Freaky / Cool Portal Update

[Mr. Analog]

So a new achievement was released for Portal on March 1st that lead to some very strange clues and some even stranger results:

Here's the /. article
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=10/03/03/165202

But here was what the clues were & what was eventually found:

-Portal gets surprise update March 1st
-People see new mystery achievement
-People play and see the radio in the beginning room now has a green light
-Carry it around and notice it makes strange broadcast interference noises in certain places
-Locate and place all 26 of these mystery radios for achievement
-Smart people yank .wav files out of game content folders and run them through SSTV programs [http://i49.tinypic.com/s4b7zn.jpg] [Edit: link should work now. Yes, it's darker than the original.]
-Produces 22 cryptic image files in a numbered sequence, 4 morse code
-Somebody runs the number string through an md5 hash translator and gets a landline number
-Internet traces it to Kirkland, WA (near Valve HQ)
-People find out its not a phone/fax line but a data line hosting a BBS and telnet it
-Use a clue from one of the files to figure out the BBS user/password login info [backup/backup]
-End up with a bunch of weird ASCII artwork:
http://www.imagebanana.com/img/sdl9h...P3ARGcolor.gif [imagebanana.com] http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2801/...b95fd393_o.jpg [flickr.com]

Source: http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1569920&cid=31347232

(yes, I am aware the image links are broken)

CRAZY AWESOME!

[Thorin]

Here's the ascii art:

http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/6278/portalascii.png

Interesting way to spread news about and garner interest in your game...

[Lazybones]

I love how the internet enables a mob of people to solve such complex puzzles so quickly.. Really the diverse number of skills here really is impressive.

[Lazybones]

Probably the best breakdown of all the images and content in the puzzle

http://kotaku.com/5484157/valves-portal-puzzle-so-far-the-files-recovered-from-aperture-science

[Mr. Analog]

I was blown away by two things:

1. The complexity of the puzzle
2. How fast it was solved

[Darren Dirt]

LOL @ one of the comments:

CQ, CQ...



PS: image links not broken here...
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1170872

[Lazybones]

The kotaku.com has been updated with more info and enhanced versions of the ASCII art
http://kotaku.com/5484157/valves-portal-puzzle-so-far-the-files-recovered-from-aperture-science