Anyone going to pick up the orange box?

[krazydriver]

Just got released today, i'm gonna have to swing by the mall and pick this up.

http://whatistheorangebox.com/It's a collection of Half life 2, HL2 episode 1, HL2 episode 2, Team fortress 2 , and a game called portals.Looks absolutely amazing.I'm going to be honest i've never played half life, but for the price and everything you get.... that'll be the perfect amount of FPS fun!

[Slipstream]

I'm planning on renting it first. Played the first HL and the expansions on the PC, great game.

[C-Kwik]

Already did. Best Buy had them for sale today. The GF is playing it though so I won't be able to comment too much on it. She really wanted to play portal, which she is doing now. Looks like a lot of fun as the challenges involve some complex thinking to get through this large scale puzzle. Can't wait to get my hands on it.

[TrustME]

Already did. Best Buy had them for sale today. The GF is playing it though so I won't be able to comment too much on it. She really wanted to play portal, which she is doing now. Looks like a lot of fun as the challenges involve some complex thinking to get through this large scale puzzle. Can't wait to get my hands on it.

God I wish I had a ideo game playing GF. haha.

As far as Orange Box is concerned, I really wanted to pick it up. Money is tight right now so I may just need to rent. But C-Kwik let us know how it is!

[MinisterofDOOM]

zerothread/281674

[C-Kwik]

God I wish I had a ideo game playing GF. haha.

As far as Orange Box is concerned, I really wanted to pick it up. Money is tight right now so I may just need to rent. But C-Kwik let us know how it is!

Not only does she play, she's actually good at most games. Give her a shotty in Halo3 and she's a monster. Add to that she actually works for a dev. She has been working under contract, but recently got hired as a permanent part of the staff. It's unfortunate I can't divulge some of the things her employer is working on. Exciting stuff.

I commented on Portal in the other thread. Though, it's second hand since I only watched parts of it. Looks really fun.

[krazydriver]

MOD... sorry for the repost i hadn't read Ottermans thread.

c-kwik that's awesome. Your GF is a keeper!

also.... if this unnamed developer happens to be bioware.... and she's working on mass effect.... if there's any development copies that need disposal... i can make them dissappear.

[C-Kwik]

also.... if this unnamed developer happens to be bioware.... and she's working on mass effect.... if there's any development copies that need disposal... i can make them dissappear.

Don't I wish. The game is big enough to make cover on one of the issues of EGM. That's as much as I will say though.

[Zee]

Not buying it.

Gamefly FTW.

yes C-Kwik is lucky, I wish I was you.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Holy crap the Advanced tests in Portal are fun. I wish they'd redone all 19 instead of just six, though.

MOD... sorry for the repost i hadn't read Ottermans thread.

Oh, it's cool. There's like 9473 Halo 3 threads. I don't see why my favorite game series of all time should only get one.

[rchboy]

i just want to play the new team fortress more than anything. I have been waiting years for that to release.

[MinisterofDOOM]

So...Something I just realized.

Barney is nowhere to be found in Episode 2!Seems odd...He got on the train to White Forest with the rest of the refugees at the end of Episode 1. But he wasn't at the base. No one even mentioned him.

[Loki]

He was off busting Striders!

Man, that's a sad ending. And no preview of Ep3?!

[Slipstream]

I tried picking it up on Sat. at Best Buy, didn't have it, didn't have a clue what game I was talking about. It didn't even show on their computer listing. I was like what the fudge? I'm gonna stop at Gamestop this week and pick it up.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Man, that's a sad ending. And no preview of Ep3?!

Yeah, but it was an awesome one. Episode 1's ending was pretty underwhelming (aside from the fireworks). It did leave me badly wanting Episode 2, but compared to the rest of the Half Life endings, it was pretty anticlimactic. Episode 2 was a lot more meaningful.I had a feeling that character was the one who would die for a while, and that was reaffirmed after some of the hinting conversations you had with them. It sounded like you might have had a chance to counter the G-man! Not anymore, I guess.

