Except that article seems more like whining than a proper article.

Just like a normal Kotaku article.

Gawker readership is an unhealthy condition which 32% of males suffer from. It affects the brain, increasing Stupid Levels, similar to readership of redtop tabloid newspapers.

Oh I am very sure a lot of people will see it like that, either because of Valve fanboy disease or because of ambivalence. It rings very true for me though. Valve games have always launched at midnight but this one was announced for 7AM just so they could do this little potato sack thing. That's rather disingenuous if you ask me, and rather crass. Add to that the tacky in-game item store and it's kind of a double foul-up.

I'll still love the game though, I am sure, but I hope this puts a dent in saint Valve's reputation for being the company that cares. Valve is about making lots of money, same as any other company.
Har har you are better than other people look down on them in pity you win!

Apparently it also affects levels of arrogance.

Which I don't give a fuck about since no real life friend uses Steam... or even purchases games. ;)
Enjoy: http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/portal-2/user-reviews

There are a lot of Gogers who own Portal 2. Do you not love us?

looks like rave reviews from anti valve fans aka game for lame windows players i bet 90% of those who gave 0's are members of gfwl or xbox or the losers who got banned by VAC
proof just open their profiles
examples
http://www.metacritic.com/user/Luthien
http://www.metacritic.com/user/ryanfire
just 1 review and its portal 2 lol very nice

All those metacritic reviews look incredibly suspicious. All the same 'omg $80DLC!' arguments for first day (even though it's all cosmetics, not gameplay). And all 0's? wut? So much for objective game reviews.

Shortness of the campaign? fair argument, not worth a 0 by any means, certainly don't think 'uncreative' is anything to affix to a game like Portal 2.

Internet at its best... sigh...

just open their profile and you shall see the truth they mostly hand out 0 for hated developers,games etc
10 for liked games, developers etc

Our super private investigator of the gaming scene - John Walker - takes on another debunk over at RPS, this time aimed towards the nonsensical user reviews being posted over at Metacritic. I suggest you all read it.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/04/19/lets-address-some-portal-2-nonsense/#more-57468

Me, I'm playing Portal 2; have come to the fourth chapter so far, and am enjoying it tremendously!

Edit:

Oh, one (guaranteed spoiler free) hint. If you ever get stuck, remember the number one rule in any great adventure/puzzle game: If you don't get the right answer, you are asking the wrong question. Best way forward is to ask differently.

Sure, damn them for coming up with a way to support the independent community! And just so you know, every fucking developer in that pack was in on it, too. So it's not just "glorious" Valve you're insulting; Team Meat, Gaijin Games, Frictional Games, and Dejoban Games are all right in my book.

And, seriously, people? They're just selling skins. It's not like they're holding back levels or anything useful for DLC.

Most people here probably know by now that I pretty much despise Valve as a company. But there's no denying that when they truly put their minds to something they know how to do (i.e., making games), they do it well. And Portal 2 is a shining example of is.

Not sure if I'll ever play the co-op campaign given my aversion to multiplayer, but who knows, maybe I'll change my mind once I finish the solo campaign.

You question the intelligence of anyone visiting a very popular website and I'M the arrogant one?

Okay then.
I have very little problem with either thing, my only point is that if EA or Activision did these things people would crucify them everywhere. Because it is Valve it's AWESOME DUDE. EA give away a whole game for nothing and people call it a dirty marketing ploy. Valve make up a pretend early release to sell a $40 pack of indie games and people call it awesome.

I have a very low annoyance threshold when it comes to hypocrisy. I am tired of "DRM sucks (unless Valve do it)!" "Day one DLC sucks (unless Valve do it)!" "An account ban meaning you lose your games sucks (unless Valve do it)!" "Marketing schemes suck (unless Valve do it)!" "Buying items for use in multiplayer sucks (unless Valve do it)!" And on, and on, and on...

If Valve raised prices to $60, required you to be online every time you launch a game, started charging for maps or whatever else people hate about other companies and games people would accept that too. I just hate the double standard.

Some things I don't agree with in here.

A) Potato pack was on sale *long* before the countdown thing was there. By the time the countdown thing was visible at BEST it could've saved like what, 3 days? What idiot buys a pack of games for that?
B) Personal Disagreement but I think I can easily be 'DRM sucks' and support valve at the same time. Limited activations and always online drm are stuff that annoys me. There being a service I log into to use my games, or even the one time DRM at the start of a game (still worse than Steam) is stuff that's far more reasonable at least.
C) Day one DLC sucks, I agree with that. However Portal 2 doesn't have day 1 DLC, not in my definition of it at least. DLC to me is playable content that's cut out of the game. Not Cosmetic items like hats and skins for co-op play which is what's in the portal store.