An intricate and incredibly geeky series of clues recently embedded in videogame Portal suggest that we haven't seen the last of renegade artificial intelligence GLaDOS and the game that made her famous.

It all started when Valve announced that it would be patching its 3-year-old game. Monday's Portal patch notes included the cryptic message, "Changed radio transmission frequency to comply with federal and state spectrum management regulations." To quote comeradealexi, the Steam forum user who first commented on the achievement, "Huh?"

Still, the first hint soon started a wild goose chase that had gamers flexing their geekiest muscles to uncover new information about the Portal universe.

This isn't the first time Valve has set up a viral ad campaign around Portal. When the game launched in 2007 as part of The Orange Box, Valve created a special Aperture Science website where players could discover the back story of the fictional company and its morally challenged founder, Cave Johnson.

But Valve's recent cryptic patch was more than just a simple tweak or a link to a new website. An intricate system of clues and hidden messages, the Portal rabbit hole goes quite deep, giving gamers a sprawling interactive endeavor to whet their appetites for a probable sequel.

A newly added Portal achievement illuminated the first clues. Dubbed "Transmission Received," the achievement is awarded to players who find and listen to mysterious broadcasts on 26 radios placed throughout the game. Players who carried the radios to the correct spot in every level discovered Morse code audio transmissions as well as loud radio squelches.

The decoded Morse code messages suggest that GLaDOS, the rogue AI from the first game, might be rebooting. And the ear-busting noises discovered on some levels turned out to be slow scan radio transmissions – images embedded in an audio signal. The images, many featuring the Aperture Science logo, held more clues, leading players to a dialup bulletin board system.

Those who cracked the BBS login and password and connected to the retro server discovered more clues – this time by way of ASCII data streams. Also hidden on the bulletin board were a series of memos from Cave Johnson – the fictional founder of Aperture Science.

What does this all mean? Nobody except Valve knows for sure quite yet. But one thing's for sure – geeks once again have GLaDOS on their minds. We'll surely be hearing more from the evil computer very soon. Until then, track the mystery as it unravels at the Steam forums.

Image courtesy Valve

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