Preoder open for HL2 'Orange Box'

[txa1265]

This is the one that includes HL2, HL2: Ep 1, HL2: Ep 2, Portal and Team Fortress 2. In addition, pre-ordering gets you in on the beta of TF2, and also comes with a 10% discount - and a free copy of Peggle! Cheak it out here (http://www.steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=package&SubId=469&cc=CA)!

Press release:
September 11, 2007 -The Orange Box-featuring Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Team Fortress 2, and Portal, as well as the complete Half-Life 2 experience to date-is now available for pre-purchase via Steam, a leading online platform for the distribution of PC games. Those who pre-purchase the PC edition via Steam before October 10th will save 10% off the $49.95 regular price and get exclusive access to the Team Fortress 2 beta.

The Orange Box, penned by IGN as ".the package which could legitimately be called the deal of the century," features three highly-awaited new games by Valve: Half-Life® 2: Episode Two, the second installment in the Half-Life 2 episodic trilogy; Team Fortress® 2, the sequel to the game that put class-based, multiplayer team warfare on the map; and Portal, the game that blends puzzles, first person action, and adventure gaming to produce an experience like no other.

To bring gamers up to date with the Half-Life 2 universe, The Orange Box also includes Half-Life 2, the best-selling and highest-rated action game series of all time, and the episodic debut Half-Life® 2: Episode One. Customers who already own these titles will have the ability to conveniently "gift" them to a friend upon official release of The Orange Box.

Starting September 17th, those who pre-purchase The Orange Box via Steam can download and activate the beta release of Team Fortress 2 (TF2). This year's most anticipated online action game, TF2 delivers new game types, a signature art style powered by Valve's next generation animation technology, persistent player statistics, and more.

As a special bonus, those who pre-purchase The Orange Box via Steam will also receive a copy of Peggle Extreme. PopCap and Valve have teamed up to create a special edition of the game cited by MSNBC.com as one of the "Top 5 Most Addicting Games of All Time." This first ever collaboration is themed around content from Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Team Fortress 2 and Portal which will positively result in Extreme Fever!

Available at retail on October 10th in North America and October 12th in the rest of the world, retail copies of The Orange Box will be offered for an estimated price of $49.95 on the PC and $59.95 on the Xbox® 360 console systems. The 10% pre-purchase discount also applies to these versions at participating retail outlets.

Another cool thing - if you buy the Orange Box and own HL2 and Episode 1 already, you can 'give away' your new copies to a friend via a 'Orange Box Gift'. Not up to the full transfer of traditional boxed games but it is better than nothing.

[curiously undead]

this is the only "orange box" of interest to me
http://www.unicefusa.org/atf/cf/%7BB35DBA70-2A32-4E25-999B-FA3A590864DB%7D/2005_3DBox-small.jpg

[Asbjoern]

This video about the soldier class in TF2 is quite funny: http://www.steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=game&AppId=985

And the below is just brilliant:
Meet the Soldier, one of nine playable character classes in Team Fortress 2:

Name: Soldier
Role: Offense
Weapons: Rocket Launcher / Shotgun / Shovel
Favorite World War: 2
Special Ability: Rocket Jump

Though he wanted desperately to fight in World War 2, the Soldier was rejected from every branch of the U.S. military. Undaunted, he bought his own ticket to Europe. After arriving and finally locating Poland, the Soldier taught himself how to load and fire a variety of weapons before embarking on a Nazi killing spree for which he was awarded several medals that he designed and made himself. His rampage ended immediately upon hearing about the end of the war in 1949.


New video today about the engineer class: http://www.steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=game&AppId=987&cc=EN

The accompanying description:
Meet the Engineer, one of nine playable character classes in Team Fortress 2:

Name: Engineer
Role: Defense
Weapons: Shotgun / Pistol/ Wrench
Contraptions: Turret / Dispenser / Teleporter
Favorite Equation:
http://www.steampowered.com/v/gfx/apps_extras/987/equation.gif

This amiable, soft-spoken good ol’ boy from tiny Bee Cave, Texas loves barbeque, guns, and higher education. Natural curiosity, ten years as a roughneck in the west Texas oilfields, and eleven hard science PhDs have trained him to design, build and repair a variety of deadly contraptions.

