If you needed a reason to dust off your copy of Portal 2, here you go : Aperture Science is about to introduce the Perpetual Testing Initiative, as Cave Johnson announces with his customary style in the above trailer. On one level, this announcement is about the release of free DLC that will let players create and share their own Portal puzzles; and, on another level, it's about Aperture Science taking outsourcing to new levels by conning the Multiverse (as depicted by a rather pathetic cephalopod) into doing its dirty work for it. What it's really about, however, is the fact that once user-created puzzles start hitting the Steam Workshop, Valve/Aperture (it's getting harder to tell them apart, isn't it?) is going to have you testing for a long, long time.
You won't really care too much about that, though, because Cave Johnson laughs at an octopus. No, really.
Speaking at GDC 2013, Chet Faliszek and Erik Wolpaw – Valve's head writers – discussed the brainstorming process that resulted in Portal 2. Specifically, they spoke about all the features that never made it into the final release. Given the success and adulation enjoyed by the original Portal, creating a worthy successor was never going to be an easy task. So it proved, as their long list of discarded ideas indicates. This is why I love the Game Developer's Conference; we get to peek at a lot of stuff that might never have seen the light of day otherwise.
Given that this is effectively a post-mortem discussion, some important plot points are discussed. If you haven't played Portal 2 yet, I find your lack of win disturbing.
Oh, and you should probably not read on.