Free copy of Portal for everyone until May 24

[Dark Nova Gamer]

Thanks, DarkNovaGamer

My personal opinion is,

I dislike having programs install that I do not 'need' to have installed. Stuff like CCleaner and whatnot I tend to find portable versions.

I truly find Steam to be intrusive.

+1 and that is why I will not be installing. If I could install on a trash machine, download, and then install somewhere else then maybe, but to be forced to install something. Not for me.

I could understand if it was a 100mb+ program, but its not even 2mb.

 

[Crispy]

Duplicate thread. Closing this one - please refer to Free copy of Portal for everyone until May 24 for all other posts.

Don't need to be so up tight about it, I didn't know this was already posted.

 

[johngalt]

That is what the search function is for

 

[Klaw117]

I wish they would offer the Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Pack. Oh well, I've still heard good things about Portal and it's free, so I guess I'll just download it once I get home from school (free period right now ).

 

[not so gray matter]

   Information

Oops!
Been using Steam for so long that I forgot to mention the old trick that we use to speed up downloads when servers are busy!

Simply go into your Steam settings and change your location to something other than the nearest one (that is if you're in a populated area). For example, I normally use the New York server but if it's busy I'll switch to Wasington DC or another server to try and speed up my download

 

[ratePV]

Nice game, just that it was short(i ran throw it for abt 3hrs.)

 

[Zen00]

Which kinda makes it even more fun, short and sweet, so to say.

 

[mpcrsc562]

Was it worth it? I don't want to download if it is not.

I've had Portal since The Orange Box... It is the only non-sports game that I have ever played thru and thru and thru. It is worth it regardless of its brevity--and in everyone's case who doesn't alread have it--it is FREE!

 

[mpcrsc562]

My personal opinion is,

I truly find Steam to be intrusive.

I want to be clear and upfront that I do understand that this is your personal opinion. My reply is not meant to attack your opinion.

The thing about Steam that is so great and not obtrusive, in my opinion, that your games are always available to you whereever you are and whatever machine you're using. True, if you are on someone else's machine you'd have to get permission to install and use it, but if you do, your games are right there. If someone already has Steam installed on their machine, then all you have to do is logon with your credentials. If you have multiple computers at home, at work, desktop, notebook, or Mac, your games are available to every single computer. You don't have to worry about a physical disc that will deny you installing the game on another machine because it is already installed and activated on your "main" machine.

All of the computers in my house, with the exception of my wife's, has Steam and I install the games that each computer can handle graphics wise.

Your hard drive crashes and you lose all of you data... No need to worry after you replace the hard drive. Re-download Steam and all of the games you've purchased are there--no looking for cds, dvds, or keys. And Steam keeps every game updated. So, with a physical disc, you install the game and then you have to go to the game's website to download and install updates and patches. Not the case with Steam.

Two-cents from a Steam fan.

 

[Dark Nova Gamer]

My personal opinion is,

I truly find Steam to be intrusive.

I want to be clear and upfront that I do understand that this is your personal opinion. My reply is not meant to attack your opinion.

The thing about Steam that is so great and not obtrusive, in my opinion, that your games are always available to you whereever you are and whatever machine you're using. True, if you are on someone else's machine you'd have to get permission to install and use it, but if you do, your games are right there. If someone already has Steam installed on their machine, then all you have to do is logon with your credentials. If you have multiple computers at home, at work, desktop, notebook, or Mac, your games are available to every single computer. You don't have to worry about a physical disc that will deny you installing the game on another machine because it is already installed and activated on your "main" machine.

All of the computers in my house, with the exception of my wife's, has Steam and I install the games that each computer can handle graphics wise.

Your hard drive crashes and you lose all of you data... No need to worry after you replace the hard drive. Re-download Steam and all of the games you've purchased are there--no looking for cds, dvds, or keys. And Steam keeps every game updated. So, with a physical disc, you install the game and then you have to go to the game's website to download and install updates and patches. Not the case with Steam.

Two-cents from a Steam fan.

Rest assured I did not take it as you attacking my opinion.

 

[hybridfan]

I'm sure it will be downloading slow because of the mass appeal of it being free, I got it ages ago when I bought the magnificent Orange Box. Well worth getting

 

[robertwallace]

Steam loads a little app when Windows starts. If you don't like it, go to the options and turn it off and you'll never know it's on your machine.

I'm of the same opinion as most of the posters so far. Don't put unnecessary stuff on my machine. I used to grit my teeth, and let Steam install so I could play Half-Live, and the follow-ups. After the game was done, I'd uninstall Steam.

