The Orange Box Thread

This release, along with Assassin's Creed, is among my most anticipated of the season. Of the included titles, I'm most looking forward to Portal. I've been in love with the concept ever since seeing the first videos about a year or so ago. Replaying Half Life 2 in HD and getting a crack at Episodes 1 and 2 will be a nice treat as well. As for Team Fortress 2, I don't have Live at the moment, so I'll be giving this one a pass for the time being.

Half-Life 2 is one of my favorite games ever, so that's the way I rolled. I haven't played Episode 1 yet, and 2 sounds fantastic.

From what I've heard/seen/read of TF2, it seems awesome, and I love the art style(kind of Timesplitters-esque, but better realized and animated). I'm glad Valve went with that as their multiplayer portion as opposed to another Counter-Strike retread/remake/sequel.

Portal is amazing in concept, and I hope the portal gun makes it into Episode 3 in some capacity(that seems to be the word on the street). I can see this one causing me brain damage, but I'll probably be smiling the whole time.

I'll probably be getting this, and I don't even own a 360 yet, that's how great the whole package sounds.

Team Fortress 2 doesn't interest me since I've never seemed to enjoy online multiplayer games. Portal seems like a cool concept, but I'm skeptical about how long it will remain fun (how long can you really stay interested in figuring out how to move a box or something from Point A to Point B). I'll definitely give Portal a shot, though.

Half-Life 2 and Episode 1 are great games, though I've already played them. So really it's just Episode 2 that I'm excited about.

HL2 is once of the top 2 or 3 games I've ever played. Portal looks insane (are we going to see this weapon in HL3??!!!), and Team Fortress has me really intrigued. But I'll go with Portal.

As much as I adore HL2 and Episode 1 and as much as Portal interests me I really think TF2 is going to be the most important and most played game of them all.

Looking forward to Episodes 1 & 2, Portal, and Team Fortress 2.

I'll play through HL2 again. I heard that much was lost from the translation from PC to XBOX.

I'm renting the 360 version to make sure it's not filled with awful loading times like HL2 for Xbox was.

I'm really hoping that Team Fortress 2 doesn't turn out to be the next Unreal Championship 2 or Timesplitters 3, where some people play it for 2 weeks and then go right back to the Halo.

last time I checked TF2 had only six maps, right?

At the moment, only six. Two of them are much larger, and split up into three or four submaps, Dustbowl and Hydro. Valve is promising more maps in the near future, but I don't know what that means for XBox players. I'd wager you won't be left out in the cold completely.

Even with six maps, I don't understand how people could get bored with this game. Defending the last control point on Dustbowl for fifteen straight minutes while your opponents attempt a new strategy with every rush just never gets old.

I want to get this set eventually, but I'm going to wait a little bit at least. I've never finished Half Life 2 (because I am a fool) and I have it on the PC and I've played it on the Xbox. For what it's worth I think the Xbox version came together pretty well, in spite of it's flaws. The Orange Box is definitely a great value, even for a goofball like me who already owns the main game. Even if it was just Episoes 1 and 2, Team Fortress 2, and Portal it would still be worthwhile. I want to make sure I'm in a place where I will actually play it when I get it, but who am I kidding, I'll probably end up getting it sooner rather than later. I'd liek to finishe Halo 3 first, and I still haven't even touched Bioshock(once again, bebause I am a fool).

My main dilemma here is which version of the game to pick up. The 360 seems like the best fit for me, but my brother in law would love it if I wait and get it for the PS3. I am wary of the delays the PS3 version is seeing however... It seems like there is a decent group here who will be playing together on the 360 and it would be cool to be part of that but it would also be nice to have another game to play with my brother in law on occasion (along with the handful of other PS3 owners in these parts, some of which may be in the same boat as me, and may be leaning towards the 360 version).

Oh well, I'll figure it out. What do you guys think? in the meantime I need to finishe some of my other games first!

edit: And as far as the poll goes, I'd love to be in it for Team Fortress 2, but I'm in the Half Life 2 camp... just voted. Team Fortress 2 looks awesome though. At first I wasn't too excited, but I see its potential now.

Half-Life edges out Portal for me. The Half-Life series does everything I love about games, and I really do like the idea of episodic gaming (though they gotta do something about the wait between entries). Episode 1 was great; Episode 2 has been my most-anticipated game since I got through 1.

