Portal given away for free by Steam

[General Zod]

I think this might be good news for a reason nobody is saying...

They're claiming it's because Portal's now on Mac, but that's nonsense. Nobody serious uses Macs as gaming machines; it's a nice fluff...

But that's not the real thrust of this. They're making Portal free to drum up interest in Portal and Source engine games, and make people go back and play HL2:Ep2 again via the mental connect from Portal and the Orange Box... Because HL3:Ep3 and Portal 2 are nearing release.


*is all kinds of giddy.* I can't wait to get me mah Crowbah again!

HL2 Episode 3 is the new Duke Nukem Forever. Get used to it.

[Gramzamber]

Maybe your computer just sucks? Are you trying to play a GFWL title? Because I've never ran into this and I've got a fuckton of Steam games. It'd be easier to believe you if you could give specific examples.

I doubt my computer's specs have anything to do with it, and this happens with any game on Steam. Dragon Age, Portal, Torchlight, etc.

You must not be using the same steam client as the rest of us, because most steam games that aren't multiplayer work just fine in offline mode. Every game you've listed works just fine offline.

No no they work fine in offline mode BUT the client won't let me choose to go offline until I'm already logged in.

[Steel]

Have you tried the start in offline mode option?

Also I did notice steam downloaded a patch to HL2:Ep2 yesterday, but theres no info on it...

Between that and the changing to the ending of portal recently they must be gearing up for a new release soon... ish. So like a year in valve terms- perhaps christmas?

[General Zod]

Have you tried the start in offline mode option?

Also I did notice steam downloaded a patch to HL2:Ep2 yesterday, but theres no info on it...

Steam has a bad habit of randomly downloading patches whether they're new or needed or not.

[houser2112]

It's a good thing Steam has an option to let you make disc based backups.

Could I:
1) Acquire game
2) Make disc based backup
3) Uninstall Steam
4) Install from disc based backup
5) Play game
?

If not, all that option does is save time (and money, I suppose, for people on metered access) downloading the game again.

[General Zod]

It's a good thing Steam has an option to let you make disc based backups.

Could I:
1) Acquire game
2) Make disc based backup
3) Uninstall Steam
4) Install from disc based backup
5) Play game
?

If not, all that option does is save time (and money, I suppose, for people on metered access) downloading the game again.

If you want to get a game without Steam, you could try buying from Direct 2 Drive instead. For Valve specific games though? lol. Good luck.

[PeZook]

Actually, you can. There are steam-bypassing installers floating around the net.

Pretty sure they violate the EULA, though.