There’s still a lot of confusion over the details of Portal 2’s plot and how Aperture Science ended up in the condition it’s now in. Valve will be revealing some information soon that explains what happened between the first Portal and its sequel, which is set “further down the line” in the Half-Life universe.

“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,” Valve writer Erik Wolpaw told Kotaku. “We’re doing that before release.” It’s currently unclear how much time has passed since the first game, which took place between the first two Half-Life games.

In Portal 2 players will again play as Chell, who was put in stasis following the events of the first game. (Valve changed the original’s ending post-release so she would be dragged away by something with a robotic voice.) A new character is being revealed at PAX East: The founder of Aperture Science, Cave Johnson. He’s voiced by J.K. Simmons, joining The Office and Extras co-creator and co-writer Stephen Merchant, who will voice the character of Wheatley.

Portal’s connection with the Half-Life games isn’t just the ramblings of message board posters — Valve admits it’s true — but don’t expect it to be especially pronounced. Wolpaw made a comparison with how The X-Files had mythology episodes throughout the series that dealt with an interconnected storyline in addition to standalone episodes that were completely unrelated to the rest.

“We tried to keep as light a touch about it as we did in Portal 1,” Wolpaw said. “Fans of Half-Life will notice some things, but if you haven’t played Half-Life they’ll just kind of pass right by you. You’re not going to see Gordon tromping through the facility.”

Portal 2 hits PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on April 18.

Despite numerous claims to the contrary, it’s not true that PC gaming is dead. But Microsoft’s support of the platform has largely been dead for many years now; other than the Games for Windows Live initiative (which many would say pales in comparison to Valve’s offering with Steam), Microsoft hasn’t done much in the space of PC games — although, to its credit, it did announce that Age of Empires Online (pictured above), Microsoft Flight, and Fable III would be coming to the platform.
Now a source has told TechRadar (via CVG) that “Windows 8 will represent a real new push into PC gaming” for Microsoft. The source also claimed, “Gaming will be a key component for the whole OS.”

While that certainly sounds nice, we’ve heard things like this before; gaming was supposed to be much more central to Windows with the launch of Vista, and that never really quite worked out. We’ve also not seen PC versions of several big name games from Microsoft including Gears of War 2 and every Halo game released after Halo 2 — including Halo Wars, which seemed like an absolute no-brainer as an RTS game developed by Age of Empires developer Ensemble Studios.

It’ll be a difficult task to become a prominent player in the PC space with competitors like Steam, which has arguably become the de facto Xbox Live-style service for a large segment of the PC gaming audience. There’s also an increasingly large group of people gaming on Macs, and there are those who might not upgrade their operating system if they’re content with Windows 7 or whatever they’re currently using, which would limit the number of people that any gaming-centric features in Windows 8 could be exposed to.

Microsoft will have an uphill battle to climb in order to make a significant impact in the PC gaming space. If the source is correct and that’s something being planned for Windows 8 — which wouldn’t come as a complete surprise, as Microsoft has at least spoken about supporting PC gaming more — we should begin to hear about it over the next few years.

Shortly over a year after The Lost and Damned debuted on the Xbox 360, Grand Theft Auto IV’s Episodes from Liberty City will no longer be exclusive to Microsoft’s console. Rockstar just announced plans to bring both The Ballad of Gay Tony and The Lost and Damned to PC and PlayStation 3 this March.

The two episodes were temporarily Xbox 360 exclusives thanks to a little encouragement on Microsoft’s part — $50 million worth, to be precise. That deal appears to have run its course, however, and with all the talk of lower-than-expected sales of the expansions on Xbox 360, it shouldn’t be too surprising to see them turning up on other platforms.

Look for both GTA Episodes on the PlayStation Store, the Games for Windows Live Marketplace, and at retail on March 30.

Steam currently has a number of spiffy deals on Bioshock 2. Those who preorder the upcoming sequel from Valve’s digital distribution service will not only get 10 percent off the standard retail price (down to $44.99), they’ll also receive a copy of the original Bioshock for free.

Should you already own the first Bioshock, these digital copies can be gifted to anyone on your Steam friends list — though you may run into a little trouble finding somebody who doesn’t already have the game after all the recent holiday sales.

Also on offer is a four-pack of Bioshock 2, which, like the Borderlands and Left 4 Dead 2 bundles, can be split between four friends. These bundles include the same 10 percent price reduction for preordering ($134.97 instead of $149.97), as well as four free copies of Bioshock to divvy up.

Bioshock 2 is scheduled to release on February 9, 2010 for the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.

Word that Modern Warfare 2 won’t be supporting dedicated server has prompted an outcry on the Internet as PC gamers lament the potential inability to use their own mods and mitigate latency problems, among other things. It seems that Best Buy is still in the mood to party though.
The retail chain has just announced that more than 500 Best Buy stores will be open at midnight when the Modern Warfare 2 launches. They have the complete list on their website, along with a link to their store locator.

Naturally, other outlets will be joining in as well, including GameStop. Of course, if you don’t have a problem with dedicated servers, there’s always Steam.

Modern Warfare 2 will be out November 10.