Geek Posted September 16, 2011 Posted September 16, 2011 <div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/portal-free-download.jpg" alt="Portal is a free download for Mac and PC" title="portal-free-download" width="620" height="349" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-21333" /></p> <p>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.</p> <p><a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/400/?snr=1_7_7_151_150_1">Download Portal from Steam by going here and clicking the big green “Install Game” button</a></p> <p>Portal runs in both <a href="http://osxdaily.com/category/mac-os-x/">Mac OS X</a> and Windows, and once it’s in your Steam account you can download it on other machines if you want.</p> <p>Here’s the interesting part: the game is offered as a free download until September 20, 2011 as part of the <a href="http://www.learningwithportals.com/">“Learning with Portals” program</a>, 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:</p> <blockquote><p>Today, innovative educators are finding ways to incorporate Portal™ and Portal 2 into their classrooms—helping teach physics and critical-thinking skills. It’s eye-opening to see how video games can be used in amazing and unexpected ways to help educate our next generation.</p> <p>One of the biggest challenges in teaching science, technology, engineering, and math is capturing the students’ imaginations long enough for them to see all of the possibilities that lie ahead.</p> <p>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 goal—engaged, thoughtful kids!</p></blockquote> <p>If you’re skeptical, Valve put together a video which shows exactly how it’s being used by one 7th grade classroom:</p> <p><iframe width="600" height="335" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/QGQo0z3XikI?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p> <p>Pretty cool huh?</p> <p>Check it out yourself, the system requirements are relatively basic and it should run on most recent Macs:</p> <ul> <li>OS X version Leopard 10.5.8, Snow Leopard 10.6.3, or higher</li> <li>1GB RAM or more</li> <li>NVIDIA GeForce 8 or higher, ATI X1600 or higher, or Intel HD 3000 or higher <li>Mouse, Keyboard, Internet Connection</li> </ul> <p>While we’re on the topic of free gaming, if you’re looking for a multiplayer experience, don’t forget that <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2011/06/24/team-fortress-2-free-download/">Team Fortress 2 is also a free download from Steam too</a>. </p> </div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/q2YBlgI96tkTt4ipsRXBtLY8YzE/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/q2YBlgI96tkTt4ipsRXBtLY8YzE/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/q2YBlgI96tkTt4ipsRXBtLY8YzE/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/q2YBlgI96tkTt4ipsRXBtLY8YzE/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=YlNkpNjOW6Y:uXe4nxiXzWU:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=YlNkpNjOW6Y:uXe4nxiXzWU:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?i=YlNkpNjOW6Y:uXe4nxiXzWU:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=YlNkpNjOW6Y:uXe4nxiXzWU:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?i=YlNkpNjOW6Y:uXe4nxiXzWU:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=YlNkpNjOW6Y:uXe4nxiXzWU:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=YlNkpNjOW6Y:uXe4nxiXzWU:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/osxdaily/~4/YlNkpNjOW6Y" height="1" width="1"/> View the full article
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