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'''[[PlayStation 3]] ([[Retail]])''':<br/>
'''[[PlayStation 3]] ([[Retail]])''':<br/>
{{vgrelease|North America|NA|[[December 11]], [[2007]]}}<br />
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{{vgrelease|Europe|EUR|[[December 11]], [[2007]]}}<ref name="europe11"/><br />
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| genre = [[First-person shooter]]
| genre = [[First-person shooter]]

Revision as of 06:20, 22 December 2007

"Orange Box" redirects here. For the telecommunication and engineering hardware, see Orange box.
The Orange Box
Developer(s)Valve Corporation
Publisher(s)Valve Corporation (PC), Electronic Arts (Consoles)
EngineSource engine
Platform(s)Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
ReleaseMicrosoft Windows
& Xbox 360 (Retail):
[1]





Microsoft Windows (Steam):


PlayStation 3 (Retail):




Genre(s)First-person shooter
Mode(s)Single player, Multiplayer

The Orange Box is a video game compilation produced and published by Valve, which contains Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Portal, and Team Fortress 2. The Windows version was released on October 10, 2007 as both retail boxed copy, and as a download available through Valve's Steam service. The Xbox 360 version was also released on October 10, 2007.[1] A PlayStation 3 version was released on December 11 2007 in North America and in Europe.[3][4]

This is the first Xbox 360 product to have 99 Achievements, exceeding the 50 Achievement limit that Microsoft maintains (up to 60 through downloadable content), though the Achievement points still add up to 1000 Gamerscore, which is the typical maximum for an Xbox 360 retail game.[5] The achievements are focused on Half-Life 2 but are spread through all five games.[6]

Steam users who previously purchased Half-Life 2 or Half-Life 2: Episode One and then purchased The Orange Box are offered gift subscriptions for their duplicate titles that they may give to another person added to their Steam Friends list.[7]

The Black Box

Valve planned on releasing an additional compilation entitled The Black Box, which would have contained only the new material (Episode Two, Portal, and Team Fortress 2), exclusively for the PC, but was later canceled for retail, and will only be available through Steam to owners of the ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT graphics card. These owners receive a voucher for a free copy of The Black Box through Steam which can only be transferred along with the graphics card.[8]

Promotions

Pre-purchasing of the Windows version on Steam began on September 11, 2007. Those who pre-purchased via this method received a 10% discount on the purchase and were able to play in the Team Fortress 2 beta starting on Monday, September 17, 2007.

The Windows version of The Orange Box also comes with Peggle Extreme, a 10-level playable demo (with Orange Box themes) of Peggle Deluxe. Peggle, published by PopCap Games, is a puzzle game combining elements of pinball and pachinko.[9]

Development of the PlayStation 3 version

While the Windows and Xbox 360 versions of The Orange Box were developed and published by Valve, the development of the PlayStation 3 port was outsourced to Electronic Arts. Gabe Newell, co-founder of Valve, has said, "I think [PS3 is] a waste of everybody’s time. Investing in the Cell, investing in the SPE gives you no long-term benefits. There’s nothing there that you’re going to apply to anything else. You’re not going to gain anything except a hatred of the architecture they’ve created." Despite this, he noted that Valve will probably handle PlayStation 3 versions of its products in the future. Although he expressed confidence that "the people who have The Orange Box on the PS3 are going to be happy with their game experience," he also mentioned that he feels "it’s harder to get it to the same standard as the 360 and PC versions."[10]

Critical reception

Publication Review Score
Windows version
PC Gamer 94%[11]
IGN 9.5/10[12]
GameSpot 9.5/10[13]
Edge 10/10[11]
Aggregate Scores
Metacritic 96%[11]
Game Rankings 96.1%[14]
Xbox 360 version
IGN 9.5/10[15]
GameSpot 9.5/10[16]
OXM 9.5/10[17]
GameSpy 5/5[18]
Edge 10/10[11]
Aggregate Scores
Metacritic 96%[19]
Game Rankings 96.2%[20]
PlayStation 3 version
GameSpy 3.5/5[21]
IGN 8.4/10[22]
GameSpot 9.0/10[23]
Eurogamer 8/10[24]
Aggregate Scores
Metacritic 83%[25]
Game Rankings 78.0%[26]

Since its release, The Orange Box has met with universal acclaim from reviewers. IGN declared that "The Orange Box really is one of the best games ever released," and awarded both the PC and Xbox 360 versions with an Editors' Choice Award.[15] All three versions won GameSpot's Editors' Choice Award. The Orange Box won the Breakthrough Technology Award and the Best PC Game Award, and was additionally nominated in the Game of the Year, Best Shooter, Best Xbox 360 Game, and Best Multiplayer Game categories at the Spike Video Game Awards.[27][28] It was also named the second-best video game of 2007 by Time Magazine[29] and the PlayStation 3 version was nominated in the category of Action and Adventure at the BAFTA Video Games Awards.[30]

