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Readers pick best webcomic: parental guidance is advised
By quite a large margin, Scott Ramsoomair's VG Cats took the top spot in the webcomic wrapup this week -- but is it a love for Valve's amazing game Portal or a fascination with endangered infants that drove our readers en masse to vote?Second and third place go to Penny Arcade and 2P Start, respectively. Thanks to everyone who voted; be sure to let us know of any game-related webcomics you stumble upon this week!
Half-Life in 60 seconds by cheeky Germans
Are you the type of person that could care less about narrative? Did you skip Half-Life, pick up The Orange Box, skip Half-Life 2, and go straight for the episodes? Still want to know what happened in the non-episodic games? If so, and you just can't be bothered to go and actually play them, above we have a 60-second version of everything you need to know about the series.Created by Simon Krãtschmer and Jakob Rompkowski, the little vignette seems to sum up Half-Life quite nicely. We know it's really nothing special, but the sprinkles of German are what really make it pop. We actually wouldn't mind seeing more by Krãtschmer and Rompkowski in the future -- plus, those two names strung together sound cool.
Drool: Orange Box goes gold!
The wait is almost over, as Valve's The Orange Box mega-compilation has gone gold! October 10 is the date to circle on your calendars, as the package (which comes stuffed with Half-Life 2, Episodes 1 and 2, Portal and Team Fortress 2) heads to retail that day for both Xbox 360 and PC. The recently delayed PS3 version is still expected to ship a few weeks later. Maybe now the folks at Valve can take a break and finally deal with those Little Sisters.In case you've been living under a rock, The Orange Box will retail for $50 for the PC at retail, with the console variety demanding a bit more from your wallet with a "next-gen price" of $60. Of course, those who pre-purchased the collection over Steam will enjoy an additional 10% cost savings, though it's likely they're too wrapped up in the Team Fortress 2 beta to care.%Gallery-1634%
The Soldier talks to the troops in Team Fortress 2 video
Hilarious and slightly disturbing, The Soldier video for Team Fortress 2, the game bundled with The Orange Box, makes us laugh in that uncomfortable way. Not cute like "The Heavy" video, this clip of The Soldier is just a little bit darker. Team Fortress 2 through brilliant marketing is really turning into the game we've become excited about in The Orange Box. Sure it'll probably be just another frag-fest that the average person won't stand a chance in, but it's oozing with dark charm.The Orange Box continues to be the value bundle of the year. With Half-Life 2, Episodes 1 and 2, Portal and Team Fortress 2 -- that's a lot of value in a little box, especially if you've never played Half-Life 2. We're definitely looking forward to seeing more of these clips, even if we don't think we'll stand a chance in an online match with the actual game.%Gallery-1634%
Joystiq hands-on: The Orange Box
Easily one of the best gaming values to come out in recent memory, Valve's The Orange Box packs a pretty strong punch in terms of content. We got our grubby little paws on it at EA, and while we know there are other games on this disc, we hard a hard time tearing ourselves away from Portal to play the others. However, once someone smacked us in the head with a crowbar, we moved on and got a piece of everything, culminating with a Team Fortress 2 fragfest.Seriously, if you're trapped on a desert island and can only take one upcoming title with you, The Orange Box wouldn't be a bad choice. You've got team games, a first person shooter (with sequels), and a really unique puzzle game. Where could you go wrong? Just make sure that island has internet access, because the press notes for Team Fortress 2 dropped a mega-bombshell of information* that hasn't been reported at all from E3. We aren't sure why. Ready for it? Here you go:* Internet connection required for online play. We're working on a confirmation on that one. Check out our impressions after the break.%Gallery-1634%
Orange Box peels away to show actual cover
If you happened to catch the original look for Valve's The Orange Box (which includes Half-Life 2, Episodes 1 and 2, Portal and Team Fortress 2), you'll know it was just a generic Word font on an orange background -- what we have now is much better. TeamXbox says this is the final box featuring Gordon Freeman (who apparently has time to put good product in his hair and keep the goatee trim), the symbol for Portal and Heavy Weapons Guy with Sacha.In case you missed it, the Black Box is no more, so PC gamers will get The Orange Box at $49.99 instead of the PS3 and Xbox 360 console price of $59.99. The individual components will be offered through Steam as well for PC owners to pick and choose. For console owners, there is a lot of stuff packed into The Orange Box, especially if you've missed out on the saga of Half-Life 2. We're going to also take this opportunity to guess that Episode 3 will be a PSN and XBM download. Unless Valve decides to come out with The Orangier Box, which will have six games and an updated version of the original Half-Life ... it could happen.
Team Fortress will not have cross-platform play, but Valve plays it that way
Shacknews has a rather exhaustive preview of Valve's Team Fortress 2, coming to PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 as part of the Half-Life 2: Orange Box collection (also available via Steam, natch). One interesting note at the end of the article states that the Valve offices, who are working on the Xbox 360 and PC versions (PS3 version is being done by EA UK), "regularly play cross-platform multiplayer games." However, the studio's Doug Lombardi said that the final game will not have cross-platform because it "introduces more problems than it is worth." He continued to say that if Valve were to implement cross-platform that it would be part of the initial game design. Orange Box, which includes Half-Life 2, Episode One, Two, Portal and Team Fortress 2, is due out October 9.
Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Portal, Team Fortress 2 shipping October 9th
Politely telling naysayers who expected the games to miss their 2007 launch to eat crowbar, Valve has confirmed to Chris Remo of Shacknews that its upcoming Source trio will ship for all intended platforms on October 9th. The suite is comprised of warped puzzler Portal, stylized multiplayer shooter Team Fortress 2, and continued scientist savior sim Half-Life 2: Episode Two. The collection will be sold through Valve's online Steam service as well as in a retail package. The EA-distributed Half-Life 2: The Orange Box, which also contains Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode One, will be available on PS3 and Xbox 360 for $59.99, with the PC version priced at $49.99. There once existed a Black Box (containing the three new titles only) for those PC gamers unwilling to take the digital distribution route, but it was promptly buried in the hope of fostering a strange sort of philanthropy amongst gamers. Still, in featuring five games -- two of them proven classics -- there's little question that the Orange Box offers great value, especially if you're a newcomer to Valve's first-person shooters. [Thanks, Gogandantis]
Free Half-Life 2 games via Steam for ATI Radeon owners
In a brilliantly concocted promotion, Valve announced today that owners of ATI Radeon graphics cards can score a handful of free games via Steam. Half-Life 2: Lost Coast and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch are among the freebies, and the promotion includes discounts on other games as well. In addition, Steam will be included in all ATI Catalyst Software and Driver packages through early 2008. Anyone who buys the new ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT will also receive Team Fortress 2, Portal, and Half-Life 2: Episode Two, which is almost more gaming goodness than the human mind can comprehend.For ATI owners, the glorious details can be found on Steam's official website. The nVIDIA Owners Anti-Steam Support (and Crying) Group will begin its weekly meetings this Saturday.[Via GameDaily]
Half-Life 2: Episode Two nearing completion, new concept art inside
As part of their weekly updates, Valve recently spilled the beans on the status of Half-Life 2: Episode Two: "we're working hard on putting the final parts together." The early part of the development was spent carefully working on concept art of key areas in the game, ensuring everyone on the team could share a vision of what the final product would look like. A few examples are in the gallery below.While yearly releases doesn't feel very episodic to us (especially compared to the monthly Sam & Max series installments), it's half the time we waited between Half-Life 2 (2004) and Episode One (2006). Does Valve need to get its act together and deliver at a faster pace, or does a game like Half-Life 2 need time for perfection?%Gallery-2992%
Portal a four-hour tour
Portal level designer, Kim Swift, told Eurogamer that her game will last only about four hours in its final version. The demo we saw at GDC looks fun, but only four hours?Portal will be bundled with at least Half-Life 2: Episode 2 and Team Fortress 2 (in the $40 Black version), which takes some of the sting. But ... four hours?We're all for short, sweet games. But our idea of a short game is about eight hours unless we're playing monthly episodes. When we hit the four-hour mark in a game, we're just getting started.[Via Xbox360fanboy]
Valve's Kim Swift talks about designing Portal
At the Experimental Game Design lecture (where, among others, we heard from Crush's Alex Butterfield), Valve's Kim Swift, one of the designers of Portal, talked about the challenges of creating a first-person mind-screw puzzler, which is packaged with the oft-delayed Half-Life: :Episode 2, Black, and Orange sets, and concluded with a video demonstration solving one of Portal's crazy door-opening puzzles."Doing something new can be a really big risk and adding something innovative to something already exists can often disrupt and create new games," she said. Swift told the crowd that she and the team approached Portal problems as small gamelets in isolated environments. To her, trying to innovate too much at one time can lead to failure. Jurassic Park: Tresspasser, she quipped, is an example of a title that "tries a lot, and fails at all." Swift's mantra is to try one thing and polish it to the best of your ability.Following her talk, Swift started a video of one level of portal to explain the depth of the puzzle. In Portal, you can make a blue and orange-rimmed portal that interact with one another. You can attach a portal to most surfaces, although reflective and glass surfaces will not take a portal, "just to make your life more difficult," Swift notes.
Valve unleashes Half-Life 2: Orange screenshots
Half-Life 2: Orange, as we now call it, has been forever delayed and will only show up much later this year. But what are eager Half Life fanboys supposed to do until that time comes ... wait? Yes, you will have to wait, but Valve understands your pain by offering some screenshot love. They just released a massive amount of screens from the Half-Life 2: Orange bundle including Portal and Team Fortress 2. All the games are looking pretty good, but Portal and Team Fortress 2 lack visual goodness that Half-Life 2 offers, which is probably intended. Check out the nifty gallery Joystiq put up and come back to post your thoughts on what is sure to be one great compilation.
