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Still very much a work in progress, the hit console title, Portal, is unofficially making its way to Android, courtesy of a few good developers from the other side of the globe. The title is being built from the ground up using a little programming elbow grease and a lot of help from the Unity 3D engine.
You can see a little of version 0.004 beta in action in a video uploaded by the folks over at Android Police who got it up and running on their Android device. Keep in mind, a lot of the screen tearing you’re seeing is a product of the screen capturing software being used, and not really representative of the game’s true performance. If you want to give it a spin for yourself, the app can be found via the source link below.
[4PDA]
Awesome!!!!!! This is so amazing! Love this game!
here is the one thing i don’t get, phandroid won’t let us talk about
free tethering in the forums because its a naughty subject, but yet here
you are on the front page promoting a BLATENTLY stolen video game?
these guys do not own the rights to the game at all so why are you
promoting this yet we can’t talk about using our data plans how we think
we should be able to?
I guess that’s sort of a grey area. This game is being built entirely from the ground up using the Unity 3D engine. More of a proof of concept and/or homage to the original released only for consoles.
I don’t know. Maybe I’m totally off base here but I wouldn’t really place this in the same category as stealing data from carriers.
A: It’s not stealing data if you’ve payed for an unlimited plan…it could however be considered “stealing” functionality because they want you to pay extra for the ability to tether your phone.
B: This is kinda nit-picky (so was the above statement but whatevs) but Portal/Portal 2 were also released for PCs and I think they are available on the Mac as well, so more than just consoles.
/end rant
Sorry I just felt like casting my ranty two cents for some reason.
I mean, it’s using a service without paying for it like you should. Not paying for something is essentially stealing. But I know that has many different definitions and comes in many different forms.
And yeah, sometimes I forget there games on the PC/Mac =p
This is one subject where I couldn’t disagree more, Chris. Forcing customers to pay for ‘tethering’ is blatant double-dipping / cash-grabbing / legalized-rape on the part of the carriers. This is quite simply forcing customers to pay twice for the same stream of bits. Asking them to pay additional $$ for the privilege of moving the final destination of those bits from your phone to a different device is absolutely ridiculous. Whether the bits stop at your phone or your laptop is irrelevant; the same amount of data is being consumed.
Here’s what I find crazy about tethering:
a. I can, without adding any additional software to my phone or tablet, tether my wifi-only tablet to my phone via bluetooth. This functionality is built into both devices and allows me to consume my phone’s data plan from the tablet at no additional cost.
b. If I attempt to consume the exact same data from my phone on my tablet using a wifi connection, somehow this is stealing from the service provider.
Where is the logic behind the provider enabling data consumption under option (a.) by default while requiring the consumer to pay more for option (b.) just because it is slightly more convenient?
As far as the unofficial version of Portal and how ethical it is… the is going to be up to Valve to decide. When someone made a live-action short film based on Portal, Valve came across as supportive. I think Valve is hip enough to realize that the publicity for their products is actually better when they don’t crush small projects like this then it would be if they protected the intellectual property with an iron fist.
Wow that’s surprising I didnt know that’s there Phandroid stood on the subject….way lame if you ask me, just lost a little respect for them…
and yeah just because you’re paying homage to something doesnt mean you have the right to do so…Manufacturers in china “pay homage” to various electronic devices, built from the ground up, only available for certain carriers…and that’s as shady as it gets. how is this different? I dont care, just a little consistency would be nice, and maybe a little less censorship.
You complain about something that no longer applies.
We will no longer target tethering or other breach-of-TOS
conversations on AF. Android related actions that may be illegal in
some states (recording phone calls is the best example here) will also
be left alone.
http://androidforums.com/site-updates-announcements/490815-change-our-tethering-policy-our-approach-some-other-content.html#post3864270
“…Portal, is unofficially making its way to Android, courtesy of a few good developers from the other side of the globe.”
I’m guessing China.
Edit: Read the linked article, It’s Russian.
I love how people who are so extremely against paying for tethering that claim its not wrong or essentially stealing seem to forget they signed a *legally binding* contract that says they WILL pay for tethering.
What the HELL does that have to do with anything? GTFO. Just GTFO right now.
the nexus S 4g does not have to pay for tethering but every other phone does, and i already pay for the data connection, not how i use it… i pay to be connected to the internet, how i use it is my buisness. if my cable provider starts charging me extra to hook up a WiFi router so i can have multiple devices use the connection i will find a way around it.
it is a BS charge.
now in defense of the carriers, plenty of people ABUSE tethering and that their reasoning for the tether fee, but if i am only using it to get a connection to my tab so i can surf the web on a more comfortable screen on the go i will certainly not pay a fee for that.
Console title lol it sold more on the PC!
This game rocks.
Please don’t turn this into console vs PC.
I would pay good money for portal on my phone. It was a little too slow to keep me entertained compared to CoD or Skyrim, but its a great puzzle game, which is what I love playing on my phone
Someone have the APK? the download is down :(
Can’t watch the video in chrome beta…still dont need flash?