Gamernode: News - The Orange Box for PC outsold console versions

I hope that they expand the new content for Team Fortress 2 to the 360. Nobody gives that game enough credit on 360, it remains a rather busy game with tons of loyal, awesome, regular players (myself included)


WHERE'S THE LOVE, VALVE? And why does everyone insist on dismissing the console version of this game?!

I wish steam worked on consoles.

Hey Sersoft, you remember the Phantom? Yeah, pretty much the same thing.

Derr, The Orange Box was MADE for PC. Playing it on a console sucks, the only benefit is that HL2 and Ep1 are updated with the Ep2 engine.

You're entitled to your opinion.

But I completely disagree. If playing it on consoles sucked, I wouldn't play it so damn much.

Fail.

Also-
How can you have an opinion on a game on console that, according to your Gamertag, you've never even played?

By the fact that I've played plenty of other PC game ports, and they've all sucked.

Also, I always attempt to play FPSs on my PC, as the mouse allows for quicker movement.

Plus, HL was always meant for PC, so I like it better on PC. And Steam FTW!!

"By the fact that I've played plenty of other PC game ports, and they've all sucked."

What year are we living in, here? 1992?

Valve did a fantastic job of porting the Orange Box, and it plays like a dream as well.

If that's the kind of stereotypical, ignorant, misinformed opinions you are going to throw around on games you haven't even played, I don't think I'll ever take your opinion on any game seriously.

Orange Box was solid on both the PS3 and the X360, PC game ports have come a long way, well really I think it was last year that they did 'come a long way', even looking at Quake 4 or Doom 3 ports, or C&C 3 and BFME, they weren't really good ports.
I play CoD 4 and Orange Box on the PC, but really, the console ports are great, Orange Box on PS3 could've used more time but it only had minor frame issues in the later part of Portal.

"If that's the kind of stereotypical, ignorant, misinformed opinions you are going to throw around on games you haven't even played, I don't think I'll ever take your opinion on any game seriously."

Yo, it's an opinion. I just played the game on PC originally, so I stuck with it.

Even opinions should have some basis in reality. 's all I'm saying. To not have not played it and then walk around and saying "it sucks" does a wonderful game a great disservice.

Ignore the extra 'not.'

(Seriously, wtf happened to the edit button?)

We never had one...

rtanger, I think playing hl on a quad core and a geforce 8800 equiped pc is better than the console version of orange box...

But w/e might pick up ps3 and 360 versions when they're in bargain bin.

My first experience with the Orange Box was the 360 version. I never played the pc version since i am so used to FPSs on the console. Other then the graphics, what are the diffrences?

I first played The Orange Box on a friend's 360, and I have to say that it felt good. Sure, it wasn't as precise as a mouse, and some parts of the games were made unnecessarily difficult by that fact, but it didn't suck. In fact, it was so good that it drew in some of my friends who, until playing it, disliked the whole series of Half-Life games (likely because they never took the time to learn to use a mouse and keyboard). In fact, most console shooters (ports or otherwise) work quite well, and I can go so far as to call them a simple control variation (like using the D-pad and face buttons on an SNES controller to play Smash T.V. instead of using the dual joysticks at the arcade cabinet). Have you played Call of Duty 4 with a 360 controller? Smooth as silk, and I could even go as far as to say the control is as good (dare I say better?) than a mouse and keyboard.

Argument over, article debate starts now.

I can't say I'm surprised. Up until The Orange Box, console attempts at porting Half-Life games were rather unsuccessful. Half-Life was difficult to control on the PS2 (which didn't stop me from beating the game), Counter-Strike was awkward on the Xbox, but at least it felt playable after a while (the PS2 needed its lock-on, since it would have been infinitely harder to play without), and Half-Life 2 was almost a good outing when it launched on the Xbox. The point is that Valve's console exposure wasn't very impressive or expansive, so PC gamers recognized the product before demo reel one surfaced, and console players had to go forth with risky winds behind them on something that was unfamiliar. PC series' sell well on PC, console ports sell well once people have a reason to trust them. Well now there's a reason to trust them, so future releases will likely outsell the PC version (every person with an Xbox will want the next Valve game now), so keep your surprise hats in the closet until the next wave of Valve products debuts.

The control scheme and performance in Team Fortress 2 multiplayer; there are no dedicated servers in the console releases.

Of course Orange Box on a Quad Core with a GeForce 8800 will be 'better' than the console version, but that does not mean the console version is gimped. Also, compare how many people have a Quad Core and a GeForce 8800 with the number of people who have an Xbox 360 or Playstation 3.

According to the Steam Survey 121,653 people have a 8800 graphics card, the average CPU Mhz is between 2.0 and 2.3Ghz and only 3.74% (48,520) of people have a Quad Core. There have been 18 Million Xbox 360s and 10 Million Playstations 3s sold world wide, all can play Orange Box at High Definition with little-to-no-frame issues (PS3 and Portal in the later parts does have frame issues).

OK, how about telling us how many units the PC version sold? Just a thought.

He (Doug Lombardi) says the X360 sold just over 1 million, the PS3 sold a few hundred thousand and he estimated 1.5 Million, in the next question he was asked how much stronger, Doug said it was in the double digits.
It is not known why Valve do not release their numbers, nor is it known why Publishers who use Steam don't divulge their numbers (Shawn Elliot of GFW got excited in an interview recently with Relic at GDC, looks like they might release their Company of Heroes via Steam numbers soon), but from math you can see the PC sold at least 1.65 Million copies total of Orange Box if it was a 10% increase on Console sales, he said it was significant so it could well be 20-30% giving it a number closer to 2 Million on PC sold. We won't know however, so the debate on PC gaming's death continues >.

"We never had one..."

Yes, we did, before the last site update.

"rtanger, I think playing hl on a quad core and a geforce 8800 equiped pc is better than the console version of orange box..."

The award for the most bloody obvious statement of the day goes to...
...but that doesn't make the console version suck now, does it. Point taken, but it's irrelevant.

And, thank you KindGalaxy, for being far more eloquent than I and knowing a good port when you see one.

Bah, I meant to add Archem into that last statement as well.

I deserve thanks for many things.

Archem thanks for that "Favor" ;) last night!

Lol, jk.

I havent played the console, so i cant knock on it. i do want a 360, but ithink i am just going to put 350 into my computer.

I think it's interesting that Lombardi had to put in the following qualification:

"So when you take the PC numbers for The Orange Box a la carte, they're significantly higher."

It's impossible to say, but I wonder how the sales would have compared if they didn't count someone who downloaded Portal through Steam for $30 (I think?) as a full puchase against a console owner who bought the full package. Obviously, the PC versions sold well, but my gut tells me that a lot of that is probably due to people who paid less to buy one or two pieces of the package.

Regardless, the game still sold well on the PC though. Valve definitely has a dedicated fan base there. Really us console owners were fortunate that Valve moved the game over to our platform, so we could enjoy the game as well.

Oh, and the game plays GREAT on my 360. I'm not pining for the PC version at all.