Valve cans The Black Box
The future's Orange.
Valve has decided not to bother with The Black Box, which would have allowed PC gamers to buy Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Portal and Team Fortress 2 without having to pay for unneeded copies of Half-Life 2 and Episode One.
"We're going to have one package, The Orange Box, available on the PC (US$ 49.99) as well as the 360 and PS3 (US$ 59.99)," Valve's Doug Lombardi told IGN. The Orange Box will still contain all five products, but PC owners will get three separate Steam product codes - one for the new games, one for Half-Life 2, and one for Episode One.
"This way a PC Orange Box owner can give away their Half-Life 2 or Episode One unused Steam product codes if they don't need a copy of those games," says Lombardi.
Valve is currently targeting October for the release of The Orange Box, although that date may change. For more on its contents, why not read our first impressions of Half-Life 2: Episode Two?