this Box is rather Orange

Hoping to pick this up today...

What game should one play first? I'm leaning towards Portal

Totally Portal. But also totally TF2. I say play Portal until you're warmed up to the stick, and then play some TF2.

10/10 http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=85044

ahem, so i've been sat at home watching eps of seinfeld all evening because i COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT THIS!!. Downloading portal and ep2 now...

PORTAL OMG

really all i want out of a game is a cool toy

I've been playing TF2 for a few weeks now. Years ago, I played TFC religiously. I'm not a serious player or anything - I am usually about halfway up on the scoreboard on any online shooter I play - but I really enjoy TF2.

The graphics are absolute genius, and the small map rotation was a great idea. With all of the "tactical" FPS that have come out over the years, I've really been craving a fast-paced arcadey first person shooter, and TF2 is pretty much the pinnacle of that sub-genre.

One thing that's really nice about TF2 is that you can really help your team without being a deathmatch superstar with lightning fast reflexes.

I'm a huge fan of the Steam chat client, too. When you're online, a friend can log in, see that you're in a game, and click a hot link to join your game. It's nice when you're playing on some server and you see a friend join to help out.

I haven't downloaded Portal yet, but I'm looking forward to it.

yeah Portal WOW

My brain is killin' me after an hour of portal. I'm looking at the room in level(?) 10 and just lost without a clue. I can't imagine what the rooms are going to be like when they actually get "challenging."

I tried one game of TF2 and was a lot overwhelmed. The game needs a real tutorial! I'll definitely be going back to it tho. Looks impressive. I've just barely played any team multiplayer stuff - so the learning curve seems especially steep.

I'd never played Half Life 2 (or one for that matter) so I finally started in on that and am really fucking impressed so far. It's hard, confusing, terrifying & the storytelling is completely absorbing in a way that no other fps I've played matches, I think. I can't wait to work through it and get to the more recent stuff and see how the graphics improve (I hope).

Absolutely play Portal first- it's short, taking around three hours to complete, and the ending is a fantastic payoff. And whatever you do, don't skip the credits.

yeah Jeff these games (Portal and HL) really have the most incredible way of opening up the story as you're playing.

I think I'm right at the end of Portal, many times I actually thought the game was ending but i'm pretty sure once i beat you-know-what it will be the end. After a full days wall painting yesterday, I was just too tired at 2am last night to go on.

Some of the puzzles on Portal are fucking genius. I think my goose bumps were at their most extent when I sussed out the 'speedy things in-speedy things out' moment.

OMG I FORGOT ABOUT THIS TOO and I've only been looking forward to it for a year. And I still haven't fixed my PC.

just played ep2 for the first time. More of the same, which is great of course. But I'm at a part now and OMG FFS enough with the worms and tunnels !!

Portals credits, Telephone Thing otm
But for some reason my reward list hasn't ticked off 'complete Portal'. ??

So we'll be able to import new missions? It seems.

Spent a good few hours on Ep2 last night, it's got a lot better.

And have decided that I'm shit at Team Fortress. I started out okay but everyone seems to be wiping me out way too quickly now, and I can't kill anyone. The problem seems to be that I'm not comfortable with any of the classes. I think I'll go back to CS for multiplayer fun.

Maybe for "complete Portal" you have to do all the advanced levels? I'm just on level 16...

other people have gotten that achievement... weird. try beating it again? (it sounds worth it because it's so incredible, or so people say to me)

I unlocked Heartbreaker on my first playthrough, so yeah, something seems to have gone a bit odd. The only bugs I've experienced have been minor- a piston in one area retracts too far into the wall, so you can't see its "cap" when it's fully recessed, just a black circle; a couple lines of dialogue that appear fully in the subtitles but only the second sentence is spoken by GLaDOS; and another extremely minor subtitle issue toward the end that I can't really discuss without spoiling the (wonderful) ending. But how could I complain, when the cake is so delicious and moist?

Oh dear. Playing Episode 2, and while my machine was adequate for Portal (simple environments, few moving objects, yay) some of the more involved bits of Episode 2 are HELL for low-end systems. STRIDERS, SO MANY OF THEM :(

ok, noob question. i have half-life one but never bothered with two because the pc couldn't handle it. have since bought a new pc. this seems like an ideal way to catch up but:

a) it's a laptop, with decentish nvidia card, 7300. will that be enough (min specs on yougamers says directx 8 compatable card is ok). and will it, unlike a bunch of things i dug out again recently, stuff from only a few years ago, understand 1280x800 resolution?

b) i have no network connection, is that an issue? (pls explain the steam thing for extra points) someone on amazon seems to claim that i need to check licence with their servers every time i play.

kthxbye

You only need to authenticate once, when you install it, but that does require an internet connection. From then on, Steam will try to live-update your games by checking for patches every time you run them (takes a couple of seconds), but you can turn this off by setting them to run in offline mode.

