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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%
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]
Valve: our downloadable content will be free
When perusing our comment threads, you may see comments from Team Fortress 2 fans that will be opting for the PC version over the 360 version? Why? Lots of free content. Specifically, lots of free user-made content. While it may be some time before user-made content heads to the 360, we are happy to report that any downloadable content for the Orange Box will be free. Eurogamer reports that Valve will not charge for its DLC. According to Team Fortress 2 designer, Robin Walker, "You buy the product, you get the content," who adds, "We make more money because more people buy it, not because we try and nickel-and-dime the same customers." We imagine that someone at EA -- publisher of the Orange Box -- has just imploded. Free content is always good, especially when you consider that TF2 will ship with only 6 maps.[Via Joystiq]
Team Fortress 2 classes get broken down
It seems Team Fortress 2 is fast becoming the best reason to own the Half-Life 2 Orange Box. In every preview of the game, various outlets are describing it as the most outstanding feature of the entertainment-packed package. With some particularly impressive visuals and reportedly rock-solid gameplay to boot, it's easy to see why. IGN recently got their turn to try out Team Fortress 2 and have done us the favor of breaking down every single character class in the game. With 9 classes from which to choose, finding your favorite might be a difficult task, especially considering that the support classes are actually fun to play.Honestly, we're torn so many ways we don't know what to think. Do we pick the Demoman and his sticky bombs, the Pyro and his flamethrower, or the Engineer and his deadly turrets? What about the chameleon-like Spy, or the cool-as-nails Sniper, or the well-rounded Soldier? Of course, there is the Medic, who's capable of making players and himself briefly invulnerable, and there's the Scout, who can change direction mid-jump. Then again, there's always the Heavy Weapons Guy ... and his beloved Sasha.Who's your favorite so far?%Gallery-3424%
Mario & Luigi take brotherly dispute too far
We wonder what could ever drive the brothers Mario to such a dispute that would need to be resolved with firearms? We then remember the Mushroom Kingdom being home to a certain princess and find ourselves thinking that people have killed over less. But, come on! That's your brother, Mario, your blood!All joking aside, this snapshot comes from Garry's mod where apparently you can play some Half-Life 2 as Mario or Luigi, and infringe on some copyright laws. Anyone interested in doing so probably needs to keep an eye on Garry's Mod here, which all the cats tell us is pretty much their only set of pajamas.[Via Wonderland]
Disney's Tower of Terror ride meets Half Life 2 mod
You have to have several things before you set out to make a mod like this. One is a real love for Disney's Tower of Terror ride, either at Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, or Disney's California Adventure in Anaheim. Next is a pretty good sense of coding and mapping, especially for Half-Life 2 mods. The third is ... an incredible amount of free time. If you've ever ridden either of the rides, then you can tell that this is pretty much an exact replica. The only thing missing are the whiny kids in line, and the overt screamers as the ride plunges down. They also managed to shove the actual audio from the ride in here too, making it that much more authentic. We'd love to see the whole Magic Kingdon modded in Half Life someday, complete with people in line that you can move out of the way with the Gravity Gun.
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.
Half-Life 2: Episode Two boxes dropping this Fall
It's all a big misunderstanding. When Valve declared that the Half-Life franchise would adopt an episodic distribution model, the world mistakenly assumed that the familiar television format served as the inspiration. However, with the announcement of a Fall 2007 worldwide release for Half-Life 2: Episode Two (previously scheduled for Christmas 2006 and then Summer 2007), Valve has made it abundantly clear that their idea of episodic content is actually based on the Star Wars episodes, which saw six episodes released in the span of about 30 years. Ah, we jest to hide the inherent bitterness left by a further delay to the EA-published Half-Life 2 packages, The Black Box (PC) and The Orange Box (Xbox 360, PS3). Both sets include Episode Two, Portal and Team Fortress 2, while the latter adds a lot of bang for the lowly buck in the form of Episode One and a graphically enhanced Half-Life 2. You know, like the Star Wars special edition trilogy. Remember: Gordon shoots first!
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.
Has Concerned's Gordon Frohman lost all his HP?
It seems, after one catastrophic incident after another, Concerned's Gordon Frohman has finally died. Following a massive fall from the City 17 citadel with a not-so-ceremonious landing onto Dr. Breen, Frohman mistakenly turns off "Buddha mode," allowing his HP to drop below one.Is Frohman dead? After 204 issues spanning just under 18 months, has Concerned told its last tale? The webcomic's forums are alive with debate on its finality, and a video game protagonist never truly dies (just return to the most recent save). The main website still claims he will update "every Tuesday and Thursday," so maybe Epilogue #2 will show up tomorrow.Thanks to Chris Livingston for a hilarious comic. Be sure to sift through the archives if you have a chance.[Thanks, Epic]