I can't wait to move on to the next area (which I've been hoping would be where Ep. 3 takes place for a while, so I'm pumped).

I get the feeling we might be waiting a bit longer for Episode 3 than we did for these last two (partly from the lack of preview, and partly from the total lack of news on the subject aside from commentary references that it's been under construction since early on in the Episode 2 dev cycle). As far as I'm concerned, they can take their time. Episode 3 needs to be more than just another 6 hour mini-adventure. Episode 2 was a step in the right direction with more variety and considerably more story development than Ep. 1, but we need a REAL finale. A good, strong ending, like the ones for Half Life 1 and 2.

I'm friggin' stoked that they brought back the Borealis--though not quite as it was originally intended. For those who haven't followed HL development over the years, the Borealis was originally going to be an early setting in Half Life 2 (as was the Arctic Base where you and Alyx will be flying to save Mossman in Episode 3). Originally, you would leave the Arctic Base on the Borealis to get to City 17, rather than simply being inserted there by the G-man.

The Aperture Science stuff was a neat tie-in, and it's cool to see some glimpse of the rivalry. I'm hoping Portal 2 will reveal more about what exactly happened to the Borealis ("and half the drydock").

I also wonder whether Gordon will take Eli's words to heart, or say to hell with it and use the Borealis anyway. Personally, I've been hoping we'd get to use it, and go to the Combine overworld for some serious revenge.

[krazydriver]

i've had the flu the last couple of days.

So other then feverishly(103* i set myself a new record!) tossing around while trying to sleep i've played half life a good amount.I'm about 3/4 of the way through half life 2, then we'll have to see how long the episodes take me. But the game is pretty good.

i don't really get the g-man though..... having not played the first half-life i have no idea what role he had in that. so i'm just a bit confused..... but that could be the fever still.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Alright, it's Half Life lore time! Gather 'round, children, and listen.(no HL2 or later spoilers here, don't worry).

You're not really supposed to "get" the G-man.He's a mysterious figure who's supposed to keep you wondering. Is he good or bad? Is he human or not? Why is he here? Who does he work for, and where are they from?

In the first game, you see him in various areas around Black Mesa prior to the Resonance Cascade, which was the catastrophic result of an experiment gone wrong--courtesy of a test sample provided by the G-man himself--and caused dimensional rifts that allowed the denizens of a borderworld (sort of a non-universe that was colonized by a race of creatures who were driven from their own universe by the Combine) called Xen (which you visit toward the end of the game).

After the Resonance Cascade, you still see him around the facility. He's always just on the other side of a locked door, or across the room on an unreachable ledge. A lot of times he walks away once he sees that you've noticed him.

It's not until the end of the game that you get to meet him. After you kill the Nihilanth (the leader of the Xen colonists, who actually has them under mind-control enslavement) at the end of Half Life, the G-man collects you, and congratulates you on a job well done. Then he informs you that he has mentioned you to his employers, and that they agree that you are a valuable asset. He strips you of your weapons (saying that they're government property anyway) but tells you you've earned the Hazard Suit (oddly, you don't have the suit when he puts you back on earth in HL2). Then he offers you a choice: work for him, or face a battle you can't win ("rather an anticlimax after what you've just survived" he says). A portal opens, and you can step through it and accept his offer, or not. If you don't, you're plopped into a room full of alien grunts (sort of giant Vortigauts). If, you do accept, he says something about having chosen wisely, and the game fades to black and the credits roll.

Gordon's killing of the Nihilanth is the reason the world has changed so much in Half Life 2. The Nihilanth was holding open the portals between Xen and our universe. Killing him was supposed to close the portals and stop the invasion from Xen (having lost their world and being forced to live in the relative nothingness that is Xen, the Xen colonists likely saw earth as paradise and Nihilanth was most likely willing to do anything to get Earth under his control).After the Nihilanth's death, something worse happened. His death caused what are referred to as portal storms. The portal storms opened doors to countless other universes. One of those universes was the Combine's own world (or, at least, one of potentially many worlds under their control, perhaps even the Xen colonists own true home). Seizing the opportunity, the Combine crossed through to earth and defeated the whole of earth's military forces in a matter of hours. After that, Wallace Breen (former Administrator of Black Mesa--Gordon's old boss) surrendered on behalf of Humanity and was granted an administrative position by the Combine (the only "unaltered" human that we know of to serve the combine).

