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Story by Brenna Hillier

Tue, Apr 19, 2011 | 09:15 BST

No more potatoes: Portal 2 available right now on Steam

The countdown is complete. Portal 2 for PC and Mac is available right now on Steam.

Valve’s follow-up to the breakaway hit original was due on April 19, but for the last three weeks, the developer has played a deep AR Game.

A long trail of clues hidden in the Potato Sack indie game bundle culminated in a request from GLaDOS herself to lend CPU cycles to her reboot systems.

By clocking up enough hours in thirteen different games, players let the AI out of the bag a few hours early – worldwide.

There is some speculation that the PotatoFool’s AR Game may continue, leading up to an Half-Life-related announcement, perhaps at E3.

Bonus content
Ten hours’ grace for US players (and a little extra for international markets) might be reward enough in itself, but for the naysayers, there’s more.

Those who found all thirty-six potatoes during the AR game have been rewarded with a golden potato – and a free copy of the entire Valve Pack on Steam, which includes Portal 2 itself.

Big Download reports that an interactive trailer for J.J. Abrams upcoming flick Super 8 is available from the game’s Extras menu.

Retail response
Valve’s little bonus for PC and Mac gamers didn’t go unnoticed by console-centric retailers.

In Australia and New Zealand, where a physical retail release is not scheduled until April 21, the street date has ben broken by major chains and speciality shops including EB Games and GAME – presumably to avoid sales lost to those giving in to the temptation of a quick digital copy.