Progressive Boink

[Neil]

re)

So on Steam right now you can pre-order the Orange Box for $45 (which is $5 off the list price, even).

The Orange Box is this:
- Half-Life 2
- Half-Life 2: Episode 1
- Half-Life 2: Episode 2
- Team Fortress 2
- Portal

All for $50!

Even better, if you pre-order it now, not only do you get the $5 off, you also get to play TF2 starting next Monday! But wait, there's more! You also get to install Half-Life 2, HL2: Episode 1, HL2: Lost Coast, and Peggle Extreme today! The Orange Box (and consequently HL2: Episode 2) actually comes out on October 9th. This really sounds like an ad from your good friend Neil, because I want you all to buy it if you have any interest in FPS games at all. Seriously, I would have paid $50 for TF2 on its own, and they throw in all this other stuff with it. Portal looks really crazy, too. Obviously Half-Life is one of the most revered PC games, so I don't have to explain that one.

Watch the TF2 videos on Steam, or here. I've never played TF in any way, but just watching those videos sold me instantly.

If you have any doubts, just let me point out one more thing: PEGGLE!

Edit: Haha, it's Peggle Extreme!

[webber Cooledge]

gonna get this on the ps3 since it is coming out with minimal delays, much like all other highly antipated ps3 games

OH WAIT.

[webber Cooledge]

But yeah getting dis since I never got around to playing Halflife 2, so it's a deal I can't really pass up. Do you think it would be annoying to play on a console, Neil?

[normalman]

I want to play Team Fortress 2 so bad it hurts. Never played the Half-Life 2 sequels either, so I'm definitely picking this up.

[Neil]

TF2 specifically seems to have been made with the consoles very much in mind, so I don't think that would be a problem. As for HL2, it's hard to say. I'm sure it would be acceptable, but it just really seems like a PC game to me.

[Casey]

I am so looking forward to this. I never finished HL2 on my computer, so I'm going to start over on the 360 and play through the whole thing along with the Episodes and whatnot. Awesome. And Portal looks amazing, and hopefully I can find people to play TF2 with on Live that aren't way too good at it

[Wat, But A Girl]

The Orange Box is this:
- Half-Life 2
- Half-Life 2: Episode 1
- Half-Life 2: Episode 2
- Team Fortress 2
- Portal

holllllllyyyyyy shittttttttttt

Thanks Neil for the "head's up"!

[Hanstock]

Wait is Steam a website through which you download shit for your PC or for 360? Because you guys are talking about a lot of shit and frankly I'm confused.

[webber Cooledge]

Steam is for PC.

[Andy]

I just want to play some fuckin Portal RIGGGHHHT NEEOOOOOWWWW.

[Casey]

Steam is for PC, but the game is also coming out for XBox 360.

[Hanstock]

So what are you asking me to do

[Casey]

Fulfill your potential

you don't even like first-person shooters, get out of this thread

[Hanstock]

Honestly I don't know what the fuck is a Half-Life 2. Or Fortress Fort 2. Or Portal. Peggle is super awesome, though.

I just wanted to be included.

[Neil]

Steam is more a program than a website. It's Valve's content delivery mechanism (it does other things too). Valve are the creators of Half-Life, Half-Life 2, and Half-Life 2: Episode 1. These games have a tremendous modding community. Said community has given us games like Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat, and even Team Fortress itself (which started as a mod for Quake, and then the "sequel"/port came out for Half-Life as "Team Fortress Classic".) A lot of the modders work for Valve now including the guys who made DoD and TF. I think the guys who did CS are there also. Counter-Strike is ridiculously popular, I believe it's far and away the most popular FPS game online at least.

Half-Life is one of the best selling, most critically acclaimed PC games ever created. I think it is the best selling PC FPS game ever. Half-Life 2 is the sequel to Half-Life. Half-Life 2: Episode 1 was released last year, and is a "new" 3-part story arc. I've seen these three episodes referred to as "Half-Life 3".

Team Fortress 2 is the sequel to Team Fortress/TFC. It is a highly team based almost strategy FPS. There are 9 character classes, each with specific roles.

Portal is just fucking crazy.

So there, Hanstock. Is Half-Life really this unknown outside of the PC gamer market?

PS, everyone else:
If you order the orange box, don't forget to pre-load TF2!

[Jon]

Even if it were just Team Fortress 2 and Portals, I'd probably pay $50 for it. I finally played and beat Half-Life 2 a few months ago, and it was a goddamned work of art. I can only imagine that Episodes 1 and 2 are great.

[Whittle]

i remember playing team fortress classic in like, 1999 or 2000 or something, and me and my friends would play late into the night. we'd grenade ourselves onto each other's towers in one of the levels as a medic, and rastify our opponents with poison or whatever. we talked about playing TF2 back then.

i cant believe its actually coming out. i feel like a large chunk of my mind can now be used for storing information instead of "TF2 is coming out soon"

[Neil]

Haha, both of those things you used (grenades, poisons) are not in TF2. The "hardcore" TFC crowd is either really pissed, or very worried (or both). Having never played TFC, I don't know what it means. Their reasoning seems logical. Here is a video of the 1up show earlier in the year, where they talked about it, and had interviews with the developers, if anybody wants to see it.

[Whittle]

I don't know if I'd be pissed, but the original TFC was so much fun. You know that medic example I just gave? You have no idea how incredible it was when you'd be trying to snipe someone on the other tower and you'd manage to accidentally hit the medic leaping up onto your tower with a perfect headshot.

I honestly miss TFC and Counterstrike so much. Well, I miss being able to play it like 4 hours a day at college. I just miss college

i have to cry now

[Neil]

Their reasoning seems logical.

Just to clear this up, I meant the developers reason for removing them, not the players reason for being pissed.

And there's still a shitload of people playing CS:S (and probably the other versions too) so you could get back into it! Screw "real life commitments"!