http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/p/portalxboxlivearcade/

Next week! Portal: Still Alive on XBLA! 14 new challenges! $15!

Go Portal!

Portal: Still Alive, which includes the entire original Portal game plus 14 additional challenge maps, created by the mod community and Valve. There are also six extra advanced Testchamber maps, for those who enjoy headaches, and 12 new achievements

Although I'm slightly disappointed at the price (since I already own Orange Box) I will buy it for sure...I mean that's 20 new levels for one of the best games I've played this generation.

So, uh, what makes the price disappointing then? $15 for "one of the best games I've played this generation" is too much to ask?

Hell, I've already bought Orange Box for 360 and PC. I have no problem paying for this game a 3rd time. I won't have a problem paying for it a fourth time when it is bundled with Portal 2 either.

It seems this is already available on the PC for free.

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/53778

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/p/portalxboxlivearcade/

Next week! Portal: Still Alive on XBLA! 14 new challenges! $15!

Go Portal!

Would I need to own Orange Box to download this or is it a standalone download that I wouldn't need the game for?

I love portal but don't want to get the rest. I've already got my PC for any serious HL2 playing.

So its 15 bucks for 20 extra levels? Or is it 6 levels? Either way, if you already played the original portal is this worth 15 bucks?

So, uh, what makes the price disappointing then? $15 for "one of the best games I've played this generation" is too much to ask?

Hell, I've already bought Orange Box for 360 and PC. I have no problem paying for this game a 3rd time. I won't have a problem paying for it a fourth time when it is bundled with Portal 2 either.
Yeah $15 is too much to ask for a free map pack. There should be a discount to Orange Box owners.

"Would I need to own Orange Box to download this or is it a standalone download that I wouldn't need the game for?"

Completely standalone. It is a Live Arcade game.

"Would I need to own Orange Box to download this or is it a standalone download that I wouldn't need the game for?"

Completely standalone. It is a Live Arcade game.


Very cool. Thanks! :)

Sweet! I got Orange Box on the PC already so I'll take the free mappack. Thanks!

Better pricing would be $10. At $15 I'm going to pass. Sure I love portal, but once you get through it what replay value does it really offer, and quite honestly Portal didn't take longer than a few hours to make it through so I expect the same with Still Alive.

What I don't like is that this seems to be a trend now where XBLA games have unofficially gone up in price across the board. I remember 800 points used to be the "expensive" games. Now 800 is normal and 1200 is the new "premium" price point in XBLA, and I believe there's even some 1600 point games isn't there now? Obviously, they tested the waters with it and enough people bought in at that point that those are the prices they've now set. Just disappointing. I support developers by buying good games, but moving to online delivery means less overhead to deliver the same game to a customer using their own bandwidth. They should be passing this savings to the customer but instead they are pocketing the extra profit. : (

What I don't like is that this seems to be a trend now where XBLA games have unofficially gone up in price across the board. I remember 800 points used to be the "expensive" games. Now 800 is normal and 1200 is the new "premium" price point in XBLA, and I believe there's even some 1600 point games isn't there now? Obviously, they tested the waters with it and enough people bought in at that point that those are the prices they've now set. Just disappointing. I support developers by buying good games, but moving to online delivery means less overhead to deliver the same game to a customer using their own bandwidth. They should be passing this savings to the customer but instead they are pocketing the extra profit. : (
Penny Arcade was the only 1600 point game and Episode 2 will be 1200 points, which I can live with.

I am consistently amazed how cheap you people can be.

So its 15 bucks for 20 extra levels? Or is it 6 levels? Either way, if you already played the original portal is this worth 15 bucks?

I read it as 20 extra levels.

As for if it's worth it, that would vary by person to person. I'll gladly pay $15 because I loved the original, but still feel it's slightly overpriced (for the OB owners who already have the original). But it's not like the difference between $10 (how I think it should be priced) and $15 is going to kill me. If at this point of my life (35 years old) I have to quibble over $5 I would consider myself a complete and utter failure.

