Preview: Half-Life 2: The Orange Box

Gordon and Alyx From Half-Life 2 Ep. 1 and 2

We’re only weeks away from the premiere of yet another fabulous game, Half-Life 2: The Orange Box. The Orange Box is a compilation of 5 games: Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2 Episode 1, Half-Life 2 Episode 2, Portal, and the highly acclaimed Team Fortress 2.

Half-Life 2 has been upheld as one of the best PC games to date. With beautiful graphics, a revolutionary physics engine, and both a compelling story and gameplay, it alone justifies the $59 price tag. Thankfully the developer Valve is packaging in even more! The Half-Life episodic content, Episode 1 and Episode 2 has been additionally added in, but the best surprise is the addition of the action-packed puzzle game Portal.

Portals is another game set in the Half-Life 2 universe where you play as a yet unnamed female character who has possession of an experimental portal gun. With the portal gun she can create wormholes wherever she pleases. In the demo, the character was able to put one wormhole above another and create an infinite freefall or use the momentum gained from the acceleration of gravity from falling into one portal to jet out of the other in order to reach a faraway platform. This is something you HAVE to see yourself. It is a revolutionary gaming experience.

Heavy from Team Fortress 2

The last, and certainly not least addition to this compilation pack is the multiplayer game, Team Fortress 2. You play as one of nine different stylized characters in a multiplayer combat driven arena. Each of the characters have their own specific abilities and strengths. For example, the Spy can become invisible or disguise himself as an opponent character, the Engineer can build gun turrets, teleportation points, and health stations, the Heavy can endure brutal damage and deal it just as well, and the Scout can run incredibly fast and double jump. This unique and engaging multiplayer experience might be the threat to Halo 3 for best multiplayer game of the year.

The Orange Box will be released for the Xbox 360 and PC on October 9th and on the PS3 on the 13th.

Roll this beautiful game footage!

HP Gets Into Games

With HP’s new advertisement, it looks like they want to get into the game industry. Now we’ll be able to play cheap games – by cheap, I don’t mean monetarily. This advertisement proves that HP has no idea that gamers don’t want to pay tons of money for a handheld system even if it can do really cool things. Oh and especially when these really cool things are never going to look as cool as they do in the commercials.

You’ve already failed HP. Don’t bother getting into an industry that you don’t understand.

Halo 3 Midnight Launch Video

[Update #6]
The video player seems to be up and running now. If you have any issues let us know.

[Update #5!!!]
Here’s the YouTube version as we wait on the technical difficulties to be worked out. We’ve heard from some users that their experience with the player is that it’s running fine. If you’d like to see the high quality version of this video, click on the Videos tab above and go to the StuffWeLike TV. Look under StuffWeLike.com Podcasts and Video Reviews.[Update #4]
We’re currently experiencing some technical difficulties with the video player. It may take a while to load videos.

[Update #3]
The Halo 3 launch video podcast is now online!

– – – –

We’re editing the new podcast of the Halo 3 launch at Universal Citywalk. Stay tuned for further updates later today. I hope that it can be released sometime in the late afternoon period, but I’m tired so I might take a nap instead.

This episode actually features something brand-new to the podcast. I won’t say what it is, but if you’ve seen any of our previous podcasts you’ll definitely notice the difference.

Also I’d like to take this time to thank everyone that submitted photos and videos to the Halo 3 Coverage show!

[Update]
After being kicked out of the my college’s library during a fire drill, I’m back! As I was saying – if you have pictures or videos of your Halo 3 launch experience send them over to Halo@splashcast.net

Check back for more updates coming later in the day about the new podcast episode.

[Update #2]

5:29pm
Expect the new episode within the next hour.

The Great Day Dawns – Halo 3 has come.

Halo 3 Box

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Or perhaps good evening? Maybe afternoon, or night? Regardless of where you are and what time it is right now, there is truth in the fact that Halo 3 is right around the corner. September 25th is now officially “tomorrow” for most of the world, and it is no doubt a date that has been permanently etched into your brain if you are a gamer.

There is no doubt that Halo 3 is the most anticipated video game for the Xbox 360 console and will be for the rest of eternity. If you had thought that the conclusion of the Halo trilogy would be quiet and in a way, melancholic, you were wrong. Microsoft can’t let that happen. You see, a lot of games are “highly-anticipated”, but Microsoft pushed Halo 3 to the point of no return. Anticipation is just no longer the right word for it.
Continue reading “The Great Day Dawns – Halo 3 has come.”