Portal disgorges new info

New details emerging from Valve's puzzle venture Portal have revealed that that the game's storyline is set in the Half-Life 2 world.

According to a report on 1up, the team beavering away on Portal are in cahoots with Half-Life plot scribe Marc Laidlaw to ensure it the storyline not only slots into the overall HL story arc but also develops the universe where possible.

A new, key female character - presumably the origin of the disembodied voice heard in the Portal trailers - is to be introduced too, level designer Kim Swift explaining that "The origins of this character will be clear... eventually". Discussing Portal in broader terms, Swift also cryptically said that, "Kind of like the rest of the Half-Life games, as you play through it, it should give you some answers as to who you are, but at the same time it raises more questions".