It must have been the fact that I'm one of, if not the only person at Valve who hasn't played Portal yet...which made me perfect for playtesting one of Valve's next big "thangs". Wow, I have never felt so smart and so dumb all at the same time. It was like watching "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy" at the same time. This game is definetly going to turn some heads and gaming thumbs it's way. I won't say how long I played (God I love my job) but the time flew...FLEW by. I'm not a monster gamer but I can honestly say that this will introduce some gaming experiences that just haven't been avaiable before...ways to figure out puzzles that will just blow your mind. And how this is all going to tie in to the HL2 universe...nice (that's for you Burke.)