I must say, I am utterly amazed by VALVe's marketing for the Orange Box at this point. Firstly, they're encouraging preorders with their TF2 beta scheme (it's not really a Beta, but an early launch for pre-orderers on steam) but more impressive even than that is the fact that they are offering to allow all current HL2 and Ep1 owners to give away their existing copies to a friend when they buy the Orange Box (which already includes these games).

Absolutely amazing! People who weren't previously interested in the HL2 universe get a copy of the game and episode one, want to play the next episode and they buy the orange box, pass their copies on and the cycle perpetuates itself. It's very sophisticated marketing although it slightly irritates me that I now have to buy two games I've already got. I now understand why they scrapped the Black Box, but I fear that some people will not feel as tolerant as me of having to buy games they already own.

We'll see how it develops.

-PsyW

EDIT: My calculations place the Orange Box price over steam (in GBP) as £22.14 + tax which is dead cheap for all the stuff you get. Absolute bargain. The problem is, I already HAVE two of the games I'm paying for, which makes it a little bit less good value for money. It doesn't matter how many free gifts you give to my friends, I'm STILL paying for two games I've already paid for.

To be realistic for a second: I'm still going to buy it because I want Episode 2, TF2 and Portal, and this is the only option for getting them. I fear that this may actually cost Valve sales, though, as irritated people who already own HL2 and Ep1 refuse to pay for them twice. This is more cynical than I would have expected from Valve, and I have to say I'm disappointed.

EDIT EDIT: It actually occurs to me that I was expecting to pay £25-30 anyway, just for ep2, TF2 and Portal, and at £26 (inc tax) HL2 and Ep1 are essentially free anyway. So all's well that ends well, I suppose...