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'First' Orange Box demo hits 360 tomorrow, Episode Two dedicated
360 owners are in for a very special Thanksgiving indeed. As if the Halo theme hitting Guitar Hero III for free wasn't enough to be thankful for, Valve – purveyors of fine gaming software – have just announced that the "first demo for The Orange Box," dedicated to Half-Life 2: Episode Two, will be available on Xbox Live Marketplace starting tomorrow. Yeah, we were drawn to that particular language as well, since it infers there could be a second and, Gordon help us, even a third sample platter of zesty Orange Box goodness. Regardless, you shouldn't need holiday deal lists to tell you that Orange Box is a steal but, in the off chance you need more coaxing, this demo oughta do nicely.
Grok Half-Life 2: E2's five gameplay demos
Having trouble getting used to Valve's eight-month episodic cycle? We can sympathize, we keep dreaming of Alyx also (don't worry, our shrink says this is totally normal).So we're only ... uh, four and a half months away from Half-Life 2: Episode 2's planned February 2007 release date and it's still not getting any easier. But Valve, empathic as they are, felt our pain last week and added the five gameplay demos they were showing off at the Leipzig Games Convention to Steam so we can download and enjoy them in lovely high-def. Don't want to bother with all that? We've also added all five in blocky embed-o-vision after the break.[Image credit: Planet of the Geeks]