PlayStation 3 Portal 2 owners rejoice, as a free DLC campaign designed specifically for the PlayStation Move is now available for Valve's Portal-based sequel.

Titled Non-Emotional Manipulation, the free DLC will introduce a new co-op campaign into the last batch of PlayStation Move DLC, In Motion. It will be applied via a patch and does require the PlayStation Move to operate, like the previous DLC.

Portal 2 PlayStation 3 developer Sixense Studios took to the PlayStation Blog to outline just what exactly the new pack will give players, including a thank you to those who voted In Motion as the best use of Move technology last year. To help those who haven't yet purchase Portal 2 or the In Motion DLC, both are now on sale in the PlayStation Store, with further discounts applied to Plus members.

Those who own the cube-loving title Portal 2 for PC on Steam will be pleased to know that Valve has pushed through an update today that adds two player local co-op. The new update also brings two other fixes that include fixing a ping issue with controllers and not being able to exit the Robot Enrichment or Create Test Chambers menus with a controller.

Big Picture Support

Added 2 controller splitscreen support for Standard Co-Op. Press X on the second controller inside the first Co-op menu to activate it.

Fixed controller's ‘quick ping’ button causing the player’s movement to stop.

Fixed not being able to exit Robot Enrichment or Create Test Chambers menus with the controller.

The new local co-op is only available in Big Picture mode, Steam's new TV compatible UI. Time to start thinking with two brains instead of one.

Sixense has announced the launch of their exclusive PlayStation 3 DLC for Portal 2, titled In Motion, which features three unique mechanics that tie-in with the PlayStation Move controller. The DLC has been made available for US gamers, however no date has been set yet for AU players.

Sixense designed three new motion mechanics for Portal 2 In Motion and tuned them to feel like a natural extension of your body. The “One-to-One” mechanic allows the player to manipulate objects as if they were held in the player’s own hand. This means that when using One-to-One you can change the object’s position and orientation by moving and rotating the Move controller.

This opened the door to a lot of new possibilities for our team in terms of puzzle design, which you’ll see in Portal 2 In Motion. It is very satisfying to reach out with the controller and redirect lasers with the Discouragement Redirection Cube to light up some poor Sentry Turrets.

Sixense has also made it clear that the digital Portal 2 and subsequent patch have also included support for the PlayStation Move, however only the In Motion DLC includes the three new motion mechanics. Players can still use their PlayStation Move for both the singleplayer and multiplayer experience if they want to do so.

Check out the trailer below for a great overview of each new mechanic, and also the quite interesting methods players can use to solve these puzzles.

For those who are still enjoying Valve's Portal 2 will be glad to know that a new "unofficial" map pack has been released by creator Patrick Muprhy, titled 'Designed for Danger'. The map pack offers players eight levels, each one satisfyingly difficult with a campaign style story set before the events of Portal 2.

Designed for Danger is a Portal 2 Campaign that offers eight new levels and 1 to 2 hours of play time.

In the campaign, you assume the role of Chell during an early part of Portal 2. This time however, things turn out differently. The actions of a rogue force will set you on a new path through Aperture Laboratories.

Watch your step and prepare for adventure!

If you are keen to test some portals and try your hand at the map pack, you can find a local download available here. You can also check out the trailer below for a quick overview of each of the eight maps.

While the user-friendly Perpetual Testing Initiative had produced 170,000 player-created single-player testing chambers for Portal 2, the tools weren't yet available for creating co-operative challenges; until today.

Valve has announced that the puzzle make now includes co-op test chamber support, with the latest update also introducing a new "Quick Play" function, that allows players easy access to the top-rated user-created maps.

In celebration, the developer has also awarded every Portal 2 owning Steam user with a 75% off coupon that can be given away to friends to purchase their very own discounted copy of the game and share the love. For more details, head over to the official site.

A report on the Valve's official Portal blog shared a cheeky image over the weekend. It seems that an anonymous NASA technician is a fan of Apature Science testing inititives, as a panel of the Japanese HTV-3 craft that launched on Friday for a resupply mission to the International Space Station has been engraved with a character from Portal 2.

The Portal blog refers to the image as Wheatly, but we reckon it's supposed to be the simple-minded Space Core -- one of the other quirky little AI Cores that was amusingly voiced by Nolan North, and just wants to go to Spaaaaaaaaaaace!

Putting aside their usually persistent humour for a minute, Valve has sent through word the "Perpetual Testing Initiative" (or level editor DLC) for Portal 2 is now available for Mac and PC.

The "Perpetual Testing Initiative" allows players to easily create, share, and play Portal 2 puzzles. The Initiative comes with a simplified Puzzle Maker that allows that creation of mind-bending puzzles without ever leaving the game. The Puzzle Maker can directly publish maps to the Steam Workshop where users can browse, vote on, and select to play them. Selected puzzles will automatically be downloaded and installed inside Portal 2.

