This one’s a bit of a stretch… but then, what am I talking about? It’s never a stretch when it comes to Valve.
People are already parsing the video that the company showed at last weekend’s Spike Video Game Awards show, in which the Portal 2 character Wheatley put in a humorous, short plea to the audience to A) give him the “Character of the Year” award and B) help him get home.
This being a Valve video, viewers are convinced that the video also contains clues to the studios inevitable (but maddeningly mysterious, eternally unannounced) follow-up to Half-Life 2. Found via Rock, Paper Shotgun, this 1/2-speed video helps to parse whatever clues there were in the 30-second video.
For starters, Wheatley ends his speech by saying “one, one, one,” which of course adds up to… three. Also, the text in the video reads “Observation Satellite “Lanthanum,” which (apparently) is Greek for “To lie hidden.” It is also a medication for use helping those with kidney disorders, and is a chemical with the atomic number 57.
It could be a reference to just about anything, including Wheatley himself (“lying hidden”), but as RPS points out, the first letter of “Lanthanum” in Greek is indeed a Lambda, otherwise known as the symbol for Half-Life.
Hmm. Seems like a stretch to me, but then again, why the heck else would they choose to include a greek word beginning with “L” in their video? Oh, Valve. How you taunt us.
Source: Rock, Paper Shotgun
Matt
Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 8:35 AMOh christ get over it. No HL3 until 2015.
AngryAngus
Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 9:23 AMSHUN THE NON BELIEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
shodannet
Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 10:37 AMBURN THE HERETICS! KILL THE XENOS!!!
Wait- what, sorry, which IP are we in again? Im confused :(
DanMazkin
Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 12:58 PMSHUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNN!
Slyph
Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 9:48 AMBahahahahaa… No, seriously. Get out.
ash
Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 10:14 AMit si coming… I can feel it….
Simon G
Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 10:37 AMYeah there’s definitely references to it in the video. Whether or not this is going to ‘properly’ happen, I really doubt it for a while at least.
mobo
Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 11:15 AMI think it’s almost confirmed. Three hints in the past two weeks.
Blueboots
Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 12:16 PMI need my fix man! I NEED IT!
[Razor]
Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 1:12 PMI’ve read that he actually says “one, one one” or “1/11″ which would be the 11th of February (in yank format). And would you look at that, Valve will be talking at some conference on that date. The conference goes from 10-13 of January.
Also I don’t know what it’s called. So I’m not helpful. But I am hopeful!
ed
Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 1:18 PMhttp://twitter.com/#!/Doug_Rattmann
N3RD1001101
Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 3:39 PMLol… being Greek myself Kirk, I can assure you that Lanthanum does not mean “To lie Hidden”… In fact it doesn’t resemble any Greek word, or ancient Greek for that matter, that I’m familiar with… and I’m quite fluent!
Blueboots
Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 7:43 PMLanthanum is a metal. The name comes from the word “lanthanōl” which does mean “to lie hidden”
It’s probably a word that is not in general use anymore.
Lazarus
Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 11:49 PMAh, but are you an Ancient Greek?