Will history repeat it self?

[Mossman227]

If HL3 gets released in a second box named the Blue, Green box what so ever, do you think this will hurt the sales? I know personally, if I were a new customer looking for HL, I'd buy the attractive Half-Life 2 box instead of purchasing TOB. Those black standard boring letters, 80% of the cover is clear orange. Meh. What happened here Valve or EA for that matter? I for one will NOT buy another TOB.

 

[Tony]

If history repeats itself, HL3 would be released as a standalone and then in a box 3 years later.

 

[Colonel Kernel]

..If, of course, it even gets released.

 

[ríomhaire]

Am I the only one on this website who like's the orange box's design? And if they do release a new "box" I will buy it based on the games that are in it, not the cover art. And seeing as they would be Valve games I would definitely buy it. The orange box was fantastic value for money.

 

[Mossman227]

It looks terrible in a collection. Why couldn't they use the default HL2 title like they did with any previous HL game? God knows.

And why call it The Orange Box? Why not Half-Life 2: The Complete etc...people would buy that. Just look at HL1 and HL2, the covers are simple but clearly says Half-Life on it with Gordon and Alyx in the HL2 case. Covers are supposed to be simple but TOB is close to ugly. Some say like you it's the games that 'count' while this is true, it's horrible marketing to release good games in a terrible designed box.

But then HL2 was released many years in prior so after all perfectionists like me have plenty of options when it comes to HL covers.

 

[Colonel Kernel]

Am I the only one on this website who like's the orange box's design? And if they do release a new "box" I will buy it based on the games that are in it, not the cover art. And seeing as they would be Valve games I would definitely buy it. The orange box was fantastic value for money.

True.

It looks terrible in a collection. Why couldn't they use the default HL2 title like they did with any previous HL game?

And why call it The Orange Box? Why not Half-Life 2 The Complete etc...people would buy that. Just look at HL1 and HL2, the covers are simple but clearly says Half-Life on it with Gordon and Alyx in the HL2 case. Covers are supposed to be simple but TOB is close to ugly.

False.

My two cents.

 

[Mossman227]

As I said above, it's horrible marketing to release good games in a terrible designed box. Customers may get a wrong impression of it.

Although, I trust Valve to release HL3 like they released HL2. In other terms, give it a proper release.

 

[ríomhaire]

And why call it The Orange Box? Why not Half-Life 2 The Complete etc...

Because it also contained Team Fortress 2 and Portal. One game barely related to Half-Life and one game totally unrelated to Half-Life.

people would buy that. Just look at HL1 and HL2, the covers are simple but clearly says Half-Life on it with Gordon and Alyx in the HL2 case. Covers are supposed to be simple but TOB is close to ugly. Some say like you it's the games that 'count' while this is true, it's horrible marketing to release good games in a terrible designed box.

I liked the design. Your main problem seems to be that it doesn't fit in with the other Half-Life boxes, but it's not a Half-Life box. It's five games of which three are Half-Life. If you want a complete collection to put on your shelf just buy the seperate boxed versions of Episode One and Two. Problem solved.

 

[Druckles]

I hate you, rim. Now I want to buy those two boxes

 

[Mossman227]

You can only buy Episode Two like this; with Episode One; looks much better though. Indeed. Much better then a certain box.

 

[ríomhaire]

You can only buy Episode Two like this; with Episode One; looks much better though. Indeed. Much better then a certain box.

Are you sure? I thought I'd seen Episode Two on sale in it's own box in GAME before.

Edit: Also, don't hotlink. Rehost your images at Imageshack.

 

[Head_Cheeze]

Despite his bad spelling and grammar, I have to agree that TOB's box art left a lot to be desired. I just don't think it did a series of this magnitude and depth any justice. And bad box art will always affect sales, no matter how good the product actually is.

 

[Tony]

Are you sure? I thought I'd seen Episode Two on sale in it's own box in GAME before.

Same here. I thought the Orange Box's games were all eventually sold on their own for $20.

 

[Mossman227]

Same here. I thought the Orange Box's games were all eventually sold on their own for $20.