Portal has been singled out for praise from reviewers. OXM admired its unique puzzle game-play mechanics stating, "Portal is the first major advance in puzzle gaming since Russians started dropping blocks."[17] The Escapist's normally acerbic-tongued Ben Croshaw admitted in his review on Zero Punctuation that he "can't think of any criticism for it," remarking that it possesses "some of the funniest pitch-black humour I've ever heard in a game" and concluding that it is "absolutely sublime from start to finish ... Portal's great and if you don't think so, you must be stupid."[31]

PlayStation 3 frame rate issues

On November 21, 2007, 1UP.com revealed numerous problems with the late beta build of EA's PlayStation 3 version of The Orange Box, citing pervasive frame rate issues which, they claimed, "at best merely hinder gameplay and at worst make the experience downright unplayable."[32] This preview came after a string of PlayStation 3 versions of popular games,[33][34][35][36] most prominently Assassin's Creed,[37] were criticized for having an inconsistent frame rate.

IGN's Hilary Goldstein disagreed, writing that "none of [the frame rate issues were] enough to make me throw my controller in disgust." Goldstein additionally noted that, while Valve handled the PC and Xbox 360 versions of The Orange Box, EA, the group handling the PlayStation 3 version, "is one of the worst offenders when it comes to porting games to the PS3."[38]

Later, while discussing the retail version on a podcast, 1UP staff members stated, "They did overcome a significant number of the frame rate problems that the code that they sent us prior to that [had] but not all of them," concluding that the PlayStation 3 version was "slightly, perceptibly, not quite as smooth as the 360 version, which seems to be locked in at 30 [fps]." Their recommendation was that "if you own both [consoles], you should do the 360 [version] but if you have PS3 there is absolutely no reason you shouldn't get this; it's still too good of an experience not to play it."[39]

Kotaku's Michael McWhertor echoed that recommendation, writing, "Those with a choice, who for some reason may have waited until now to pick up the collection, should look to the non-PlayStation 3 editions of the game if they can, but those who only have a PS3 should still look at The Orange Box as a worthwhile purchase."[40]

Region-specific versions

In order to maintain the integrity of region specific licensing, Valve has been deactivating accounts with CD keys that were purchased outside of the consumer's territory, prompting complaints from North American customers who tried to circumvent their Steam EULA by purchasing international versions of The Orange Box through Asian retailers.[41][42] Some customers who purchased the game a second time from a local vendor have experienced difficulty adding it to their accounts and communicating with Valve's customer service about this problem.[43] Doug Lombardi of Valve stated, "Some of these users have subsequently purchased a legal copy after realizing the issue and were having difficulty removing the illegitimate keys from their Steam accounts. Anyone having this problem should contact Steam Support to have the Thai key removed from their Steam account."[44]

To comply with German laws prohibiting the sale of violent video games, the German version is set to a low violence mode; when characters are dismembered in Team Fortress 2, they explode into assorted objects like coils and hamburgers. In Episode Two, opponents disappear after they are killed.[45]

Soundtrack CD

The Russian edition of The Orange Box includes a CD with Half-Life 2: Episode One and Half-Life 2: Episode Two soundtracks.[46] The CD contains all of the tracks from Episode One and Episode Two except for "Crawl Yard".

