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Best known for her work on Joystiq's 2007 Game of the Year, Portal, Valve's Kim Swift is reportedly leaving her current position for Dark Void developer Airtight Games. According to Develop, she'll be heading up a team of developers working on a "new, unnamed project" for the US-based company. Airtight prez Jim Deal says that he's "thrilled to work with Kim," and that "her addition to the team represents a strategic move ... into new and broader gaming markets."

Swift's team will be tasked with creating "games aimed at a more diverse audience" -- a challenge Swift appears ready to handle. "I've learned so much and had some amazing experiences at Valve, but when I heard I had the opportunity to work on innovative titles with my friends over at Airtight, I couldn't pass it up." And now we wait (and hope) for the puzzle-based air combat game that's sure to come of this partnership.

If you've got an impressive amount of money buried in your backyard and would love to own a super slick gaming machine, Alienware might be an option you're currently considering. The company has announced that its "All Powerful" systems will ship with Valve's Steam platform pre-loaded onto the system, allowing potential gamers to sign up for Modern Warfare 2 boycotts mere moments after booting the rig up.

The Steam client will also include a free copy of Portal, in case you missed most of 2007.

When we cursed the heavens and asked tearfully why our beloved labradoodle, Cagney, had to die in a horrific snow plow accident, leaving behind her best friend (our maltipoo Lacey), the only answer we received was the stony ambivalence of a silent autumnal sky.

When we cursed Valve and asked tearfully why our beloved Companion Cube had to die by our own hands, Portal's writers calmly explained to Gamasutra that it was to develop a stronger bond with the Cube and teach the mechanics of the incinerator.

See how it's done, God? Was that so difficult?

We admit, this post started out as a "hey, check out this quirky ASCII remake of Valve's transporting masterpiece" kind-of-post. At least, that's how we intended to write it two hours ago, at which point we were ambushed by how incredibly fun and charming the game actually is. Now, with two hours of play time under out belt, we're trying to write it again. It's not going very well, is it?

Sorry gang. ASCIIpOrtal is difficult to write about, because we feel bad pausing it to continue writing this terrible, terrible post. You're going to need to go ahead and download it, because it's free, and you'll love it.

We often sit around and think about the woefully low number of platforms one can enjoy Portal on. (Or at least a facsimile thereof.) Thankfully, we can scratch two off that list, as this fan-made tribute to the game -- built using the Unity 3D engine -- for the iPhone/iPod Touch looks like it's sweeter than the moistest of cakes. We'd keep going on, but then you wouldn't be watching the video past the break. Which you totally need to do, like right now. (Unfortunately, we can't say the same about getting your hands on the game, as it's purely for show -- at least for the time being.)

[Correction: When it was originally published, this post referred to the Portal tribute project talked about above as Portal: Prelude, which it isn't. Portal: Prelude is a fan-made mod for the original Portal which was given Valve's blessing. You can read more about it -- and even download the finished mod -- from its official site. Sorry for the confusion!]

[Via TouchArcade]

Sometimes the creativity of the indie game scene can help push forward a development style the mainstream has left behind; in the case of this post we're referring to the wonderful world of ASCII! Indie dev Cymon's Games is hard at work developing ASCIIpOrtal, an ASCII-coded game inspired by the popular Valve puzzler, Portal.

While a video of the game in action (found after the jump) has been the talk of the Internet for the last few days, everyone at Joystiq wanted to chime in and shower Joe Larson -- and the rest of the people involved at Cymon's Games -- with high-fives and fist-pumps. Expect ASCIIpOrtal to land on a PC near you "soon-ish." New-school, meet old-school ... have fun hanging out.

[Via Total Action Adventure]

It's so nice when things work out the way you hoped. There's a handful of new songs available for download in Rock Band Unplugged and the one song we actually want ("Still Alive" by GLaDOS and Jonathan Coulton) is free, totally free. The rest, if you're curious, will run you $1.99 per song:

• Dixie Chicks "Sin Wagon"
• GLaDOS and Jonathan Coulton "Still Alive" *
• The Pixies "Here Comes Your Man"
• R.E.M. "Losing My Religion"
• Stevie Ray Vaughan "Pride and Joy"

Oh crap, we didn't see "Sin Wagon"! Please, disregard everything we said above.

