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Great moments in PC gaming: That time Valve released three new games on the same day
(www.pcgamer.com)
The orange box really was something special.
this post was submitted on 27 May 2024
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It was one of the best value for money experiences I've ever had. Only beat out by The left 4 dead series based on hours played.
Yes it was legitimately insane what you got here in terms of quality. I played so much TF2 back in the day.
I missed the alternative timeline where survival versus was played competitively and the windfall of Evolve like games that spawned from the left 4 dead 2's success.
Well we did get the Tides games at least.
And versus was never the point.
Then, 15 years later, when I rejoined the world of modern PC gaming, those games were all still available for download from my Steam account just because I bought the physical Orange Box back in 2007.
One of my best gaming memories as a kid, what an amazing deal the orange box was. It’s a real shame we were left hanging with the gut-punching cliffhanger of HL episode 2, and never finished the story.
What made this cliffhanger so truly bad was the main game's story was complete as is until Episode 1 unwinded it. And Episode 2, compared to Episode 1, was a much better game in most aspects for me.
In what world the main story was complete? Like sure you could argue it could have been a legitimate choice to end it in that way but by no mean it answered any of the lingering questions.
I thought having open questions on G-Man and everything is the point.
I'm not talking about G-Man, I'm talking about everything else. The war against The Combine, mostly.
Yes, that is indeed left open to large parts. In my opinion Half-Life 2's story arc is about toppling the tower to give rise to a revolution against the Combine. And that happened as the G-Man froze time again and thus the inferred mission to stop the Combine assault was succesful with it even if we don't see it with our eyes.
Sure, and you are meant to wake up again, eventually. The story doesn't make sense as "you are a PhD that get enrolled as a spacetime warrior to get deployed once and then retired in the void eternally".
it ended at the same place that HL1 did, in ambiguous stasis ready to wake up and smell the ashes again.
I basically don't remember Episode 1.
It was really bland, not surprised.
Especially since it was basically just...some more Half-Life 2. More time spent in City 17 fighting combine and headcrab zombies with a SPAS-12 or an MP7 or a USP Match. I wouldn't bet against my memories of Ep 1 just blend into my memories of HL2. Ep 2 was distinct in having the antlion burrow and the countryside and the car and Dog ripping a strider's brain out. It wasn't merely more HL2.
And then
Tap for spoiler
They retconned it
But they did release it, in unofficial forum post dump form.
The Orange Box was the absolute GOAT when I was a kid. It still is, but it was back then, too.
I even went and bought it on the Microsoft store for my Xbox One a few years ago, but it's weird because you can't just buy it straight from your console. You need to sign in to your Microsoft account on your phone or PC and buy it from the website, then go and install it into your console.
I used to love Mitch Hedberg references. I still do, but I used to, too.
Now for only $333.33 you can get the steamdeck 3 with the 3 pack; half life 3, team fortress 3 and portal 3. Only available 3/3/33 💀
For years I've been saying I will buy a new console just to play Portal 3.
That would be an amazing marketing campaign. They'd lose money on it, but it'd be awesome.
They don't make money on their current Deck. Well, maybe now they do make a little but when it was designed other RDNA2 based systems were running around a grand.
They'd lose more money on it, but depending on how many games Deck owners are buying in '33 they could make it up.
They didn't lose money on it. It's just that they made so little no other company would mess with making something like it for such small margins.
I just knew they said the price point was painful and I saw what other systems were selling for. I was making a guess about being a loss leader because consoles have done that in the past.
Yes. I've looked at a lot of production break downs of publicly traded companies before on what electronic and phone manufacturers pay in parts and it is so much cheaper than you would think some items could even be made for. They might have been losing a bit on the cheapest $360 one, but I'd bet they made a bit on the mid and top tier.
$333.33 with 3 games at 2033 after the bazillion percent of inflation which is still cheaper than the first steamdeck launch price?
I'll have 2 episode 2.
But think of the memes bro
"Now Valve can't count to four"
I'd preorder it, no regrets.
I can wait.
And we have been paying for it ever since. They will never make that mistake again lol.
Need an Orange Box 2.
Then we'll know there won't be any Orange Pack 3
if orange box 2 comes with all the 3 games we won't ever need a third box
With HL3, L4D3, TF3, Portal 3
Orange Box is GOAT, but what is that article? Just mentioning the games with barely any interesting backstories?
I'm so glad I bought this in a store back when PC games were still available in physical releases. Even though I'm pretty sure this one was just a Steam installer on a CD, I love having an actual copy of The Orange Box on my shelf.
Played countless hours of TF2 between 2009 and 2012. Wild that in 3 years, it'll be 2 decades old.
it's a bit weird that this is releasing after the thing about not being able to inherit valve games
Now that you point that out 🤔
It's funny. I have enjoyed all of those games now. TF2 isn't for me, but every game in the Box was a certified classic. When it came out though, these games being bundled together under a generic label gave me the impression that it was low-quality, so I skipped it. I was from a rural area with essentially no internet access and there weren't a lot of other PC gamers out there to correct that misconception, so I didn't play these games for way too long.
Is this what you’ve been waiting for? Say “one, two…and four!”
Lucky to get three in a decade now.
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