Valve's Portal is free for PC and Mac gamers until May 24th!

[MusicallyInspired]

http://store.steampowered.com/freeportal/

Go get it now if you don't own it! This isn't a temporary deal. It is a temporary offer, but once you buy it (for free) you own it. Even after the due date is passed. Go and get it now even if you're computer can't play it! Someday maybe you'll get a good enough computer so you can play it and you'll thank your lucky stars that you managed to take advantage of this incredible deal while it was free!

Those of you who don't know what Portal is....you're beyond help.

[AndreaDraco]

Do we have to have Steam to download and play the game?

[MusicallyInspired]

Of course.

[DeadPoolX]

This is really cool! I'll have to tell my brother about this.

I bought my copy a long time ago (it was only $20, but free is always better!), so I don't need it, but Maia's been interested in getting it. She originally played and beat Portal on my account.

Even if you have the game disc (like I do), you still need Steam in order to play it. All of Valve's games are like and even some non-Valve games require Steam too.

If you're really concerned about privacy, limit what information people can see on your account and/or play in offline mode. In order to play in offline mode, you must first access the game at least once while in Steam's normal online mode. After that, you can play offline as much as you want.

[Tawmis]

Not to mention, I just set up a steam account and all they asked for was my email and a password. No additional info.

Of course everyone and their mother is doing this now so it's taking FOREVER to download Portal.

[Maiandra]

Woohoo!!! Just the other day I was saying to DPX that I wanted my own copy of Portal! Thanks for posting this, MI!!

I would highly recommend to everyone here who hasn't already tried Portal, that they get take advantage of this. Don't let the fact that it uses a FPS engine deceive you. The only shooting you do is using the Portal gun, which opens portals that you can travel through. It's mostly brain work with some coordination required, but no combat. Besides, it's free and it has a great darkly quirky environment and antagonist.

You do have to download Steam, but it's pretty much the same system that is used by Big Fish games and Telltale Games, except on a much larger scale. Once you initially log in, you can just play in offline mode for offline games like Portal, if you wish.

I love Valve!

What are you waiting for? Go!

[MusicallyInspired]

No problem, guys. But Valve isn't through yet! More big news! Steam has finally been ported to Linux! There are already a few already Linux-ported games supported such as Unreal Tournament 2004 and a few id Software titles. The first Valve games to launch on Linux will be HL2, Counter-Strike Source, and Team Fortress 2.

[AndreaDraco]

OK, I'm convinced. I'll get Steam and download Portal.

[Datadog]

Mine!

[MusicallyInspired]

The free Portal offer is officially over. My congratulations to those who took advantage of the deal and my sympathies for those who didn't. Better luck next time.

[Maiandra]

I played through it already. They changed the ending slightly to set it up for the sequel that's coming out at the end of the year!

[AndreaDraco]

OK, I'm playing the game.

OK, OK... It's a masterpiece.

There's only one thing I don't like, and that is the fact the Portal's story is connected to the Half-Life series, which I haven't played (actually I played part of the first game and hated it).

Umpf.

[DeadPoolX]

Portal's story is only very loosely connected to the HL series. There's no mention of Gordon Freeman or when Portal takes place. Black Mesa does make an appearance, but the overall importance it has to the game is minimal at best.

Portal is meant to work as a stand-alone game. Prior knowledge of the HL world is completely unnecessary to understand and enjoy the game.

Oh and as far as the HL games are concerned... try Half-Life 2 if you can get it cheap. The last sale on Steam had it for a few bucks or so. HL2 is superior to HL1 in every way imaginable.

The thing a lot of people forget about HL1 is it was revolutionary for the FPS genre at the time. Before HL1, FPS games were mostly level-based with virtually no story at all. Even items simply "floated" in midair for the player to grab before HL1.

HL1 changed the way FPS games were made and played. Now it's commonplace to see FPS titles with storylines and involved game mechanics. That's a huge difference from Wolfenstein 3D or Doom.

[AndreaDraco]

I know that it was revolutionary, and it was actually very good, until that dreadful alien world: that's when I stopped playing, when the story, at least for me, became an incoherent hotchpotch.

As for Half-Life 2, I'm usually a fan of continuity, so if I am to play it, I would like to play and finish HL first (even if I vaguely remember the ending from when I saw it during my cousin's husband playthrough).

Anyway, I didn't think I would have liked Portal. I was wrong. The game is perhaps the first game I've played in a very long time that I'd define revolutionary.

[DeadPoolX]

Anyway, I didn't think I would have liked Portal. I was wrong. The game is perhaps the first game I've played in a very long time that I'd define revolutionary.

I agree. I really hope the sequel is as good (or even better) than the first one and that other developers take notice.