PS3 Orange Box: the slideshow version
by Chris Powell 
{ Nov 22nd 2007 at 1:00PM }
It appears that, for some reason or another, the PS3 offering of Half-Life 2: Orange Box might not be up to par with that of its PC and Xbox 360 counterparts, according to 1UP. After previewing the near final build of the game, they were met with framerate inconsistencies during the Half-Life series that made the game look more like a "slideshow" and thusly rendered it nearly unplayable.However, Portal perfectly played fine, but they weren't able to play much of Team Fortress 2 because of server connection issues.
At this point, you're probably wondering what the deal is and why can't such a great development company like Valve get one of their shining jewels up to snuff, right? Well, one reason is probably because Valve isn't behind the PS3 port like it was for the other versions. Yeah, we're being serious. An unspecified internal EA development team is responsible for the PS3 version. With a Dec. 11 release date, we suppose there is still time for this issue to be rectified, but how many time have we, as gamers, told ourselves that in hope of getting a decent game? Probably way too many.
[Thanks for the tip, Conor!]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
tommy @ Jan 27th 2008 2:15AM
hl2 rocks
tomas_sharp @ Nov 22nd 2007 1:04PM
EA, are you MS in disguise??
wonway01 @ Nov 22nd 2007 1:05PM
Exactly what I expected. Isnt EA publishing it or did the port for Valve? I also remember hearing they didn't use any SPU's. I knew it would suffer. What a waste, looks like an awsome game. :(
Shadowen @ Nov 22nd 2007 1:08PM
Seriously, if the PS3 version isnt at the very least on par with the other versions, they need to be sued by both customers and sony.
SuperGayParade @ Nov 22nd 2007 1:13PM
worse than a movie to game game
H2Os @ Nov 22nd 2007 1:16PM
IF Valve doesn't want to support my console of choice, then I'm certainly not going to support their game.
hovan316 @ Nov 22nd 2007 1:35PM
EA again...!!! Sony should DROP all support and REFUSE any game made by EA! It's clearly becomming an INSULT to Sony and it's great machine The PS3.
EA is cheap, lazy and clearly out there to squeeze every cent out the consumers pockets and in return, delivering crappy ports, garbage games and lazy programming.
martin.di.mauro @ Nov 22nd 2007 1:25PM
If UT3 is releasing December 11 too and is already gone gold.
So either Orange Box is also gold [so no time to resolve any issues] or a delay is in order.
jayman @ Nov 22nd 2007 1:37PM
I am really worried for Sony right now. Not to mention my rather large investment in their console. Most publishers seem incapable of making a decent game for this system. Sony really needs to get off the gonna do it bandwagon and start helping these people out a lot more. You can only use the whole wait and see thing for so long. It could be the most powerful machine in the world but if no one can figure out how to use it what good does it do. Not a fanboy just getting kind of nervous that Sony is getting into a hole they may not get out of.
Beau @ Nov 22nd 2007 1:54PM
delay it. just delay it. make it good. get your act together and make it good. a$$holes
DEMAN @ Nov 22nd 2007 2:03PM
I agree with 9 and i say WHAT THE HE77
KHCloud @ Nov 22nd 2007 2:04PM
EA does not make the decision not too have Valve make it for PS3. Valve does. More importantly former MICROSOFT employee Gabe Newell controls whether or not Valve makes the report. Newell about a month ago said the PS3 was difficult to program for, yet I know a senior programmer in the industry that told me he was able to get the Torque engine running on the PS3 and had no problems programming for it at all. He said it's more that the business men would rather have a one console industry than a three console industry. So they toss support behind one and says the other does not work so the consumers go "Oh well if Designer A says it sucks then it MUST!"
KHCloud @ Nov 22nd 2007 2:05PM
^^^err...switch report for game
fishy @ Nov 22nd 2007 2:17PM
offtopic
is there a psn update this week its killing me lol i want haze demo or i may have missed sumin and it aint comin out.
EfrenPacquiao @ Nov 22nd 2007 2:41PM
I cant say I'm very surprised, EA is full of disappointments. And to all the people still using the excuse of PS3 being too hard to code for just look at any one of these titles: COD4, Uncharted, Ratchet and Clank(off the top of my head). I didn't hear Activision cry about coding for the PS3 and they released a great game on time. I was looking forward to Orange Box but if EA is going to half-ass it, I guess I will pass. EA better get their act together.
James @ Nov 22nd 2007 2:21PM
EA trying to kill the PS3, much?
A much too much.
PETEJOZ @ Nov 22nd 2007 2:29PM
EA screws up again! We have seen this countless times! No, it is not because the programming software is complicated, it is because EA programmers are too lazy and stupid to create a PS3 game! Plenty of programmers say that programming for the PS3 may be hard, but it has plenty of potential, and if one would stop being a lazy idiot you could make a brilliant game (or port in this case)
SCREW EA! I really wanted to play Orange Box, I guess I have to dish out 100-200 dollars on a graphics card and then actually buy the game to enjoy Orange Box.