You can learn more by clicking here, otherwise be sure to drop us a line if you do make some of your own puzzles in the Comments section.

One of the stand-out features for Portal 2 wasn't the game's mechanics, setting or puzzles. It was the tight, comedic scripting and its delivery. Few games have managed to reach humour heights like those found in Portal 2 and we're happy to report this benchmark remains in the recently announced Portal 2 DLC "Perpetual Testing Intuitive". Or at least as the new trailer for it would have us believe.

There's no real gameplay shown here, but the point of this new content is to offer up an easy-to-use level creation kit so everyone can get in and have a crack at making something that's easily shareable and easy to use.

Watch the new trailer for the forthcoming DLC (May 8) below, or click here for a direct link.

Valve have announced upcoming DLC for their acclaimed first-person puzzler Portal 2 will launch on May 8th 2012 and will include a basic map maker and the ability for players to publish and share their creations on Steam Workshop.

The "Perpetual Testing Initiative" allows players to easily create, share, and play Portal 2 puzzles. The Initiative comes with a simplified puzzle maker that allows that creation of mind-bending puzzles without ever leaving the game.

The puzzle maker can directly publish maps to the Steam Workshop where users can browse, vote on, and select to play them. Selected puzzles will automatically be downloaded and installed inside Portal 2.

Unfortunately we don't have any more information than that -- no pretty screenshots or trailers to look at -- so keep an eye on Steam come May 8th.

In a move that will make many people happy, Valve have announced some free add-ons to Portal 2, due to land October 4th:

In "Peer Review", you and a friend will continue the story of loyal bots P-Body and Atlas as you puzzle your way through a mysterious new co-op test track and once again match wits with GLaDOS. The DLC also features a single player and co-op Challenge Mode, and leaderboards to compare Challenge Mode scores with friends and the Portal community.

To "hold you over" until the release, they've also released Volume 3 of the soundtrack, which you can download now, locally from AusGamers.

Eurogamer (by way of Gamasutra) has pointed out that in a recent interview discussing all things Dota 2 and Valve, Gabe Newell explained that Portal 2 was more successful on PC than console, while Left 4 Dead 2, surprisingly, was the reverse.

"We can never predict; I mean we just try to build good games and then we tend to be surprised," he told Gamasutra. "Portal 2 did better on the PC than it did on the consoles; Left 4 Dead did better on the consoles than it did on the PC.

"So you know we don't try to guess, because we're not sure what value there is to guessing," he added.

Valve have sent through word they'll be running a music video contest for Portal 2 where budding young creative types are charged with creating a music video for the end credits track from Portal 2, "Exile Vilify", by The National.

Starting today and running until midnight July 15th, the contest asks the community to make a music video for the song "Exile Vilify" using whatever visuals they choose. Once aspiring video directors have completed their work, they may submit their videos on YouTube using the tag PORTAL2NATIONALEXILE. After the deadline, Valve, The National, and the community will select the winner who will win a prize package including a guitar autographed by The National plus a collection of Portal 2 merchandise.

Obviously "using whatever visuals they choose" is an option to be taken in reason, and this is YouTube we're talking about, but it's also the internet. If you decide to enter, be sure to also share your video with us in the Comments section or on our Forums.

Valve have released Volume 1 of the soundtrack from Portal 2 as a free download, further cementing their awesomeness:

Whether you're a mega-science corporation with decades of test experience, or a young start-up liberating your first test subject from non-testing with a chloroform-soaked rag, Aperture guarantees results. Wake up your test subject, open the chamber door, and press play--let Aperture's patent-pending rhythmic compliance enhancers do the rest.

In addition there's a bunch of ringtones available from the official site, if that's how you roll, but otherwise you can just download the soundtrack in its entirety now locally from AusGamers.

Valve have let us know that the they have released a new downloadable book on Steam that recounts the behind the scenes developement process of the hugely popular Portal 2. Titled The Final Hours, the book can be purchased and downloaded from Steam for USD$1.99.

Journalist Geoff Keighley was granted unprecedented “fly on the wall” access to Valve to create this staggering 15,000 word multimedia experience. From the hush-hush Portal prequel that was shelved to the last minute scramble to complete the game’s story, The Final Hours of Portal 2 is a gripping and dramatic story brought to life by exclusive photos, videos, interviews, interactive experiences, and other surprises.

Portal 2 shipped on April 21st for PC/Mac, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. For more details on the game itself, swing by our in-depth review (AusGamers 9.8/10).

Last week we mentioned Valve's Doug Lombardi said in an interview that the first batch of downloadable content (DLC) for Portal 2 was potentially coming just in time for winter here in Australia, and over the weekend this was officially confirmed by the developer.

Portal 2 DLC #1 will offer new test chambers for players, leaderboards, challenge mode for single and multiplayer modes, and more.

