7 ms·

'Steam for Schools' is a free version of Steam for students

50 points by jacktoole1 14y ago

borkabrak 14y ago
I feel like I've missed something. What, exactly, are they teaching? I don't mean to be confrontational -- this is a genuine question.
- neilparikh 14y ago
  From the site (http://www.teachwithportals.com/ http://www.teachwithportals.com/): Welcome to the new, free educational collection of puzzles and teacher-created content from Valve’s best-selling game, Portal 2, an engaging 3D puzzle-solving game. Based on Valve’s technology, the Portal 2 Puzzle Maker takes place in an environment with realistic physics – a playground rich with opportunities for educational fun. Seems to be physics or problem-solving.
- rpicard 14y ago
  They have lesson plans on the site: http://www.teachwithportals.com/?cat=3 http://www.teachwithportals.com/?cat=3
leetrout 14y ago
It's good to see them giving back. They ran a similar program back 2005 for universities where you could buy a perpetual cyber cafe license for $10 / seat. I think they realized it wasn't such a great deal for them and it is annual now (Source U). I bought some licenses for our computer club and Valve gave us contact info for one of their engineers who ended up sharing their Maya export tools. More and more companies are opening up to this sort of stuff but us students were flabbergasted to get "real" tools from a studio that we could learn and use in the lab. Keep it up, Valve!
danso 14y ago
Ah, this is a bitter reminder that I purchased Portal 2 when it came out (for the Mac) but do not yet have a computer fast enough to run it...one of my few regrets about getting an Air.
- cmelbye 14y ago
  Your Air can't run Portal 2? Which model is it? (I'm not doubting you, I'm genuinely surprised. Glad I opted to get the Retina MBP, I'd hate to lose my games.)
  - icebraining 14y ago
    Well, the requirements specify at least a 2.0 GHz dual-core, which most Airs don't have (even this year's edition only has an 1.8 GHz i5).
    - nitrogen 14y ago
      A 1.8GHz Core i5 should be faster than a 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo. If a computer with an i5 struggles with Portal 2, it's probably the GPU.
butterfi 14y ago
Here's the non-print link for people who don't mind content producers actually making a livng: http://www.joystiq.com/2012/06/20/steam-for-schools-is-a-free-version-of-steam-for-students-fac/ http://www.joystiq.com/2012/06/20/steam-for-schools-is-a-fre...
- blutonium 14y ago
  It's joystiq's mobile site, not sure why there aren't ads there.
- icebraining 14y ago
  Considering most ads only pay if you click them, you're just wasting more of their bandwidth by viewing the desktop version, not helping them. (no, I don't use an adblocker)

50 points by jacktoole1 14y ago

I feel like I've missed something. What, exactly, are they teaching? I don't mean to be confrontational -- this is a genuine question.

neilparikh 14y ago
From the site (http://www.teachwithportals.com/ http://www.teachwithportals.com/): Welcome to the new, free educational collection of puzzles and teacher-created content from Valve’s best-selling game, Portal 2, an engaging 3D puzzle-solving game. Based on Valve’s technology, the Portal 2 Puzzle Maker takes place in an environment with realistic physics – a playground rich with opportunities for educational fun. Seems to be physics or problem-solving.
rpicard 14y ago
They have lesson plans on the site: http://www.teachwithportals.com/?cat=3 http://www.teachwithportals.com/?cat=3

leetrout 14y ago

It's good to see them giving back. They ran a similar program back 2005 for universities where you could buy a perpetual cyber cafe license for $10 / seat. I think they realized it wasn't such a great deal for them and it is annual now (Source U). I bought some licenses for our computer club and Valve gave us contact info for one of their engineers who ended up sharing their Maya export tools. More and more companies are opening up to this sort of stuff but us students were flabbergasted to get "real" tools from a studio that we could learn and use in the lab. Keep it up, Valve!

danso 14y ago

Ah, this is a bitter reminder that I purchased Portal 2 when it came out (for the Mac) but do not yet have a computer fast enough to run it...one of my few regrets about getting an Air.

cmelbye 14y ago
Your Air can't run Portal 2? Which model is it? (I'm not doubting you, I'm genuinely surprised. Glad I opted to get the Retina MBP, I'd hate to lose my games.)
- icebraining 14y ago
  Well, the requirements specify at least a 2.0 GHz dual-core, which most Airs don't have (even this year's edition only has an 1.8 GHz i5).
  - nitrogen 14y ago
    A 1.8GHz Core i5 should be faster than a 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo. If a computer with an i5 struggles with Portal 2, it's probably the GPU.

butterfi 14y ago

Here's the non-print link for people who don't mind content producers actually making a livng: http://www.joystiq.com/2012/06/20/steam-for-schools-is-a-free-version-of-steam-for-students-fac/ http://www.joystiq.com/2012/06/20/steam-for-schools-is-a-fre...

blutonium 14y ago
It's joystiq's mobile site, not sure why there aren't ads there.
icebraining 14y ago
Considering most ads only pay if you click them, you're just wasting more of their bandwidth by viewing the desktop version, not helping them. (no, I don't use an adblocker)