KHCloud @ Nov 22nd 2007 2:32PM
EA does not own Valve. Valve is not EA programmers. If you want to blame those now programming the game because Valve decided not too then you're pointing the finger in the wrong direction. It's not hard to program for the PS3 it is hard to take someone else's code and fix it without their aid. I think Valve are the ones to blame here not EA.
silence @ Nov 22nd 2007 2:38PM
Blame yourself for buying a PS3...
Bearskopff @ Nov 22nd 2007 2:45PM
silence...in the nicest way possible, f##k off you circle jerker
agb217 @ Nov 22nd 2007 2:46PM
I ONLY BUY 2K, SONY and KONAMI FOR SPORTS
THEY ARE BOTH BETTER IN BASKETBALL (2K), HOCKEY(2K), SOCCER(KONAMI), AND BASEBALL(SONY)
I dropped football, because lets face it, 2007 sucked, and 2008 was worse.
EA has showed they don't care, so now i can give 2 ****s
less to buy any of their products. I just cant wait for a company to make a sick BOXING GAME with ALL THE STARS (including Iron Mike). Hopefully 2K sports will answer.
I will NEVER TOUCH EA ***p again.
agb217 @ Nov 22nd 2007 2:51PM
PEOPLE IT'S ALL ABOUT QUALITY NOT QUANTITY...SO JUST BOYCOTT EA SPORTS. LET THEM GET F***ED NOT UP THE A** BUT IN THEIR POCKETS, DON'T BUY ANYTHING THAT COMES OUT OF EA ...
P.S. EA CHANGE UR F***ING NAME...IT SHOULD BE
E.G.
ELECTRONIC GARBAGE
Joe @ Nov 22nd 2007 3:01PM
This is exactly the kind of BS that I'm tired of. Blame EA or blame Valve, it's both their fault as far as I'm concerned. EA needs to start putting more money in the PS3 side of development, because everyone is tired of this. We keep seeing that every EA game on the PS3 sucks. We've heard time and time again that the PS3 isn't any harder to program for than another system. The only people to blame are the developers who won't put in a cent more to make a decent game.
Like someone else said, if Valve doesn't get its' act together for this game and support the PS3, then it looks like I won't be able to support their game either.
frankym @ Nov 22nd 2007 3:04PM
No surprise here....I was never going to buy this game anyway since I saw this coming a few months back when Valve's fat pig lead designer, Gabe Newell, bashed the PS3 on how difficult it was to develop for.
It will be UT3, Haze, MGS4 and Killzone 2 for me....I think I'll be just fine! (LOL!!!)
heckteck @ Nov 22nd 2007 3:50PM
they should just give all porting at EA to Criterian Games Since there probably the only playstation fanboys at EA (Somewhere i read that in a Magazine).....i mean it must mean something if they are making the ps3 lead platform for burnout paradise
posty @ Nov 23rd 2007 10:32AM
@24 -- I think I read somewhere that Criterian Games in the UK *is* the EA team that is porting HL2:OB to the PS3. After reading that I started to have some hope that the port would be done correctly...
Jeff H @ Nov 22nd 2007 4:29PM
when i heard EA was going to be handling this title I made a mental note not to buy it ,it would most likely be ruined.
Guess I was right.
Neil @ Nov 22nd 2007 4:39PM
Another EA game to stay away from eh? *sigh*
John @ Nov 22nd 2007 5:05PM
Whoa. EA? I won't be buying this game.
John @ Nov 22nd 2007 5:06PM
I doubt I'll even rent it. This is disgusting. EA is basically the Fox News of game designers.
Francesco Romani @ Nov 22nd 2007 5:28PM
will never puchase a EA game ever again
Hashbrown_Hunter @ Nov 22nd 2007 6:02PM
Valve said they love to satisfy their customers....well so much for their PS3 fans.
ted @ Nov 22nd 2007 6:11PM
EA screwed the last generation of system owners as well.
The PS2 releases were great, but the Gamecube versions terrible. Maybe that was a hardware issue, but really the GC versions were so terribly half arsed one could'nt help but wonder if EA just did'nt care about supporting more then one platform. I think this is a corporate decision by EA president and board.
Screw EA, BTW I would have bought this for my 360 but it died just like the systems owned by 3 out of the 5 guys who run my local video game store.
Happy freakin' Holidays EA!
Andy @ Nov 22nd 2007 6:30PM
One thing I've found out is its not what the lead platform was but which one gets more effort.
Just something to note. I have never noticed bad framerates in PS3 games. Its not that their not there but I just don't pay attention to them. If the game sucks so much you notice framerate hiccups then you shouldn't be playing it.
Ian @ Nov 22nd 2007 7:49PM
All of EA's PS3 games catalogue as rated via Metacritic...
