Half-Life 2 - The Orange Box

glad you guys are giving it a positive review, im going to get orange box and ive never played any of the half life games, the closest thing was CS.
 
is the framerate/lag etc. as much of an issue as the review sites (ign, gamespot, bla bla bla) have said it is?
cuz the make a real big stink about it, gave ps3 an 8.4 versus like a 9.4 or something like that
 
I have it on my gamefly que.Can't wait 'till I return the spanish game for the DS.That game was so easy.I can't believe I even rented.
 
[quote name='cheezhead430']is the framerate/lag etc. as much of an issue as the review sites (ign, gamespot, bla bla bla) have said it is?
cuz the make a real big stink about it, gave ps3 an 8.4 versus like a 9.4 or something like that[/quote]
1up's said that there's a difference between the review code they got and the retail code that gamers get to play, so I'm not sure if other sites bothered trying to get ahold of the retail version of the game or not. TF2 and Portal were great from what I played of them (18 stages of Portal and a few matches of TF2). I'll be trying out Half-Life 2 now, so I'll post impressions and whatnot a little later on.

http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=8520153&publicUserId=5380373#comments
Going into the Orange Box preview, however, this concept held little relevance because the game was not early in development. This was a case where EA sent out a disc for websites to use for both preview and review purposes with different embargo dates for each. It was review code that EA wanted to get an extra preview out of, so they allowed sites to preview the review copy a few weeks before review time. This is nothing new -- many companies do this, and it means that the gloves are off when it comes to tech/preview criticisms since the game is done and it's review code.

So we wrote that the game -- at its worst; not all the time -- was "downright unplayable," and I stand by David Ellis writing that statement. The framerate dropped to unplayable status for anywhere from 15 seconds to a minute and a half at various times when playing Half-Life 2, presenting the worst case issues. We should be clear that the rest of the time the game wasn't perfect either, with minor framerate issues across the board, but nothing that would be considered unplayable -- just mildly annoying. Naturally, this concerned EA and they contacted us to clarify where we saw issues.

EA seemed genuinely confused about the most severe framerate issues we brought up, so when they offered to drive retail copies of the game that had just arrived in their offices over to us, we were happy to give them a look to see if somehow the wires had gotten crossed at EA and the "review code" was not adequately representative of the final game. This hardly ever happens, but we were happy to check out the retail code in order to make sure we weren't misleading anyone with what we wrote.

Over the following day, we split up duties and had David Ellis play through most of Half-Life 2, Ryan O'Donnell play through most of Episode One, and me on Episode Two. It took a ton of time and basically wiped out our work day, and I hope that shows how seriously we take this kind of thing. What we found was that the worst of the problems we talked about in Half-Life 2 were gone. Each of the Half-Life games still showed framerate issues, on par with what we saw in the review code (with Episode Two having the biggest problems and occasionally moving beyond "mildly" annoying), but the "unplayable" sequences were gone.

Is it annoying that the package doesn't contain perfect ports, especially considering it's already shipping after the PC and 360 versions? Definitely. Is it the worst of the three versions? Yes. But "downright unplayable?" No. The big question of why EA didn't delay the game further until these ports were equal in quality to those in the 360 game remains, but they're not bad games.

So who's at fault here for all the attention the negativity in our preview got? Partially EA, for sending out review code that was slightly different from retail code and having a somewhat flawed game. Partially message boards and blogs, for not understanding what "at worst" means. And partially us, for not providing enough context in our preview. In the end, just know that the PS3 ports of Half-Life 2, Episode One, and Episode Two are far from ideal, but are still better than most games out there.

If you're wondering why it took so long for us to post this response, it's because we were trying to get a comment out of EA, which initially seemed like it would be easy but just wasn't able to happen in time. Since the game is about to hit stores, we can't wait any longer for their side of the story, so that's why you're seeing this post today.

I have no doubt some people still won't believe us after reading all this, but because of the embargo associated with the review/preview disc and now one with the retail code, we can't provide video footage showing the game's problems (or the game at all) until it ships. IGN has some new videos up, so I encourage you to go check those out if you want to see what the game looks like most of the time.