I'm on a laptop too, and while the rest of my system is pretty decent considering its age (3 GHz processor, 1 GB RAM) the video card is as ever the sticking point- most laptop cards use shared system memory instead of having any onboard RAM, and if yours does it could be a problem. Mine is 64 MB shared system memory, and while it can technically run HL2, it's not the best experience. One of the problems I'm having is in a later chapter, "Our Mutual Friend"- those who've played it will know what I'm talking about, but without any spoilers it basically involves a huge open area with detailed, destructible buildings, and a few dozen enemies and allies running around. At times my framerate comes dangerously close to "slideshow."

If you can get online, either through dial-up or hooking up to a friend's connection, download Steam, set it up and take a look at the demo section. There's a demo version of HL2 that'll be a better gauge of your system than anything I can tell you.

Steam explanation- think of it as more or less iTunes for video games. It's a digital distribution system for Valve and a few other publishers and an "organizer" for Valve stuff (whether you get it retail or online) and any games you pay to download, and it handles a few other functions like server matchmaking for multiplayer.

Oh, and about resolution, HL2 goes pretty damn high (can't recall the exact highpoint ATM) and supports 16x9 and 16x10 widescreen modes. The newer games and episodes might go a bit higher, since each time they release a new one they roll out graphics updates and support for newer features. Which reminds me, actually, there's a tech demo/"lost level" of HL2 called Lost Coast that was cut from the original game but later rereleased to show off some of the new Episode 1 graphics features, especially HDR lighting. It's probably better for test purposes than the full HL2 demo, not just because of the filesize (around 400MB instead of 900-ish) but because it includes a full benchmark/stress-test routine.

nice answer, thanks.

graphics card is shared memory, it's a 7300 Go i believe, but it is about a factor of 2 better than anything else i've had and stuff used to run ok on the (win98) desktop until they didn't. um, 64M graphics ram according to this: http://www.ciao.co.uk/ASUS_A6Km_Q013H__6483095

i do have dialup, albeit shoddy dialup. and, of course, it's a laptop so i can drag it into work if need be (i have it here now in fact, but am just leaving.)

'iTunes for video games'

erm... 8)

I'm impressed by people who claim to have blown through Portal - though I wasn't trying to complete it for speed - it took me quite a while (5 or 6 hours!) - especially the later levels were pretty tough - or I'm obviously just not too good at this kind of puzzle thinking. I was especially stuck for a long time on the final part of level 18. For a long time I couldn't figure out what to do & then when I sort of did, I found it really hard to pull off - it made me quite dizzy - perhaps that's the one section where it might have been an advantage to be playing it on a small computer monitor instead of a rather large, more immersive television screen...

I enjoyed Portal a lot & it really did feel amazingly satisfying to beat, since it actually was, at least for me, damn challenging.

Do you dudes think that for someone who has the Orange Box on Xbox already but can't play TF because he can't use Live on this particular game but he likes multiplayer FPSes a lot though he's not very good at them it's worth buying the standalone game on Steam for PC?

Gah. Things I really fucking hate: games which tell me I've almost finished when in fact I've still got about 25-30% of the game left to play. Way to kill my interest/patience/desire to figure out your increasingly pissy jumping puzzles, Portal.

Ah well. TF2 seems like loads of fun, I plan to play it lots this week. You should all join me! (Jimdoo on steam)

I'll probably be around Jimd, but I'm not very good. It is fun though.

so i attempted the final room again on Portal and this time the Heartbreaker was unlocked.

I just unlocked Terminal Velocity too, and I've just left my character falling through portals and came to work. Hopefully i'll have unlocked the falling distances by the time I get home.

And just tried TF2 again, i might actually hate this game. Either that or I just really despise the Well level (with the trains). Such a dull level.

I'm madly in love with TF2- wasted way too much time in high school with TFC, been waiting for the sequel for damn near a decade now- but dear lord do I suck. There is only so much I can blame on my video card, the rest is just a combination of my lack of skill at team shooters and sheer blinkered insistence on playing the Pyro. I can't help it; I must keep trying for the "light five people on fire at once" achievement, not to mention his emote animations are just too damn satisfying. MMMFWA-HA-HA-HAAA

i always choose soldier, heavy, or sniper.

i think i might try someone else, pyro guy sounds fun.

