This is pretty much the culmination of the Portal 2 ARG, or at least a massive leap in its presence among gamers. Valve has come right out and said that the Potato Bundle indie games will help reboot GladOS and launch Portal 2 early… if enough gamers play them. At the same time. Well, if nothing else, it’s an excuse to play more Super Meat Boy and Defense Grid.

As usual, Valve is being mysterious and weird, but the Steam store prominently shows a whole list of the Potato Bundle games, with the number of people currently playing. Something will supposedly happen if all those meters fill up. The question is, what, and when, and how?

Either way, Portal 2 comes out on Tuesday, so… this really is kind of a lot of indie game-playing work for just a few dozen hours’ head start on the game. Now, if you don’t mind me, I have to fight off aliens with my many towers.