Portal PC update adds new achievement and mysterious Morse code messages

by Dave Rudden
March 01, 2010 16:36 PM PST

Steam users who have downloaded Portal have noticed a strange update to the first-person adventure, with a new achievement beckoning them to seek out the game's radios, all of which are playing back Morse code messages.

Portal PC update adds new achievement and Morse code messages

Leave it to the creators of Portal to deliver one of the strangest title updates ever. Players of Portal on the PC have noted that a new achievement called "Transmission Received" has been added to the game today. According to forum goers on Valve's website, the achievement requires players collect 26 radios scattered throughout the Aperture Science laboratory. A new, very disturbing noise has been added to the game when the radios are destroyed in a particular manner, which you can hear below.

Additionally, almost 18 minutes worth of Morse code has been added to the game's file collection, which Valve forum-goers have gone about translating. They've also found a series of complex images by changing the audio file names to images, creating static-filled pictures with keyboard buttons and obscure written notes. Here's what they've been able to translate from the Morse code.

Message 1:
interior transmission active
external data line active
message digest active

Message 2:
System data dump active
User back up active
Password back up active

Message 5: (MD5 for: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.)
9e107d9d372bb6826bd81d3542a419d6
Message 17: (Translates to LOL)
BEEP BEEEP BEEP BEEP
BEEEP BEEEP BEEEP
BEEP BEEEP BEEP BEEP

Valve forum inhabitants have formed a variety of hypothesis regarding the mysterious content, ranging from a Portal sequel to a crossover with Half-Life. Any Portal PC players getting in on the investigation?

Source: What is Valve up to? [Steam Users' Forum]