Black and Orange or: Attack of the BumblebEA

PC, PS3, Xbox 360

Although announced earlier, EA and Valve have unveiled the Black Box and Orange Box system for Valve's upcoming trio of titles and confirmed it for Australia.

Team Fortress 2, Half-Life 2: Episode Two and the puzzle title Portal are the new titles on the way for PC, PS3 and the Xbox 360. The Black Box is for PC only, and will include the 3 new titles. The Orange Box, however, will ship for PC, PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, and will include the three new titles as well as Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode One, so those of you who haven't had a chance to check out the games should be pretty happy with the package.

Half-Life 2: Episode Two is, of course, the second installment in Valve's episodic trilogy. If you've been keeping up with the trailers released on Steam, you'll know that Gordon Freeman will be venturing outside the constraints of the crumbling City 17 and into lush, outdoor environments, with a host of new enemies. Expect to see a significant update to the Source engine with this title.

Portal is a brand new single player action/puzzle game that allows players to distort and twist their environment in order to affect the way puzzles are solved.

Finally, Team Fortress 2, a title that many fans have been waiting for ever since Valve announced it all those years ago, is a Source powered update to the team-based multiplayer game. Expect the return of the hectic action we all know and love, complete with a new rendering system for the Source engine.

"In less than 18 months, we've shipped 10 new products to retail outlets with EA Partners," said Gabe Newell, co-founder of Valve. "The Black Box and The Orange Box represent a new approach to publishing multiple products, on multiple platforms and we know through our experience that no organisation in the industry is better equipped to successfully launch new product types on multiple platforms than EA Partners."

"Valve is one of the world's premiere independent developers and EA Partners is thrilled to help them bring the groundbreaking action games in The Orange Box and The Black Box to market as their publishing partner," said David DeMartini, vice president and general manager of EA Partners.

The Black Box and The Orange Box are targeted for release in Spring 2007.

The Slice: All good news, as far as I can tell. Those that are unhappy with the Steam distribution service are aptly catered for by EA's extensive publishing network and strong store presence. Personally, I'm going to be taking another trip to City 17 via the digi-train, since I've got bandwidth to burn and the conversion from US$ to AUS$ means I'll be getting it cheaper than the standard Aussie store price of AU$100.