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When we recommended last week that "you have a fair amount of space on your hard drive, say, 629 megs," for this week's Xbox LIVE Arcade title, Portal: Still Alive, we weren't kidding. 

Surprise! Portal: Still Alive in available on Xbox LIVE today and it weights in at -- you guessed it -- 629 megs. If your hard drive is full or you don't have one at all, don't say we didn't warn you; this officially makes Portal Still Alive the biggest Xbox LIVE Arcade game to date, breaking the current XBLA size-cap of 350 MB. 

When we question Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg at Tokyo Game Show on the size of Portal Still Alive, he couldn't comment on the game specifically, but did address the reason for cap increases.

"We don't want to limit developers from a creative standpoint," he told us. "So if they want to create bigger, more immersive-style games for digital distribution, [we] absolutely want to support that."

"At the same time, you want to also not forget about efficiency," he warns. "There are ways you can make your games smaller and more efficient and not impact the experience."

Obviously, Portal: Still Alive was not one of those games. With Sony pushing larger scale digitally distributed titles on PlayStation 3, we have a feeling it won't be long before Still Alive is dwarfed by other XBLA titles.


Continue: More Portal stories





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21 comments | showing # 1 to 21

Holyetheline's Avatar
Holyetheline at 10/22/2008 16:10
I can't wait to download this. I love Portal so much.
ChunkyB's Avatar
ChunkyB at 10/22/2008 16:16
You said that Portal was obviously not one of those games that could be made smaller by optimization, but I think they have done just that. When you download the source engine from steam it's over 2GB, so I'm guessing they did a ton of trimming and optimization to get this in at 629MB.

But, yeah, I hope it's a hint of things to come. I want to see more full game experiences on XBLA, especially with the prices slowly creeping up.
Alkemdah's Avatar
Alkemdah at 10/22/2008 16:19
Ok help me out here. So portal, still alive is NOT a valve licensed property. How in the heck can this be put on xbox marketplace? I know valve doesn't really do the whole "your stealing our IP" thing but something like this kinda seems like a conflict of interest for valve.
mix's Avatar
mix at 10/22/2008 16:20
I want some more levels for portal through steam or something as the game only takes like 45 mins to beat...

Is this a whole new addition to Portal or just a portal port?

meh he he portal port, almost like porto potty, tee hee.
BlackSheep's Avatar
BlackSheep at 10/22/2008 16:28
There are ways you can make your gamers smaller and more efficient and not impact the experience."

gamers smaller???

run!!!!!!!
falinter's Avatar
falinter at 10/22/2008 16:35
Why shouldn't I put my already payed for Orange Box in the system instead?
dmgi's Avatar
dmgi at 10/22/2008 16:38
It's not technically a port since it was already ported through the Orange Box, it's just a standalone version of Portal with some extra levels.
solidgoomba's Avatar
solidgoomba at 10/22/2008 18:11
@Alkemdah
This is completely different from the fan made 2D game. It's an expansion with challenge levels.
TrailerParkJesus's Avatar
TrailerParkJesus at 10/22/2008 18:20
hmm, I guess I won't be buying it.
NihonTiger90's Avatar
NihonTiger90 at 10/22/2008 19:06
So this is a port with a few new additions? I can pass on this for now.
Fleet3000's Avatar
Fleet3000 at 10/22/2008 19:23
ah portal. destroying the status quo of files sizes one inter dimensional teleporter at a time.
Professor Pew's Avatar
Professor Pew at 10/22/2008 19:30
Skip!
CrocBox's Avatar
CrocBox at 10/22/2008 20:41
Good call Nick :P
Sharpless's Avatar
Sharpless at 10/22/2008 23:34
I think what he's trying to say is, "Valve is awesome and makes us a lot of money, so we let them break the size limit. Everyone else, don't even think about it."
Clockwork's Avatar
Clockwork at 10/22/2008 23:50
Need moar details!!
-PL-'s Avatar
-PL- at 10/23/2008 01:06
I'll get it when it comes to PC.
Sharpless's Avatar
Sharpless at 10/23/2008 02:28
@-PL-
It's been on PC for months, and for free.
mmstick's Avatar
mmstick at 10/27/2008 19:17
BAM XBOX 360 n00bies. Its not Portal still alive. IT IS A MOD THAT SHOULDN'T BE PAID FOR!!! it is just a small or rather the largest add-on map pack for Portal. This is illegal big time. It all derived from Portal the Flash Version go to kongregate and see. Dude loved it so he made a map pack based off all the levels. A LOT OF LEVELS TOO. and even decided to put the new challenges that where adressed in the flash version. you can find it at filefront, It is larger in this version of Portal: The Flash Version mappack but its still the same game. He even added a storyline and a different boss fight, and ending sequence. All of which fits the HL2 Story but IT IS NOT A PART OF THE OFFICIAL HALF LIFE UNIVERSE. IT WAS JUST A MAP PACK/ ADDITIONAL CAMPAIGN DEVELOPED MONTHS AGO. FOR ANY OF YOU NOOBS WHO BOUGHT IT I LAUGH AT YOU YET AGAIN. all of the good stuff is only on PC. i can play xbox, gamecube, some nintendo DS, and previous versions on my PC. I can mod every game i own and have entirely new games. Buy one PC games, get 3,4 or even dozens of revamped modifications and map packs just like this one for nearly every pc game i have. I can play 1,000's of free online games that make WoW look like a mini dwarf game for kindergarden kids. My point is. This is pointless and should never have been relaesed especially as it violates VALVe big time but seems they are letting microsoft slide. Can't fight Microcrap. They can make far greater games than the planet has ever seen and have far greater mods than any other game especially since they teach you everything they have done in all of their games so you can make games of your own in which I have done myself. look at garrysmod, look at SMOD, look at all the other mods and source games that aren't available and won't be available for XBOX. while some may have the bigger hard drives like us PC (PWNS) users we have 4,000,000MB, or 4,000GB, or 4 TB, and then there is the next biggest hard drive capacity for PS3 (NEXT BEST), then there is XBOX360 (WORST), and finally the WII (wii wins most things against competitors XBOX and PS3, but just doesn't have the graphics that n00bs want). Only n00bs care about graphics man. the WII owns XBOX in all ways but graphics. You can even play Half Life games with your WII mote or use your wiimote in general for pc (if you have a bluetooth dongle adapter and wii mote). I have Halo 3 graphics, Halo 3 weapons, Halo 2 weapons, Halo 3 maps, Halo 2 maps, all in my Halo Combat Evolved for all you you Halo n00bies.
hood_954's Avatar
hood_954 at 10/28/2008 03:22
@mmstick
long comment is long.

hence, tl;dr

all i got was you being an asshat
MrSlippery's Avatar
MrSlippery at 10/28/2008 19:49
wow mmstick. you're the kind of PC gamer I loathe. grow up.

oh, and learn some grammar and proper spacing, plz.
mmstick's Avatar
mmstick at 03/04/2009 13:48
Well I am sorry MrSlippery but I have always been frustrated at consoles. There is nothing wrong with my grammar unless I am very frustrated. I hate how Microsoft makes people pay to play a small mod. Next they might as well grab Portal: Prelude as it's story and graphics are exceptionally well. The game, however, is impossibly hard. They may have updated the game since when I played it but I would not know. Microsoft is a very selfish company that thinks they can own everything. Apple doesn't even get into the picture for gaming. Linux could but isn't.

PS: Your grammar was not good in your post either.
All my favorite games are with VALVe and it's mod community. I despise Microsoft for trying to turn the mod community into another marketing scheme.
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