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See the original image at game-ism.com

Amazing Anaylsis of Portal's GLADoS

game-ism.com — This blogger just enlightened me more than I ever thought possible on what Valve was trying to convey with the personality and mysterious depth of GLADoS.

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  • Tallfriend17, on 04/07/2008, -4/+154I can't believe I never noticed this, but it's undeniably cool.
    • Akaji, on 04/07/2008, -5/+71I wonder if everything of what this guy is analyzing it as is intentional or not. It reminded me of something one of the Bungie guys said about the new Blackout map:

      "The setting is a UNSC Antarctic weather station with the completely arbitrary and stupid number z/41, it means nothing. Until the fans write some fictional significance into it and we eventually have to reverse engineer it into our canon. Thanks a lot, fans."

      I bet this happens a lot in games with high-profile stories...
      • Tallfriend17, on 04/07/2008, -4/+3I do agree, that probably is true for a lot of games. This specific case on the other hand I don't believe could be purely coincidental. I think they really were aiming for that incredibly subtle detail in both voice acting and in the art direction.
        • sexybobo, on 04/07/2008, -0/+8I think the one thing that makes Valve different from a lot of developers is that so many other developers have random places random events happening. I believe with Valve every thing that happens happens for a reason and is part of the complete story they are telling you the game player.
        • lamiaconfitor, on 04/07/2008, -0/+2Indeed, they are fairly more meticulous and witty then most game developers. however, it is possible that this is data searching as well. no one etched faces into tortillas, clouds and shorelines, but millions see them there.
      • kingvik, on 04/07/2008, -1/+9It probably also happens in a lot of books, poems, etc. that we have to study in school.
        • ahoyhoy, on 04/07/2008, -0/+5Aye. Critics will often disagree with the original explanation given by the author of a high-profile novel, and will interpret it anyway they feel.
          • WallnutBoy, on 04/07/2008, -0/+6Any good artist would WANT their readers/listeners to interpret their work in their own way..
          • GawtMilk, on 04/07/2008, -0/+3Tell that to a political cartoonist, who gets paid to draw an agenda; ideology or thought.
    • themastersb, on 04/07/2008, -0/+14Mirror (at the moment): http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:http://www.gam ...
    • ZeoFateX, on 04/07/2008, -1/+28I get it! They're trying to say women lie to get what they want!
    • antiorblkflag9, on 04/07/2008, -0/+9You know those when you see it you'll ***** bricks poster....yeah....
    • trogdor282, on 04/07/2008, -1/+9Yeah it's weird. She lies through her teeth the whole game - and yet we all took the end song at face value.
    • topbob, on 04/08/2008, -0/+2*****.
  • thesmrt12004, on 04/07/2008, -3/+44I read this article then i felt the sudden urge to free GLADoS
    • wtfunkymonkey, on 04/07/2008, -0/+24Has she said the safety word yet?
    • carstairs, on 04/07/2008, -1/+3I can't believe that the evil thing I killed was so helpless. It used to be funny when I blew her up...
      • tyywebb, on 04/07/2008, -0/+1I can't believe you just threw the Aperture-Science-we-don't-know-what-it-does-thingy into the Aperture Science Emergency Intelligence Incinerator!
  • RawrAtYoo, on 04/07/2008, -5/+76FREE GLaDOS!
    • yuannerz, on 04/07/2008, -0/+12i'll take 2 please
    • BackEnThaWomb, on 04/07/2008, -0/+1There was a problem completing my request. Please hold while I reload the page and try again.
  • JohnDavis730, on 04/07/2008, -5/+127GLaDOS 08'
    • Ohnodonho, on 04/07/2008, -0/+10'08?
    • plurbine, on 04/07/2008, -0/+14There's a president, right there. She'd be everywhere. At the crosswalks, chiding and encouraging us to give up and jump in front of cars. The state of the union addresses would be... the stuff of legend.
    • TVarmy, on 04/07/2008, -5/+1Anyone else think GlaDos sounds just like Hillary?
  • MaxMWood, on 04/07/2008, -10/+25The only difference is, the ingame image shown appears to have a boob on its back.
    • swrostmore, on 04/07/2008, -1/+20Yeah, Glados is defeated by way of tossing her boobs (and back-boob) into a fire....thats pretty messed up right there.
    • bratterscain, on 04/07/2008, -0/+3Maybe it's hands. She could have big round hands like anime Strongbad.
    • AsadM, on 04/07/2008, -0/+1maybe they were going for a picasso...?
  • punisher18, on 04/07/2008, -41/+4this guy has allot of free time...albeit good spent free time discussing GLaD0S but still.

