Over a month with no post! So what’s been occupying me in this time? Lots.

Work has been pretty busy which accounts for some of it. Finishing Bioshock (and starting it all over again on hard) accounts for some more. Lately, though, it’s been the Orange Box – Valve’s disparate collection of gaming gems – that has commanded my leisure hours.

Everything in this collection is a wonder, pure and simple.

Half-Life 2

This, I have previously claimed, was my favourite game of all time until Bioshock came along where it was relegated to second place by the smallest of margins. Having played through Half-Life 2 again since finishing ‘shock, I have to raise it once again to first place, by a similarly tiny margin. There is simply no better made first person shooter in the world.

Half-Life 2: Episode One

Episode One continues this. The first of three shorter-than-the-original-game expansions for Half-Life 2. Using essentially, the same game engine, but wearing a sparkly new coat of HDR, the story continues exactly where the main game left off. I haven’t finished this one yet as some of it’s companions have sparkled slightly brighter.

Half-Life 2: Episode Two

This looks really amazing with new graphic effects added to the engine as well as some great-looking outdoor environments, but I’m not touching this bad boy til I’m done with One.

Portal

Portal is… is… damn. Portal is a complete bloody triumph. Amazing. Indescribable. If you don’t know it, then you’d best watch this:

You wake up in the Aperture Laboratories. A human rat running through a maze of tasks. Your only company is a stilted, electronic woman’s voice luring you on with promises of cake. I will say no more. Play this. If you like games, then it’s very important you do.

Team Fortress 2

The largest chunk of time lately, however, has been awarded to Team Fortress 2. An incredible new incarnation of the classic Team Fortress Quake mode from way back.

For those that don’t know, Team Fortress is (and was) a team based shooter with several game modes, mainly based around capturing control points (CP’s). There is also a capture the flag mode (intelligence instead of flags in this case) but that is only on one map and stalemates are fairly common so most players tend to prefer the other modes.

Along with the release of the Orange Box, Steam have launched their new Steam Community – an extremly Xbox LIVE-like service with two notable differences: it’s free and you can change your name at any time.

The service provides online profiles (like LIVE) and even lifted the popular achievement system.

I go by the name “Champion of Nothing: in-game. You can see my profile here and my Team Fortress 2 stats here.

Right now it says I have spent 21.1 hours playing in the last two weeks and I’m showing no sign of slowing. I think this one will keep me occupied for a while. But hey, if I get bored, there’s always the other stuff in the Box to keep me busy!

I will post in more detail on this one later as it fully deserves it.

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