Of course $15 would be a steal if you didn't already own OB (which by itself is a great value)

I am consistently amazed how cheap you people can be.
I'm amazed at much of a crusader you are for higher prices. If this was billed as just a map pack to Portal, which it pretty much is, then people would be up in arms over the $15 price tag. It's great that people who didn't buy the Orange Box can get the full game included, but not at the expense of those who bought a great game in the first place. I'm beginning to think you're a shill for Microsoft.

How exactly is this a map pack? It is the full game plus new levels.

As far as I am concerned, this is exactly what I was looking for. I have heard nothing but good things about portal, but haven't bought The Orange Box because I could care less about the 3 Half-Life games in it. Now I can spend $15 to get just portal without paying for the full Orange Box (what is it down to $40 now new?) and games I will never play.

How exactly is this a map pack? It is the full game plus new levels.

The majority of us already have the full game (and have had the full game for over a year now). For us, this is nothing more than a map pack. For those who have never played the game, such as yourself, this is a great deal. I believe that the point being made is that $15 is a high price to pay for those of us who already have the full game.

While you pay $15 for the full game + 14 extra challenges, we have to pay $15 for only the 14 extra challenges.

The majority of us already have the full game (and have had the full game for over a year now). For us, this is nothing more than a map pack. For those who have never played the game, such as yourself, this is a great deal. I believe that the point being made is that $15 is a high price to pay for those of us who already have the full game.

While you pay $15 for the full game + 14 extra challenges, we have to pay $15 for only the 14 extra challenges.

Ditto. Although it's 20 extra challenges, not 14. What is a fair price to one person may not seem like a fair price to another.

And did he just say he couldn't care less about Half Life 2 or Episode 1 or 2? Great....now I have to go down to the basement and dig out my torch and pitchfork. I think my angry mob hat is around here somewhere...

Oh, and back to the game. Does anyone know if this is just levels, or have they incorporated a story into it? I mean, I LOL'd quite a few times during the original game, so I hope there is some added commentary again from the evil computer, and it's not just pure challenges.

How exactly is this a map pack? It is the full game plus new levels.

As far as I am concerned, this is exactly what I was looking for. I have heard nothing but good things about portal, but haven't bought The Orange Box because I could care less about the 3 Half-Life games in it. Now I can spend $15 to get just portal without paying for the full Orange Box (what is it down to $40 now new?) and games I will never play.
Yes, you could care less about the Half Life games, but you'd care more if you actually played them. ;)

Oh, and back to the game. Does anyone know if this is just levels, or have they incorporated a story into it? I mean, I LOL'd quite a few times during the original game, so I hope there is some added commentary again from the evil computer, and it's not just pure challenges.

Nevermind, just found my answer at IGN's hands-on:

To be clear, this is not a continuation of the Portal story and doesn't include any interaction with GLaDOS, the spunky AI who guides you through the main game. The additional maps are strictly new puzzle levels -- so if you were expecting some more quirky Portal humor to tide you over until the next full Portal game is released, you'll just have to wait.


Dammit. Well hopefully the new levels include another sweet sexy companion cube. Sure I carried around the original, loved it, and gave it all the attention I could, but in the end, it had to be destroyed, lest I stay trapped in that level for all eternity. I still am a little shaken up about it, but I think I'm finally ready to move on with a replacement companion cube. Then I can finally get rid of that cheap one I've built out of cardboard. It's just not the same as a real companion cube.


EDIT: LOL at companion cube quote

"I'd just like to point out that you were given every opportunity to succeed. There was even going to be a party for you. A big party that all your friends were invited to. I invited your best friend the companion cube. Of course, he couldn't come because you murdered him. All your other friends couldn't come either because you don't have any other friends. Because of how unlikable you are. It says so here in your personnel file: Unlikable. Liked by no one. A bitter, unlikable loner whose passing shall not be mourned. 'Shall not be mourned.' That's exactly what it says. Very formal. Very official. It also says you were adopted. So that's funny, too."

yeah I don't think I'll be picking this up. I'd like some more valve designed levels but I played portal on my PC and when I tried teh console version I felt teh controls really were lacking. I'm not against console FPS' at all but in this case I greatly perfer a mouse and keyboard. Plus the fan made "portal: prelude" comes out soon for free. it's a fan made mod that attempts to act as a prequel.

"Plus the fan made "portal: prelude" comes out soon for free."

