PC Orange Box busted open at retail

Gamers who have any interest at all in playing Valve's smash hit The Orange Box have nothing if not options when it comes to picking up the title. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions notwithstanding, the PC version of The Orange Box can be picked up in all its five-game compilation glory through any number of brick-and-mortar shops, and it is also distributed through Steam, Valve's online digital distribution portal. Steam users are also able to download the award-winning shooter piecemeal, or gift any already-owned components to other Steam users.

Adding one more method of dissemination to the proceedings, Valve distribution partner EA said in February that it would be busting up the PC version of The Orange Box into its individual components for retail distribution as well. Today, Valve revealed unbundled versions of Portal, Team Fortress 2, and Half-Life 2: Episode Pack for the PC will land at retail on April 9 in North America and April 11 everywhere else in the world.

The Game Developers Choice Award-winning Portal will retail for $19.99, while Team Fortress 2 and the HL2: Episode Pack will run for $29.99 a piece. In addition to the first two episodes of Half-Life 2, the Episode Pack will contain Half-Life 2 Deathmatch, and Valve notes that any game already owned from the package can be gifted to a friend via Steam. All three packages operate as stand-alone products, and do not require the original Half-Life 2 to play.