Portal and Innovation in Gaming

Last night I picked up and played through the new game Portal all in one sitting. Granted, it’s a short game that’s based on a really radical gameplay concept, but it’s easily one of the most compelling gaming experiences I’ve had to date. I’ve barely done any gaming all year, but this is something that I just had to give a whirl. I’ll let the game’s trailer give you a taste at what it’s all about.

Amazing, isn’t it? This game was created by a couple aspiring game designers from the gaming school Digipen, that garnered the attention of big-time game development company Valve Software who hired them immediately.

The game is now being bundled with the great ‘five for the price of one’ valued Half-Life 2 Orange Box that also includes Team Fortress 2 and the next episodic chapter of Half-Life 2. One hell of a deal if you ask me.

Portal just goes to show that it doesn’t take a huge development company to come up with a great idea. Though it certainly doesn’t hurt to have the financial backing of one ;)

October 11, 2007 | Filed Under Uncategorized 

Comments

  • Debbie Ohi on October 16th, 2007 10:09 am

    I haven’t played the game yet (I have to figure out a way of playing it on my Mac), but I’ve heard the song associated with it (by Jonathan Coulton) and LOVE it.

    Don’t click below unless you don’t mind a game spoiler:

    http://www.jonathancoulton.com/2007/10/15/portal-the-skinny/

  • Geofrey Flores on October 18th, 2007 12:18 am

    Apparently, the portal has now been ported to Half-Life 2 and other steam-powered games with details from this site: http://www.primotechnology.com/2007/10/17/half-life-2-portal/.

    I haven’t played any games since HL2 but this is something that I’m really looking forward to esp. now that you can play it with HL2 itself.

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