Valve today announced that The Orange Box--the acclaimed collection of Team Fortress 2, Portal, Half-Life 2 and its first two episodes--will be 66% off this weekend on Steam.

The reduction in price brings the five-game pack to a mere $10, making this the perfect opportunity to catch up for anyone that somehow skipped over the year 2007.

Beloved developer Valve has released lifetime retail sales figures for some of its more popular games, including the Half-Life and Counter-Strike series, revealing that the studio has sold over 32.8 million games since the 1998 release of the first Half-Life.

Sales from Valve's digital distribution client are not factored in, with the figures only accounting for worldwide retail sales. With Half-Life 2, Valve began simultaneously releasing all of its PC games at retail and via Steam. The numbers were originally printed in the November issue of Game Informer, then republished by Gamasutra.

Furthermore, it was not specified if the figures of multiplatform games--Half-Life, Half-Life 2, The Orange Box--included both PC and console sales, or just PC.

• Half-Life (Valve) / 1998 - 9.3 Million
• Half-Life: Opposing Force (PC, Gearbox) / 1999 - 1.1 Million
• Half-Life: Blue Shift (PC, Gearbox) / 2001 - 800,000
  
  
• Counter-Strike (PC, Valve) / 2000 - 4.2 Million
• Counter-Strike: Condition Zero (PC, Valve) / 2004 - 2.9 Million... Read more

A number of Valve's PC shooters will soon support Novint's Falcon controller (pictured left) as part of a new agreement, the companies have announced.

Serving as an alternative to the traditional mouse-based FPS control scheme, the Novint Falcon allows for three-dimensional freedom of movement and tactile response. Support for the peripheral will be added in an update distributed through Valve's digital download platform Steam.

Games slated to support the controller include Half-Life 2 and its two following episodes, Team Fortress 2, Portal and Counter-Strike: Source. Valve's ... Read more

Speaking to Shacknews at last week's EA Spring Showcase, Valve Software marketing director Doug Lombardi addressed the state of downloadable content for Team Fortress 2 on consoles.

"We're looking at bringing the Goldrush and the new achievements and stuff out to the 360," Lombardi said. Valve internally developed the PC and 360 versions of TF2, with the PS3 edition outsourced to EA UK.

"How and when is still sort of being determined, on pricing and that kind of stuff. On the PC it's sort of wide open, you can release stuff whenever you want. On the console there's a little bit more of a pathway."

Since its release last October, Valve has supplied the PC version of Team Fortress 2 with two major updates. As of yet, no content updates have been provided for the console versions of the title.

"What we've been waiting for is until we had a critical mass of new content to put out," Lombardi added. "So we feel like we're kind of there now. We'll probably be making some announcements pretty soon on what will happen with the 360 stuff. I don't know that--unfortunately I don't know that any of that will make it to the PS3."

An update is now available for the PlayStation 3 edition of Valve's mega-compilation The Orange Box, publisher Electronic Arts has announced.

Tweaks include improved stability, better online support, and the resolution of an issue that prevented players from signing online if they had over 30 friends. North American players will be prompted to download the patch when they sign into the online PlayStation Network within the game--a European update expected shortly.

Released on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 last fall, The Orange Box packs Valve's story-driven shooters Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, and Half-Life 2: Episode Two along with its colorful class-based multiplayer title Team Fortress 2 and the wit-driven puzzle effort Portal.

While the PC and Xbox 360 editions were developed internally at Valve, EA UK handled the PlayStation 3 port. A complete list of the patch notes follows:... Read more

Valve today confirmed reports that the PC version of its critically acclaimed compilation the Orange Box (PC, PS3, X360) will be split for individual retail sale on April 9.

Portal and Team Fortress 2, which had previously not been available individually at retail outlets, will be sold for $19.99 and $29.99, respectively. Valve is also planning the Half-Life 2 Episode Pack, which will include both Episode One and Two in addition to Half-Life 2 Deathmatch for online play, priced at $29.99.

All three games will be identical to their Orange Box and Steam counterparts. The individual titles will be available in North America on April 9, and worldwide on April 11.

The Orange Box--Valve's acclaimed compilation containing Portal, Team Fortress 2, and Half-Life 2: Episode 2--will be split into separate PC titles on April 9, according to Joystiq.

The move is not one of desperation. While The Orange Box has done well on consoles, with well over a million copies sold between the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions, Valve's Doug Lombardi characterized the PC release as "significantly stronger," citing a two-digit percentage increase over the console editions.