After a few years, Steam bothered me less and less. As a few others have mentioned, it's very good at keeping you game up-to-date, or letting you download a previously purchased/registered game onto any machine you have in front of you. It also has a Social Network thing going - not something I'm interested in, but it's certainly not pushed on you.

Now I keep Steam installed, but turned off when I'm not playing a Steam game. When I'm ready to play, I click on the Steam icon and fire up the game. It certainly beats digging around for the "Must be in drive to play" CD or DVD that most games make you go through. And there aren't any copy-protection trojans installed either -- unlike some games I will not mention.

Oh - Don't forget to sit through the end credits for Portal. You will be rewarded!

Robert

 

[holo88]

This was a triumph..... They're just gearing up for the recent mac influx. If they give away a game, then people will be more inclined to play other valve titles. That and, Portal 2 (zomgfu**yes) is on its way later this year. Classic (brilliant) valve marketing .

PLAY PORTAL NAOW. (its awesome)

 

[Product FRED]

You don't need to download it just yet if you don't want to, but "reserve" yourself a copy. If you visit the web page on the first page of this thread and click "Install Game" after you sign in, it will show up in Steam but will not download until you tell it to. Since it now shows up as a purchased game, you can download it whenever you want, wherever you want, and however many times as you want, on multiple PCs and multiple Macs if you wish.

 

[harpua]

When I fired up Portal, I couldn't see my mouse cursor at all. Kind of made it impossible to do anything. I'm using a Logitech mouse.

 

[blackroseMD1]

Finally am able to download it since the hotel I'm in has some seriously kickass internet. I've heard a lot about this game...never played it though. Thanks for the heads up Steve.

 

[macgyver2]

downloaded it in less then an hour but am stuck on level 15, not sure if my laptop isn't fast enough or I can't get my mouse to move fast enough but I can't pass the wall like I should. Great little game to make you think though.

I did watch a video of hows its done and even still can't get my laptop to respond fast enough I guess.

 

[Dark Nova Gamer]

downloaded it in less then an hour but am stuck on level 15, not sure if my laptop isn't fast enough or I can't get my mouse to move fast enough but I can't pass the wall like I should. Great little game to make you think though.

I did watch a video of hows its done and even still can't get my laptop to respond fast enough I guess.

I've yet to progress past that level as well.

Will likely try it again later on though.

 

[Product FRED]

downloaded it in less then an hour but am stuck on level 15, not sure if my laptop isn't fast enough or I can't get my mouse to move fast enough but I can't pass the wall like I should. Great little game to make you think though.

I did watch a video of hows its done and even still can't get my laptop to respond fast enough I guess.

I've yet to progress past that level as well.

Will likely try it again later on though.

Is that the one where you have to lunge over the wall, through the "shield" of plasma? You have to make an infinite portal (portal in the ceiling and portal under you) to gain speed, then try your best to shoot the "platform" sticking out of the wall so you fly over. I did it on a laptop, so it's doable.

You can also use "noclip" after you enable cheats (sv_cheats 1), but that's a cheater's tactic and you won't gain achievements until you close and reopen the game. Another cool thing I found is that you can spawn Half-Life 2 weapons and NPCs if you own Half-Life 2. For example, "npc_create npc_zombie" will create a standard zombie. "impulse 101" will give you the 2nd portal-launcher as well as Half-Life 2 weapons.

 

[Dark Nova Gamer]

downloaded it in less then an hour but am stuck on level 15, not sure if my laptop isn't fast enough or I can't get my mouse to move fast enough but I can't pass the wall like I should. Great little game to make you think though.

I did watch a video of hows its done and even still can't get my laptop to respond fast enough I guess.

I've yet to progress past that level as well.

Will likely try it again later on though.

Is that the one where you have to lunge over the wall, through the "shield" of plasma? You have to make an infinite portal (portal in the ceiling and portal under you) to gain speed, then try your best to shoot the "platform" sticking out of the wall so you fly over. I did it on a laptop, so it's doable.

You can also use "noclip" after you enable cheats (sv_cheats 1), but that's a cheater's tactic and you won't gain achievements until you close and reopen the game. Another cool thing I found is that you can spawn Half-Life 2 weapons and NPCs if you own Half-Life 2. For example, "npc_create npc_zombie" will create a standard zombie. "impulse 101" will give you the 2nd portal-launcher as well as Half-Life 2 weapons.

Never used Steam prior to Portal's temporary freeness.