Oh, GLaDOS. Cruel, cruel GLaDOS. Here, the villain from the Portal games comes to life, in costume and utterly free of cake.

Mean, witty, and slightly crazy, GLaDOS is one of the most memorable gaming characters in recent memory—no wonder she's a fan fav. And no wonder all these folks decided to dress up as her!

Here's a look a handful of cosplayers tackling the same character. It's like when people show up to a party, dressed in the same outfit. Have a look in the above gallery and see who pulled off the best GLaDOS.

For more info on GLaDOS, check out the character's wikia. For more about Valve Software, the studio behind Portal, have a look at its official site.

[BlizzardTerrak]
[CielgoesRAWR]
[dontcallmehuman]
[EminenceRain]
[Emmalyn]
[for_the_wicked]
[Kyuuketsuki-inc]
[Lightthedynamite]
[marimbamonkey14]
[Meketaten]
[MiddySpectrum]
[SoyPants]
[strangexreality]
[Takada-Rem]
[Tenori-Tiger]
[theawesomesauce]
[trinityrenee]
[tsubasahime]
[xxxChelsea-Daggerxxx]

Are educational games broken? Can Portal help fix them?

Speaking during a Rants session at the Games for Change conference in New York today, educators Scott Kirk (CEO, GameGurus) and Jodi Asbell-Clarke (Director, EdGE ) said perspectives like Valve's could help shed a light on the best way to make educational games more fun. Asbell-Clarke pointed to Portal's developer commentary as one of the most useful lessons she's found.

"It's magic," Asbell-Clarke said. "They're telling you why they built the pedagogy they did, what happened in the play-testing that gives you their level of learning... I've been an educator for 20 years, and I learned so much from that game."

Kirk talked about attending a UNICEF conference on education, noting that he was disappointed by the results.

"It was clear to me that the people trying to make fun games just weren't fun people," he said.

Although the pair didn't dish out any solutions to the longrunning dilemma of how to balance fun and education, they did tout the values of play-testing and other Portal-esque ideas.

Their final words of wisdom? "Make games that just don't suck."

Generally speaking, people compare games by listing bullet points. Which game has better graphics, which game has better gameplay? Which one has the better story, or better multiplayer?

Little did they know, there is a better way to determine which game is best. Just leave your game cases in a room together and see which one comes out alive.

I have to admit, I have a soft spot for the idea of game cases having their own secret lives. Michael Shanks takes the idea to a whole new level in this video. Ha!

(Thanks, James!)