. It was about doing science, because WHY NOT?

[Fathom Zero]

Cave Johnson died and I think a lot of the steam ran out of the company when that happened.

[executioneer]

lets hope valve's steam doesn't run out ha ha ahha oh god kill me

[Wiffles]

OK heres a rational explaination why they didnt sell the portal gun back in the day.. it basically peeled off your skin if you tried to enter it, because a proper portal conducting surface wasnt invented yet... as heard from the audio clips

This was before they invented the Conversion Gel which I assumed they use it to paint their test facilities with too.

Still, they had a portal gun (bulky) and conversion gel back in the 80s. This was also when cave Johnson was terminally ill (due to the convesion gel), so I guess they werent able to market it properly. Carolyn, the new owner of the company probably didnt know what to do with it either.

[LordSappington]

well, I think the biggest reasons they didn't market it were:
1. It was huge, bulky, and unfinished
2. It was horribly unsafe and expensive
3. All Aperture has ever really cared about was just fucking around with science and making new things. The shitloads of money were just a plus to do more science with.