    oh and i have to say it.....this was a TRIUMPH!
  • caLt, on 04/07/2008, -3/+38Hmm.. then she couldn't have baked the cake, she is tied.. upside down...
  • kru1e, on 04/07/2008, -2/+96creepy how glados really does look like a woman hanging.
  • PhantomTrain, on 04/07/2008, -6/+18That's pretty interesting, but let's face it: GLaDOS is a crazy computer with the urge to kill.
  • h0msar, on 04/07/2008, -5/+33Really well done. But he failed to mention the weighted the companion cube. The cube must be talked about...........it threatened to kill me if he didn't...
    • Ibox, on 04/07/2008, -0/+3to make sure you would kill her if you were to discover this secret... no remorse, to make sure you can get the job done.
  • fishbulb95, on 04/07/2008, -0/+32I'll never look at GLaDOS the same way again.
  • idslite, on 04/07/2008, -64/+24THERE WAS A ***** PROBLEM COMPLETING YOUR ***** REQUEST! PLEASE ***** RELOAD AND TRY AGAIN!

    DIGG NOT ***** SAVED, PLEASE RELOAD THE ***** PAGE AND TRY AGAIN!
    • holzp, on 04/07/2008, -0/+14GLaDOS is that you?
    • trogdorBURN, on 04/07/2008, -0/+23yeah i heard this comment before it was copied and pasted...
      • TomTruelle, on 04/07/2008, -0/+11who cares if it was copied and pasted. im really tired of this ***** aswell and i hope someones does something about it.
    • CrudeDarkness, on 04/07/2008, -1/+11it took me 2 tries to burry you.
      • directedition, on 04/07/2008, -0/+2Ahh, the arbitrary digging system. In some articles, this comment gets 100+ diggs. And in others, it gets mass buried.
    • vladin, on 04/07/2008, -1/+10Still valid. Listen up Digg..
    • Ibox, on 04/07/2008, -0/+9was doing that to me earlier... pain in the ass.
  • nchase, on 04/07/2008, -1/+7Excellent analysis, holy crap!
  • Pureeviljester, on 04/07/2008, -1/+9it was a machine...
  • vovka3, on 04/07/2008, -8/+67Yeah!, but can it run Crysis?
  • fatb0y42, on 04/07/2008, -2/+14crap now i gotta go and play portal
    • dudeabides420, on 04/07/2008, -0/+11no thats what you should have done months ago
    • tacojohn48, on 04/07/2008, -2/+3They are releasing Portal separate from the orange box, check out Circuit city they will have it Tuesday for $10
      • BenKenobi88, on 04/07/2008, -2/+3It was always available separately on Steam as well.
  • shad0walker, on 04/07/2008, -0/+14It could just be one of those coincidences in the design which by putting alot of time towards thinking about it gives you the idea, but if you look at the modules being attached, they don't form any real part of the main shape. they are tacked on outside of the bulk of the equipment and don't cause a major change to the look/feel of GLaDOS when you remove them. It may again be a coincidence but I doubt it was done to make targets easily spotted, they fall off in order where ever you manage to hit GLaDOS with a rocket so it wouldn't have change the gameplay to just integrate them into her main body. If the targets were builtin to her main 'body' then it would have wrecked the overall design of her 'body' when they were destroyed.
  • Apokalyps2547, on 04/07/2008, -0/+10They said in the in-game developer commentary that they wanted a shape that conveyed both femininity and raw power.
  • proghead, on 04/07/2008, -1/+71He elaborates even more in this post -
    http://www.game-ism.com/?p=94
    this really cemented it in for me. But it still doesn't clear up the plothole of why she sounded so agitated and upset when Chell "escaped". She sounded pretty real, but was all that really just an act?

    But her backup file is without a doubt at Black Mesa:

    [Maybe you’ll find someone else to help you
    Maybe Black Mesa
    That was a joke, ha ha, fat chance]

    Oh man, I can't wait for you to encounter her in HL3 and hear GLaDOS say "Hello, Gordon Freeman."

