Portal Interview

[DigiQ8]

TeamXbox have spent some time with Kim Swift, Jeep Barrett and Doug Lombardi chatting about Portal one of the most anticipated titles this year.

You mentioned the fact that you?ll have Challenge Maps. Can you maybe talk a little more about them in depth?[br]

Kim Swift: Sure. The Challenge Maps are maps that you?ve already played through and, after you finish the game, get unlocked. The three different challenges that you have are, a) the least number of portals to get through a map; b) the least number of footsteps to get through a map; and c) least amount of time to get through a map. And there are different ratings on that?bronze, silver and gold, depending on how well you did.

You can find the full interview Here.[br]

Also on Teamxbox there are new previews for Episode Two, Team Fortress 2 and Portal.

 

[gusIII]

mmm, imagine portal speedrun!

 

[hool10]

Wonder if Kim ever gets tired of saying how they got their jobs at Valve? They always talk about Hydro too.

 

[Crispy]

When I read this I closed all my browser windows in disgust.

The 2005 release of Half-Life 2 for the original Xbox was greeted by one big question from gamers everywhere: Why didn’t Valve just wait and release the game for the Xbox 360, which is a superior machine in every way?

The 360 is good, but it's definitely not superior in "every way". I'll wait until someone independant reviews it. I can see Team Xbox is basically just towing the party line.

 

[Asuka]

KICKASS! Anyone who played Half-Life 2 running on a high-end PC knows that the game will look great (especially when compared to the original Xbox version), but the developers told me that they’ve added a number of new effects in Episode Two, including a bunch of new shaders, HDR rendering (this was also appear in the Xbox 360 version of Half-Life 2 for the first time), a revamped particle system, and a full screen motion blur. I also learned that they’ll be leveraging the power of the Xbox 360 as much as possible, which includes using the multiple cores to improve the loading times.

 

[Ren.182]

I like the sound of the challenge missions. Will add a lot of replayability I bet. Plus all the user created stuff us PC games will get will just expand on that even more.

Looking forward to this a lot.

 

[bigburpco]

When I read this I closed all my browser windows in disgust.
The 360 is good, but it's definitely not superior in "every way". I'll wait until someone independant reviews it. I can see Team Xbox is basically just towing the party line.

I think the author meant just superior to the original Xbox in every way.

Of special note is the Taunt button, which allows you to mock your opponent at anytime. The camera will switch from a first-person view that allows you to see your character full-on, at which point he will launch into a brief and hilarious animation designed to allow you to rub your foes? incompetence in their face. The characters have a unique one for each of their three weapons, and all of the ones we saw made us laugh out loud. Seeing the hulking Heavy Weapons Guy kiss and caress Sasha (his uber-powerful minigun) after blowing away an enemy was one of the highlights of my visit.

Kickass.

 

[Crispy]

I think the author meant just superior to the original Xbox in every way.

You're right. I think I musta just been in conspiracy mode or something. :upstare:

 

[Pulse]

The level of proof reading on that site is awful, I'd expect nothing less from an Xbox fansite though.

The TF2 and Portal interviews were a good read however, despite numerous typos and the obvious bias of the editors.

 

[Hazar]

awesome

can't wait for any of the orange box games D:

 

[99.vikram]

If the Orange box is the only option, I probably wont be getting it

 

[Iced_Eagle]

Sweet! I'm for sure picking this up so I have all of the games in one box. I'm also getting the "Black Box" via Steam.

*Edit* 99.vikram: Not via Steam... I'm sure they're going to have a Black Box equivalent package on Steam, but it just won't be in retail stores. If you were thinking of getting the Black Box for consoles, that's just silly since you would have already played HL2 and Ep1 on PC.... Well, you could've played HL2 on Xbox, but not Ep1.

 

[V-Man339]

V-Man's Opinion On the Orange Box Previews

I've got to say there's nothing we haven't already heard in my opinion other than the taunting in Team Fortress 2 but it still does a damn good job of hyping me up! :cheers: