Portal 2 PAX updates: new character, new song from The National

Valve have been showing off Portal 2 at PAX, dropping some tasty info-nuggets about the sequel. A new character, Cave Johnson, has been revealed, there's going to be a Portal 2 song from The National, and there are plans to release an unnamed surprise to fill the gap between Portal and Portal 2. Read on for details, and footage of the PAX presentation.

The new character is Cave Johnson. He's the founder of Aperture Science. Like Glados, he'll guide you through the new test chambers using Aperture Science's omnipresent intercom. He's voiced by JK SImmons, who many will recognise as J Jonah Jameson from the Spiderman films. Hot Hardware have some footage of the PAX demonstration that shows Cave Johnson's cruel and unusual sense of humour. (Spoiler alert - video shows the start of the game, and a few basic puzzle solutions).

As well as revealing Cave Johnson, Valve have been talking about plans to fill in the gap between the events of the first game and Portal 2. Speaking to Kotaku , Erik Wolpaw said "We're actually going to release something that we're not talking about yet that will give a little bit of the story of the interim time. We're doing that before release." Wolpaw remains tight lipped about exactly what the surprise is.

We already know that Jonathan Coulton has penned new material for Portal 2, but Valve have also announced that there will be a new Portal 2 song from The National . Portal 2 writer Chet Faliszek says that "the inclusion of the original song, Still Alive, in the first Portal game was part of what made the game special. For Portal 2, we wanted to extend the use of music. When Bug Music mentioned to us that The National might be interested, we jumped at the opportunity to work with them."

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Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.