No official prices have been announced for the individual packages.

All the new Team Fortress 2 maps that have or are planned to hit the PC edition of the game will indeed make their way to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, Valve marketing VP Doug Lombardi has confirmed.

"The maps will come to the console versions," Lombardi informed Eurogamer. "There's a bit of work that makes sense for us to bundle them up and release them as packs."

Recent additions to the PC edition of the game include numerous balance changes and two maps, Badlands and CTF_Well. Upcoming content includes class-specific achievements, unlockable weapons, and the Goldrush map, which adds a new gameplay mode.

Though available for individual purchase on the PC, the console editions of Team Fortress 2 are only contained within Valve's mega-compilation The Orange Box.

While that content is free on PC, what about consoles? "Oh, for free, definitely, as much as we can," Lombardi answered. "You know, we don't have full say over that, but we have some say over how that works."

Speaking of Team Fortress 2 on Xbox 360, Valve has released a new... Read more

During yesterday's third quarter conference call, EA CFO Warren Jenson mentioned that the PC version of Valve's value-packed Orange Box would be unbundled and released at retail as separate titles.

The Orange Box, which includes Team Fortress 2, Portal, and Half Life: Episode Two, is currently only available on retail shelves in bundled form for the PC and console alike. The games were available on Valve's digital distribution platform Steam from day one. The plan comes as part of EA's strategy for the current fiscal quarter.

Distributor EA is quite pleased with the Orange Box's performance, noting in the conference call that the title "exceeded expectations." The move to break up the Orange Box may be a result of the difficulties marketing a bundle that contains three radically different games featuring unique themes, graphical styles and gameplay schemes.

No mention of pricing for the individual games was mentioned during the conference call, but the retail versions will likely be made available at prices comparable to Steam: Portal at $19.95, and Team Fortress 2 and Half Life: Episode Two for $29.95 each.

For the second of our Orange Box reviews, I played through Valve's incredible take on the puzzle genre, Portal. My review is from the Xbox 360 version of the game, which should be identical to the PC version other than the controls--meaning either version is fantastic and merits your attention. Hop in to read why.

From the moment you start playing, the game's immersive, self-contained story unfolds without a break in the action, in signature Valve style. A feminine robotic voice greets you when you awake in a sterile, gray observation room and guides you from one test chamber to the next.

San Francisco-based MMO developer Perpetual Entertainment has announced on the official Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising site that the ancient Rome-themed massively multiplayer game has been put on "indefinite hold"--likely a euphemism for cancellation--in order to dedicate the company's resources more fully to its simultaneously developed game Star Trek Online.

Planned to have been published by Sony Online Entertainment, Gods & Heroes had already entered a closed beta testing phase, and was said to be set for completion in early 2008.

"Recently, we took a step back to evaluate the competitive landscape, the game's current state, and the overall goals for our organization," reads the announcement. "And while we are truly proud of and pleased with what we have created in Gods & Heroes, we also realize that achieving the level of quality and polish that we are committed to will take a significant investment."

According to word from Shacknews' sources close to Perpetual, the game had long played second fiddle internally to the currently self-published... Read more

Here it is, the first of our reviews of The Orange Box. Valve's Half-Life 2: Episode Two is an incredible game, and possibly the best single-player straight FPS to be released this year. Valve's design principles are more refined than ever, and the game introduces some of the most significant new elements the Half-Life series has seen yet--all in a game that's longer, denser, and packed with more variety than the already-great Half-Life 2: Episode One. Read our full spoiler-free review.

With neither length nor the release frequency of the Half-Life 2 "episodes" being particularly episodic, it has fallen to the narrative and plot elemets in Episode Two to live up to the designator. Episode One took criticism for lacking tangible plot relative to Half-Life 2; whereas Episode One was largely driven by a general sense of urgency, Episode Two is much more practically driven by concrete plot motivations in the style of Half-Life 2.

Valve's gaming cornucopia The Orange Box unlocks via Steam at midnight Pacific--that's 2:00am Central--barring any unforeseen consequences, so here's your thread to talk all about it. Surely many of you will also be picking up the Xbox 360 copy when it goes on sale in the morning, while those of the PlayStation 3 persuasion will have to wait a little longer until that version's December 11 release.

Check back at midnight Pacific for our in-depth reviews of Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Team Fortress 2, and Portal--or, if you can't wait, go straight to our succinct summation of The Orange Box as a complete package.