PS3 Orange Box trailing 360, PC versions

Valve reveals Sony edition of five-game Half-Life 2 compilation is due "several weeks" after its siblings; retailers list it with mid-November ship date.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif--At Electronic Arts' 2006 Summer Showcase, the publisher surprised the game industry by announcing it was distributing The Orange Box from Valve Software. The compilation contains five games--Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Half-Life Episode Two, Team Fortress 2, and Portal--and was slated for a fall 2006 release for the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.

Unsurprisingly, given Valve's habit of missing deadlines, The Orange Box was delayed--first to summer 2007, then to a simultaneous October 9 release on all platforms. Now, one version of the game has been delayed again. Speaking with GameSpot at this year's EA Studio Showcase, Valve director of marketing Doug Lombardi confirmed that the PS3 version of The Orange Box "will trail the PC and Xbox 360 versions by a couple of weeks."

Lombardi did not identify a particular reason for the delay of the PS3 Orange Box, which is being ported by EA. He also did not give a specific release date for the game, although online retailers, such as GameStop, are now listing it as shipping on November 13.

The Orange Box is the latest multiplatform EA game, which will be released on the Xbox 360 several weeks before the PS3, along with Medal of Honor: Airborne and Skate.

410 Comments

  • jamaicaking5

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 1:35 pm PT

    im a big sony fan but in order for us to start being tha best we gotta stop sharing big hits with microsoft and nintendo. for example, early this summer i saw that assassins creed was a ps3 exclusive, now it is apperantly being released for the 360 too. its the same thing with resident evil 5. this is a problem that can easily be solved...stop talkin to bill gates!!

  • ledgic_13

    Posted Oct 12, 2007 11:06 am PT

    sony and the developers have really got to stop this "gimmick" of pushing games back so they can build up more hype for better sales....its like your want it ? huh? huh? huh? well you cant its delayed opps....this is all they do to us, and it needs to stop a.s.a.p!!!!

  • Solidace

    Posted Oct 9, 2007 9:48 pm PT

    I love Playstation to death, and Half Life is my favorite shooter series of all time, but my god, the number of PS3 delays is enough to make me wish I'd have waited to buy one. GTA: IV, Home, Orange Box... I want to show my friends something that kicks their 360's ass! Resistace: FOM doesn't cut it! I respect Valve and Sony but this is a long line of disappointments =/

  • smfes

    Posted Sep 28, 2007 1:18 am PT

    Damn how i can't wait to get the Orange box jesus! Gonna storm over to EB Games Denmark, Ã…rhus the 12 Oct. Woho can't wait! Good job Valve!

  • jaredrichards3

    Posted Sep 20, 2007 8:41 pm PT

    i doubt it will be weaker as the ps3 is a lot more powerful, i reckon ill buy this game even though i have it on the pc already

  • daveg1

    Posted Sep 18, 2007 2:37 am PT

    prob need more time to get it running better on the ps3..
    i think it will be the weaker version too..

  • P-MaT000

    Posted Sep 17, 2007 7:20 am PT

    as long as the game is good then the delay wont matter to me

  • u_poop

    Posted Sep 16, 2007 5:36 pm PT

    i hope this means they are just taling more specal time to program it, this game looks sweet and i never played a half life game so it eill be pretty awsome playin a five part game!!!

  • playstation_wii

    Posted Sep 16, 2007 1:41 pm PT

    It sucks that PS3 games are released later.
    This will soon change, I'm sure.

  • cupsta

    Posted Sep 16, 2007 4:43 am PT

    How long is the new warranty for the 360 for? Oh never mind not long enough for me. Have only 2 ppl I know that own a 360 and both had to get theres fixed by sending it off, both units not quite 6 months old thats a 100% failure rate from my point of view lol.

  • masterchief375

    Posted Sep 15, 2007 11:57 pm PT

    I'm glad they're taking their time with this but i hope it doesnt end up as bad as Lair....

  • knicknut17

    Posted Sep 14, 2007 10:27 pm PT

    As long as the final product is fully optimized and plays well, I don't care how long they delay this game. I have never played Half Life or Half Life 2 so it REALLY MATTERS to me that they put out the best product that they can. Can the DiRT review shows, with a little extra time, a superior multiplatform game can be produced for the PS3.

