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Game Details

Portal

Portal

Available on :
Pc
 
Developed by :
Published by :
Genre :
First Person Shooter

Description

Portal is a single-player side game set in the Half-Life universe that features one key new gameplay mechanic: the ability to use a gun that can create portals on walls, which the player can then walk through.

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News

Short games become the new standard

Posted on Wednesday, 26 March 2008 by L0k1-, source: Gamasutra
63_t2
Bioshock is an exception
The time where we spend days or even weeks on a game are a thing of the past. This is what game writer Erik Wolpaw of Valve Software tells us. He was responsible for Portal, the innovating game which was included with several others in The Orange Box. His explanation for the short life span of it, is that players only want to spend 3-4 hours a game.
They're constantly referring at Valve to people who really think a lot about games and play games, and many of my adult friends never, ever finish games anymore. Like, they don't finish them. We just thought it would be nice to have a game where, if you play it, you probably will finish it, unless you just don't like it.
In the end i have to agree that i rather play a game which is short but strong, then a game which is long but boring after a certain amount of time.
Although it seems to be a trend. In Call of Duty 4, the single-player is awesome, but I think it took me five and a half hours or something. So it's not super-long either. That seems to be the trend. BioShock was pretty long, but it almost seems like a throwback, in how long it was.
This might not be a problem for games who have an active multiplayer, but what about games who don't have that or are 100% singleplayer? Do we just have to accept that we pay full price for a title which only last a couple of hours before it is thrown in our closet?

Luckily there are still exceptions like Bioshock, which i personally enjoyed several hours because of its atmosphere and gameplay!
In other news:

4 Comment(s)

Anonymous

Anonymous

I believe I dumped about 50+ hours into The Witcher. Are they talking just about 3d-shooters?
I believe I dumped about 50+ hours into The Witcher. Are they talking just about 3d-shooters?
Quote
Posted on 15:18, March 26th 2008
Anonymous

Anonymous

I believe in general, RPG's are most of the time the exception, but all the other games well.... :)
I believe in general, RPG's are most of the time the exception, but all the other games well.... :)
Quote
Posted on 15:25, March 26th 2008
iamposthuman

iamposthuman

Gone are the days when a "room" in a game is simply a textured cube, taking about 15 minutes for the developer to put together. Most games are exponentially more complex than they were just a few years ago, therefore a lot more expensive to produce. The price point for games at retail have remained pretty much unchanged, therefore shorter games are a result.
Gone are the days when a "room" in a game is simply a textured cube, taking about 15 minutes for the developer to put together. Most games are exponentially more complex than they were just a few years ago, therefore a lot more expensive to produce. The price point for games at retail have remained pretty much unchanged, therefore shorter games are a result.
Quote
Posted on 19:35, March 27th 2008
L0k1-

L0k1-

well not really, there have been numerous technologies which have made adding content easier. A nice example if for example the speed tree technology. It random generates all the vegetation that you need for a game.

Oblivion for example had this technology and it was really beautiful, since there were over 400 different types of vegetations in that technology :)
well not really, there have been numerous technologies which have made adding content easier. A nice example if for example the speed tree technology. It random generates all the vegetation that you need for a game. Oblivion for example had this technology and it was really beautiful, since there were over 400 different types of vegetations in that technology :)
Quote
Posted on 19:42, March 27th 2008
 

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