Portal is Free to Download til Sept 20 for Mac OS X & Windows… in Honor of Education
Just in time for some weekend fun, you can download the wildly popular physics-puzzle-shooter game Portal for free from Steam until September 20.
Download Portal from Steam by going here and clicking the big green “Install Game” button
Portal runs in both Mac OS X and Windows, and once it’s in your Steam account you can download it on other machines if you want.
Here’s the interesting part: the game is offered as a free download until September 20, 2011 as part of the “Learning with Portals” program, where some schools are using the popular video game to help teach physics and critical thinking skills. How cool is that? This blurb from their website explains further:
Today, innovative educators are finding ways to incorporate Portalā¢ and Portal 2 into their classroomsāhelping teach physics and critical-thinking skills. Itās eye-opening to see how video games can be used in amazing and unexpected ways to help educate our next generation.
One of the biggest challenges in teaching science, technology, engineering, and math is capturing the studentsā imaginations long enough for them to see all of the possibilities that lie ahead.
Using interactive tools like the Portal series to draw them in makes physics, math, logic, spatial reasoning, probability, and problem-solving interesting, cool, and fun which gets us one step closer to our goalāengaged, thoughtful kids!
If you’re skeptical, Valve put together a video which shows exactly how it’s being used by one 7th grade classroom:
Pretty cool huh?
Check it out yourself, the system requirements are relatively basic and it should run on most recent Macs:
- OS X version Leopard 10.5.8, Snow Leopard 10.6.3, or higher
- 1GB RAM or more
- NVIDIA GeForce 8 or higher, ATI X1600 or higher, or Intel HD 3000 or higher
- Mouse, Keyboard, Internet Connection
While we’re on the topic of free gaming, if you’re looking for a multiplayer experience, don’t forget that Team Fortress 2 is also a free download from Steam too.
This deal ended Sep. 19, not Sep. 20, unfortunately. It’s Sep. 20 now, and the game is back to US$9.99.
Steam?!?!?! DONT DO IT!!!
Steam is the worst! Even if it free it’s not worth it!
Let’s teach 12 year olds to make violent video games – awesome! Shame on Evergreen School.
Portal isn’t even violent you dolt, it’s a strategy puzzle. God forbid you teach your youth something intellectual! Bunch of wankers you are.
Settle down children, it’s only a video game.
Cool, have the sequel, and now can get the original :)
They’re both great games, strangely addictive and there isn’t much else like it out there.
Might as well use what the kids use to connect with them, or maybe it’s just an excuse for the teachers to play games hehe :)