Anyway, I'm not sure this post was worthwhile, since it ended up at three or four times the length of the original preview, but I hope it explains where we were coming from with the preview, where the retail version stands, and why we don't have any PS3 videos of the game up on the site. And, to get away from talking about ourselves and back to the games, how Orange Box PS3 really isn't as good as it should be, but is still probably worth playing if PS3 is your only option. At its core, this is still a game that will be nominated for game of the year honors on pretty much every site -- it's just that the PC and 360 versions are the ones that might win.
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hm... not sure how you join a server by it's name... Hell, I'll just add you on PSN. :)

[quote name='FriskyTanuki']I'm playing some right now.

The server name's US EC17, something like that.[/QUOTE]
 
[quote name='oldboy']hm... not sure how you join a server by it's name... Hell, I'll just add you on PSN. :)[/quote]
Alright, just added you and I'm waiting to join your game.

What classes are you liking? I've done Engineer, Heavy, and Soldier, and I haven't really found a favorite just yet, since it seems to depend on the map and game type.
 
cool.. I see you.

I've been heavy on the Engineer... Best class imo... However, I've been experimenting with the spy, and I must say, he's quite fun. :)

[quote name='FriskyTanuki']Alright, just added you and I'm waiting to join your game.

What classes are you liking? I've done Engineer, Heavy, and Soldier, and I haven't really found a favorite just yet, since it seems to depend on the map and game type.[/QUOTE]
 
[quote name='oldboy']hehe. good round[/quote]
Same to you. I'm probably done after this round, so I'll probably get on some more tomorrow and see you then.
 
the game is great and the framerate is fine the only problem is that the load times take forever, no joke if you die (and you will) expect at least 30 seconds, it drives me crazy
 
Okay, I've been playing through the games. Portal was fine, TF2 was fine, and HL2 was fine up until this last encounter I had just after the hovercraft scene. I'm wondering if anybody else has experienced major drop in framerate at this point in the game, too?

=Wow. Finished the hovercraft section in HL2, went into the nearby building (seems like a garage with two large vehicles and an interrigation room, complete w/corpse) and as soon as I ran into manhacks and combines in the next room, the framerate dropped sharply. I somehow managed to take the manhacks and a few combines down while trying to get control of the situation, but it wasn't pretty. The framerate was pretty much smooth as can be up to that point, with maybe a few small hitches towards the end of the hovercraft sequence.
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I backed up a bit and gathered supplies and it seems to have been just that encounter itself that destroyed the framerate, as it was smooth after they were all dead.
 
I don't want to turn this into a big PS3/360 debate, so here's my situation, and let's just leave it at this. My 360s have been crapping out, I've got to send it back to M$ for the second time in less than a month, and I'm growing tired of waiting to play Episode 1 and Episode 2. So, I'm thinking of trading in my 360 version and getting the PS3 version.

I know the PS3 version has some framerate issues, but I played through the XBOX 1 version of HL2 which had some horrible framerate issues and didn't mind. If it's equally as bad as that version, I'll be satisfied.

Does the PS3 version let you map the controls any way you want them? If I have to shoot with R1, I'm going to kill somebody.

I don't care much for Team Fortress 2. I liked it at first, but it got old quick. I don't care about the online features of that game on the PS3.

If this version supports keyboard/mouse, give it some bonus points. But I don't think it does. Can anybody confirm?
 
Yeah I just got it and was afraid to open it cause I thought it would be unplayable. I opened it last nite and it wasn't that bad. I only played half-life 2, portal, and team fortress. The loading is a little frequent in half life 2 and the my connection is a little quirky on team fortress but it's all doable. If there's a patch on the way that's great but it's still enjoyable without it.
 
It's a great game in its own right, but slightly worse than the PC and 360 versions. A couple hiccups here and there (mostly in the HL2 games), but nothing that ruins them. You can remap the controls to what's best to you.
 
Can you remap the airboat controls? I don't know which moron thought it would be a good idea to have acceleration on the left stick, so is it possible to change that?
 
[quote name='whoknows']Can you remap the airboat controls? I don't know which moron thought it would be a good idea to have acceleration on the left stick, so is it possible to change that?[/quote]
Not sure, but yeah, having steering and acceleration on the same stick wasn't a good idea.
 