  • saerath

    Posted Sep 14, 2007 7:08 pm PT

    llamskt , the PS3 is not more difficult to program for, it's just that it's a different type because it uses parallel processing and such.

  • eezzy_rider

    Posted Sep 14, 2007 5:12 pm PT

    im torn, i have a 360 and a ps3.
    I like the xbox live aspect of the 360 but i fear that it will do the dying cow sound like its been doing lately to all my other games.

  • GundamBlue

    Posted Sep 14, 2007 1:26 am PT

    ya know...i have all 3 systems the wii the 360 and the ps3 and i also have an a ok pc...not the greatest (still stuck at the geforce 6800XT haha ) anyway. you all remember the ps2 right? god there games were terrible...then little by little they got better...same with the xbox...and gamecube... devs need more time with a system they have had a lot more extra time with the 360 so there gonna go with whats easy to them insted of taking a challange... to me...thats not a real company...thats a company who just wants money and doesn't care about the people who buy there product. I like the 360 but. i don't wanna have to pay 50 bucks for another warrenty just for that extra insurrence...because now i wish i did...my console died not even a month and a half and now im still waiting to get it back...and now i can really see why the ps3 cost 600 or 500 i got it when it was 500 so now i see why...i bought a good product...i didn't get a rushed piece of junk. i have respect for all systems but not when a company will jerk u around for your money. they blame us for playing it to much but we turn around and blame them for a crappy product...they never tested it right. they wanted money. clearly said...they don't care about us. MS that is...

  • DiePlz

    Posted Sep 13, 2007 10:25 am PT

    "Medal of Honor: Airborne and Skate"
    omg WW2 skateboard game!?!?!!?

  • llamskt

    Posted Sep 12, 2007 7:13 pm PT

    The reason so many multi-platform games are released later than its 360-pc counterparts, is because of the ps3's broadband engine (the "superprocessor" hyped up core) of the ps3. Its more difficult to program for than the traditional processors used in the 360.

  • gsus8091

    Posted Sep 12, 2007 6:26 pm PT

    Really it's not that big of a deal, we PS3 owners will have plenty of titles to play.

  • symchi

    Posted Sep 12, 2007 2:02 pm PT

    I'm pretty sure this is a conspiracy.. What better way to screw over PS3 sales than to delay the release of their top games? Conspiracy methinks

  • tparkins92

    Posted Sep 12, 2007 12:48 pm PT

    if ea need this time to get the game right. they have made other games have poorer graphics and frame rates on ps3 so if it take two weeks to get it as good as pc and 360 versions i dnt really care about the delay

  • osxgp

    Posted Sep 11, 2007 10:10 pm PT

    Why are PS3 owners getting screwed by multi-platform games?

  • bhuddamonk

    Posted Sep 11, 2007 6:59 pm PT

    Gabe Newell is a corpulent jackass. The architecture is not what hes used to for the PS3 and he says its a "disaster"? Maybe he should try some multithreaded application development (something that is notoriously challenging for developers)-- chances are he just doesn't have the skill. Mr. Newell, you might want to try putting down the triple cheeseburgers and double fudge sundaes and pick up a book or two...

  • m0thr4

    Posted Sep 11, 2007 2:10 pm PT

    Hardly surprising; We already know Gabe Newell hates developing for the PS3 from a previous news story. I'm certainly not interesting in spending my hard-earned cash on games that are developed under sufferance.

  • akirax360 posted Sep 11, 2007 9:47 am PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    akirax360

    Posted Sep 11, 2007 9:47 am PT (hide)

    "The PlayStation [3] is not a game machine. We've never once called it a game machine," stated Kutaragi at the beginning of his latest interview. Ken said the PS3 is not a game machine so its not surprise that it cant run games as good as the 360. The 360 was built for games from the ground up.

    Just read the review for Heavenly Sword, an 8??? WHAT??!?!?!?

  • akirax360

    Posted Sep 11, 2007 9:37 am PT

    Well said SalarianChemist!!

    It was said before PS3 was even released that the 360 was like a well built athelete whereas the PS3 is more like a athelete with massive arm and chest muscles, small waist and legs but no flexibility(aka bottleneck design)

    MS said this and they were obviously correct, the games reflect it.

