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Pre-Order Valve Games Via Steam Next Week, Enter the TF2 Beta

Posted by Zonk on from the time-of-a-million-games-is-upon-us dept.

The British Gaming Blog notes that the Orange Box (Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode 1, Half-Life 2: Episode 2, Portal, and Team Fortress 2) will be available for pre-order via Steam starting next week. What's more, ordering the games via Steam will give you access to an advance Beta test of Team Fortress 2. "The Orange Box contains Half Life 2, Episodes 1 and 2, Portal and Team Fortress 2; you'll have to purchase the entire package to receive the Beta. Valve recommends giving the extra codes for Half Life 2 and Episode 1 (if you already own them) to someone who's been missing out. Not explained on the actual pre-purchase page is an added bonus for early adopters, Peggle Extreme; a special edition of Popcap's Peggle featuring new challenges and Orange Box related artwork." Apparently current HL2 fans will miss out on the Beta ... because we've already paid them money.

19 of 141 comments (clear)

  1. Oh, come on now... by Gothic_Walrus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Apparently current HL2 fans will miss out on the Beta ... because we've already paid them money.

    There's no possible way that the beta could support everybody who bought Half-Life 2, or even the fraction of that number that'd be interested in it. Given that you bought and played the game (ages ago, most likely) and I would assume enjoyed it in the process, I'm not sure what there is to get upset about. If you bought the game three years ago at launch, then I don't see why Valve owes you anything after this much time has passed.

    --
    Goo goo g'joob.
    1. Re:Oh, come on now... by Nos. · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Since when do you offer support to beta testers, other than typically informal, forum type support? That's all I would expect from this. As far as allowing people to beta test, why not? Other than the forums may get overwhelmed with posts if there are issues. Its not like Valve will be the only ones running servers.

      What I'm upset about, is that as a loyal Valve customer for years, I'm actually being treated worse than someone who has never owned the game before.

    2. Re:Oh, come on now... by Novotny · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Typical Slashdot whining. I may not have a lot of karma to burn but I'll explain why you're making no sense.

      You get into the beta for buying three new games for the price of one, these being Episode 3, Portal & Team Fortress 2. It just so happens they're bucking in the original HL2 and Episode One (both of which I paid for) as well. So that's actually 5 great games for the price of one. Yes, that's right. The Orange box is priced comparably to any singular title also in the market.

      And typically, you guys whine because you bought HL2. One of these five titles. Whine whine! We want the last three years of development work for free! This from an Editor too.

      Er, no. I'm so with Valve on this one. And I don't give a damn if I come over like a fanboi or you all burn me at the stake for heresy.

    3. Re:Oh, come on now... by Deadbolt · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You're being retarded. For $45 (counting the $5 off preorder), you get Episode 2, Portal, and TF2. That's, say, 15 hours of single-player game and god knows how many hours of TF2 (at least 24 over the life of the game). Plus they throw in a 10-level Peggle, which is actually pretty damn fun and is even more awesome for being free. $45 for all that is a hell of a value, especially since Bioshock costs $50 for 10 hours of single-player. (Really awesome single-player, yes, but kinda short, and no multiplayer at all.)

      And you get a free HL2 and Episode 1 to give to someone.

      How is Valve screwing you again?

      (Disclaimer: I just ordered it a few minutes ago and am thrilled.)

      --
      "Honey, it's not working out; I think we should make our relationship open-source."
    4. Re:Oh, come on now... by Novotny · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Oh I know he's a troll, but I'll bite.

      Episode 2 brings a lot of new tech to the series and has been in development for quite some time. It is a new title. It is made by some of the most talented people in the industry. It will, most likely, be very good.

      Team Fortress 2 is extremely exciting to people who like fps online or who enjoyed the original (I didn't like the original much, but that's a different story). You clearly know absolutely nothing about it.

      And as for 'Portal is just a new set of skins on half-life with a bit of storyline' - now we know you really are just making this up to annoy people.

      'if I want to pay 50$ for a game with one new gun' - is it just the banging noise guns make in game that you appreciate? Sounds right about your intellectual level.

    5. Re:Oh, come on now... by Ford+Prefect · · Score: 2, Informative

      Valve has never said they wouldn't offer the Black Box on Steam. If it bothers you that much, why not wait and see if they do release it? Maybe they are only allowing pre-orders on one box set at a time.

      When I was at Valve in June, I asked about the dropping of the Black Box at retail. Apparently the standalone Episode One wasn't welcomed by retailers since, despite having high-level production values, it was effectively at a budget price - and thus was treated accordingly.

      The great-big-bumper-Orange-Box is basically a compilation to bring it into full-price game territory, so retailers should be a bit more generous with regard to shelf-space, promotional material and so on.

      I got the impression that the Black Box's non-appearance at retail is partly because of that, and also perhaps so that Valve can effectively undercut retail prices on Steam - I'm not sure how the games might be split up, or even if they will be - but I imagine it could be a fair bit cheaper buying just a few sections of the Orange Box that way. Plus, outside of Valve, I've read stories of retailers essentially forcing Steam prices to be as high as they are - essentially saying that if Valve sells it more cheaply online, the stores won't stock the boxed games at all...

      I'd wait a week or two before writing off the Black Box (or equivalents) entirely, anyway. But perhaps this is an attempt at viral marketing of the Half-Life 2 series? Give gamers a load of unused product keys, and let 'em give em to friends who haven't played them yet...
      --
      Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
    6. Re:Oh, come on now... by Ford+Prefect · · Score: 3, Informative

      Episode 2 brings a lot of new tech to the series and has been in development for quite some time. It is a new title. It is made by some of the most talented people in the industry. It will, most likely, be very good.

