But a free game isn’t all Valve is up to now. Let’s see more, after the jump.

Portal 1, which I just talked about not so long ago, within my vast critique of Portal 2 , is free yet again! You can pick up a copy of Portal 1 right now, completely for free. Then again, who doesn’t own the original Portal by now? Maybe you’ve been performing some sort of space expedition since 2007? Stealing water from the Martians? Maybe you only just returned to civilization? Then go pick up Portal right now!

Education! It’s very important! You know what else is pretty important? Video games. What happens if you combine the two? Valve’s trying to find out! They actually invited Evergreen School to Valve. Everyone. All the kids. They got to play Portal and they got to do a bit of work in Hammer. And that’s absolutely awesome!

Still, I must confess that I have no idea how Valve succeeded in getting seven-graders to use Hammer. I am worried we’re going to start hearing these kids screaming mean things at Hammer, mostly good stuff like “WHY DID YOU CRASH” and “COMPILE GODDAMN IT”.

No, before you ask, they didn’t test Episode Three, nor did they test Valve’s new tools, which are apparently in development. But one of the kids brought along his Super Soaker, as can be seen 11 seconds into the video, presumably for a confrontation with Gabe Newell himself. “WHERE IS EPISODE THREE”, the boy asked. But Gabe is not a man with whom you should trifle – he quickly grabs his knife collection and within a split-second, he has punctured the water tank. The Super Soaker in question is now a harmless paper-weight, and Episode Three remains a secret. Check the video out!

Great stuff from Valve. A big round of applause to an incredible act of kindness from one of the best game companies ever. But wait! Inviting kids to their Bellevue HQ ain’t the only thing they’re doing for mankind this week – as I mentioned in the description, Portal 1 has been made completely free for anyone who doesn’t yet own it. Tell your friends, tell your family, tell the plants and the animals. Portal is free, go install it. But do it quick – it’s only available until the 20th of September!

Evergreen School’s field trip to Valve is part of their Learning With Portals initiative. Find out more at the official Learning With Portals website.