That said, Portal seems wicked, and all the little tidbits I've heard about it beyond the basic concept -- that it does take place in the Half-Life universe, that that voice actually has character development -- really has me curious. And the basic portal concept itself is of course great -- anybody else played Narbacular Drop? It's a short little freebee using the same portal concept with a much older 3d technology. It's what the folks Valve brought aboard to make Portal did to earn that hire.

As for TF2 ... not really interested. Multiplayer fragging isn't my game, whether I be pwning the n00bs or the n00b being pwned. Multiplayer co-op appeals to me, so Left 4 Dead, as of midnight tonight when Steam unlocks my pre-loads, becomes my most anticipated game.

Can you add a secondary poll? Find out what system everybody's picking it up for (me: PC).

Count me in the 360 camp. I'm looking forward to Team Fortress 2 the most, despite having never played the original. The art, design and animation looks so goddamn enjoyable, and I dig the class-based alternative to mindless fragging. I hope we get a decent 360 TF2 community going, because I can definitely see myself playing this a ton more than Halo 3.

I love Half Life just as much as the next nerd, but I'm more excited about trying out Portal than I am about Episode 2. I'm also back in the 360 camp for the next year or so until I can build a new computer.

This doesn't get released here until the 19th, which makes me a sad panda. I'm kinda looking forward to playing Half Life 2 for the first time (don't stone me), but the stuff I've heard from people in the know about Portal has made that my main priority. Also TF2 is going to replace Halo 3 as my Multiplayer Kick, although the week and a half disparity between the US and UK launch has me very worried about getting my arse kicked from the first day.

FYI, new TF2 character movie here.

Odd that it's on the Gamespot site, but it's still hilarious. Next one they're working on is "Meet the Sniper".

nice, thanks for the reply. I was worried tf2 might only turn out like my experience with Day of Defeat - I'd enjoy it for a couple of days and then move on because nearly every game was played on the same few maps. Just seemed odd that after a decade of developing tf2 they only had 6 maps...

Look forward to TF2 but look more forward to continuing with Half-Life and the episodes.

I wonder how the Achievements are gonna break down for the game, does each major (Half Life 2, Portal, TF2) game get 1000 points each or is just going to be 1000 points spread across all five games.

Only 1000 achievement points for the game...divided into 99 achievements spread out for all included games. Some achievement sites have detailed lists, but are pretty spoilery.

Yeah, they wanted to give each game 1000 points, but MS said no.

That seems, kinda odd.

What was the worse thing that could have happened by releasing a game with 3000 Achievement Points?

I'm more hyped for TF2 than I was for Halo 3.....And I was pretty hyped for that.

Sadly I won't be able to pick it up till later this week.

Apparently the policy is that they had to cap it at 1000 because the games came in one package. So I guess if they would release a box set with 3 separate cases, then it would have been ok.

Portal will be my first stop, followed by the Half-Lives. My big question is whether to jump right into Episode One and Two, or play through the original again first.

Portal is going to destroy my mind. It's going to do something to my spatial reasoning skills, and I'm just not going to be able to function properly anymore, just shuffle about aimlessly and bump into walls.

Having only played the XBOX version, my choice is easy (ummm...playing HL2 again).

I am running out of free time.

Bioshock-finished..
Halo 3-haven't finished level 2!
The Orange Box
Call of Duty 4: We Promise it's not Call of Duty 3
Exhibit “E”: Kane & Lynch. The multiplayer has you robbing banks and betraying comrades. Awesome.
MASS EFFECT!!! The specific reason I bought a 360.
Area 51. Demo was very fun.
CONAN!!!
Army of Two: depending on reviews.
Assassin’s Creed
Guitar Hero III and/or Rock Band

And that’s only a fraction. There are a ton of genre games that I didn’t even bother to list.

I'll be picking this up this week hopefully for Portal. And I'm gathering from this thread that most of you are jumping ship to TF2 instead of Halo. Goddammit, I only bought Halo to play with Chud people. Looks like I'll have to start playing some TF2.