  • amulbocus

    Posted Sep 11, 2007 9:03 am PT

    Getting this for my PC without a doubt, half life and episode 1 were amazing and performed flawlessly on near max settings with my geforce 6800. Now i have upgraded to a 8800 GTS so i cant even imagine what the game will look and play like (Uber fantastic me thinks!!). Half Life is a PC game plain and simple, and seeing 360 and PS3 owners squabbling over which version is better amuses me. I also own a PS3 with hdtv and for watching blu ray movies with dolby True HD is nothing short of amazing. This is one of my main uses for my PS3 aswell as playing the odd FPS like GRAW2 and rainbow 6 vegas. My bro owns a 360 and openly admits that it is far inferior to the PS3 (i keep catching him in my room caining motorstorm). The PS3 is a very elegant piece of hardware which is more akin to a high spec PC than a console (ie different OS), and has a better CPU (7 cores!!!) and more raw GPU power than the 360. The best thing about the 360 is the fact its GPU is based on the r600 which is DX10 based and has more shaders, but the DVD format it uses MASSIVELY restricts games performance and loading times (like Oblivion which is a piece of art on the PS3 compared to the 360 version ). Also more games are using HD visuals and sound which takes up far more than the 9 GB a DVD can hold. At the end of the day the PC is king in every respect (geforce 9 series round the corner with PCI express 2.0), then the PS3 and then the 360 a close third.

  • Brother_Beetz

    Posted Sep 9, 2007 5:51 pm PT

    I dunno if it was delayed or what because I was busy playing Ps2 and Xbox waiting on HL2. But i had my copy free from a G card I had bought. It took so long to come out after that when I finally was able to DL it off Steam I had bought a new comp all together. I am just going to wait till it pops up one day and I'd never ever believe a Valve release date. Anyone remember how wicked TFC 2 looked like what, 7 years ago, when it was with Marine looking troops and ridable tanks and whatnot. It disappeared and came back as a cartoon, albeit a good looking one lol. Valve info = unreliable.

  • staley6565

    Posted Sep 9, 2007 7:58 am PT

    I believe the actual reason for the delay is because the team handling the port is set in Europe, not in the building accross the hall, so I think a couple weeks isn't bad considering.

  • assault120

    Posted Sep 9, 2007 7:02 am PT

    Damn.All these delays are making me mad.

  • smoothn00dle

    Posted Sep 8, 2007 10:42 pm PT

    @MaxDriva
    EA told on the record stated they are not good at CELL development because not enough time with PS SDK...
    ==================================================
    Newell is a divisive figure. He bet his farm on ATI and he loose. Nvidia don't even talk to him. Then he try "stream". Newell said Stream is the future, retail has no future. Yeah, right! Here comes the orangebox on retail. Newell is F.O.S

  • Maxdriva

    Posted Sep 8, 2007 10:23 pm PT

    @headhunter- Madden 08 was NOT ported. It was built ground up on the CELL.

  • spencdiamonds

    Posted Sep 8, 2007 7:53 pm PT

    Plain and simple Mr.Newell the owner of VALVe coperation said in an interview that " The Playstation 3 is a disaster" so I am not surpised he would delay it for somthing thats garbage and I can say that since no one at my store buys PS3 we have like 10 everyone is buying our Wii s so if VALVe really wants to rack in some cash adapt it for the Wii if it could handle the graphics.

  • jthewlis

    Posted Sep 8, 2007 4:35 pm PT

    So I'm old and I'm lucky enough to have multiple platforms: Dell XPS PC (with an 8800GTX), PS3, Wii, Xbox (classic) and a couple of PSPs. What this has confirmed to me is that different platforms have different strengths. The mouse/keyboard combo on my PC is great for FPS - consoles can't come close. The Wii is brilliant for family games with my kids (and Res Evil 4!). The kids still love the Xbox for driving games etc. I only got the PS3 a couple of days ago so I've not worked out its real strengths but I'm guessing it'll have loads of great driving games and beat-em-ups and may finally be the console which takes a fair chunk of my gaming time away from my PC.
    But for me many games have a "natural" platform. For driving games you can't beat Sony. For odd/whacky games and platformers it's got to be Nintendo. For FPS it's just got to be PC especially in multiplayer (what console can provide the Battlefield experience???). The Xbox is an odd one to me - it's fair at everything but doesn't really excel at anything - it's a moderate specced PC in a box. Its really great games (Halo, Gears of War, Oblivion etc) are always done better on the windows platform albeit much later.
    But Half Life only has one true home and everyone should know it's the PC.
    GTA4 on the other hand will be on my PS4.

