Jonathan Coulton not (yet) working on song for Portal 2

by Kevin Kelly { Jun 19th 2009 at 8:30PM }

We still haven't had any confirmation of a Portal sequel, other than, you know, designer Kim Swift and Valve's lead marketing director, Doug Lombardi mentioning that the game is probably coming. Now internet songster and Portal theme -- "Still Alive" -- composer Jonathan Coulton has chimed in as well.

We recently interviewed Coulton about his upcoming "Best. Concert. Ever." CD & DVD set (look for the full interview soon where we'll be giving a copy away), and the first thing we asked him about was how his song for Portal 2 was coming along. "I haven't started it yet. I honestly don't know ... I haven't spoken to them in a long time about it, so I don't know much at all about their plans for Portal 2 and what they're thinking of doing," he told us. "And that's the truth, that's not an 'I signed a non-disclosure agreement and can't tell you what's going on' answer. I really don't know."

So it's still a non-confirmation of nothing, but it sounds like he may be on tap to write something for it. Maybe. Possibly. Speculatively. Hope is "Still Alive" (we hope).

Tags: Jonathan-Coulton, Portal, Portal-2, Still-Alive, Valve

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

EGOvoruhk @ Jun 19th 2009 8:35PM

No news is sad news :-(

Ian @ Jun 20th 2009 6:33PM

well he could have said they aren't making portal 2. that would be worse news

Obi-Habby @ Jun 19th 2009 8:36PM

Can't say I remember the music from portal being a highlight. The gameplay on the other hand was amazing.

LordToastington @ Jun 19th 2009 9:05PM

Dude, the end theme is comedy gold.

time @ Jun 20th 2009 10:30AM

that's because the music is only during the credits :)

PhilWal @ Jun 19th 2009 8:41PM

This was a triumph.

Apollo @ Jun 19th 2009 8:42PM

I'm making a note here,,,,,,,,,,,

Divector @ Jun 19th 2009 8:57PM

Huge success

pat1202003 @ Jun 19th 2009 10:43PM

It's hard to overstate my satisfaction.

Lov3 @ Jun 19th 2009 10:46PM

Aperture Science:
We do what we must because we can.

dark_inchworm (on Steam!) dark inchworm (on XBL!) @ Jun 19th 2009 11:10PM

C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER

(I am an asshole)

Ignatius @ Jun 19th 2009 11:33PM

Honestly... the Still Alive song was awesome about the first 500 times. Now... it's just annoying.

Linkb8s (XBL: Tenku no Linkl) @ Jun 19th 2009 8:42PM

With L4D being the big project from Valve that I have been focused on lately, I completely forgot about Portal. Hopefully we get some news about Portal 2 sooner rather than later. I want my moist, delicious cake!

CH3BURASHKA @ Jun 19th 2009 8:51PM

He said as much on the 404 podcast.

shadowbender @ Jun 19th 2009 9:19PM

No one can deny that the song "Still Alive" is awesome. Seriously guys, it's a great song.

Amoveo @ Jun 19th 2009 9:46PM

Jonathan Coulton is awesome and I don't just mean Still Alive. He does all sorts of quirky nerdy songs. I recommend checking out Re:Your Brains in which a zombified office worker calmly negotiates with a coworker who has barricaded himself in a mall. It takess the phrase Corporate Zombie to an entirely new hilarious level.

Double J @ Jun 19th 2009 9:48PM

I got that Best.Concert.Ever in the mail last month. It's a riot from start to finish. Especially for the song Chiron Beta Prime song.

Double J @ Jun 19th 2009 9:55PM

Apparently I found it necessary to describe Chiron Beta Prime as a song not once, but TWICE!

edweird @ Jun 20th 2009 12:19AM

I more or less hope there isn't a Coulton song in Portal 2. It's not that I have a problem with the first, it's a fair complement to the game's slight cheekiness... but it seems like a one shot deal to me. A second comedy song would come off as an attempt to re-live the first game, rather than as an inspired idea.

Portal was a great game for its uniqueness and innovative ideas. I hope the devs don't fall into the trap of seeing it as a formula, rather than seeking to make the sequel its own unique beast. I'd like to see Portal 2 take itself a little more seriously and have some deeper exposition of the time and place, especially now that it is thought to exist within the HL universe. Humor should definitely be a part of it (just as it is a part of the HL games) but should not be the crux.

.. and get that damn portal gun outdoors! Some npc interaction would be nice too.

SpaceParanoids @ Jun 20th 2009 12:44AM

The "upcoming" concert DVD/CD actually came out a month ago.

Everyone should buy it. The music is amazing, and it's incredibly well produced.

holyice7 @ Jun 20th 2009 1:00AM

You guys managed to write up a whole article about someone maybe not knowing something?

Awesome.

eric f. @ Jun 22nd 2009 7:48AM

A news article to inform us that there's no news.

CrashSpyro123 @ Jun 20th 2009 1:08AM

There needs to be more Jonathan Coulton songs on Rock Band.

Sir Buzz Killington( The Artist formerly known as Jakka) @ Jun 20th 2009 5:40AM

I love Portal just like the next guy, but does it really need a sequel? The first one was an excellent 'surprise' game that no-one expected to turn out decent and when it finally came out, the internet blew up. But I'm pretty certain most of the loose end were tied up at the end of the first game and there isn't much material to make a sequel off. Fair enough, I wouldn't mind one, but I'm worried it'll be so hyped there'll be no way for it to meet all the expectations.

finalfantasyprotagonist @ Jun 20th 2009 8:01PM

Are you kidding me? Don't you want to know more about the people who made aperture science? How about its relation to Black Mesa? And that severe cake obsession? There are soooo many loose ends to tie up.

It may not live up to your expectations, but I'll love it as long as it has as much puzzle solving as the first one.