My friend used to play TFC near-professionally as a Demoman, they are apparnetly a LOT of fun. I dunno about in TF2, though. My faves were always the "utility" classes-- engineer, medic, spy.

One thing that really impresses me about TF2 is how much more popular the medic is after a few simple tweaks to the class to make him more fun- it might've just been the people on my school's network in Ye Olde Days, but it was like pulling teeth trying to get someone to play medic.

I am all about the medic, I love the challenge of hopping around like an idiot trying to avoid dying while healing dudes.

A friend of mine is starting up a team for league games - I think TF2 will really shine in organized play. I find personally I get tired of public games unless I have a few friends around to team up with.

started playing portal tonight, took me about 2 hours to get to level 18, where i stopped. Great game, great vibe. The hidden are a nice touch, especially when the ambient scoring changes tone.

played some of the advanced challenges last night, wow they get hard. am stuck on the fourth one (16?)

well i'm still shit at TF2. Tried the Pryo and things were a little better but still got pissed off when people somehow managed to survive my flaming torrent.

I think it's definitely back to CS sauce for me.

Portal was so much fun. I am definitely going to beat it a few more times. I am disappointed by its length, but only because I want way, way more of that incredibly fun gameplay. I could make random portals and just dick around for hours, though. Also, the sense of humor was, like, PERFECT. Reminded me a lot of a more grownup, sardonic, less Burton-y Tim Schafer plot or something. I highly, highly recommend a rental, if not a buy.

I'm shit at TF2 as well, but no more shit than I was at CSS. And this is prettier, and more varied. So I'm still enjoying it.

just played 45 minutes of portal. i'm sleeping over at antexit's cuz they're renovating my stupid bathroom. he's asleep. what should i play now?

Swords & Sandals 2?

http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/9121/russiancosplaymb8.jpg

for those who want their own companion cube:

http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/8808/companionez7.th.jpg

yeah i keep checking back in to tf2, am enjoying the pyro a bit more. at least i get some kills with it.

i prefer it over CS in at least one aspect - the respawning more than once.

Did anyone else have trouble getting the Camera Shy achievement point in Portal? I destroyed cameras like mad on my first playthrough but it didn't count them or give me running status updates (like in the "Get Some Grub" or "Grim Pinatas" achievements in Episode 2).

Hit pause and go to Achievements, it shows you there how close you are to complete on the playthrough. How do you kill cameras that are attached to non-portalable walls, though?

Maybe you can drop a cube on them from the roof? Or yourself

I tried doing things like that but it never worked... has it worked for others? I may need to re-beat the game and kill all of the cameras (it's so good I'd probably re-beat it anyway)

I was just looking thru the list and the game has some weird achievements. For instance...

The One Free Bullet - 40 - Beat Episode One firing exactly one bullet. Grenade, crowbar, rocket, and Gravgun kills are okay!

Just finished another playthrough; kind of cheated and used an FAQ to make sure I got all the cameras in each level. Turns out there are exactly 33 cameras on portal-able surfaces; you needn't bother with the cameras attached to metal walls.

My favorite Episode Two achievement is Little Rocket Man ("send the garden gnome into space"). For what it's worth, the one scene where you can get the gnome into the White Forest rocket is toward the end of the game, and the gnome itself is about two minutes in. So to do it properly you have to play the entire episode holding the goddamn thing, including, and this is the hard part, the driving bits- it will fly out of the passenger seat with even the slightest turn.

i was gonna come here to post that. some really nice compositing work.

boy, that "transmission received" radio / portal 2 arg achievement is totally unfun to do, unlike shooting down cameras

Free download of Portal (1) http://store.steampowered.com/freeportal/

Wow, Portal: Prelude is fucking terrible. I say this having played it less than five minutes- you start, are subjected to some awful dialog (delivered by the same speech-to-text routine Xtranormal uses, kind of killing the whole "humans overseeing the test" backstory), get the portal gun and are immediately spat out in front of four turrets that shoot your balls off. I think I was expected to do some lightning-fast Portal-ninjery to disable all four turrets before dying, but fuck that.

When this originally came out, the creators took some flak for making an ultra-difficult mod that relied on lots of fiddly portal placement and reflexes instead of logical thinking and had a big whiny shitfit about what I can assure you is a very good point. The version I downloaded starts with a warning that it is for "advanced Portalers" only and implies that those looking for actual fun need not apply. That is, it shows the warning screen after a minute-long Domo-kun short the creators have decided to appropriate for their logo sequence. But hey, what's an extra hundred megs or so on an installer that's almost a gig in size?

