Steam Update, NEW info on the Orange Box. Also new art.

[dcxs]

http://storefront.steampowered.com/Steam/Marketing/message/1125/

''We're now in the home stretch on getting everything finished off with the Orange Box games. Just this week, we've finished recording and placing all of the developer commentary for the three new games. Episode Two, Team Fortress 2, and Portal together will include over two and a half hours of new commentary that should help shed some light into the thinking and challenges behind these three new games. This is all in addition to the hour or so of commentary included in Episode One. Commentary will be included on all three platforms (PC, XBOX 360, and PS3)''

Seems like they are almost done

 

[Asknoone]

Hooray.

 

[Iron_cube]

Still a couple of months remaining :hmph:

 

[UseAbuse]

:cheers:

 

[Deleted member 56031]

If they are nearly done then why october?

 

[DannyC.]

If they are nearly done then why october?

They need a few months to get drunk and beat off.

 

[UseAbuse]

If they are nearly done then why october?

It's because they hate you.

 

[Darkside55]

Because it isn't Valve without delays! Even though this isn't really a delay. But you understand.

 

[Asuka]

NICE! 2 and a half hours of commentary is ****ing kickass!

 

[DannyC.]

NICE! 2 and a half hours of commentary is ****ing kickass!

Yeah, I liked the Episode 1 commentary a lot. But, really, I dunno... I think I may just play the game, aware that it took an incredible amount of commitment, then set it aside, rather than play the game again and listen to a sum of two hours of the Valve dudes talking from those little nodes.

 

[magiolle]

The delay? They have to make those lot of DVDs and stuff, shipping it, and ofc a lot of playtests too, so there wont be any bugs in the game, and maybe EA wants to look through the product once or twice or a billion times. And they indeed want to get drunk.

 

[soulslicer]

13 more terrible weeks

 

[Asuka]

Yeah, I liked the Episode 1 commentary a lot. But, really, I dunno... I think I may just play the game, aware that it took an incredible amount of commitment, then set it aside, rather than play the game again and listen to a sum of two hours of the Valve dudes talking from those little nodes.

What i did was play it without the commentary, then just play the game again with it. It adds replay value.

 

[ríomhaire]

If they are nearly done then why october?

Bugfixing, playtesting, polishing, more bugfixing.

 

[Que-Ever]

TF2 commentary? "Shut up, guys, I'm trying to hear this."

 

[DannyC.]

What i did was play it without the commentary, then just play the game again with it. It adds replay value.

That's what I did too. See, I said I may just play it knowing that it took tons of work, rather than play it again and listen to two hours of them talking about it. And I'm sure I'll play it a second time regardless of whether I use the commentary or not.

 

[Dr0ndeh]

i wish they would liven up the commentary a bit tho, maybe 2 or 3 of them discussing the action rather than one person discussing textures in a monotone voice.

 

[Avoidist]

i wish they would liven up the commentary a bit tho, maybe 2 or 3 of them discussing the action rather than one person discussing textures in a monotone voice.

1 person = direct and informative.

Works for me.

 

[AmishSlayer]

TF2 commentary? "Shut up, guys, I'm trying to hear this."

Everybody stop shooting me! I'm taking the Valve guided tour!

...

Assholes!

 

[Dr0ndeh]

1 person = direct and informative.

Works for me.

direct and informative i agree, which is good sometimes. but other times its a bit.......yawn? have you ever listened to the commentary on the futurama dvds? that has a brilliant mix of technical details and humour. theres usually about 5/6 people on each of the futurama commentaries, all in the same room just having a laugh.

 

[Avoidist]

direct and informative i agree, which is good sometimes. but other times its a bit.......yawn? have you ever listened to the commentary on the futurama dvds? that has a brilliant mix of technical details and humour. theres usually about 5/6 people on each of the futurama commentaries, all in the same room just having a laugh.

Amazingly yes, I have listened to those commentaries, many times. The problem that I see with applying it here is that the two mediums are very dissimilar. One is an animated comedy, while the other is a fairly serious video game.

Because Futurama is a continuous feature, the commentary simply plays over the top. The speakers try to highlight key points, but the commentary is mainly a revision of the material with jokes thrown in. Because of its continuous nature the environment lends itself to big discussions and humour.

Half-Life commentary by the nature of the video game medium almost always focuses on relevant material, you simply can't get people singing "nobody cares" repeatedly to the tune of Mozart when you click on a node because it doesn't fit. It's not so much a discussion as a precise description of the design process, because that's what the player expects.

That said, if they had two or three people talking on certain features it may become a bit more interesting, but the open table discussions of Simpsons and Futurama commentaries would be wasted in this medium.