PORTAL - Free PC Game until 24th May.....Usually £17.00

[SOD'EM]

Portal is FREE!

 

 

 

Enjoy Peeps:).

[Tezcatlipoca]

I would also chip in and say that Portal is one of the best, most original puzzle games to have been developed in recent years. If you have yet to experience the delight that is Portal, I advise you to do so with all speed.

 

Still not sure? There is a 2D Flash version HERE. Whilst this does not come close to matching the wit, style and humour of the actual game, it gives you an idea as to the game mechanics and concept of puzzle solving with portals.

[sequenci]

Awesome, it's free on the Mac too.

 

Downloading....

 

[if Tez says it's good, it's good]

[Bookworm]

If Tez sez so, it's good enough for me too. (which doesn't extend to giving up meat, I hasten to say)

 

D/loading.

[Tezcatlipoca]

Oh, you guys!

 

Actually, I'd be curious to see what you think of it. It is a first-person perspective game, which I know some people don't get on with so well, but it's definitely worth a look even if that's not normally your thing.

 

The puzzles are solidly written and the dark humour throughout is enormous fun. Portal's only real problem is that it's so damn short (you can comfortably do the whole thing in an hour and a half).

[Bookworm]

I don't even KNOW what "first-person perspective game" MEANS!!!

[sequenci]

I'll give it a whirl later, I need to update my OS. I had the blue screen of death on my laptop and had to reinstall. Now I need to upgrade to Snowleopard but cannae find the disc. grrr.

[Tezcatlipoca]

I don't even KNOW what "first-person perspective game" MEANS!!!

 

You control your player from their viewpoint; that is, you are effectively looking through their eyes, and use the mouse to look around and the keyboard to move and execute other commands.

 

Given the freedom of movement in three-dimensional space, and the sheer amount of data that has to be processed to render that space, first person games usually require fairly hefty system resources to run.

Fortunately, in keeping with most Valve products, Portal is hugely optimised, so it can run on what is by today's standards is a very modest computer.

 

An interesting side-point to all this, and a good illustration of the amount of thought and work Valve put into their games, is the viral marketing they did a few months ago:

 

Essentially, an update was released for Portal (a game which was by then over two years old) that included a new achievement to acquire. No other information was given or a reason for this mysterious update.

I won't provide spoilers, but that achievement led to multiple situations in the game that started spurting out fragments of Morse Code as well as other seemingly meaningless audio files of hiss.

 

Once the gamer took all of those Morse fragments, put them together then deciphered them, they received a some telling information about an aspect of the game. The hiss was a mystery for days until some people found SSTV image data hidden within the sound files themselves; images which gave grainy CCTV camera shots of what appeared to be the game's setting.

By this point, Twitter and Facebook had erupted in activity as hundreds of thousands of gamers, geeks and other interested parties passed information back and forth and began to take apart other files in a hunt for more hidden information.

 

It was then discovered that some of the images pulled from the audio files appeared to give a series of numerical fragments. People worked on this and eventually pieced together an encoded number string that, when deciphered, appeared to be a US telephone number with a dialling code that matched the location where Valve have their headquarters. The number was dialled and it was found to be an old 1990s style BBS (Bulletin Board System) number. Old dialup modems were dusted off and a swarm of people connected to the number.

They were met with an authentication request for a username and password, which were eventually worked out from a combination of the SSTV images and from a certain website that Valve had secretly setup.

Once in, people began to get a stream of more CCTV images, plus what seemed to be email fragments between various employees at the facility where the Portal game takes place, hinting at certain things.

Not long afterwards, the BBS login message changed and appeared to give hints at something about to happen, and the version number 3.11.

 

On the 11th of March (3.11), Gabe Newell, the co-founder of Valve, was due to pick up a Pioneer award at The 2010 Game Developers Choice Awards in San Francisco. Gabe accepted his award and gave his speech, but as he came to a close, the huge video screen behind him 'crashed' with a classic Blue Screen of Death, giving further information on aspects of Portal, together with new cyptic data for people to decode. The data contained in it has already been found to be hexadecimal EBCDIC code, which, when translated, gives the message 'SUSPENDUNTILEEE'.

 

Basically the entire alternate-reality puzzle, that started with a tiny and mysterious update from the developer to a two year old game and had its latest update with a 'crash' of the video screen behind Gabe Newell during his award acceptance, has been crafted as an official announcement of a sequal to Portal, and the general consensus is that the latest deciphered messges from the 'crash' screen is a reference to the E3 computer conference in June, where Valve are rumoured to be showing off the Portal sequal for the first time.

 

Now that is the kind of obsessive attention to detail that makes Valve one of the top game developers today.

Edited May 20, 2010 by Tezcatlipoca

[SOD'EM]

Well I didn't know that:-|.

 

I just played it for the first time, and it is very well developed. I found it a bit hard to get used to at first, but once you get the gist of it, it is really very addictive. I can see myself playing this for quite some time.

 

ps. As you all know, I am a rep whore. So feel free to travel through a portal to the techy forum and rep one of my posts:D.

[SOD'EM]

I was quite proud of myself getting to level 15 in a more than reasonable time. And then I was hit by a brick wall. I must be tired because I can't for the life of me get past that level:mad:. I've been on it for an hour now.

 

Bed Time. I'll try again tomorrow.

[mazbck]

OMG my DH has been playing this all night!!!

 

It makes a change from Eve on line or COD MW2.

 

I had to bribe him with homemade shortbread to water the garden for me earlier LOL:D

[mazbck]

In fact Ive just had to nag and nag him thats its almost 1am and he leaves the house at 7am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Tezcatlipoca]

I was quite proud of myself getting to level 15 in a more than reasonable time. And then I was hit by a brick wall.

 

Hehe...as I recall 15 requires quite a lot of very nifty timing.

 

You think that's tough? Wait until the later levels...

Edited May 21, 2010 by Tezcatlipoca

[SOD'EM]

I think the trick is to create another portal as you are falling, but the timing and aiming of the gun while you are moving needs to be perfect.

[Tezcatlipoca]

That is indeed the trick, and one you're going to have to master for some of the later puzzles.

 

Actually, it's not that hard; the trick is timing, not aiming. When you're flying through the air, just aim downward and fire your next portal at literally the last second before you hit the floor. Once you get the timing sorted, you can make these movements with ease.

 

Actually, it's worth playing the game again when you've finished with the developer's commentary on. It's not only an interesting insight into the game itself, but reveals just how much intense work goes on behind the scenes of games like Portal.

[pompeyfaith]

downloaded this last night when i went to bed will have a go this evening must admit games have not been my thing due to the spasticity in my right fingers but i will find a way around it PF

[Tezcatlipoca]

Did you pass level 15 in the end, SOD'EM..?

[SOD'EM]

Did you pass level 15 in the end, SOD'EM..?

 

 

 

I must shamefully admit I cheated and followed the walkthrough on YouTube:(.

 

I promise I won't do it again though:cool:.

[Bookworm]

My modem died at 92% d/l and was on dongle, so haven't tried it yet!

[babybear39]

Would you recommend it for me Tez?

[locutus]

Would you recommend it for me Tez?

2 late I think BB was only free until 24th may I believe

[SOD'EM]

It looks like you can only get a free demo now:(.

[babybear39]

No worries...I was an 'ace' with 'tomb raider'. I did my duty, bleh, blah, blah...

[Bookworm]

for queen and country?

[babybear39]

No. The bay, scene, my German friend and me ****ed as troopers and then some... What? We have German friends? Yes, they can feed ducks like the best...