Comes out soon? You are a week late to the party on this one. It came out last Thursday. It's exceptionally high quality, but very skewed in difficulty.

"I'm beginning to think you're a shill for Microsoft."

You might want to look at my very pro-Nintendo post history before making moderately retarded statements like that. :)

The point still stands. Anyone complaining about $15 games in the age of $60 retail titles needs to seriously reconsider their participation in this hobby.

The point still stands. Anyone complaining about $15 games in the age of $60 retail titles needs to seriously reconsider their participation in this hobby.

The $60 games can usually be found for $5-10 less if one shops around. The $60 games (being a physical product) can then be sold for quite a bit (depending on how soon the games are sold). Whenever the process is complete, I have usually ended up spending $10-20 on that $60 game. The $60 game, by the way, usually contains much more content than the arcade titles. This case is no exception.

I've also read the argument countless times that if someone complains about the price of inexpensive arcade games, that he/she probably can't afford gaming in today's world anyway. This is an absurd argument. I seriously doubt that anyone here is complaining about the $15 price tag because he/she can't afford it. $15 for what amounts to nothing more than a "map pack" for most of us just might not seem like a good value for the product offered. Plenty of people make purchases based on what they feel the product's value is, not whether or not they can afford it.

Apologies for going off topic a bit.

GLaDOS was the best part of portal, no GLaDOS, no buy. Good deal for those who don't have the game, but $15 for a map pack is pushing it for me.

Have to agree. Without GLaDOS it's ain't Portal.

I'm just curios at the high price.

The mods are *free* on PC, but with that platform your ownership of Portal is guaranteed. I don't know if MS would like them putting this out on XBLA for free, but I think a $5 version that requires the Orange Box DVD to run really should have been offered.

How exactly is this a map pack? It is the full game plus new levels.

As far as I am concerned, this is exactly what I was looking for. I have heard nothing but good things about portal, but haven't bought The Orange Box because I could care less about the 3 Half-Life games in it. Now I can spend $15 to get just portal without paying for the full Orange Box (what is it down to $40 now new?) and games I will never play.

The 3 episodes to the story are very good, nothing amazing, but a very good story none the less (some feel that the gravity gun may be one of the best weapons in any game so far). However, the Orange box is also about Team fortress which in itself is one of the best multiplayer games out there. This is what makes the orange box an amazing deal. Half life 2 and Team fortress would equal most other games out there for story/multiplayer (Halo 3, CoD4, Gears etc) for price ($59.99 (or what ever it is now). BUT on top of that you get 2 expansion packs (episode 1 and episode 2) which based on MS pricing would be at least 1200 MS points each, and Portal, which would be 1200 MS points. Thus you get ~$45 of 'extra' 'free' in the Orange box.

Half life was considered one of the best games ever a decade ago, and team fortress was also one of the most on-line played game at its time. Even if you never play the campaign, you will have great fun playing Team Fortress (that is if you like FPS), and for the discounted price now days (frequently it can be had for $29 or less new) this is still one of the best bargains in gaming. Similarly Portal was/is such a hit that people bought Orange box just to play portal. If given a choice, I would pick Orange box over Portal:Still Alive in a heartbeat.

Have to agree. Without GLaDOS it's ain't Portal.

Yep.... no GLaDOS, no purchase.:mad:

Actually, I am eating my words since I won a copy of The Organge Box on Ebay this weekend for less than $20 with shipping.

I did this because I forgot all about Team Fortress. Although, I don't know how much I'll be playing that since it is all multi-player and I am joining the party with no practice a year after it was released. All the 14 year-olds who have been playing it will own me.

As for Half-life...my opinion still stands. For some reason, that game has never interested me. I tried the demo and all I can say is meh.

" All the 14 year-olds who have been playing it will own me."

14 year olds don't play TF2. When you can find a game these days, the users are quite mature for this game. If you want to play TF2 though, then the PC is really the place to be at this point. I spent like 170 hours playing it on my 360, but that community died off like 6 months ago.

Bummer. The more I thought about it, the more psyched I was getting to play TF2.

Tragically, I am just not that good at multi-player shooters. With work, school and a 1 year-old, I just don't have anywhere enough time to play them and get to a level where I am not a target-dummy.

