Alright, so the story so far:

Babel Research and What’s in the Box? are unrelated.

The images from the sound files, when arranged in order, give a 32-character sequence. This can be decrypted as an MD5 sequence, which yields a telephone number in Washington state. Dialling this number with a modem (or emulation software) gives you a login screen. This screen says that GlaDOS is at version 3.11, leading many to speculate that Gabe will make an announcement on March 11th, on which day he is speaking at GDC. Entering the username and password “backup” (derived from morse code heard on the in-game radios), a number of ASCII-art images are streamed to your screen before closing the connection. So far, images seem to be of 1) Gabe 2)Dog, vortigaunts, or some other androids 3) Turrets from Aperture 4)Hearts and companion cubes. Apart from obviously being references to HL and Portal, nothing of significance has otherwise come from these images.

but what kind of people spend their day deciphering all that stuff?

Imagine if other companies looked like Valve. If “marketing” in games meant providing extra content, actually giving things to the community to buy them over and not lazy tech-demo trailers with cheesey voices or lists of stats about how many guns/polygons the new release will have.
This whole idea of a game being an ongoing exchange of ideas between the developer and the player that extends before and after release…how long do we have to wait for this to catch on?

I mean its not manditory or anything but its damned fun and I’m sure it ships units.

(Reply)
Dominic White says: March 4, 2010 at 12:34 amExactly. They’ve turned waiting for the new game INTO a game. And a damn clever and detailed one at that. Most marketing assumes the audience are idiots. This relies on them being seriously smart people. I know I could never have figured out even half of this by myself, but the fans went and tore the problems apart in a matter of hours.

Omg, they changed the formula game. Why can't they just leave it the way it was?

Coming this holiday. Portal 2 is the sequel to 2007's Game of the Year and draws from the award-winning formula of innovative game play, story, and music that earned the original over 70 industry accolades. Features single and multiplayer co-op modes. The single-player portion of Portal 2 introduces a cast of dynamic new characters, a host of fresh puzzle elements, and a much larger set of devious test chambers. Players will explore never-before-seen areas of the Aperture Science Labs and be reunited with GLaDOS, the occasionally murderous computer companion who guided them through the original game. The game's two-player cooperative mode features its own entirely separate campaign with a unique story, test chambers, and two new player characters. This new mode forces players to reconsider everything they thought they knew about portals. Success will require them to not just act cooperatively, but to think cooperatively.

but to think cooperatively.