Valve's Doug Lombardi recently told GamesIndustry.biz that he'd "love to sell Portal on Xbox live" but that "the platform holders aren't doing that right now" because of "size limit and all kinds of other things." Because, if you recall, Microsoft has strict rules on XBLA games maxing out at 150MB in size. Though, Lombardi is optimistic about Portal hitting the XBLA, saying that "it always happens once it's been proven and I think it's been proven now on Steam, so I'm sure it'll migrate back to the consoles just like everything else does." Meh ...
So, there you have it, Microsoft crushed our Portal XBLA dreams. Those evil monkeys. Maybe the N+ guys were right about MS and their iron-fisted rule over the XBLA. Maybe?




Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
4-28-2008 @ 1:46PM
JakubK666 (Ninja Defence Force) said...
That's very dumb of you.Imo, Portal was the worst out of all TOB games.Spies sappin'n mah sentry ftw!
4-28-2008 @ 10:36AM
CameronA. said...
It's meant to be about buying Portal alone. Some may not want to play Half Life 2 or have to pay full price for a game that they aren't going to play. So, offering Portal as a stand-alone download would be a very smart move.
A move that Microsoft can't seem to grasp. They're being difficult about making money!
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4-28-2008 @ 10:39AM
Mr. Nosuch said...
This isn't a triumph.
I'm making a note here: huge failure.
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4-28-2008 @ 11:17AM
xFenixKnightx said...
LOL, Agreed!
4-28-2008 @ 10:39AM
Chuck said...
I have no interest in the rest of the Orange Box pack and have thought many times how awesome Portal would have been as a downloadable title as a quick $15 to $20 fix. I borrowed a friends copy of Orange box to play through Portal but I would love for it to be sitting on my hard drive ready to play at a moment's notice.
Not packing the hard drive in with all Xbox 360s and all the policy side effects from this has been one of Microsoft's biggest mistakes this time around.
That and can we please lower the cost of the 120gig drive?!? I can't believe there is a $130 markup from the same drive on Buy.com! Do they NOT want me to buy it? I love the Xbox Originals program and have bought a few games. It reminds me of having HDLoader on my PS2. But with only ~14GB of usable space on the HD, and the 120GB drive beyond what any sane person would pay for the upgrade, I'm left with a full HD and the stifling of digital distribution... Grr!
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4-28-2008 @ 10:51AM
JakubK666 (Ninja Defence Force) said...
Guys, you do realise that Portal Standalone is out?
And MS won't allow it because (as a couple of Portal fanboys flamed me some time ago), it's not a "tech-demo/experiment" but a "full ass-kicking game".
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4-28-2008 @ 10:55AM
Dick said...
To everyone complaining about having to get 4 games you will not play just to get portal, stfu and go get a paper route.
Who cares if this is not released on XBLA? Suck it up and get a used disc at your local ripoff (I mean Gamestop).
Besides, ya morons, you got a 360 for fps', so play the other 4 games (that happen to be fps) or dont.
Go get a job mowing lawns, ya kids
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4-28-2008 @ 10:56AM
Aero said...
If it came to XBLA, then it wouldn't have been on the Orange Box and I'm sure the price wouldn't have gone down so I don't mind.
Not to mention my poor little HDD probably couldn't take it.
Although I wouldn't mind if Microsoft fixed the HDD transfer license stuff.
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4-28-2008 @ 11:09AM
Boff said...
I think it would make an absolute killing if they put it out on the XBLA now.
On a side note, with all the quality retail titles out now the XBLA has lost it's shine a bit for me personally.
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4-28-2008 @ 11:20AM
Vcize said...
I will mention that, even to those not interested in the other 4 games in Orange Box, Portal is worth the cost alone even though it's quite short.
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4-28-2008 @ 11:27AM
CharleyTony said...
Microsoft is KINDA right ... Portal should not go on XBLA...
But should Portal become a downloadable game like warhawk on PS3 ? ABSOLUTELY...
If Microsoft want to make sure that this new kind of "Downloable nextgen game" does not screw anybody, all they should do as far as limitations should be that the game has to be available on retail aswell .... Like in the "ORANGE BOX"
Portal would be a great stand alone game, Microsoft put on your thinking hats and make up some way to keep your XBLA limitations and still get this game onto our hard drives.
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4-28-2008 @ 11:35AM
joey said...
I'm sick of this 150mb cap bullshit.
It's not bringing any value to the gamers
You know what Valve, put Portal on PSN.
Let the sales do the talking.
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4-28-2008 @ 12:32PM
Procris said...
I'm amazed that theres so much hate here for XBLA. I'm in full agreement that we already have Portal in Orangebox, so if your desperate to play it, go buy it. My friend picked up Orangebox for a mere $15 pre-owned. Which is fantastic considering it was also in great condition. Not to mention the 360 version of Orangebox is great, much better than what PS3 owners have.
Obviously there is 2 reasons why a game such as Portal is not right for XBLA. Space being its way over 150mb, but how much more i have no idea. The second being Portal is more in line with a very short retail game. Seriously compare it to every game on XBLA and you will realise that a game such as Portal deserves to be in its own category, not lumped with Arcade games which are meant to be incredibly simple. I'm going to say it but half the people here complaining would never buy it as DLC anyway. You'd find more ways to complain about the price and how much memory it takes up.
@ AnOffday: And how exactly do you know Xbox Originals aren't selling? You have nothing what so ever to back up that very bold claim, until Microsoft disclose details.
I think the best solution to this really is to give new downloadable 360 games, that can already be bought at retail on a disk their own section on XBL. This way they are not limited by XBLA's limit and people that actually are insane enough to buy a 120gb HDD will actually finally have a reason for buying it in the first place.
Or they could start shipping Arcade's with 20gb hard drives, replace preim with a 60gb HDD and lower the price on both the 20gb and 120gb. Never going to happen but it should.
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4-28-2008 @ 12:59PM
NukeAssault said...
Sell it in 150mb chunks. =P
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4-28-2008 @ 1:10PM
Exo said...
the N+ devs are retards tehy only said xbla was ful of bad games because they have beefs with alot of the otehr developers, heck they tried to get Alien hominid kicked from IGA awards a few years ago
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4-28-2008 @ 2:06PM
ccc said...
MS is makeing some big mistakes.
Where are these games ms?
Dodonpachi?
Ketsui X?
Raiden Fighters Aces?
The King Of Fighters 12?
Fist of The North Star?
The New Guilty Gear that came out only on ps2?
I'm trying to stay a 1 console guy ms but seriously, your breaking my balls man.
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4-28-2008 @ 4:05PM
PS360 Jonesy said...
New petition up for not only allowing portal to XBLA but also getting rid of file size restrictions.
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4-28-2008 @ 4:06PM
PS360 Jonesy said...
on http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/portalxbla
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4-28-2008 @ 5:20PM
mcwattersm said...
Wow, I'd even buy this if it was 1200 points...
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