A sequel to Valve’s Portal has been announced – but not by Valve. Portal Prelude comes from a three-man dev team that have been working on an unofficial prequel to The Orange Box hit since January. It’s a bigger game that harks back to a pre-GlaDOS era, it’s coming very soon (end of September/October time) and best of all, it’s completely free! All you need to play it is Steam and the original Portal game. Check it out here.

The Novint Falcon is a novel user interface that functions as a mouse, but with the added bonus of 3D functionality and force feedback. Using three motorized arms connected to a ball held in player’s hands, the Falcon has been fighting players for the last year in the States, picking up gusto as a viable gaming peripheral. Things are picking up steam too, since Valve will now support the Falcon with a healthy selection of its games, including The Orange Box, Counter-Strike: Source, the Half-Life 2 series, Team Fortress 2, Portal and Left 4 Dead.

It must be because of how similar the Falcon’s look to something Aperture Science would make. The resemblance is uncanny…perhaps it was fate.

Valve’s ‘head paunch-o’ Gabe Newell said, “Recently we’ve seen how new interfaces have changed gaming. The Falcon adds a new level of interaction for PC gaming, adding compelling force feedback while maintaining controls as accurate as a mouse, and now the millions of Steam gamers will have the chance to play, feeling this new type of experience.”