Run WoW, Steam games on Linux
Having a working Linux box is a point of pride for computer hackers everywhere, but when it comes to gaming on a computer, freeware Linux offerings like Tux Racer don't really hold up to Windows favorites like World of Warcraft and Half-Life 2. A new version of Codeweavers' CrossOver Linux solves this problem by letting Linux users easily run some popular games and other Windows applications from a Linux box. Running Windows games on Linux has long been possible with free programs like Wine, but the process of getting your favorite game up and running was not always simple. For $40 ($70 for the professional version), CrossOver Linux promises to let you seamlessly run programs "exactly as you would in Windows, but with the full freedom of Linux." A review on Linux.com confirms that demo versions of World Of Warcraft, Half Life, Heroes of Annihilated Empires, and Medieval II Total War worked in Linux without any problems. Will other games work with the setup? Codeweavers' compatibility list shows most games as untested, but a few big names like Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Civilization III are confirmed not to work. Knowing the open source movement, though, it's only a matter of time before a new release lets Linux gamers join their Windows brethren in the hallowed halls of gaming nirvana. [Thanks Dolores]
Half-Life 2 is black, orange, and priced
Valve has released some pricing details on their upcoming Half-Life 2 sets, affectionately dubbed Orange and Black. The packages and prices are as follows: Black, for PC only, is $39.99 and includes only Episode Two, Team Fortress 2, and Portal. Orange, for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 is $59.99 and includes all of the above plus Half-Life 2 and Episode One. With a set like Half-Life 2: Orange being one of the few titles out there we feel merit a $60 price tag, we're eagerly anticipating the sets' release. Now if Valve would finally release them!
Half-Life 2 console pack blushes orange
Why call it Half-Life 2: Episode Two when it just has so much more to offer? The latest issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly confirms that the upcoming PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 editions of Half-Life 2 have been renamed to Half-Life 2: Orange. No, really.Valve has come up with an entire world of alien life forms, postmodern physics and government conspiracies and the best title they could come up with is a color? We guess it's better than Half-Life 2: Head Crab-tacular Edition.HL2:O includes the original Half-Life 2, Episodes One and Two, Team Fortress, and Portal. We think you can make a better title, so let's hear your suggestions.
Goldeneye: Source beta released
The 22-man team working to modernize Goldeneye 64 with the Source Engine have given everyone the perfect Christmas gift: a public beta showing off the fruits of their labor. (It's just a step above last year's present, the alpha version.)The mod, which requires a Source-based game to work, has already garnered much attention over the years for the level of detail in its stage design and weaponry. All information, including known bugs, can be found on the developer Wiki. Here are some suggestions, via the mod's main website, on how to stabilize the game: Check for and download latest video card drivers A server with 10 people seems to work better Have the Base SDK installed Download the mod again on another mirror and reinstall the mod. Turn HDR off Turn shadow detail on low A patch is being planned but no date has been determined.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Half Life 2 delayed
For everyone looking forward to living in Gordon Freeman's world early next year, it looks like you'll have to wait just a little bit longer. Recently Doug Lombardi, Valve's Director of Marketing, told CVG that Half Life 2: Episode 2 will be delayed until Summer 2007. I guess the Xbox version of Half Life 2 could hold you over if you can't bear the wait, but I want my episode 2 now!
HL2: Episode Two delayed until Summer 2007
Speaking to CVG, Valve's Doug Lombardi confirmed that Half-Life 2: Episode Two -- which includes Portal and Team Fortress 2 -- has been pushed back from early 2007 to Summer 2007. As the title was already expected to miss the holiday season, it shouldn't be too much of a financial burden for Valve to hold off and fine tune the titles.Seeing Portal delayed is a bummer, but Team Fortress 2 has been in development since 1999; to see a game so close to escaping the vaporware stigma is agonizing.
Joystiq Interview: Concerned's Chris Livingston
Yes, Gordon Frohman is dead. Super dead. As the popular gaming comic Concerned said its goodbyes, creator Chris Livingston took some time to trash talk Frohman posthumously and, for reasons unknown to us (or caused by us, actually) talk about underwear. A lot.Let's get through the basic (read: boring) questions first: why'd you start the webcomic? Well, I thought Half-Life 2 was a great game, but there simply weren't enough jokes about toilets in it. So, I thought a comic would be a good place to get some humor into the game. I came up with the idea for Frohman, a complete idiot, to play all the way through the game, just like Freeman only instead of being a hero, he'd be a complete tool. I waited for a while but no one else started the comic, so I went ahead and started it myself. So Frohman is dead and gone, right? I've been asked this a lot in the past couple days. I guess it seems pretty obvious to me that he's dead, what with the title of the comic mentioning that he is going to die during the series, plus the Epilogue indicating that the series is over, plus the fact that he's lying there dead and people in the comic are saying that he is dead. And one of the people is the medic who would know if someone was dead. So, I guess it's left as an exercise to the reader. But, yeah, he's totally dead.
