The Orange Box is delicious. And Portal is the best part. It’s funny, it’s smart, and it’s just the right length. I think it took a lot of people by surprise.
It’s interesting how Portal is piggy-backing Half-Life 2: Episode 2 in more or less the same way Counter-Strike did with Half-Life. It’s clever marketing. Would as much people have now been clamoring for a sequel to Portal if it had been released separately?
It works kind of like vinyl records, where the B-side may contain remixes of the A-side, or material by other artists from the same label. Sometimes the B-side contains crap, but sometimes it leads to great discoveries. I like how The Orange Box has given the Portal IP a flying start. (I’m also somewhat reminded of Geometry Wars, which wasn’t exactly bundled with Project Gotham Racing 2, but it did rise to popularity from its humble beginnings as easter egg bonus content.)
Here’s hoping Valve with bundle another brand new property with Portal 2 and Episode 3…
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I have played Portal at a friend’s (Hein) and we couldn’t stop until we finished
The ending is just too much, squared climax or something lol.
Wouter Smeenk
November 6th, 2007