As for my PC, I can't afford to keep upgrading it or replace it as a gaming rig. That is a big reason I bought the Xbox in the first place. I stopped upgrading my PC when I got a work laptop, but I sure as hell can't put games on my development laptop.

Bummer. The more I thought about it, the more psyched I was getting to play TF2.

Tragically, I am just not that good at multi-player shooters. With work, school and a 1 year-old, I just don't have anywhere enough time to play them and get to a level where I am not a target-dummy.

As for my PC, I can't afford to keep upgrading it or replace it as a gaming rig. That is a big reason I bought the Xbox in the first place. I stopped upgrading my PC when I got a work laptop, but I sure as hell can't put games on my development laptop.

There is still a very healthy community in TF2. Very easy to find games as well. (I played for hours last night with 'random' people, but all of them were very nice). Similarly, many gaming sites (like Age for example) play regularly every week, and the room(s) are usually full. I have not played TF2 much, but most people are usually very helpful. The biggest advantage of xbox is that there is almost always niche crowd playing something. Even the most obscure games still have regular games playing (a few months back I was playing undertow, and all of a sudden one night there were 2-3 rooms completely full. There were a bunch of guys that played regularly once a week, and it ended up being great fun, especially because they were willing to teach their techniques and give tips. The same goes for TF2, the only difference is that there are still 1000's of people that play every day (as opposed to 100 000's that play GoW, CoD, Halo). Tighter community = more fun gameplay, and much less trash talk. The only difference is that it takes a little effort to find friends to play. Goto Xbox.com and then Orange box forum at it is a great resource, and many active players are looking for others to play with. Ther emay be an active forum on the Valve site as well.

There are a few different support roles in TF2 that don't require you to be a pinpoint shooter.

portal question: I've played it for xbox (rented), and really liked it. now that still alive and prelude are available, I will buy one (pc or 360). which is the better option? it seems like the pc version has more maps and the ability for more in the future, but is the gameplay/control as good?

For those concerned about the now escalating costs of xbla games (1200 becoming the new precedent).... I have 2 words for you and 1 number: Braid, Inflation, $700,000,000,000

yikes... expensive an no humor or story? for me that made up around 85% of the game.... playing the puzzles with the speakers muted makes for a VERY VERY lackluster title.

"Tragically, I am just not that good at multi-player shooters."

That is the awesomeness of TF2 though! If you suck at aiming for example, then be an Engineer. Build a turret in a good place and let it aim and kill for you. :) Medics are also great for poor FPS players, as you play more focused on healing others while hiding from enemy view rather than shooting at people.

"Tragically, I am just not that good at multi-player shooters."

That is the awesomeness of TF2 though! If you suck at aiming for example, then be an Engineer. Build a turret in a good place and let it aim and kill for you. :) Medics are also great for poor FPS players, as you play more focused on healing others while hiding from enemy view rather than shooting at people.

That is absolutely correct. I started playing as a medic and just followed people around, continuously healing them. Most people are so appriaciate of medics. Once you get the know the maps, then start playing with other characters. I have still not played the engineer yet, because i still do not fully understand the whole, dispenser/ metal issues with upgrading turrets (ie is there a finite amount of metal etc). I will figure it out soon. Similarly, playing as an assassin seems pretty fun especially when you disguise youself as the enemy and then walk up to them and stab them in the back.

The other thing I like about TF2 is the clowing around the characters do in game, sometimes you see someone just dancing after killing someone etc. Similarly after getting splattered, they have a caption like "here is your spleen" or something like that. Or the 'Thanks doc' when you get healed. It is the little details like that which really give the game character.

Ditto. Although it's 20 extra challenges, not 14. What is a fair price to one person may not seem like a fair price to another.
It's actually only 14 new levels. The other 6 challenge levels were already in the original Portal in the Orange. This game is definitely not worth $15 if you already have the Orange Box, as evidenced by the fact that I'm the only person on my friend list who bought it. Some of the new achievements are interesting, but they could have done a little better. There should've been more new user created content included with this package to convince me it wasn't just a money grab.

Grab it if you don't want to buy the Orange Box.