    chills.
    • TiMMY8765, on 04/07/2008, -0/+6wasn't black mesa nuked in Opposing Force. after you disarm the bomb, later you turn around and see Gman reactivate it, then it goes off as you are flying away at the very end.
      • BedPost, on 04/07/2008, -1/+17Psh. You kidding me? Game developers can always find a reason to bring back a favorite setting, no matter HOW destroyed/nuked/***** it was.
        • sexybobo, on 04/07/2008, -0/+2Valve is different then most developers they actually pay attention to what happened in the game. He is going to find GLaDOS but it is going to be on the Borealis
        • johnroth, on 04/07/2008, -0/+1Yeah, I was just thinking, I remembered people talking about Episode 3 and how they find a ship... and how someone was complaining about how dangerous it is and it needs to be destoryed while someone else wanted to use it to fight... I'm guessing that ship is powered by GLaDOS!
          • hotcod, on 04/07/2008, -0/+3Opposing Forces is not valve cannon. They've said if they see a way that it all fits in naturally with the universe and story then they'll use it but at the moment its not 'official' history... so in other words in the HL2 games OF may or may not have happened, since we don't know if valve has fitted in yet. They've always been a little touchy about the addon's in story cannon since they didn't have any say in them due to the deal they got stuck with.
    • allisonaxe, on 04/07/2008, -0/+9umm, that'd be great, except for the fact that Black Mesa was a corporate rival to Aperture Science.
    • roystgnr, on 04/07/2008, -1/+6I don't think it's necessarily a plot hole for GladOS to have multiple conflicting feelings; no matter what interpretation you give it, that was part of the design. She tries to help and then to kill Chell. She's trying her best to test Chell to failure, but she's triumphant and satisfied when Chell doesn't fail. She seems a lot like HAL from 2001/2010, given multiple strong but contradictory commands and appearing insane while trying to reconcile them.
    • DaviDTC, on 04/07/2008, -5/+4From the link you gave: "More bitter bitter sarcasm from the queen of lies."
      GLaDOS = Clinton? Whoa, new twist to the story.
    • Orion682, on 04/07/2008, -1/+2I don't know that that's much of a plot hole. It could be that she'd been trying to make it happen for so long that, when it finally did, as each Chell clone got closer and left more clues, that she suddenly panicked in fear of her own death. Even in suffering or confinement, death can be terrifying.

      And yeah, it's obvious that GlaDOS, or a copy of her, will be aboard the Borealis. She's too much of a good character to use only once.
    • emotecontrol, on 04/07/2008, -1/+2She's not agitated, she's excited. Near the beginning of the game, she makes it perfectly clear that you can't trust anything she says "We will cease enhancing the truth in 3, 2, 1..." and then for the rest of the game she unabashedly uses reverse psychology on you: "you're not even going the right way, you know." When Chell makes it out of the testing chamber (and based on the graffiti, this is not the first time this has happened), she breaks into the "oh no, the test subject has escaped, I am all afraid of what she might do if she discovers my secrets" shtick. This is no doubt a practised act, designed to motivate the test subject to come and find her. That GlaDOS has had many subjects to perfect this routine on is itself pretty good evidence that she's saying exactly what she thinks needs to be said to get the subject to do exactly what she wants it to. She is a superintelligent computer programmed for science, after all.
    • ptdev, on 04/07/2008, -1/+4Yes, that will be epic, i can see it now:

      GLaDOS: Hello, Gordon Freeman.

      Gordon Freeman:
    • CatalystGhost, on 04/08/2008, -0/+1"Just what do you think you're doing, Gordon."
  • evilpoptart, on 04/07/2008, -2/+1mmmmm... portal.
  • xjoi, on 04/07/2008, -5/+27mmmmmmm... irror?
  • wiggin, on 04/07/2008, -5/+1must have mirror
  • Skooma714, on 04/07/2008, -6/+4People say they threw her boobs in the fire, but I say it's more like her ovaries than anything else.
  • scarz99, on 04/07/2008, -1/+3Service Temporarily Unavailable
    The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.
  • lordspidey, on 04/07/2008, -1/+2man thats is incredibly cool...
  • blorc, on 04/07/2008, -5/+5www.mirror.com.org..............gov
  • xerigen, on 04/07/2008, -5/+4Mirror please.
  • 965473, on 04/07/2008, -12/+7MIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
  • SevenTwo, on 04/07/2008, -0/+102I'm making a note here: BAD REQUEST
    • soot, on 04/07/2008, -0/+37Its hard to overstate my disappointment.
      • patrflav, on 04/07/2008, -0/+29Apache/1.3.33 Server
        • consonance, on 04/07/2008, -1/+25We're trying to say, "Our server's crap."
        • MrObjectional, on 04/07/2008, -0/+22For the good of all our sites...

