List of publications in the Half-Life and Portal universe
This page contains a list of publications featured in the Half-Life and Portal series: books, magazines, and newspapers. Most are fictional, although a handful are references or Easter eggs alluding to real world publications. Real world publications are denoted with the Valve logo (
).
Half-Life series[edit]
Pre-release and cut content[edit]
Books[edit]
Nineteen Eighty-Four [edit]
The real world book by George Orwell is among the trash in the Half-Life 2 texture garbage001a_01.vtf, but remains unused in the final game. The texture is based on the New American Library edition published in 1981.
Cut texture displaying the front and back covers and spine.
Real world reference.
The Third Force [edit]
A real world book by Marc Laidlaw, cut from Half-Life. The texture is based on the spine of the Scribner Paperback Fiction edition published in 1996.
The Third Force: A Novel of Gadget, spine.
Real world reference.
Newspapers[edit]
Local News [edit]
Appears on a junk newspaper model in the Half-Life 2 leak. The model is based on the Local News section of the February 22, 2000 issue of the South King County edition of The Seattle Times. The headline reads "Dome down date: March 19 or 26", which refers to the demolition of the Kingdome, located in Seattle (the city near where Valve is headquartered), on March 26, 2000. Another article is titled "Wiping away health-care reform of '93". The rest of the texture is mostly illegible.
Local News, front page.
The Seattle Times, real world reference.
Retail[edit]
Books[edit]
Black Mesa White Lies[edit]
Written by Dr. Jonas Allard and subtitled "The Occult Secrets at the Heart of the World's Most Secretive Research Facility." The front cover features an Eye of Providence, with the eyeball replaced with the Black Mesa logo, depicted between the title of the book and a picture of a mesa.
The back cover reads:
"BLACK MESA...So secretive that all employees must undergo rigorous background checks.
So self-sufficient it has its own sanitation departments and hydro-electric power generator.
Is BMRF an innocent facility engaged in the pursuit of science? Or the invocation of Babylonian prophecy merging quantum and occult math to open an interdimensional portal between our world and another? And once the portal is opened...
...What will come through the other side?
Dr. Jonas Allard is a renowned paranormal researcher, and the author of CERN: Gateway to Babylon."
A copy of this book can be found in the Tanker Yard during the Revelations chapter of Half-Life: Alyx, in the same building the Scientist can be glimpsed. It's located in a small hideout, on a makeshift bed under a pile of other books.
Black Mesa White Lies's model is a reskinned version of the From Here to There in Under a Second model. The barcode appears to be taken from a brand of floppy disks.[1] Its author also appears on a book titled The Singular Mind in Firewatch, the developers of which, Campo Santo, also worked on Half-Life: Alyx.
Black Mesa White Lies, front cover.
Ditto, back cover.
From Here to There in Under a Second[edit]
A book written by Dr. Isaac Kleiner.
The back cover reveals the contents of the book and reads:
"In From Here to There in Under a Second, Dr. Isaac Kleiner brings a new understanding, as well as a compelling thesis, to a subject long considered to be the stuff of science fiction: teleportation. Taking us through the history of this burgeoning and controversial new field in theoretical physics, Kleiner seeks to explain the unexplainable in this thorough, and often thrilling, peek into a potentially transformational new addition to humanity's future.Praise For From Here to There in Under a Second
Kleiner brings darity and excitement to the realm of the impossible. -Popular Scientist
Dr. Isaac Kleiner is an emeritus faculty member at the MIT Center for Theoretical Physics. He has earned renown for his pioneering contributions to the emerging field of quantum teleportation."
A copy of this book first appears on a bookshelf among other books in Eli's Lab during the Black Mesa East chapter in Half-Life 2. It reappears in Half-Life: Alyx as a detailed model that can be found on the starting balcony in Alyx's Hideout during the Entanglement chapter.
The Alyx asset was modeled and textured by Olly Moss, based on a photo of a deteriorated book.[2]
From Here to There in Under a Second, front cover.
Ditto, back cover.
Barney Calhoun's locker[edit]
Calhoun's locker in the Area 3 Security Facilities seen during the Insecurity chapter of Half-Life: Blue Shift includes two books:
- The Truth About Aliens by RH.
- Government Conspiracies, with an illegible author and publisher logo.
The Truth About Aliens also appears in Half-Life: Decay, where it can be found in Gordon Freeman's room in the Level 3 Dormitories during the Domestic Violence mission.
Spines of both books.
In Calhoun's locker.
The Truth About Aliens in Freeman's room.
Eli's Lab bookshelf[edit]
The bookshelf in Eli Vance's lab seen during the Black Mesa East chapter in Half-Life 2 features a number of books, the following titles of which are legible:
- The Meaning of Lost and Mismatched Socks , a real world book "edited and illustrated" by Harry S. Robins and "written" by "Dr. Perditus Pedale, M.D., Ph.D." (Harry S. Robins under a pseudonym),[3] published on June 11, 2004.
- Calabi-Yau Space
- Book apparently written in Chinese, with the last two legible characters of the title being "工学" (Engineering)
- To the Nth Dimension and Back Again
- From Here to There in Under a Second by Kleiner
- Aeronautical Robotics by William C. Wood (father of Matt Wood[4])
- The Extreme Aggrotato by Marc Laidlaw
- Strings, Quarks and Me
- Applied Dynamics
- Advanced Molecular Theory and Speculation
- The Big Book of Big Text by Dayyan Eng (brother of Dhabih Eng)
The bookshelf.
Gordon Freeman's locker[edit]
Freeman's locker in the Anomalous Materials Laboratory seen during the Anomalous Materials chapter of Half-Life includes two real world books, both by Marc Laidlaw:
- The Orchid Eater . The texture is based on the spine of the Saint Martin's Press edition published in 1994.
- The 37th Mandala . The texture is based on the spine of the Saint Martin's Press edition published in 1996.
Spines of both books.
In Freeman's locker.
The Orchid Eater, real world reference.
The 37th Mandala, real world reference.
Magazines[edit]
Popular Scientist[edit]
A copy of this magazine appears on a corkboard in Kleiner's Lab, seen during the "A Red Letter Day" and Entanglement chapters of Half-Life 2. The front cover of this issue, subtitled "NEXT LEVEL OF QUANTUM...", features a picture of a younger, full-headed brown-haired Isaac Kleiner. Popular Scientist is also mentioned on the back cover of the From Here to There in Under a Second book model seen in Half-Life: Alyx, where it is quoted praising the work of Dr. Isaac Kleiner.
Popular Scientist, front cover.
Tech Impact[edit]
A copy of this magazine appears in Russell's Lab during the Entanglement chapter of Half-Life: Alyx. The front cover of this issue, subtitled "THE MIND OF BREEN - How the right man in the right place could save us all.", features a picture of Wallace Breen. On the partially torn back cover is an advertisement for Chatka vodka. Also visible are fragments of advertisements for 3Dxp and L'orchid on the damaged back few pages.
Tech Impact, front cover.
Ditto, damaged back cover.
In Russell's Lab.
Newspapers[edit]
7 days[edit]
A Russian-language newspaper that appears in Half-Life: Alyx.
7 days, front page.
Money & (?)[edit]
Appears on a newspaper folded with The Terminal in Half-Life 2. Its full name is not visible.
Newspaper model.
The Mesa Times[edit]
Black Mesa's in-house newspaper. Scientists can be seen reading an issue throughout the start of Half-Life: Blue Shift; one whilst waiting for his laundry to be done in the Living Quarters Outbound chapter, and another sitting at a Black Mesa Transit System platform near the Area 3 Security Facilities during the Insecurity chapter. The Mesa Times's nameplate uses the Times New Roman font, created for the real world British newspaper The Times. Whilst most of the texture is illegible, it seems to include a picture of construction workers (visible top-left) on the front page, and a weather section (visible top-right) on the back page.
