Portal free on Steam

Ground-breaking 2010 puzzle title Portal is available free of charge for a limited time through Valve’s digital download platform, Steam. The free offer runs until next Tuesday, September 20th.

According to Valve’s Learn With Portals microsite, the offer is designed to benefit educators trying to teach children simple concepts in physics.

“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,” the site’s blurb reads. “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!”

We can certainly see the upside of using gaming conventions to teach young people about the exciting possibilities that science opens up, although we can almost hear the cries of disappointment when teacher reveals to the class that portal guns don’t really exist.

Still, it gives those who haven’t taken the plunge and tried out Valve’s meisterwerk the chance to do so without expending precious pennies. You owe it to yourself to give it a go.