      I've played it right the way through, and it's gameplay-wise much-much-longer than Episode One, and content-wise much-much-more of a new game. Fractionally, if Episode One was Half-Life 2.1, Episode Two would be Half-Life 2.5 or something like that. Maybe Episode Three will take it all the way up to Half-Life 3.0?

      Team Fortress 2 is extremely exciting to people who like fps online or who enjoyed the original (I didn't like the original much, but that's a different story). You clearly know absolutely nothing about it.

      TF2 shares rough player class types, some gameplay concepts and some map layouts with, say, TFC - but otherwise it's a whole new product. It's a very different game!

      And as for 'Portal is just a new set of skins on half-life with a bit of storyline' - now we know you really are just making this up to annoy people.

      I'd say it was the best puzzle-oriented FPS I've ever played, but come to think of it, I can't actually think of too many puzzle-oriented FPSes. And the 'S' is a bit dubious anyway, as I can't remember much shooting...

      But I do remember cake, yes.
      --
      Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
    7. Re:Oh, come on now... by Psiven · · Score: 2, Insightful

      In regards to your last comment, I'd say that has to be some of their motivation. I have friends who've bought the CSS/DOD/HL2DM pack for lan marties, but still never experienced EP1. I will happily try to turn them on with my extra copies of HL2.

      I guess I just don't see the issue. I'd pay $30 for Portal, $40 for TF2, and $20 for EP2 (sry big multiplayer guy here). This just seems like a great value to me. It's $45 to preorder, and I get TF2 early. Holyshit, whats the issue?

  2. that makes me.... by Chris+whatever · · Score: 3, Funny

    want to blow out steam.....

  3. Bah! by jacksonic · · Score: 2, Insightful

    True fans will shell out whatever monies are necessary to get their hands on the ambrosia that is Team Fortress 2.

  4. I am happy with value recieved by senahj · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If Valve has extracted a few more dollars from me than from another person for the same merchandise, I really don't give a toss.

    If there is any company in the world that I think deserves my money, it's Valve.
    Thanks, guys.

    (I can see that my friend the GTA addict has actually gotten more replay value from San Andreas than I have from HL / Blue Shift / Opposing Force / HL2 / Lost Coast / Episode One, but he's welcome to it; I just don't enjoy being Carl Johnson, though it's fun to watch, and the music is superlative)

    --
    Wait a minute. Didn't I say that on the other side of the record? I'd better check ...
  5. Re:Does Valve suck for anyone else? by fo0bar · · Score: 2, Informative

    This might be slightly tangential but does Valve run slowly for anyone else? Yes, it's quite slow to pick up Valve HQ and move it. Their employees need to get on the treadmill, that's how slow Valve is.

    (Steam is the content delivery service, Valve is the company name. And yes, to a degree. It's a bit slow starting and stopping (maybe 30 seconds to do either), but once it's up and running, it works fine for me.)
  6. Re:Does Valve suck for anyone else? by labalicious · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Have you tried the new version of Steam? My computer is 5 years old and runs it just fine. Try downloading the beta, it's really light weight >20mb used at a time. Just in case people don't have the link... http://steampowered.com/

  7. Orange Box is cheaper anyway by Datasage · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Lets see here: Orange box $49.95, or pre-order for $44.95.

    Or if you were to buy the new games separately:
    EP2 = $29.95
    Portal = $19.95
    TF2 = $29.95

    I suppose they could make a package containing only the new games, but I doubt that it would be any cheaper.

    --
    In America we are imprisoned by our fear of them.
    1. Re:Orange Box is cheaper anyway by MtlDty · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's a cunning move. Seeing as I already own HL2 and EP1 my obvious choice is to buy the orange box, and gift the extra HL2 and EP1 to a friend... who then likes them enough to want to buy EP2, and decides the orange box is best choice, so he passes on the extra HL2 and EP1 to a friend...etc etc...

  8. Re:Zonked again! by Pluvius · · Score: 2

    And if you already have half-life 2, you can give the new copy you get in your bundle to a friend.

    Yes, that makes it worth it, especially since most people who are interested in HL2 already have it.

    Its basically a free copy anyways, since episode 2, portal and tf2 cost more than the bundle if purchased seperately anyways.

    If you accept the BS inflated prices that Valve gives for those games, anyway. There's no reason for Ep2 to be $30 when Ep1 was just $20, and Portal accordingly should be around $10. And there's no reason to think that the old games are free when they're still being sold for moderate prices individually.

    I don't know why people are just accepting the individual prices that are being quoted to them as justification for the $50 price of the Orange Box. I guess the fact that it's Valve turns off the ripoff detectors in their brains.

    Rob

  9. Re:Does Valve suck for anyone else? by nuzak · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Yes, I find Steam to be pretty buggy, from not launching games except the second time I select the launch, to losing games in my list until I log out and back in, to a very sluggish store UI, which is merely an embedded IE component.

    But it still beats the living crap out of dealing with physical discs, and it's still a much better delivery service than Direct2Drive. I've never found the authentication to be slow, and BTW, it only has to do it once if you're not doing multiplayer.

    Your criticisms might carry a little more weight if you even knew what the name of the app was called. You sound like my gf's mother, who says things like "My Microsoft is slow".

    --
    Done with slashdot, done with nerds, getting a life.
  10. Re:We dont want ALL those games. by Pluvius · · Score: 2, Insightful

    False dilemmas are no way to argue, son.

    Rob

  11. Re:Does Valve suck for anyone else? by jollyreaper · · Score: 2, Funny

    Your criticisms might carry a little more weight if you even knew what the name of the app was called. You sound like my gf's mother, who says things like "My Microsoft is slow". Oh, give me a break, my intertubes were clogged. My interweb company says there's some spam caught in there, they're sending a guy in there to clear it out.
    --
    Kwisatz Haderach
    Sell the spice to CHOAM
    This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne