Turrets

The Apture Science Sentry Gun is quite cute.  Apart from the fact that it wants you dead they always sound rather sweet.  They are strangely polite at all times. They idle, sleep, scan, and shoot.  They are the only other voice in the game that you hear aside from GLaDOS. 

They also dance sometimes.

GLaDOS

GLaDOS stands for Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System.  She is a sentient computer.  It was on the day that she was first activated (which happened to coinside with the first Aperture Science bring your daughter to work day) that GLaDOS became self aware and locked down the facility.  The survivors trapped inside the Aperture Science facility made GLaDOS angry and she began to flood the enrichment center with a deadly neurotoxin.  The survivors fitted GLaDOS with a Morality core which quelled her rage.  Glados continued to test the survivors until all that was left was Chell. 

GLaDOS begins to show instability as you travel throughout the game.  She slowly becomes more and more emotional.  When Chell outsmarts GLaDOS by jumping off the platform before she gets burned alive that’s when GLaDOS’s true nature begins to be truly revealed. 

At the end of the game though it may seem that GLaDOS is destroyed it is really only a part of her that is destroyed.  It is there that the song Still Alive picks up.

Chell

Chell is your silent protagonist.  She wakes up in the “relaxation vault” with new attachments to her legs.  These things are called Advanced Knee Replacements.  They help you catch yourself after you fall from a high height.  It is not known where Chell came from or what she will do later in the games or what might be reviled.  We only know to take what GLaDOS says about her with a grain of salt since GLaDOS does not seem to want Chell to live.

Chell
Biographical information
Homeworld	Earth
Function(s) / Belongings
Rank / Occupation	Test Subject
Weapons	Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device
Jewel(s)	Probably wore earrings
Physical description
Species	Human
Gender	Female
Hair color	Black turning grey
Eye color	Davy's grey
Cybernetics	Advanced Knee Replacement
Chronological and political information
Era(s)	Portal Portal 2
Affiliation	Aperture Science
Game information
Voiced by	Mary Kae Irvin (female Citizen sounds are reused when she is hurt)
Modeled over	Alésia Glidewell[1]
Designer(s)	N/A (Portal) Matt Charlesworth (Portal 2)[2]
Entity / spawn codes	N/A

Later Games

About a year after portal was released a game called Spectrobes: Beyond The Portals was released.  Though I have never played this game the reviews seem to suggest that is game is like a sci-fi version of Pokémon with portals.  Judging the cover art you can almost feel were they got some of their inspiration from.  There seems to be a blue and red portal in this game too.

Also created in 2008 was Portal: The Flash Version.  This enticed Valve to release on Xbox Live the Portal: Still Alive version of the game.  This game includes 14 new challenges and achievements in the game.  The game was received positively in the Live community.  The flash version is in a 2D setting and can sometimes feel strange to those who are so used to playing the original game.  Portal: The Flash Version can be found here.

Nabacular Drop

Nabacular Drop is not the best game in existence but it was a very good foundation for the game portal.  It is about Princess “No Knees” (she cannot jump) and how she was kidnapped by a demon and trapped in a mountain.  The creature Wally lives in this mountain.  He is upset that the demon has moved into his mountain and wants to help the princess escape.  Wally is what creates the portals in the game.  There are only five levels and they glitch out often.  It was this game though that Valve saw and hired the team of students who made the game on the spot.  

You can download the game here.

The Cake Is A Lie

The cake is constantly talked about as you go through the game.  GLaDOS refers to it throughout the levels and it is even mentioned on the walls of some of the levels.  If you find mention of the cake on a wall, it is always the same “the cake is a lie”.  

GLaDOS is not the only one to mention the cake.  There is a cake sphere that falls out of her that repeats the recipe over and over.  You may also find the recipe hidden in the computer screen script.  The only time you ever see the cake is at the end of the credits. GLaDOS also sings about the cake in end song Still Alive. 

This is not the first game that you are ever lied to about cake.  In Super Mario 64 Princess Peach invites Mario over for some cake.  After Mario saves Peach at the very end of the credits you finally see the cake.  

Apparently when the game developers were coming up with Portal they sat down to come up with an idea for the point of finishing the game.  They all sat there silent for about 15 minutes till one person said "Everybody likes cake".

"The experiment is nearing its conclusion. The Enrichment Center is required to remind you that you will be baked, and then there will be cake."

Valve Merchandise

Several months after Portal came out they finally started to come out with some merchandise.  There was a coffee mug, a t-shirt, some stickers, and a parking decal for your car.  

It was not till almost a year after the game came out that there were finally plush Weighted Companion Cubes, they even came out with a dice version for the car.  

Still for some reason Valve has not exploded with merchandise for Portal.  There are only seven different shirts, a mug, a plushie, and a bunch of decals, and a few posters.  

I commend Valve for not starting a flood of merchandise.  They never anticipated the popularity of Portal but they are expecting it with Portal 2.  They already have some t-shirts out and some of the Portal merchandise is on sale in preparation for the new games arrival.