[fatBastard()]

Here's one for the
Heavy Weapons Guy (http://www.steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=game&AppId=960):

Meet the Heavy Weapons Guy, one of nine playable character classes in Team Fortress 2:

Name: Heavy Weapons Guy
Role: Defense
Weapons: Chain Gun / Shotgun / Giant Fists

Like a hibernating bear, the Heavy appears to be a gentle giant. Also like a bear, confusing his deliberate, sleepy demeanor with gentleness will get you ripped limb from limb. Though he speaks simply and moves with an economy of energy that’s often confused with napping, the Heavy isn’t dumb, he’s not your big friend, and he generally wishes you’d just shut up before he has to make you shut up.

These videos are absolutely great. I almost fell out of my chair when the soldier tells the story of Sun Tzu :lol:

[Lucky Day]

Is this the same as the HL2's that were released? I had heard about the "Episodic Content" but I don't know the whole story on them.

I've never played HL2 but I did get somewhat interested when the collectors editions went into the bargain bins for less than regular editions. I ended up getting Far Cry instead. That game was a good 20 minutes.

[txa1265]

Is this the same as the HL2's that were released? I had heard about the "Episodic Content" but I don't know the whole story on them.
The 'orange box' is basically everything 'Half-Life 2' from the original right up through the three new games coming next month. Old stuff includes the original game (and Counter-Strike Source multiplayer) and Episode One (initial episodic content). New stuff is Episode Two (single player), Portal (cool technology demo game) and Team Fortress 2 (multiplayer).

There was going to be a 'black box' with just the new stuff but they decided to cut that and just do the orange box with everything and give buyers a 'free gift'.
I ended up getting Far Cry instead. That game was a good 20 minutes.
Huh?

[Asbjoern]

(and Counter-Strike Source multiplayer)

As far as I know CS: Source is not included in the package.

[txa1265]

As far as I know CS: Source is not included in the package.

My mistake - you are correct.

[Asbjoern]

So Mike, what do you think of the "Meet the ......." films from Valve? The "Meet the Soldier" film is just hilarious. I would nearly rather have those films than the actual game. Luckily, we get both. :)

[txa1265]

So Mike, what do you think of the "Meet the ......." films from Valve? The "Meet the Soldier" film is just hilarious. I would nearly rather have those films than the actual game. Luckily, we get both. :)

I haven't watched any of them. I'm not really into multiplayer all that much, and so I don't really care about TF2

[Asbjoern]

I haven't watched any of them. I'm not really into multiplayer all that much, and so I don't really care about TF2

Well, you should watch them none the less. They can be watched independently for their humour and character depictions. As I wrote, I would rather have the films than the game.

[fatBastard()]

All 3 of them are absolutely brilliant. Valve (or whoever made them) really ought to get an award for excellent marketing. The graphics may look like it's from the game but I doubt it.

Just watching the engineer sitting there plucking at the guitar and talking in that calm and smooth voice while bullets are flying around his head is side splitting fun :lol:

[JDR13]

I'm sorry, but this is insulting. So you're telling me that I have to pay $50 for Episode 2 even if it's the only game I want in that package, because they're not going to sell it separately?


What are they going to do for Episode 3, make you buy everything again??


*Edit* Ok, I see there is a listing on STEAM to get Ep 2 via download for $29.99. I'm still disappointed that they're not selling a retail version separately like they did with Ep 1.

[txa1265]

I'm sorry, but this is insulting. So you're telling me that I have to pay $50 for Episode 2 even if it's the only game I want in that package, because they're not going to sell it separately?

There is a listing there for Episode 2 (labeled 'soon') that has a price of $30. That means Circuit City will have it for $20 or less the second week of release. And unless there are more than 4 hours of gameplay this time I can't see paying $30 for it alone.

[JDR13]

Where have you seen a listing for a retail boxed version of Episode 2?

I don't want the Orange box because I will never play any of those multiplayer games and I have no need for duplicate copies of the games I already own.

[Asbjoern]

What is the problem with downloading it through Steam? The game will be locked to your user account no matter what.

[JDR13]

What is the problem with downloading it through Steam? The game will be locked to your user account no matter what.

I know, but I still like to have the actual cd\dvd in my possession.

[txa1265]

What is the problem with downloading it through Steam? The game will be locked to your user account no matter what.

The 'problem' is that through Steam you will pay $45, whereas through retail chances are the Orange Box (assuming availability) will be on sale at Circuit City during week 2 for $37.99 ... and if you just want the Episode 2 module it will be even cheaper.

