Nvidia is hosting its GeForce Beyond presentation today where CEO Jensen Huang confirmed the RTX 40-series of graphics cards starting with the RTX 4090 set to arrive later in October for $1,599. He also confirmed the existence of the RTX 4080 in both 12 GB and 16 GB versions (with the latter priced at $1,199), and both third-gen ray tracing and DLSS 3.0 capable of boosting game framerates between two to four times.
And to show it all off, he also revealed a remastered version of 2007’s Portal that will include ray tracing for the first time.
Called Portal RTX, it’s still the same Portal you know and love, but this time it’s darker and glowier than ever before. Ray tracing adds life-accurate light refraction and reflection, making any single light source capable of lighting up an entire room in ways that’ll be more realistic than previous rasterized light sources. It’s becoming the new gold standard in video game lighting and even has people excited enough to add the technology to older games via mods.
In the footage revealed at GeForce Beyond, you can see how the change in lighting has vastly altered the look and feel of Portal. Metal panels reflect the Portal's blue and orange glow, and the enormous panels denoting which testing chamber you're in actually only partially light up the room. Portal veterans may have to dig deep to remember the locations of puzzle components depending on the way the light reflects.
The best part of Portal RTX is we won't have to wait long to experience it. According to Jensen, Portal RTX arrives in November as a free update to all existing Portal owners on PC (sorry, Switch Portal players).
Some fans might have been disappointed that Nvidia didn't announce Portal 3, and they wouldn't be alone. GLaDOS actor Ellen McLain recently asked fans to write in and tell Valve to make Portal 3, saying, "Ellen wants to do a Portal 3." In the same podcast, she also noted how Valve enjoyed the character so much that they brought McLain in from the start of Portal 2's development to provide the voice of GLaDOS without the need for placeholder voice lines.