I've got Portal back on track!

While my Portal on Mac experience was a little off the on the night of launch, I quickly found a work around on the Steam forums. I guess there's a problem with Portal and my version of the Mac OS X software.

Having squared that away, I thought I'd post this little ditty and remind everyone that Portal is free for Windows and Mac users until the 24th (?) of this month. There's absolutely no reason anyone shouldn't at least download the Steam software and get in on that free-Portal-goodness. Even if I didn't have a system that could run the game, I think I'd still hop on and make sure I got the game for free in case of an impending upgrade to my hardware.

The video embedded above is a great example of why I love Valve. Check it out for yourself and then go download Portal for God's sake! (That means you Jenna!)

Getting Split/Second Early?

So sweet. As you can see, I've been playing Split/Second all weekend. A retail copy of the game was in Game Revolution's mail box on Friday while I was leaving the office. Enclosed within was a note stating that reviews were embargoed until Monday. I'm not entirely sure what a review embargo entails.

Can I talk about the game? Can I talk about my impressions short of a full review with a grade? How much about the game can I say?

All of these questions and more will... not be answered in this post. Sorry everyone! That being said, I am trying to finish up and write a review for GR to post tomorrow. I'm going to spend some more time playing the game tonight and then see what I can't do over the next 12 hours or so. I'm sure the editors would like a little time to copy edit and then get the text up on the site before the end of work hours tomorrow.

Is anyone reading PLAY READ WRITE planning on picking up the game on Tuesday, instead of any other big names dropping this week (Red Dead Redemption, Alan Wake anybody)? Let me and the other three of you know in the comments.

New Game Rituals

While I'll have some things to say about the game in the post I wrote over at Game Revolution, instead, I'll simply say, that I wrote a little bit about what I do when I open up a brand new game. For now, I'll simply post a link over to the Daily Manifesto post I wrote for GR. Check it out and leave a comment here or there.

That new game smell!

And yes, that is Split/Second! Previously written about here for PLAY READ WRITE.

Steam out today, Portal broken...

As any PLAY READ WRITE reader will know, I've been greatly anticipating the great leap Steam has made from PC to Mac. In fact, I've kind of been on hiatus from PLAY READ WRITE in order to focus on school and my internship (and whatever else life has thrown at me), while waiting for this release.

Even Valve is in on the celebration, declaring Portal free to anyone and everyone, Windows or Mac user, until May 24th. That is awfully generous of them. As on of the few games I actually want to play on Mac, Portal was a welcome substitution for day 1 Team Fortress 2 support on the Apple platform.

Unfortunately, my Portal is completely broken. My screen is awash with white and I can see nothing, much less properly place a portal. I certainly hope this will be fixed soon, but until then, you can see that I've added my thought on the Game Revolution Daily Manifesto blog(y type thing). Here's a link: http://www.gamerevolution.com/manifesto/view.php?id=1005

If you don't feel like commenting there, please do so here! All quips about my choice of platform are warmly welcomed.