Geoff Keighley’s The Final Hours of Portal 2 Raises the Bar for Video Game Journalism

Released for iPad yesterday, The Final Hours of Portal 2 is an inside look into one of gaming’s most loved developers, Valve. Told by GTTV frontman Geoff Keighley, The Final Hours begins at Portal 2 writer Erik Wolpaw’s house in the early hours of a February morning and takes us on an engrossing journey through the development and birth of Portal and its highly anticipated sequel, Portal 2.

The Final Hours of Portal 2 takes you deep within the top-secret offices of Valve, creators of Half-Life, for an unvarnished look at the creative process behind the new video game Portal 2. Journalist Geoff Keighley was granted unprecedented “fly on the wall” access to Valve over the past three years to create this staggering 15,000 word multimedia experience. From the hush-hush Portal prequel that was shelved to the last minute scramble to complete the game’s story, The Final Hours of Portal 2 is a gripping and dramatic story brought to life by exclusive photos, videos, interviews, interactive experiences, and other surprises.

While the piece (a fantastic bit of journalism might I add) could stand alone on Keighley’s blog, it’s the sheer quality of the app, designed by the brilliant minds at Joe Zeff Design, that makes the reading experience such an enjoyable and immersive experience. Following the likes of Wired and The Daily on the iPad, The Final Hours not only tells a tale with words but imagery, video, and interaction that brings the story to life across the screen — dare I say more so than anything I’ve seen on the iPad to date.

Geoff already earned my respect after the Mass Effect fiasco, though at times (and I’m guilty of this) it’s easy to forget the guy’s a hardcore gamer. Truth is, he does it for the love, just like a lot of us, and for that I have nothing but respect for the man, especially when he pumps out content of this quality.

Put simply, The Final Hours is a great showpiece for the iPad. So even if you’re not a fan of the game, I’d recommend giving it a look anyway. After all, this is the space in which the iPad shines so well in.

You can grab The Final Hours of Portal 2 for the small price of £1.19/$1.99 in the App Store now. You can also check out a full list of what the app includes on the app’s official website. It’s worth every penny if you ask me!

Note: I would hold off reading it if you’ve yet to finish Portal 2 due to spoilers. If you have finished it though I’d highly recommend The Final Hours. I’d even go as far as to call it the perfect accompanying piece to Portal 2 — you can go ahead and quote me on that.