          except the dedicated.
          • CapeKid, on 04/07/2008, -0/+21And there's no use refreshing this page
            But you'll keep on trying until it takes
          • lijamez, on 04/07/2008, -0/+11Thus Digg.com has won
            And there no page to be served.
            View from servers that are still alive.
          • proghead, on 04/07/2008, -0/+8And trust us they are still alive
            Kevin said that they are still alive
            The crack team said they will be still alive
            Still Alive!
            still alive...
      • archer104, on 04/07/2008, -8/+14Aperture *sigh*ance
  • SwedishNinja, on 04/07/2008, -7/+2Mirror??
  • ControlcChris, on 04/07/2008, -6/+2MIRROR PLEASE@!!
  • timisondigglol, on 04/07/2008, -3/+54Come on guys...you know the drill.
    http://duggmirror.com/pc_games/Amazing_Anaylsis_of ...
  • xanadont, on 04/07/2008, -4/+1mror?
    • bob12321, on 04/07/2008, -1/+1I believe you are trying to say 'moar'.
  • SpaceRibs, on 04/07/2008, -2/+2Honestly, I agree with the article but I don't think she wanted to be "freed" from her body, she wanted to be destroyed because that is what any insane person wants. I think that morally questionable acts drive an insane person to subconsciously stop themselves, and GLaDOS's only option is to foster hatred within chell so that she will destroy her (GLaDOS).
  • yossarian24, on 04/07/2008, -2/+19¿rorrim
  • BigglesPiP, on 04/07/2008, -10/+1This was a triumph...
    • RBrenner14, on 04/07/2008, -8/+2I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS!
  • shervin2, on 04/07/2008, -19/+2Mirror: http://www.pompeiglass.com/In%20Stock%20Gallery.ht ...
  • unorginalityftw, on 04/07/2008, -0/+5Indeed, the 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable has enlightened me in ways I never thought possible.
  • WayGroovy, on 04/07/2008, -3/+6http://www.game-ism.com.nyud.net:8080/?p=91
    mirror
  • shervin2, on 04/07/2008, -14/+3Mirror: http://www.pompeiglass.com/_borders/Roses_Mirror.j ...
    • cmrn, on 06/19/2008, -1/+1#You can pick it up and try again#...... But you still fail.
  • Ymeg, on 04/07/2008, -10/+1http://tinyurl.com/2xucc2
    http://duggmirror.com
  • cheez124, on 04/07/2008, -16/+2ok, portal is ***** good, but the internet needs to get over it. no more songs, over analyzing or any other BS.
  • CATSCEO, on 04/07/2008, -20/+1Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror ha
  • jjpertusch, on 04/07/2008, -10/+4you've got to be ***** kidding me. this is the dumbest thing i've ever read. his argument for basically everything he says is "remember she's a liar, so here's what i think she might mean." and the only thing that he completely ignores is the line about being out of beta and releasing on time... which is probably the ONLY thing that means anything in the long run as I imagine Gordon with come across one of these portal guns at some point.
    • jjpertusch, on 04/07/2008, -0/+4i should note that i read the in depth blog entry that analyzes every part of the song... i just looked at the thing this article was pointing to and i get what he's saying, but the song analysis is still absurd
  • dj88masterchief, on 04/07/2008, -11/+5why are there no pics of GLaDOS none of the mirrors have pictures!! buried
    • TheCoreh, on 04/07/2008, -1/+2The mirror WayGroovy posted 6 posts above has the pictures.
  • limedcoconut, on 04/07/2008, -2/+5Great analysis. This goes well with the article that was previously a top story on digg about Portal being a feminist game (not in the nazi way, just in the way that its not male oriented)
    http://digg.com/gaming_news/Portal_is_a_feminist_m ...
    http://www.gamesradar.com/xbox360/f/portal-is-the- ...

    and an additional note to some: at the mirror site you can see the pics if you just drag them into the navigation bar, they'll load, and stay alive was a cool song but not the cliff's notes to the point of the game's narrative.
  • SwedishNinja, on 04/07/2008, -1/+16Rule 34 on GLADoS
  • doshindude, on 04/07/2008, -8/+2http://duggmirror.com/pc_games/Amazing_Anaylsis_of ...
    retards. learn to use duggmirror.
  • WayGroovy, on 04/07/2008, -1/+12mirror of only pictures
    http://www.game-ism.com.nyud.net:8080/images/glado ...
    http://www.game-ism.com.nyud.net:8080/images/glado ...
  • MorpheousMarty, on 04/07/2008, -14/+6In that one angle the machine does look like a woman, however this is not even hinted at in the in game commentary. I think what we have here is a interesting interpretation with one image mistakenly anthropomorphized. The effect is known as pareidolia, details in the wiki link below:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia
    • Nidy1, on 04/07/2008, -1/+13"The second time I played through I turned the director commentary on, and got confirmation by way of a description of the things they attempted to make GlaDOS look like as they were making the game. What turned the light bulb on was the line “Botticelli’s Venus hanging upside down, but we decided to go with something else and use some feminine lines within the structure.”"

      RTFA?
    • tyler2k, on 04/07/2008, -0/+0I agree with Nidy1, the other thing I find funny is that the very first comment has the exact same link to wikipedia page on Pareidolia and that comment was posted on April 4th, about 3 days ago. So I think this is a case of skipping the entire article and only reading the comments.
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