Portal

[TheJBurger]

So it's been one week since the Orange Box has been released, and who else has played Portal?
It's one of the funniest, original, and all around-fun games I've played in years. I've played through it twice (once with commentary) and this game is pretty much amazing. I've also completed the advanced sections yet I'm finding the goal-based challenges a bit too tedious and frustrating for my tastes.

And Episode Two and Team Fortress 2 aren't bad either.

[Adamski]

I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS!

[deadsuperhero]

I've seen the trailers for Portal, I reallly want to play it.
I'm going to wait for the PS3 version, though.

[ildu]

Yeah, I played through it and I gotta say, it's pure awesomeness. Just everything about it is spot-on.

[vict0r]

I've seen the trailers for Portal, I reallly want to play it.
I'm going to wait for the PS3 version, though.

Yeah, same here. I'm sooo fucking excited! I've been drooling over this for the last year or so, since the first trailers were introduced.

[Kweepa]

Best three hours of game ever.
Yahtzee concurs.

[Evil]

I haven't played Portal yet, I'm still tackling Episode 2. But let me tell you, equally as good as the first. As long as there's no dark head-crab town thing like in the first one, I'll be happy.

[GarageGothic]

I must agree that Portal is absolutely lovely. It's certainly the biggest innovation the FPS genre has seen since the late nineties. Every area that makes me dislike the Half-Life 2 series this game does just right: It's not repetitive (and short enough not to get tedious around the 2/3 mark). It genuinely explores the gameplay innovations that it brings instead of popping them in every couple of hours for novelty value). And best of all, it doesn't take itself too seriously (no 5-minute long cutscenes of talk, talk, talk). I can't remember the last time, that a game brought the feeling I had playing those simple but highly addictive games on C64 and Amiga - Gravity Force for instance, or even good old Arkanoid. Portal brought all that back, and despite being less ambitious and hyped than BioShock, I find Portal a much better game - one of the few that I consider playing more than once.

Oh, and the credit song must be among my favorite ever made for a video game (reminded me a bit of Magnetic Fields).

[Nikolas]

Somehow I can't find specifications and minimum requirements for portal. Not sure if my computer can handle it really. Can someone let me know of the requirements please?

[vict0r]

I would suspect it to about the same requirements as HL2. Not very high.

[GarageGothic]

From http://steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=game&AppId=400:

Minimum: 1.7 GHz Processor, 512MB RAM, DirectX 8 level Graphics Card, Windows Vista/XP/2000, Mouse, Keyboard, Internet Connection

Recommended: Pentium 4 processor (3.0GHz, or better), 1GB RAM, DirectX 9 level Graphics Card, Windows Vista/XP/2000, Mouse, Keyboard, Internet Connection

It runs just fine on my 1.7 GHz Centrino laptop with 1GB RAM and a Radeon Mobility 9700 128MB

[Nikolas]

how excellent. And as it happens I got some money around this time... hehe!

Orange box I'm going to buy you!

[ManicMatt]

For UK gamers, The Orange Box isnt out until tomorrow! It's being delivered to my shop today, as well as Eternal Sonata and Zelda for DS, but it's my day off! I'm tempted to call the shop later and ask my colleague if they're in, so I can play em all today! Otherwise I won't have time to play them much for a few days.

[vict0r]

My roommate just got it today and he ordered it from a UK site. As far as I know, the release date for the UK is today too

[ManicMatt]

Friday is the official release date for games in the UK. Just like albums come out on mondays. There are sometimes AAA massive titles like Halo 3 that do it on another day, but The Orange box isnt one of them. If I got the delivery of a game in my shop, I could sell it ASAP, but the supplier would want me to sell it on friday. If I did sell it and get caught, I could be refused the delivery of future games until ON the day, which would suck because they don't arrive first thing in the morning. (At a guess, I wouldn't know what a supplier would actually do.. Argos got away with Halo 3 for example.)

If Thursday was the official release date, then I would have been allowed to order the game on tuesday in time for thursday. I wasn't.

Trust me on these things, it's my business to know about it. 

[Becky]

ManicMatt, you could get it on Steam several days ago.  Just because it's not on shelves till today doesn't mean it's not the official release

[vict0r]

Well... He ordered it online from a UK based website and he got it today on what they claimed to be the release date, and he is currently playing it

[Gamer_V]

Awesome game, and best of all: I'm still alive. Can't wait for the onslaught of brilliant custom levels

I pre-ordered the orange box on steam, so I've also been playing Team Fortress 2 a lot. It's the most fun I've had in a multiplayer shooter in ages! I'm getting quite good playing as a pyro, if I say so myself. Anyone else here who has been playing this gem?  (Though I've read the console conversion didn't do the online mode well .. max 6 vs 6? Wtf?)

[veryweirdguy]

My pop ordered it (from the Game website I believe) and it arrived today.

Luckily I am going back home tomorrow to steal it. 

[ManicMatt]

A day before isnt against the law, it's just frowned on. I don't care about Steam accounts, I mean IN STORE RELEASE DATE! AGH!! And the only reason I mentioned it was to save Nikolas from driving to town today to get it only to find he can't have it! (Unless the store is cheeky and sells it early, but Game and Gamestation will NEVER do this.)

Online shops seem to get away with it for some reason, beats me on that front. It doesnt seem fair that an online shop can sell it before a real shop can.