We’re going to try not to overload you with lovey-dovey content today, but Radish Awesome dropped this in our tips box and we just couldn’t resist. May your own search for a companion cube be free of incinerations.

I own lots of dice but I’m pretty sure I need to add these Weighted Companion Cube dice to my collection. For science. Made by niquegeek on Etsy with a 3D printer, the dice come in a few different versions: one with all numbers instead of hearts, another where the heart is the one, and one with just the hearts, which I guess is just an adorable Companion Cube and not actually a die.

Previously in Portal

So you have this boss. And he’s been having a rough time, I mean, he’s always been kind of… volatile, but these days even his beloved secretary can’t keep him from emotional outbursts in front of his staff. And now he’s asked you to make him exploding lemons. So you do. Guy’s got enough on his plate, and, in any case, he’s working for the good of all of us.

Except the ones who are dead.

(DIY Portal 2 Lemon Grenade Tutorial by Epbot.)

This is the story of a little turret with big dreams of doing a big solo in a massive turret symphony; and how all his friends, yes, even the Frankenturrets and Turret Bride, helped make it happen. I’ll just be over here, cutting onions.

(via Wired.)

When I was home for Christmas in 2011, we tried the original Portal. I figured the mechanics were simple enough for someone who didn’t game. No inventory, no stats, no combat tactics. What I hadn’t thought to consider was that my mom didn’t know how WASD worked. After just a few rooms, she’d become a little frustrated, and the first-person camera view was making her disoriented. We took a break, and for no real reason, we never picked it back up.

We were both determined to try again. My mom has a real affection for GLaDOS, born out of videos and my anecdotes. And I, always grateful for her willingness to listen to me wax on about a medium she doesn’t take part in, was eager for her to get a hands-on understanding of one of my favorites. This time, I decided on Portal 2 instead, with the goal of playing co-op together. I thought she might feel more at ease with me in the game alongside her. But first, I had to get her used to the basics. I pulled up a chair, and we started a single-player game.

A blogger named Gordon Knott has a really amazing idea. He’d like to put together a live stage show based on the video game Portal. He sees it happening in the style of Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas and would have an initial budget of $25 million. There’s just one problem – he doesn’t have $25 million.

Synthetic PictureHaus is a production team in L.A. who put together a few images of what the holidays might look like around Aperture Laboratories. You know, if people still worked there. Check them out and don’t miss the bonus story at the end. It’s a new Christmas classic.

( via Becky!)

We’ve been seeing some viral marketing for director Guillermo Del Toro’s upcoming Pacific Rim but the trailer is finally here. And yes, there are some pretty cool alien monster things and giant robots but forget about all that. I just heard Ellen McLain, the voice of Portal’s GLaDOS in here!!! Also, a little bit of Idris Elba time. But…GLaDOS!!! McLain isn’t listed on the Pacific Rim IMDB page, but del Toro is a professed Valve fan, and you can’t mistake that voice. Ok, enough, just watch it for yourself.

(via igeektrooper)

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Kooberz Studios has entered the Machinima Interactive Film Festival with Part 1 (of 2) of their LEGO Portal 2 film. It features, well, everything you loved from Portal 2 (as well as some thing you might not remember), in stop-motion animation form. And now I really need to replay the game.

(via Kotaku)

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I love it when a game doesn’t talk down to me. Too often, I find myself in a scenario like this: An NPC says “Hey, maybe there’s a lever nearby that will open that door!” The lever is then marked with a blinking arrow, or actual text reading “LEVER.” When I arrive at the lever, another message appears. “Press E to activate lever.” Yes, thank you. I get it. The problem with this approach is that it doesn’t give me an intuitive sense for the mechanics, and I don’t get to explore on my own. All it does is make me prove that I can obey commands and push buttons. That doesn’t make me feel like I’m playing. It makes me feel like a trained seal.

This limitation is refreshingly absent in Incredipede, a beautiful, brain-bruising puzzler from husband-and-wife team Colin and Sarah Northway.