Many of you speculated that because said DLC was coming from Valve, it would most likely be free, which they happily confirmed for you, stating that it would be free of charge across PC, PS3, Xbox 360 and Mac.

Now if only other developers/publishers would follow suit.

Using our powers of the understanding of what is north and south, we've deduced that comments made by Valve's Doug Lombardi saying that Portal 2 DLC would arrive in the US "this summer", it looks like we'll see it this winter (lucky y'all have us to work that out for you).

"We will be announcing some DLC for it, so folks can keep a look out for more content coming this summer," Lombardi said in an interview with Fast Company. "We'll be putting more details out about that in a week or so. We'll support that with more videos or more comics."

Hopefully we'll get a more complex expansion on the tools introduced throughout the campaign to really rattle the cortex. Stay tuned for more info as we have it.

Some more holiday reading for everyone, as AusGamers Portal 2 review is now online. One of the year's most hotly anticipated titles, Valve Software's first person puzzle sequel had a bit of ARG fun earlier in the week when it launched ahead of schedule as perhaps a subtle poke at their often tardy release dates.

Kosta has been giving the game a good workout this week and if you're still wondering whether it's any good or not, here's a choice quote:

Portal 2 is a triumph in every sense of the word, a wonderful experience from start to finish and one that you won’t soon forget.

For all the details check out this in-depth review.

Note: This review is primarily from the Xbox 360 version, however we do also have the game on both PC and PS3. We wanted to include a report on the new PlayStation 3 Steam features, but unfortunately due to Sony's untimely PSN outage, we haven't been able to extensively test those -- spare a thought however, for the poor PS3 players that have been yet unable to play online co-op or even activate their complimentary STEAM PC copy due to this outage.

Portal 2 is now available on PC/Mac, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

One of the year's most anticipated games, Portal 2 from Valve Software has broken free of its captors two days early and can now be obtained from both Australian retail outlets as well Valve's Steam online content delivery service.

The broken retail store street date was likely provoked by the fans' completion of the intricate Alternate Reality Game that recently achieved it's target.

Portal 2 draws from the award-winning formula of innovative gameplay, story, and music that earned the original Portal over 70 industry accolades and created a cult following.

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.

Portal 2 is now available on PC, Mac, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. For the best (and non-regionalised) price, PC and Mac users can purchase the game directly from Steam.

It's Looking like the anomaly of Valve Time just might work both ways for a change, with an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) -- that appears to be promising an early unlock for the hugely anticipated Portal 2 -- now nearing completion.

An intricate series of clues released over the past 2 weeks -- beginning with the launch of the Potato Sack bundle -- has now culminated in a single page at aperturescience.com that is measuring the player counts of all potato sack games, presumably unlocking Portal 2 for all Steam pre-loaders if the targets are met.

A few sites such as hasportal2launchedyet.com have been constructed by fans to help track the progress.

On a less cheery note, it looks like both Xbox 360 and PlayStation versions of the game have already leaked into pirate channels, so if you don't want spoilers, best be avoiding Internet discussions until you can get you hands on the game legitimately.

Portal 2 is official due next Thursday April 21st on PC/Mac, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 . It is not yet known if brick-and-mortar retailers will be opening their crates earlier in light of a pre-empted Steam launch.

We've known for some time that Valve's hotly anticipated first person puzzler Portal 2 would be the first foothold for bringing their Steam service to the PlayStation 3. But today, the much-loved studio has sent along a new press release, detailing the full extent to which they'll be rocking the platform come April 21st.

Key highlights include:

• cross-platform gameplay, matchmaking, friends, chat, and achievements
  
• Steam Cloud saved game support for both co-op and singleplayer games (but PS3 saves aren't compatible with PC/Mac).
  
• Steam overlay gives access to both PSN and Steam friends lists and navigation or text chats, player profiles, friend requests and game invites.
  
• Steam Achievements are earned in lockstep with PSN Trophies and are also accessible within the Steam overlay.
  
• This functionality is activated by linking your PSN account with your Steam account through an in-game interface.
  
• Linking a PS3 version to your Steam account permits you to access and play the game from a PC or Mac and is done by redeeming an in-box code on your computer which will then list Portal 2 among your PC/Mac Steam games.

So basically, if you're buying a boxed copy of the game and you own both a PS3 and a PC/Mac, it's a no-brainer to pick up the PS3 version.

That said, Valve don't practise regional price variations with their own online-purchased products. So if you only want it for PC/Mac and don't care for a box, you'll no doubt be able to pick up the game significantly cheaper directly from Steam.

Xbox 360 users unfortunately only have the brick-and-motor option for now, as Microsoft remain unaccommodating for Steam functionality on their platform.

Dependent on no further Valve-time anomalies, Portal 2 is due to launch on PC, Mac, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on April 21st 2011.