Half-Life 2: Orange Box will contain:

• Half-Life 2
• Half-Life 2: Episode One
• Half-Life 2: Episode Two
• Team Fortress 2
• Portal

It's being released this Fall, assuming they don't delay it ( again ).
Regarding the latest graphics technology, it will contain:

• A better lighting model
• Better shaders
• Larger textures
• Take advantage of multiple cores
• Introduce their new "cinematic physics system" (which obviously make cinematic scenes look insanely impressive to watch.)

Regarding the content:

• A new character
• A new enemy
• A new weapon
• A new vehicle

Regarding the storyline:

• You'll learn a lot more about the G-Man.
• A major character will die (I'm assuming Alyx).
• Episode One was 4-6 hours. Episode Two will be 6-8 hours.

I don't know about you guys, but this is my favorite game and when I buy this and play it, I want no interruptions whatsoever for the solid 6-8 hours (or more if it takes me longer).

Half-Life 2: Orange Box (Hands On)
Windows Media - High Definition Video (200.8 MBs, 4:28)

when is fall?

hope they're steam pre-loading this like they did with EP1

Somewhere between September and November I guess. The games shop (EBGames) is about a 15 minute walk from here and I like to have the physical copy of the game so I'll be buying it that way.

I hope it takes more then 6-8 hours to get to the end this time . We waited long enough to get some thing "special" .

is that how long episode 1 is?
i have the game, but only played it for like 2 hrs. lol
i should go ahead and beat it this time.

It took me about 8 hours to beat Episode One myself. The second time around about 2-3 hours.

The official release date is October 9.

cant wait for this sequal! all HL games have been totally sweet!

Wasn't a huge fan of Half Life 2, but I've seen the trailer for Team Fortress 2 and it looks sweet. I look forward to that one.

The release date is approaching.
I bought it on Steam but then decided that I wanted the boxed version so I got a refund. I'll probably play through HL1, HL2, EP1 and then play EP2.

I can't wait. It's driving me nuts. I should probably sleep.

hehe, its gonna be ace, im also really lookign forward to Portal, been playing TF2 a lot as well, thats well ace!

Ok so if I get it ok, to get episode 2 and TF2, you have to buy HL2 again or pay 60 euros and not even get a box?
It's really sad to see such great games killed by greedy marketing...

atm that is the unfortunate deal, except if u buy an ATI card with the black box, thats just EP2, TF2 and Portal...which i was able to get off a friend

but yeh, major markettign scam to buy orange box, and have to get HL2 AGAIN etc.

maybe they will release them all seperately once they have been officially released...who knows.

Just to clarify...
The price of The Orange Box only includes EP2, Portal and TF2. HL2 and Episode One are free with it, so if you have a friend who wants the game you can give them the free CD-key that comes for those games in The Orange Box.

Been playign these a bit now! (released yesterday) and there fantastic!

Portal wasnt as difficult as expected, completed it in a few hours! lol, but still very good gameplay!

anyway, some footage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP1oIJvr7VM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48afFwZ91DQ