As the malevolent artificial intelligence from the beloved Portal games once explained to the protagonist, Chell, "This next test involves turrets. You remember them, right? They're the pale, spherical things that are full of bullets. Oh wait, that's you in five seconds. Good luck."
Yes, turrets. The red-eyed robotic guns of Portal are both loved and loathed. They are so shiny! And their sing-song voices are so sweet! And yet ... there are the bullets to consider. So many bullets.
Remember when Cave Johnson made the military-grade weapons available to consumers for "Portal 2"? Yeeeah, that seemed like a good idea. And now these digital killers have been brought to real life. Yes real life. Which seems like a very bad idea indeed.
So bad, it's good. The folks at Weta Workshop — that's the special effects company that has helped make the "Lord of the Rings" movies pop — created a working Portal turret especially for Valve. Check out the unboxing and demonstration here:
Sure, OK. This turret doesn't use real bullets. But if GLaDOS has anything to say about it, I'm sure it's only a matter of time.
Winda Benedetti writes about video games for NBC News. You can follow her tweets about games and other things on Twitter here @WindaBenedetti, and you can follow her on Google+. Meanwhile, be sure to check out the IN-GAME FACEBOOK PAGE to discuss the day's gaming news and reviews.