I take it you are aware that the protagonist in 'Portal', ie 'Chell', (I think short for 'Michelle'. but I could be wrong), is supposedly going to be involved in 'Episode 3'? ...As is 'Aperture Science'.

...and how many of you guys have already pre-loaded via Steam?

Half-Life Or Half-Life 2?

...and...YES!!!

Eh, that's pure speculation right now, but the more reliable word is simply that Aperture Science itself will come into play.

Anyway, that shit needs to be spoiler tagged.

Done.

My list is basically the same as Overlord's with Rock Band/Guitar Hero being a definite AND plus the couple good PS3 games that are actually coming out: Ratchet & Clank and Uncharted (possibly Haze as well).

I'm thinking I might wait until November and just pick up the PS3 version of this or pick up a copy used after Christmas.

And who's playing WHAT first?

Episode 2
Portal
Team Fortress 2

...always questions...

TF2 without question.....Closely followed by portal with E2 being played when i'm finally bored with the first two.

Gotta go with HL2's, as I barely got into the version I got on the XBOX. I got it for Christmas, then shortly after got my 360, and never went back. It's been sitting on my shelf collecting dust ever since.

Plus, I knew that the 360 version would be done right, so I never bothered with the BC downloads that finally came out.

Whatever you invisosaid, I'm gonna assume that I'm not aware of it. I'm getting better and better at avoiding spoilers.

And Ep2 and Portal are pre-loaded, TF2 won't be loaded ever, and HL2+Ep1 are going to be gifted.

That's a toughie. I might go Portal first, simply because I expect it to be harder to pull myself away:

And Portal's shorter, so it'll be a much quicker play-through overall.

I'm looking forward to Half-Life 2 and both episodes the most. I stopped playing it on my friend's old Xbox when I found out it was coming to the PS3. Hopefully the PS3 port is well done or I might have to break down and buy it on Steam (I don't game on my PC much).

Aw, dammit. It just occurred to me that the Orange Box will be unlocked on Steam at midnight Pacific Time. That's 3 am for me, so I guess I won't be trying any of these out until the morning. Why can't this world just agree on one time, huh?

Damn it, I am seriously anxious with anticipation. I want this shit in my hands right now. And I'm pissed that I have a shitty computer as well; otherwise I'd be playing this in four hours rather than 14 or 15.

All the cool kids have been busy for two weeks already playing the Team Fortress 2 beta, and all the cool kids agree Team Fortress 2 kicks tremendous ass.

This is what I'm excited for. I'm kind of bummed that Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway has been pushed back to early next year.

And ditto to Gist's last post.

I'd just like to take this moment to say a big fuck you to Amazon, who has decided to ship my game on October 15th, for some reason.

Getting it for the 360, and getting it mostly for Half-Life 2 and the two episodes.

I've been playing a ton of TF2 since the beta became available and it's fucking awesome. Once the other games unlock I'll definitely try Portal first. Several reviewers have said it's one of the funniest and best written games in years.

It's also SUPER FUCKING SCARY.

keeks, what's your Steam ID? We could use more warm bodies on Team Venture.

Also: Ha ha, Werbal is a diaper baby.

They make diapers that big?

Traditionally, our Super Big Blowout New Years Party (Dec 30-Jan2) has marathons of everyone...including people that don't play video games...passing around the X-Box controller for the Burnout games. But since "this year's" Burnout doesn't get released til January (grrr), I'm thinking I may need to get Portal to screw with people's heads.

Well, three and a half hours straight and Portal is done. A very short game, but great (and you just know user-made maps will soon be a-plenty).

Nerdly-spoilery questions for those others who've finished, and who know their Half-Life:

1. Any idea what time frame this is supposed to be? Those slideshows said Aperture was in competiton with Black Mesa, and since we can assume Black Mesa ceased to exist post HL1, Aperture must be pretty old -- though it had also clearly been out of use for a while (since the Voice gassed everybody), it didn't seem particularly run-down. I was hoping we'd get to take a look around outside when it was all done, but alas.

2. Seems to me Aperture's design (especially those turrets) shares a lot with the Combine Elite soliders. Not really a question, I'm just sayin'.

3. Did anybody get dumped into those flames at the end of the test? Is that game over, because that'd be great if it were.

All right, time to shower, eat, vote, then consider blowing the rest of my day on Episode Two.