NHL® 08 86
skate 85
Fight Night Round 3 (PS3) 83
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 07 81
NBA Street Homecourt 81
Madden NFL 08 81
FIFA 08 80
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 08 79
Need for Speed™ Carbon 74
NBA Live 08 74
Need For Speed™ ProStreet 74
The Simpsons™ Game 73
The Godfather® The Game 70
DEF JAM: ICON™ 68
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix™ The Videogame 67
NASCAR® 08 57
For such a powerhouse, EA sure do make some naff games!
m3mnoch @ Nov 28th 2007 3:44PM
you should really look at the list of ea games and their ratings for the 360. orange box (96) and rock band (93) are both in the top 10.
i don't think it's ea. i think it's sony. the ps3 is so hard to program for that it's not the primary platform. it's so hard (meaning "expensive") to port games that they don't do it. valve doesn't have the resources (money and time) to port the game in house so they have to have the publisher port it.
and, there's obviously not a lot of incentive for ea to do so:
http://playstation.joystiq.com/2007/11/28/ea-financials-show-ps3-is-least-profitable-system/
maybe if ps3 owners bought more games it wouldn't be a problem.
m3mnoch.
Sain @ Dec 2nd 2007 10:36PM
Don't blame EA, really. We are getting the game because of them. Not because of Valve. The guy in charge of Valve hates the PS3. Valve didn't even bother to do it for us so why hate the guy that is trying?
snyper831 @ Nov 22nd 2007 8:13PM
when are you ps3 fanboys gonna realize is not developers fault why ps3 ports suck, is simply that ps3 architecture is a mess, yea in theory might be the most powerfull system but when it comes to games i dont think so......
Jason @ Nov 22nd 2007 8:25PM
I am hardly surprised by this.
I also had no plans on purchasing this garbage anyways. I do not support Gabe Newell and his pro-Microsoft nonsense that he spews from his disgusting oriface on a regular basis. Half Life is all he ever did that is noteworthy and quite frankly HL is nothing special and never was.
As far as EA, since the Madden 2008 debacle they have lost my business. The way they have been treating PS3 users is revolting.
Jason @ Nov 22nd 2007 8:29PM
hey snyper831,
seriously man, that has to be the stupidest thing I have ever seen. PS3 architecture a mess? when it comes to games you don't think so? I got one word for you: UNCHARTED.
Yea, thats right, what's up now huh? Yea thats what I thought.
DrSmooth @ Nov 22nd 2007 10:06PM
Though I'm not terribly surprised, this is still disappointing. I have really fond memories of the original Half Life, and though I can run Half Life: Source on my PC, I think it would be an exercise in futility to try to run The Orange Box on it. Enter the PS3, a system that has the power and versatility to allow the series to continue on a console while playing like it's still on a PC (read: mouse and keyboard control, like they'll be doing for UT3). Out of all the game systems out there, you'd think that Valve would leap at the opportunity to develop for the one that would allow its games to play the same way they always have. But, instead, we get this mess. Very sad.
Larry Clark @ Nov 22nd 2007 10:35PM
Boy what a surprise an XBOX 360 port to PS3 has frame rate problems while the brilliant developers at Infinity Ward, Developer of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare got their game to work cross platform no problem
Justin @ Nov 23rd 2007 6:31AM
Yeah quit blaming the developers - you are all waiting for that "hidden" power to come out. Have you thought for one second that perhaps...*gasp*..this power just doesn't exist?? You all point to future releases for proof of the PS3's power - games taht aren't going to be released for another year....probably cause they can't get the games to run at decent framerates. EA makes games redominantly for the US market - the 360 has already won that battle - who blames them for not giving 2 sh*ts about the PS3. Give up, you own a PS3DO.
Bearskopff @ Nov 23rd 2007 7:54AM
Why are there so many FPSbox fanboys on here. Have they got nothing better else to do??
gamingeek @ Nov 23rd 2007 10:58AM
Gabe Newell can go piss up a rope for all I care.
Don't buy it-- you have been warned.
eddienil @ Nov 23rd 2007 12:16PM
I say boycott Valve and EA games! Spread the word!
batmanhill6157 @ Nov 24th 2007 7:57PM
F**K you EA. This is the last game I will ever purchase from you. I promise
UltimateNinja9 @ Nov 25th 2007 5:05AM
Xbox360 fanboys come here whenever Yaris locks up.
bish @ Nov 25th 2007 9:38PM
@39
Hmm The PS3 I own seems to run games like Uncharted, Call of Duty 4, Ratchet and Clank, Motorstorm, Warhawk, Heavenly Sword, The Darkness and others amazingly well. Seems like sufficient power to me.
Apparently since it's got enough power to run those games fine, I would assume a game like Half Life 2 from 2004 should run great no matter what. Unless of course EA ported it... Oh wait... Dammit.
Thanks for nothing Valve.
Brad @ Nov 25th 2007 10:22PM
Guys, remember that this is a THREE YEAR OLD GAME. I mean, seriously, EA should be embarrased as heck that they can't make a 3 year old game run on the PS3, whether or not it's harder to port from PC than it would be to XBox360. This is the lamest thing I've ever heard of.
And, again, having to skip Orange Box on the PS3 altogether is no big deal - who cares about missing out on a 3 year old game?
Personally, I've played HL2 and EP1 on PC years ago, and while I liked them, I thought it was a joke when I first heard that they were bringing these games to current gen consoles. It's not like they are state of the art. I bought EP2 to go on my PC - no way I was going to pay for these old games again to play on a console...