We still haven't had any confirmation of a Portal sequel, other than, you know, designer Kim Swift and Valve's lead marketing director, Doug Lombardi mentioning that the game is probably coming. Now internet songster and Portal theme -- "Still Alive" -- composer Jonathan Coulton has chimed in as well.

We recently interviewed Coulton about his upcoming "Best. Concert. Ever." CD & DVD set (look for the full interview soon where we'll be giving a copy away), and the first thing we asked him about was how his song for Portal 2 was coming along. "I haven't started it yet. I honestly don't know ... I haven't spoken to them in a long time about it, so I don't know much at all about their plans for Portal 2 and what they're thinking of doing," he told us. "And that's the truth, that's not an 'I signed a non-disclosure agreement and can't tell you what's going on' answer. I really don't know."

So it's still a non-confirmation of nothing, but it sounds like he may be on tap to write something for it. Maybe. Possibly. Speculatively. Hope is "Still Alive" (we hope).

Hot off its "Best Handheld Game" win at the 2009 Game Developer Choice Awards, Ready at Dawn has divulged the existence of a previously undiscovered mode within God of War: Chains of Olympus. Called "Cube of War," it allows players to take on the game's menagerie of murderous malcontents as ... an Aperture Science Weighted Companion Cube.

RAD isn't saying how the deal to get the Cube in the game -- and out of Portal -- was struck, but it does have instructions on unlocking this tasty (like cake) triumph: "if you finish Chains of Olympus in god mode, no upgrades, and collect all the urns of power twice without dying you open up the companion cube as a hidden character." If you can muster that, we'd consider it a huge success. If you can't, at least watch what you're missing after the break.

After wowing us with his Portal "gun" replica, Harrison Krix is at it again -- this time tackling the world of BioShock. His latest in-game item replica is the ADAM Syringe, used by the Little Sisters who roam the world of Rapture. We sat down with Harrison to discuss his work, reactions from video game companies and what he would build if money and time were no object.

Well this is just magical. After a Final Fantasy-themed night became a big hit, the IT University of Copenhagen decided to celebrate their weekly gathering at Denmark's Scrollbar with an all-Portal evening. That meant tons of themed shots (that's the "Teleportation" up above -- you're apparently supposed to jump from one to the other), plenty of Companion Cubes, and, of course, cake.

If you're curious as to where we're we're going to end up when we die, you can check out all the pictures from the event right here.

Bad news, everybody: 2008 is the new 2007. Those of us lucky enough to have survived last year's unyielding flood of exquisite games expected the new holiday to provide some respite -- perhaps an influx of blessedly mediocre games -- but alas, our wallets are once again tugged in every $60 direction.

But what's worse? The deafening din of desirable games, or that irresistible impulse to play and master every adventure the very second it becomes available? Provided you can defeat the latter reflex, we have a simple suggestion: Live in the past. It's cheaper!

We've dredged up our decisive, if ever-so-slightly controversial list of the ten best games of Oh Seven, hoping you'll find a fantastic experience you mistakenly overlooked. You'll find that the passage of time has taken a pleasing toll on the recommended price of admission. In fact, we've traveled forward in time to this very moment, hoping to pick up our 2007 nominees on the cheap. What do you think? Should we make Portal our Game of the Year?

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

What we said then: "Perhaps the most surprising thing about the game is how few actual revolutionary concepts are contained within. It selects existing game design tools, hones them to practical perfection and creates what is, in our opinion, the military shooter against which all others must be judged."

What we say now: "An essential 'tunnel of fun' shooter with a rewarding multiplayer component. If you find yourself disappointed by this year's Call of Duty: World at War, it's probably this game's fault."

Current retail price: $39.99 (Game of the Year edition)