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Portal is free for PC and Mac through September 20

If you’re one of the few people who hasn’t played the original Portal yet (and own a computer), you now have no excuse not to dive into the world of Aperture Science. After all, it’s free!

The free Portal offer comes via a new website touting the potential use of Portal and Portal 2 as learning tools for teaching physics and critical-thinking skills. Here’s the pitch, according to www.learnwithportals.com:

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Using interactive tools like the Portal series to draw [students] 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!

And while that’s all well and good, the promotion — which runs through September 20 — also comes with the ability to download the original, much-celebrated Portal free of charge. Oh, and you’ll need to set up an account on the Steam gaming network if you don’t already have one.

The site also posted a neat little video featuring a class of seventh-grade students visiting the studio of Portal developers Valve Software, showing the whole gaming-is-learning theme in action.

Rick Marshall
Former Contributing Editor, Entertainment
A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and…
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