[Lucky Day]

The 'orange box' is basically everything 'Half-Life 2' from the original right up through the three new games coming next month. Old stuff includes the original game (and Counter-Strike Source multiplayer) and Episode One (initial episodic content). New stuff is Episode Two (single player), Portal (cool technology demo game) and Team Fortress 2 (multiplayer).

There was going to be a 'black box' with just the new stuff but they decided to cut that and just do the orange box with everything and give buyers a 'free gift'.


Thanks, that has me curious. Was there ever a Demo? FPS shooters aren't my thing but I've always been curious about this one.


Huh?

What?

[curiously undead]

for me farcry was about a good 80 minutes. after which i had to check the box to make sure i had the right game. i can't recall if its the first time i had the gaming experience of "are you serious" but it certainly is the most memorable case of it. at least i only wasted 8 dollars on it.

[JDR13]

for me farcry was about a good 80 minutes. after which i had to check the box to make sure i had the right game. i can't recall if its the first time i had the gaming experience of "are you serious" but it certainly is the most memorable case of it. at least i only wasted 8 dollars on it.

The only Farcry I know of is this game, (http://www.ubi.com/US/Games/Info.aspx?pId=50) and there's no way you went through it in 80 minutes unless you're talking about the demo. There were individual missions in that game that took 30-40 minutes to go through, and there are 20 missions in the game.

[Moriendor]

I think he meant he played 80 minutes until he quit the game out of boredom/frustration/whatever. Happened to me, too. I quit when the inside levels started with the mutant monkeys.
The game just never really managed to grab my attention. I really like tropical island settings such as in Far Cry for going on vacation but not for gaming. Overall, it's one of the most overrated games IMHO. It had absolutely nothing special except for pretty graphics. I'm also glad that I paid less than EUR 20.00 for it.

[curiously undead]

@JDR13
Moriendor sums its up pretty well. the graphics didn't even impress me all that much though. i much preferred just cause as to me it allowed me to have a vacation in the game, from boating to parasailing, and great helicopter rides through the clouds. that game actually looked good. sure its hardly a shooter and the combat may have been "fun" rather than realistic, but at least it had me coming back. boiling point also failed to grab me, but i'll probably give that one another go someday as i never even got out of the town even after a handful of hours.

[JDR13]

Oops my bad, I thought he was saying that he actually went through the entire game in 80 minutes.

I didn't think Farcry was that bad, but then again I played it when it was first released and it had some pretty amazing graphics for the time.

The A.I. of the human enemies wasn't bad, unfortunately the creatures were pretty stupid.

[txa1265]

At the time, Far Cry had great graphics, and up until the end battles the best AI of any game and some pretty darn good shooter mechanics.

[Jaz]

Count me in, I'm another one who stopped playing FarCry after reaching the first indoors level. But it's a general problem with me and can hardly be attributed to the game itself - newer PC games rarely grip me at all, and the only ones I tend to finish are sequels of games I really enjoyed back in the days, as painful as playing through them actually may be.

I might get the Orange Box if it's the only way to get hold of TF2, but I won't buy it immediately.

[Dez]

you stopped playing far cry?! :o

you don't know what you missed. I don't still get it whats the problem with mutants? Its not like that game was deadly serious from the begining or didn't hint the existence of weird activity on the island...Besides after the mutant lab level things got a lot better. Some of the best levels were only about to come!

[txa1265]

But the ending section I found not so good - the enemies were non-AI bullet-sponges that lumbered after you like every bad FPS monster in history. Prior to that ... classic shooter!

[Jaz]

Nothing is wrong with mutants. My attention span is outrageously short these days.

While I instantly bought every single game I thought I might like a few years ago, I tend to wait until even my possibly absolute favorites end in the bargain bin nowadays. Did I buy the latest C&C game even though I loved the demo? No, even though I'm an absolute C&C nut. I'll get it some day. Perhaps. But it's a game which needs a lot of care and attention, so I will more probably buy Viva Pinata instead once an XBox 360 falls from the delivery truck.

All my friends loved FarCry, so it should be good, but it just didn't keep my interest over the first two levels.

[JDR13]

Far Cry had some very challenging levels as well. Remember the one where they threw you out of a helicopter, stripped of all your weapons, right into a mutant infested area?

I think I reloaded at least 20 times on that mission.

[curiously undead]

sounds like a reality game show...or a movie with ice-t in it.