Half Life 2 is estimated to take place about 20 years after Half Life 1 (Gordon has not aged due to his "stasis" or whatever it can be called that the G-man had him in). It's not known for sure at what point during that time period the Combine crossed over and the Seven Hour War took place.

In Half Life 2, you don't find out a whole lot more about the G-man. You'll still see him around the world watching you (a lot of times you'll see him on TV screens that are being watched by refugees and vortigaunts (who, it's worth noting, were enemies in Half Life 1, as they were under the mind-control of the Nihilanth. They feel a dept of gratitude to "the Freeman" for freeing them--but they also haven't entirely forgiven him for killing so many of their kind at Black Mesa). Other times he's there in person, or for split seconds on combine viewers.

Valve has been careful not to reveal much about him (though in Episode 2 you do get some sketchy details).

A lot of theories are floating about, some of them totally idiotic, others plausible. (One stupid one was that the G-man is Gordon from the future--horrible). My personal opinion at this point is that he's a member of a sort of intergalactic "MIB" who police the the Universes. I think he's developed a great fondness for the Human race (I get the impression he's gone "rogue" or is at least defiant of his "employers" to an extent) and would like to see us progress. However, he's also a dirty bastard, and will do whatever it takes to achieve his goals, no matter how twisted or amoral. One key point we still don't know is WHY he provided the crystal that caused the original Resonance Cascade (at the end of Opposing Force, he refers to Black Mesa as a part of a mistake that needs to be cleaned up, so there's a hint it wasn't intentional or possibly wasn't authorized).

You really should play Half Life if you haven't. Grab it off Steam or look for a Platinum Pack in stores (they can still be found occasionally). It's an excellent game and is still fun. The story is great, and you'll find out a lot more about the Half Life universe.

[Encryptshun]

Also, there is an independent developer (Black Mesa Studios) who is working on a complete port of HL to the Source engine. Not the crappy clusterfark done by Half Life: Source, mind you. This is a complete revision.

I for one am awaiting this eagerly. I hope they do the same for Blue Shift and Opposing Force!

[Loki]

Also, there is an independent developer (Black Mesa Studios) who is working on a complete port of HL to the Source engine. Not the crappy clusterfark done by Half Life: Source, mind you. This is a complete revision.

I for one am awaiting this eagerly. I hope they do the same for Blue Shift and Opposing Force!

That is what I thought HL Source was, but when I saw screenshots I was really disappointed. When is this coming out? I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

[Encryptshun]

We don't have a release date yet, but there's some pretty cool screenshots of the development process on Wiki.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B...od%29

[C-Kwik]

So since the school semester ended, I finally got a chance to play this today. I only played portal, but I finished it in about a 3 hour session. I'll have to figure out all the achievements, but I enjoyed Portal a lot. Can't wait to try out the Half-Life games.

Hopefully once I'm done, I'll have enough time to finish Assassin's Creed before school starts again...

[krazydriver]

I finished half life and both episodes about 6 weeks after i bought it. I'd been REALLLY sick for awhile and was doing pretty good just getting out of bed.

I actually decided to play portal today, got up to #14 within 45 minutes or so. Pretty fun... although i think it could have been a bit harder. I really like the turret levels though.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Yeah, they definitely spent a lot of time "teaching." The game is undoubtedly awesome, but I would have been happier if they hadn't catered to people who couldn't understand the concept of portals so much (play through with commentary and you'll understand what I mean). Still, the last few are awesome, and once you complete the game you unlock the advanced chambers which are even more fun. Plus it's worth finishing just for the song at the end.