Wikipedia:Today's featured article/July 5, 2009



Portal is a single-player first-person action/puzzle video game developed by Valve Corporation. The game was released in a bundle package called The Orange Box for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 on October 9, 2007, and for the PlayStation 3 on December 11, 2007. The Windows version of the game is also available for download separately through Valve's content delivery system, Steam, and was released as a standalone retail product on April 9, 2008. The game consists primarily of a series of puzzles that must be solved by teleporting the player's character and other simple objects using the Portal Gun, a unit that can create an inter-spatial portal between flat planes. The player character is challenged by an AI named "GLaDOS" to complete each puzzle using the Portal Gun with the promise of receiving cake when all the puzzles are completed. The unusual physics allowed by the portal gun are the emphasis of this game, and are an extension of a similar portal concept in Narbacular Drop. Portal has been acclaimed as one of the most original games in 2007 despite being comparatively short in length. The game has received praise for its unique gameplay and darkly humorous story, created with the assistance of Erik Wolpaw and Chet Faliszek of "Old Man Murray" fame. It is also revered for the character of GLaDOS, voiced by Ellen McLain in the English version, and the final credits song "Still Alive" written by Jonathan Coulton for the game. (more...)

Recently featured: Hispanic Americans in World War II – Anne of Denmark – Bruce Castle