Brain Candy

Forever Thinking with Portals
In 2007, Valve released The Orange Box compilation, advertising that it had five games for the price of one. Half-Life 2 and its episodes (including the never-before-released Episode 2), the much-anticipated Team Fortress 2 and a little project called Portal. Of all five of these games, Portal was the one to take home all of the awards. People were obsessed with it, and it has spawned a meme that everyone knows: The cake is a lie.

Now, we're all sick of that meme now, but it goes to show how a well-made game can invade every aspect of people's lives, even those who don't play it. The credits song, Still Alive, found its way onto the Rock Band DLC list and everyone from my closest friends to my girlfriend to my mom has at least played Portal, and I've never heard a bad thing about it. Penny Arcade had a hilarious comics concerning the use of Portal (here), and to this day I find myself talking to my friends about what we would do with a portal gun.

Portal 2 was released recently, and I'm sure many of you have played or heard of it. It even caused Dyn, Inc. to give employees an extra day of paid time off to play the game, since so many were staying home anyways. Portal and Portal 2 are games that thrive entirely on brainy, smart and clever things. The gameplay is all about solving puzzles, finding where to go and making sense of the crazy things that your portals can get you to, or enable you to do. On top of that, the character development is based entirely on jokes and quips and one-liners that are often aimed at the player, but so well demonstrate the animosity and intentions of whoever's talking to you. Hell, there's a character that gores on a rant about developing a combustible lemon and burning a house down with it, but it manages to be inspiring, sad, chilling and touching all at once.

As I walk about the halls in school every day, I'm thinking with Portals. I imagine crossing hallways more quickly, or going up stairs really quickly, or putting one at my house so that, at the end of the day, I can get home instantly. The world of Portal, the technology and the characters, are all so endearing and genuine and funny that it worms its way into your brain in a way that only true masterpieces can. Any time I see a white wall, I think, "A portal can go there."

Also, the ending was fucking crazy.