Track list

Template:Multi-column numbered list λ - from Episode One
Δ - from Episode Two

References

  1. ^ a b Mullen, Micheal (2007-09-26). "Orange Box Goes Gold". GameDaily. Retrieved 2007-12-10. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ "Steam - Portal". Steam. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
  3. ^ Magrino, Tom (2007-12-04). "PS3 Orange Box pops top Dec. 11". GameSpot. Retrieved 2007-12-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ "'The Orange Box' (PS3) Goes Gold, Gets Release Date". WorthPlaying. 2007-12-03. Retrieved 2007-12-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ "Achievements: Half Life 2: The Orange Box". Retrieved 2007-10-11.
  6. ^ Pigna, Kris (2007-11-09). "99 Achievements in The Orange Box". Retrieved 2007-10-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ "Orange Box Gift Subscriptions". Steam. 2007-10-09. Retrieved 2007-10-11. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ "ATI Radeon™ HD 2900 XT - Overview". AMD. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
  9. ^ "About the Game". Steam. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
  10. ^ "More from Gabe Newell: part two". Edge. Next Generation. 2007-10-04. Retrieved 2007-12-15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ a b c d "Orange Box, The (PC: 2007): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2007-10-15.
  12. ^ Adams, Dan (2007-10-09). "The Orange Box Review". IGN. Retrieved 2007-10-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ Gerstmann, Jeff (2007-10-10). "The Orange Box Review (PC)". GameSpot. Retrieved 2007-10-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ "The Orange Box - PC". Game Rankings. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
  15. ^ a b Goldstein, Hilary (2007-10-09). "The Orange Box Review". IGN. Retrieved 2007-12-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ Gerstmann, Jeff (2007-10-10). "Xbox 360 The Orange Box Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 2007-12-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ a b Amrich, Dan (2007-10-19). "The Orange Box". OXM. Retrieved 2007-12-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ McGarvey, Sterling (2007-10-10). "The Orange Box Review". GameSpy. Retrieved 2007-10-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  19. ^ "Orange Box, The (xbox360: 2007): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2007-12-02.
  20. ^ "The Orange Box Reviews". Game Rankings. Retrieved 2007-12-02.
  21. ^ McGarvey, Sterling (2007-12-12). "The Orange Box Review". GameSpy. Retrieved 2007-12-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  22. ^ Clements, Ryan (2007-12-11). "The Orange Box Review". IGN. Retrieved 2007-12-11. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  23. ^ Ocampo, Jason (2007-12-12). "PlayStation 3 The Orange Box Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 2007-12-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  24. ^ Leadbetter, Richard (2007-12-14). "The Orange Box". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2007-12-15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  25. ^ "Orange Box, The (ps3: 2007): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2007-12-15.
  26. ^ "The Orange Box Reviews". Game Rankings. Retrieved 2007-12-15.
  27. ^ "Spike TV Announces 2007 'Video Game Awards' Winners". CNN Money. 2007-12-09. Retrieved 2007-12-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  28. ^ De Marco, Flynn (2007-12-09). "Spike TV Video Game Awards: Winners, Losers and Boozers". Kotaku. Retrieved 2007-12-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  29. ^ Wilson, Mark (2007-12-10). "TIME Announces Top Ten Video Games of 2007". Kotaku. Retrieved 2007-12-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  30. ^ "Video Games Award Winners 2007". BAFTA. 2007-10-01. Retrieved 2007-12-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  31. ^ Croshaw, Ben (2007-11-17). "The Orange Box". The Escapist Magazine. Retrieved 2007-12-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  32. ^ Ellis, David (2007-11-21). "This version of The Box has issues. (Mini-preview)". 1UP.com. Retrieved 2007-12-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  33. ^ Kasavin, Greg (2006-11-08). "PlayStation 3 Genji: Days of the Blade Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 2007-12-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  34. ^ Thomas, Aaron (2006-11-14). "PlayStation 3 Call of Duty 3 Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 2007-12-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  35. ^ Sliwinski, Alexander (2007-08-14). "EA 'tech. support' explains PS3 Madden frame rate issues". Joystiq. Retrieved 2007-12-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  36. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (2007-10-25). "PES 2008 patch to combat offline and online issues". VideoGamer. Retrieved 2007-12-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  37. ^ Goldstein, Hilary (2007-11-13). "Assassin's Creed Review". IGN. Retrieved 2007-12-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  38. ^ Goldstein, Hilary (2007-11-26). "The Orange Box PS3 Hands-On". IGN. Retrieved 2007-12-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  39. ^ "1UP Yours - Podcast". 1UP Yours. 2007-11-30.
  40. ^ McWhertor, Michael (2007-12-03). "The Orange Box (PS3) Impressions: Volume Three". Kotaku. Retrieved 2007-12-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  41. ^ "Steam Error: Game not available in your territory". Valve. 2007-10-23. Retrieved 2007-12-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  42. ^ Caron, Frank (2007-10-25). "Valve locking out user accounts for "incorrect territory"". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2007-10-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  43. ^ Marco, Meghann (2007-10-24). "Valve "Deactivating" Customers Who Bought "Orange Box" Internationally". The Consumerist. Retrieved 2007-10-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  44. ^ Breckon, Nick (2007-10-26). "Valve Responds to Steam Territory Deactivations". Shacknews. Retrieved 2007-12-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  45. ^ "HOWTO: Enabling the low violence Team Fortress 2 Content". Clan C-YA. 2007-10-19. Retrieved 2007-12-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  46. ^ "Half-Life 2: Episode Two Soundtrack". Game OST. 2007-11-18. Retrieved 2007-12-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Orange_Box&oldid=179544556"