You heard correct. The only difference is with the Episode Two stand alone, since it came with Episode One and therefore it was called Half-Life 2: Episode Pack. TF2 and Portal are sold separate as well.

 

[Shem]

The Orange Box's cover got to the point of what it contained, and it doesn't look that bad, to be honest. Perhaps a more favorable color could have been used instead of orange, but the box art doesn't necessarily define the game. It's a big part of the marketing towards the game, sure, and it's also supposed to attract people, but avid fans of Half-Life aren't going to care if the color of the box looks horrible or the art is poor, they're just going to buy the game. I guess the same couldn't be said for newcomers to the series, but they'd be missing quite a deal if they decided to buy the Half-Life games separately instead of getting the Orange Box simply because of its cover art.

 

[Colonel Kernel]

I don't understand why you don't like TOB, it has such a fresh design. Simple, but fresh, that's what I think.

No, TF2 and Portal are part of TOB, and may be found stand alone probably as a cracked version.

And, really, is the box art enough to start a thread? I mean, come on, is this the number one thing you want to view when a new title comes along?

Edit: Dammit Shem.

 

[Shem]

Well, at least it's not one of those generic, "When do you think Episode Three will be released?" type of threads.

Oh, and, sorry about that, Colonel.

 

[Colonel Kernel]

No problem. And don't you mention that type of threads, that, that... I don't want to mention it's name. The spirits of the newcomers may rise again!

 

[Druckles]

I believe it was EA's fault. It wasn't the most attractive art ever, but it stood out and it's memorable. Sort of grows on you.

I'm pretty sure I knew someone who got aroused at the sight of it at one point.

 

[Mossman227]

I believe it was EA's fault. It wasn't the most attractive art ever, but it stood out and it's memorable. Sort of grows on you.

The upper part of the cover is ok (Gordon's face, the Portal and the Heavy from TF2) but it's the black E-Mail letters right below. Couldn't they take use of the HL2, Portal and TF2 series logo's instead, then using those black, out of the blue, boring letters?

I wouldn't put the blame on EA, they did a much better job on the HL2 cover then uh Vivendi did.

When it comes to TOB cover, it's all Valve's fault. Not EA who made up such an ridiculous title as The Orange Box.

I don't understand why you don't like TOB, it has such a fresh design. Simple, but fresh, that's what I think.

Because it's pure orange lol?

 

[AtomicSpark]

All of this has happened before, and it will happen again.

 

[Druckles]

So your issue is with the name, not the art.

 

[Acepilotf14]

While I don't much care for the Box's look, the deal itself was well worth my money. If Valve were to put in HL3 with more games and sell it for the same price, I would love them even more.

 

[Tony]

Its colour made it stand out on shelves. Much like the green L4D and yellow L4D2. Valve has said they went with those box art designs to catch the eye of the consumer. I assume it was the same case with The Orange Box.

 

[rjthrog]

I didnt really like the box art but i wasn't going to not buy 5 good games for the price of one. And EA was behind TOB idea to market but the art was all Valve.

 

[JUL3]

Am I the only one on this website who like's the orange box's design?

No, I like it too.

 

[Colonel Kernel]

The name speaks for itself people - orange for Half-Life, orange for Team Fortress 2, orange for VALVE, due the fact that orange is the color of their first game, which got to be a total success - indeed, Half-Life 1. It's a lovely color, if you ask me.

 

[Mossman227]

Doesn't explain the use of the E-Mail letters.

 

[Colonel Kernel]

I have no idea what Email letters you're talking about. I see no such under the top graphic.

 

[ramsfan]

Valve needs to take a lesson from Blizzard in marketing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDQE6AZ5OoA

In all seriousness, Blizzard has done a great job with SC2.

 

[ríomhaire]

Well some proper TV ads would be a good starts. I think they've had them in the states but I've never seen an ad for a Valve game outside of the internet.

 

[Druckles]

I saw a L4D2 advert on TV over here.

 

[Shem]

I actually remember seeing advertisements for the Orange Box way back in '07, which were narrated by GLaDOS' unnatural and robotic voice. I thought it was a good idea to use her in the commercials. People are going to turn their heads to the screen when they hear a creepy voice talking, and GLaDOS did a wonderful job at that.