[quote name='FriskyTanuki']Not sure, but yeah, having steering and acceleration on the same stick wasn't a good idea.[/quote]
I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought that! I was thinking this was an akward control scheme for a boat... luckily you're not in the boat much.
 
[quote name='Autumn Star']I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought that! I was thinking this was an akward control scheme for a boat... luckily you're not in the boat much.[/QUOTE]
They did the same thing with the car though. Although it seems to work a little better. Still, triggers for breaking/accelerating would have been the best.

So far I've noticed 1 moment of unplayableness in HL2. I turned off the game because of it and then went back to it later and it was fine...kinda weird.
 
For Valve to approve a release that is so obviously buggy takes a dump all over their reputation, as far as I'm concerned.

No more Valve products for me, if this is how they treat PS3 owners.
 
[quote name='Nephlabobo']It has their name on it. I can't believe they'd release it without looking at it.[/QUOTE]
I think you're confused about who calls the shots.
 
Valve is not owned by EA. EA just does their distribution. EA did do the port of TOB. I am guessing Valve had no interest in doing it (we all know how much GN likes the PS3), so EA offered to do it. IMHO, if valve allowed EA to do it, they are partially responsible for monitoring it's quality. It was also done by one of EA's studios with a rather lousy reputation, not to mention that in genral, EA's reputation on the PS3 is lousy. There was really no chance that this was going to turn out as good as the others. I did here that TF2 was broken on 360 as well. But I have never played TF2, so I don't know what they were talking about.
~S
 
I haven't tried the Half Life portions of the Box yet, but I was primarily interested in TF2 and Portal. Portal loads a bit slow, but I can only recall one framerate issue, and that was close to the end of the game. Then again, I refused to rush into the fray while the game was quicksaving, which is when I've heard the framerate is supposed to drop.

(Note: I still haven't beaten it yet, as I have to go initiate the final confrontation.)

I haven't had much of a problem with TF2 (other than half-full games....any other CAG's still playing)? I was hoping to enjoy TF2, as I really like the art style, yet I haven't gotten into a FPS game in quite a while. It's a lot of fun (even if I have to play 2Fort 90% of the time). Which reminds me: are any of my fellow CAGs playing TF2 on PS3?


Portal & TF2 are enough to justify my purchase ($40 after the BB sale + PSU coupon)....and I'll eventually get around to one of the greatest PC games of all time.

Related Note: 1UP finally got around to posting their Orange Box review for PS3, and gave the package an 8.0.
 
[quote name='bjkrautk']Which reminds me: are any of my fellow CAGs playing TF2 on PS3?
[/quote]

Add me :)

Finished playing through HL2 and it had some occasional framerate hiccups but nothing game breaking.
 
So, do any CAGers play Team Fortress 2 on the Playstation 3? If so, let us band together in the game of glory to play together! I'll start first. I'm Senior LULZ on the PSN network and I play lots of Team Fortress 2 as it is the only FPS game that I really have for online gameplay.
 
AnarchoTommy

TF2 is pretty much the only online game I play so far (I'll be picking up warhawk here pretty soon, I think).
 
I try to play as much TF2 as possible but I usually have a game rotation of CoD4, UT3, Warhawk, and others that preoccupy my time.
 
Alright i just grabbed orange box yesterday and couldnt connect at all for TF2.

It just hung on the 'connecting to ea online' screen for like 20 min.s

Anyone else get this problem? I saw it posted in a few other forums but everyone just seemed to not play it. Is it just me or should a game work when you buy it?

PS portal is awesome, HL2 is great. :)
 
I stayed away from this game when it came out because of all the reviews saying it had serious issues on PS3. However I saw an article on 1up the other day saying they had finally released a major fix patch for it. The article said it fixed most things but wasn't near as in depth as the slamming it received in the reviews. Anybody got this game? Did the patch fix all the major glitches it was said to have shipped with? I'd love to pick up a cheap used copy if so.
 
I've been waiting for Orange Box to drop below $30 at Target. Is the PS3 version worth it, or should I just wait and buy it for 360 when I eventually get one? How is the community? Is it dead? I've also read that there is horrible lag during online play. Does it ruin the experience?
 
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