  • Swift18

    Posted Sep 8, 2007 4:14 pm PT

    Oh screw this game. I was excited but now that I'm hearing the words port and EA in the same sentence I'm gonna pass on the ps3 Version and just get the pc lol EA sucks at doing ports or in fact any thing when it comes to the ps3 they are a sad company with little skill i swear.

  • zamardii12

    Posted Sep 8, 2007 12:23 pm PT

    Halfe Life 2 belongs on PC anyway. Looks, and controls better.

  • Head_Hunter

    Posted Sep 8, 2007 11:09 am PT

    (sorry for triple post) So if you look at it from an unfanboy point of view, they are equal and stop argueing get use to it. Now in later years when there power is maxed out we will see which console is better.

  • Head_Hunter

    Posted Sep 8, 2007 11:07 am PT

    See im sick of hearing all this, "the 360 version is better, the PS3 version is better" If they're ported the 360 it wil ovbiously looks better, If they were made seperatly and the PS3 was delayed a little it will look better and thats all there is to it. Xbox 360 can get a little more shading and AA in their games, PS3 can get more Detail in graphics and data into games

  • Head_Hunter

    Posted Sep 8, 2007 11:02 am PT

    Wow whoever compared madden 08 on the 360 and PS3 has got to be the biggest dumb@$$ I have ever heard of. Do you not realize that game was ported in the most sickly wretched way. That means they made it for the 360 then ported it. Just because their are more 360 fans in the U.S. Its the same situation with fear and all those other EA stupid sh*tty games. They are lazy. Why dont you compare some games that were made seperatly on each console. They are the same, am I right?

  • Sammojo

    Posted Sep 8, 2007 5:58 am PT

    NOOOOOOOOOO, EA is porting....

  • AssumeTP

    Posted Sep 8, 2007 4:38 am PT

    Can't you just comment on a game without always turning it into a fanboy war?
    It's pathetic.

  • nev70

    Posted Sep 8, 2007 2:34 am PT

    If this trend continues which i think it will ,Sony will get the rep of having to wait longer for its games THIS IS NOT GOOD for a console thats clearly struggling @ the mo , theres now a list of ps3 versions that are coming later and thier not all shooters . Smoothnoodle if you live in the west your clearly in the minority FPS is the biggest genre , Why ? cause the majority of people love them hence the volume of Halo3 pre orders , COD4 is also going to be massive in the west cant wait for the beta i'm in !!!!!!!!! is thier out of interest a beta for the ps3 ?

  • Nene33

    Posted Sep 8, 2007 2:26 am PT

    As long as it's a good game, I don't mind them delaying.

  • smoothn00dle

    Posted Sep 7, 2007 11:10 pm PT

    @nev70

    "If you really love shooters how you can NOT own a 360 is beyond me or is it just BLIND BRAND LOYALITY?"

    That is exactly 360's problem. It is just for FPS, the hardcore gamers. Thx but not thanks. I will stay with my PS.

  • cameron06

    Posted Sep 7, 2007 10:42 pm PT

    everything is being delayed on the PS3 stranglehold, DMC4 and now HL2 EP2, even the console launch was delayed as well.

  • tunels

    Posted Sep 7, 2007 8:33 pm PT

    ea is lazy. they don't put that much work into ps3 games. they fail to make a right game for the ps3 and end up making a crappy game for the ps3. typical EA, always taking the easy way out.

  • Danplunkett

    Posted Sep 7, 2007 7:18 pm PT

    the cell processor is why its just so dam hard for developers these days the game might just be a direct port from the 360

  • gamist

    Posted Sep 7, 2007 6:28 pm PT

    Agermemnon, basically what Homerj said. The PS3 version isn't beyond the 360 version, just little here and there thats all. For example, when you are traveling from one city to the next or just roaming the map, you will notice things like trees or structures appear sooner than the 360 version.

  • stevenhiggster

    Posted Sep 7, 2007 3:27 pm PT

    Just seems to be all EA games, me thinks EA dont like the PS3!??
    Or they are just too incompetent to mak games for it.

  • blancobo

    Posted Sep 7, 2007 1:26 pm PT

    This sounds much like the HD DVD to Blu Ray stunt pulled by Paramount... first we sabotage the BEST Hi Def format disk and now we continue with the software.

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