I'm going to try to soldier through this fucking thing just to see how their little story plays out, but my expectations are quite, quite low.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxCt-03LcUE

Okay no. Just...no. I am uninstalling this now.

http://twitpic.com/1t3oal/full

i don't want to ever see that prelude game. i like how portal was and i'll leave it at that.

http://www.teamfortress.com/macupdate/comic/

Fucking great. I MAKE SQUARE, UNSAFE PRODUCTS FOR MEN!

Kind of wishing I had a Mac to log on from, though :(

I have to say that this made me pretty excited for Portal 2:

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/gc-10-portal-2/703167

Stephen Merchant!

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/08/21/buddy-system-portal-2-co-op-trailer/

http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/32405

Oh, Telephone's link is pretty similar.

dope

Meet Wheatley

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWQasZbjy_I

portal 2 looks amazing, but i'm not sure about the storyline anymore - the original was mind blowing but the sequel just feels a bit too cocky.

oof, portal was probably the best game i've played in years, and the sequel looks great, but i'm not sure i want to have a goofy wise-cracking english guy with me the whole time. preferred the austerity and dry humor of the original

yeh the best way of telling a story in a game is "show don't tell", and Portal was a good example of this - i think there was only a cutscene at the very end?

It won't be as good of a story, but the puzzles will be great.

Apaz 'Wheatley' is only in the intro bit (the encounter w/ GlAdos @ the end of the video means you go back into the test chambers). More wacky characters wuld indeed suck though.

years late but

PORTAL OMG

― adam, Wednesday, October 10, 2007 3:33 PM Bookmark

haha yes! i only got orange box abt 18 months ago, have played a couple of unsuccessful games of team fortress, never touched half-life (will once i finish fallout 3) but portal was worth the price of admission alone

In light of yesterdays announcement, I'm wondering if any other people with both a PC and PS3 have decided to just pick up the PS3 version instead. It seems like they've got everything covered with the free Steam dl on PC, full interoperability, cloud storage, etc. If they support mouse and keyboard, I might not even play the pc version unless I'm traveling...

i hope this sets a meaningful cross platform precedent

i dont know what you guys are talking about

but i have a 360 so im prob already screwed wrt whatever it is so

if i need a ps3 to play whatever sequel you're talking about i might actually buy one

what is 'yesterday's announcement'

if you buy the ps3 version you get it on steam for free

(the game being portal 2)

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2011/01/ps3-gets-steam-support-cross-platform-portal-2.html

paste? what

i loved portal but i want another HL much more tbf

yeah, if had a PS3 I definitely would've just bought the PS3 version and linked it to my Steam acct. steam is still the devil

the cross-platform playability is pretty great too, it keeps numbers up and helps solve the problem of console multiplayer bases dying quickly - the PC online numbers never really fade out, especially for Valve games

Latest updates: new song from The National (eeehhhhh), J.K. Simmons as Cave Johnson (much more enthusiastic sound!).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r7i89DdnC8

"For those of you who volunteered to be injected with praying mantis DNA, I've got some good news and some bad news. The bad news is, those tests have been postponed indefinitely. The good news is, we've got a much better test for you: fighting an army of Mantis Men! Please grab a rifle and follow the yellow line. You'll know when the test starts."

I saw an ad for Portal 2 on the side of a bus this morning.

shoulda jumped through it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wyduSUyIChA

gah, let's try that again:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqh8v1mwWzo

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13097370

so is anyone playing Portal 2? is it good? i really want to play it but don't really have the extra $$$ right now

out tomorrow, right? i pre-ordered it awhile back from amazon.

oh for some reason i thought it was out last week

wow, so the potato sack early release thing was all bullshit, huh? Brilliant sales technique but i don't blame their audience for being pissed.

tv spots for this on uk tv at the mo, the two robots playing with portals.

i am officially all geeked out about this now

they've been promoting the shit out of this, billboards and bus ads all over chicago

kinda weird how there are zero reviews of this the day before it comes out. are video game reviews always held until launch day?

no. steam's been really tight.

a bunch of spoilers have already leaked apparently (*sticks fingers in ears*)

i actually ponied up for this btw - rarely ever preorder games, but there was some crazy ass best buy deal where i got it for $15 net on Mac

Some jackoff troll threw out a spoiler right in my face this afternoon in the comments thread on a usually trustworthy site (Rock Paper Shotgun). Not enough to RUIN TEH GAME or anything, but exasperating and a little sad. Who the fuck does that?