Checking out my own ass. Awesome.

I know at least four of you have owned The Orange Box for quite some time now. So where are the damn posts? This is one of the most significant video game releases in a long, long time and yet our site is dominated by Diablo 2 and Puzzle Pirates? Come on people! F5 = screenshots!

My excuse is that I just got the game a few days ago and loaded it up this morning. My roomie Jon and I tag teamed through the 19 tutorial levels of Portal and I haven’t laughed so much at a video game since NOLF2. Machines that crack wise are endlessly entertaining and they add a lot of personality to what could easily have been a dry (if revolutionary) puzzler.

As in HL2, the physics steal the show. Aside from completing the puzzles, there are sandbox opportunities that let you play around with the gun; portal some office furniture into another room, portal a camera off the wall and into an endless loop, throw two portals next to each other so objects bounce from one to another. I’m barely into the game and already can’t wait to play through it again and come up with more daring ways to accomplish my goals (and fuck with office chairs). The potential for expanding and adapting this gameplay is very exciting. There are so many possibilities that I dare say they’ve created a new genre. I hope to see the portal gun in multiplayer and FPS games in the future; as well as many, many sequels.

Let’s see some more posts up here fellas. The World Series is over, the Patriots are a lock to win the Super Bowl, and basketball sucks so get to it!