The official release date for Portal 2 is April 19, but if you have preordered the game you can begin to preload the title right now. There was also a bundle of 13 independent games called the Potato Sack released via Steam, and in the past few days Portal 2-themed content has begun to pop up in those games, along with a series of cryptic messages and images. The point of all this is to get us talking about Portal 2, but it's beginning to seem like the game will be released early. If you're a big fan of Portal, you may want to call in sick this Friday.

What are the clues?

This is a mess of messages, updates, and gaming content, most of which I can't make heads or tails of. You can follow the progress being made on the official Wiki, which has been tracking all the updates, clues, and other aspects of this virtual chase across the indie games. The most telling clues are a little more obvious; yesterday, an update to Bit.Trip.Beat included the following text:

Like the other 12 games in Valve's Potato Sack, it is rumored that playing BIT.TRIP BEAT between now and Portal 2's "scheduled" release date might increase the chances that Portal 2 is released early. Interesting idea...

Even without the hint of an earlier-than-expected release for Portal 2, the new content in Bit.Trip.Beat looks great. Take a peek.

The rest of the games in the bundle have likewise been updated with Portal 2 content and levels, and e-mails have been sent to various websites containing clues. I received my portion of the puzzle in an e-mail from Gabe Newell and dutifully posted it on Twitter so smarter people than I can get to work figuring out what it all means. For example, another message was found that also hinted at an earlier release date for the game:

i released 'kick it' ahead of schedule. that was a test. my goal is to emancipate something else early. but they're on to me. the system is on 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. 4/19/2011_7AM=4/15/2011_9AM

There are 13 games in the Potato Sack, which matches up with the 13 "off-site chambers," and this message seems to hint that more people need to be playing those games to do... something. It's the final bit of the message that really gets the blood pumping, however: it lists the original release date of the game and says it's "equal" to the date of this coming Friday.

The Potato Sack is only available at the lower price until "Portal 2 releases," with no specifics. This puzzle, if you can call it that, has required the cooperation of multiple developers across multiple games, each creating new content and helping to dribble clues out to players and the press. If it weren't leading up to something big to reward all that effort and organization, it would be a little anticlimactic. To move the game forward, players have had to play the content in each game and find the Easter eggs, and people are still working through all the hints that have been released. To keep up, visit the Wiki often; it's being updated at a good clip.

The game continues

Today we received a press release from Two Tribes telling us the "third phase" of the game has begun. "For the last two weeks, Two Tribes has worked together with Seattle based Valve and eight other highly talented independent developers to realize the Portal 2 Alternate Reality Game," the company stated. "The third phase has just started, which sees the murderous A.I. from Portal 2, named GLaDOS, invading both Toki Tori and RUSH, resulting in unique new free cross-over content between our games and the highly anticipated Portal 2." The subject line claims the game "draws to a close."

So what's next? I have no clue, but this has been an interesting and unique way to keep Portal 2 in the headlines. Selling this many games via Valve's service at such a deep discount and then using them as promotional tools is unprecedented, and we'll be paying close attention to Steam over the next few days. Will we be playing Portal 2 this week? Only GLaDOS knows... and probably a gaggle of indie developers.

A quick note: the word "Potato" is "Portal Two" without three letters. Nifty.