The Mesa Times, texture.
Recreation of The Mesa Times nameplate.
Scientist in civilian clothes reading The Mesa Times, Living Quarters Outbound.
Ditto, Insecurity.
The New York[edit]
The front page of an issue of this newspaper appears on a corkboard in Kleiner's Lab, seen during the "A Red Letter Day" and Entanglement chapters of Half-Life 2. Its name is not fully legible and only "The New Y" can be read, and is a shortened version of the real world The New York Times. The headline reads "END IS N-".
The New York, front page.
The Onion [edit]
A real world satirical digital media company and newspaper organization. Issues can be found among destroyed trash can gibs in Half-Life. The back page appears to have a picture of the Moon.
The Onion, gib.
The Terminal[edit]
A newspaper that appears in Half-Life 2 and Half-Life: Alyx.
The Terminal, front page, Half-Life 2.
Ditto, Half-Life: Alyx.
The Times[edit]
A newspaper that appears in Half-Life 2 and Half-Life: Alyx.
The Times front page on a corkboard in Eli's Lab, Half-Life 2.
Front page, Half-Life: Alyx.
Other[edit]
Several additional newspaper clippings with missing or illegible nameplates can be seen on corkboards in Kleiner's and Eli's respective labs.
Kleiner's corkboard.
Eli's corkboard.
Portal series[edit]
Books[edit]
Art Therapy: The Bennet Way[edit]
On page 7 of Lab Rat, this book can be seen amongst Doug Rattmann's strewn possessions.
Seen in the bottom-center-left of the bottom panel.
Other[edit]
The sideboard located in the waiting room of the Robot Rehabilitation and Wellness Center in Robot Repair contains books related to other Valve IPs as an Easter egg:
- Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar
- The Dota 2 comic Tales from the Secret Shop
- Team Fortress 2’s in-universe Saxton Hale comic books:
- Saxton Hale's Mail Storm
- Girl's Adventure Starring Saxton Hale
Front covers, Robot Repair.
Magazines[edit]
Mechanical Engineering World Journal[edit]
A periodical publication that awarded Aperture Science #2 among its Top 100 Applied Science Companies of 1949.
Mechanical Engineering World Journal award.
Parts Illustrated[edit]
Magazine read by P-body whilst sitting in the aforementioned waiting room. Copies of this magazine also appear on a glass coffee desk in the reception hall of the Aperture facility in Aperture Desk Job. The magazine features two QR codes which, when scanned, read "Hello :)" and "bad coffee" respectively. The binary on the front covers appears to translate into nonsense.
Being read by P-body.
Front covers, Aperture Desk Job.
Newspapers[edit]
The UP Pioneer Press[edit]
Newspaper based in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, USA, where Aperture Science is headquartered. The front page of the issue dated January 6, 1944 is displayed in the Testing Lounge of the 1950s levels of Test Shaft 09 of the Aperture Science Enrichment Center. It reports the purchase of a salt mine by Cave Johnson, an entrepreneur local to the Upper Peninsula who is "to Bring Science, Industry to Upper Michigan". Under a picture of the mine, Johnson is quoted "The Future is Here, and it's Under the Earth's Crust".
The UP Pioneer Press, front page.
Framed in an award case in the Testing Lounge.
Other[edit]
Newspapers[edit]
Courier Times[edit]
Appears in the Portal 2 Super 8 Interactive Teaser in the train car at the beginning of the map. Its name is not fully legible and only "OURIER TIME" can be read. The featured Morning Edition issue is dated June ?, 1979 and mentions the Ixtoc I oil spill.
Courier Times, texture.
References[edit]
- ↑ Imation 3.5IN 1.40MB Pre-FMT Mac 10-Pack on Barcode Lookup
- ↑
Olly Moss's tweet on Twitter (April 29, 2020)
- ↑ FWD from Dr. Hal: When Carnosaurs Consume Cowhands! (March 23, 2005)
- ↑ Matt Wood's tweet on Twitter (June 13, 2019)
