Valve may have the most deficient understanding of episodic gaming EVAR(!), but they are masters of smoke and mirrors marketing. Valve made us completely lose focus on Half-Life 2: Episode 2 being in The Orange Box (YAY!) by bundling so much gaming goodness in the package, that instead of us cracking jokes about their episodic incompetence, we end up calling The Orange Box the gaming value of the year -- 'cause it is with Half-Life 2, Episodes 1 and 2, Portal and Team Fortress 2. Sure, if you've played Half-Life 2 on your PC it might not be such a fantastic value, but for console owners (minus those that played Half-Life 2 on the original Xbox) this is their first go at HL2 and its episodes.

• GameTap (100/100): "If your PC isn't quite up to snuff, the Xbox 360 version is a good substitute. Occasional framerate hitches, plus one minor gaffe with the gamepad (weapon selection) are the only things dragging down the 360 version. That, and it has freaking 99 Achievements spread across all five games. Due to the delay of the PS3 version, we haven't played it yet, but we'll update you when we do."
• Team Xbox (96/100): "So, is The Orange Box the best bargain in gaming? While there might be longer games (Oblivion, for example) or games that pack more titles onto a single disc (any of the 'classic' compilations), this is a near-perfect blend of varied games. ... Although this is undeniably one of the must-own games for the Xbox 360, we have a few questions. Will we be getting Episode Three over Xbox Live? And where's our Counter-Strike: Source?"
• IGN (95/100): "There's nothing else available on any console like The Orange Box. Though you could argue that Half-Life 2 is old news by now, there are still four components of the Box brand new to consoles. That so much great content is offered at the standard single-game price is astonishing ... And all on one disc. While Portal and TF2 may not be strong enough to stand on their own, coupled with the Half-Life titles, The Orange Box really is one of the best games ever released."

Get ready to saddle up your blessedly armor-free horse and don the Crusader's relics one final time. Bethesda announced today that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion would be receiving new downoadable content on Xbox 360 and PC next week, beginning on Oct. 15. The good news? It's free for a week! The bad news? It's the last bit of DLC for the game. Fighter's Stronghold will add a new castle for you to run, complete with your own vintner to create wines for you, a combat trainer, even a taxidermist to create trophies for your pad ... and creep out the local girls.

In other Oblivion DLC news, Bethesda says that they're "close, very close to working something out to bring Shivering Isles to PS3 owners." Which is close, very close to being very good news for those of you who didn't wait out for the Game of the Year edition.

Jasper is both the name of the of the next Xbox 360 chipset, and an old prospector heading to the rocky hills of Utah, planning to strike it rich on "The durned richest haul you've jest about evar seen! Yeehaw!" Which one comes to mind first when you hear that name?

Basically the hurricane-like string of Xbox 360 chipset names continues. First we had Zephyr, then Falcon, and now sometime next August, Jasper. What does Jasper bring? We're glad you asked. According to Dean Takahashi at the Mercury News, it brings exciting things like ... a 65nm graphics chip from ATI, and smaller memory chips.

This isn't all that exciting, since the current Falcon chipset uses a 65nm processor already, but it means that Microsoft is still working on bringing production costs down. Which could also translate to even cheaper Xbox 360s next holiday season ... meaning 2008, three years after the introduction of the system. We're all for cheaper prices, but we like added value too. Zephyr brought us HDMI, why can't Jasper bring us something. At least milk and cookies.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, literally rocks with action. In an early stage, a freight ship that you siege pitches and rolls, like a giant movie set-piece. While playing a close-to-shipping version of the title, I felt like the action game used these special-effect focal points to drive its frenzied pace and huge scope.

Because of the "modern" setting, I had assumed I'd be plodding slowly with a squad of soldiers, tactically (and tactfully) knocking on doors to root out bad guys. And while there are sometimes AI-teammate elements, I never felt like I had to slow down and proceed with caution. Instead, I often had to speed up and dive for cover; depending on the situation, snipers, RPGs, and essentially armies of enemies are firing at you at the same time.

We'd heard about the Collector's Edition for Assassin's Creed, but now that we've laid eyes on that 12-inch figurine, our lust for it has reached fever pitch. Listen to that ... if you're quiet, you can almost hear significant others from all across the country wondering aloud "Where you're going to put that ugly thing" from more than a month in the future.

While the Altair figure does look incredible, we're having some Big Daddy flashbacks looking at his weapon. Anyone else think Ubisoft should go ahead and set up the "Broken Stiletto" figure replacement site now?

[Via X3F]

Let's get this out of the way: Do not, do not, watch this video until you've finished Halo 3. That said, if you're already got the final battle in your rear view, this is required viewing, as Halo 3's poignant, class and, at times, even moving "Believe" campaign comes to a close.

Though the whole marketing effort has been set after the events of Halo 3, this particular ad is a true postscript to the events of the game. Wow, could we be more general? Sorry, we're really trying hard not to ruin anything. Maybe it would be better if we just showed the clip.

It bodes well for Halo 3 that Bungie is, only two weeks in, already making tweaks and refinements to the multiplayer experience. This first matchmaking update isn't a doozy, but it does address some small concerns with online play that have been brought up since launch, as well as a few goodies thrown in for good measure.

The update reduces the appearance of Shotty Snipers in Team Matchmaking (which was appearing at an unusually high frequency), and fixes it so that when players veto it, the replacement for Shotty Snipers will not be Shotty Snipers. Slayer gametypes will also appear more frequently in Lone Wolves. Big Team Battles have been upped to 16 players, and attacking teams in VIP matches get a waypoint to assist them.

Apologies in advance to the non-Halo players, for which none of the above will make any sense.

[Via X3F]

While Kane & Lynch's bank heist multiplayer had us intrigued, we were quite disappointed to learn that the eponymous duo's criminal cooperation wouldn't extend beyond an offline split-screen mode. Eurogamer politely asked game director Jens Peter Kurup to explain the omission, to which he responded, "It's a matter of focus, choosing what you want to deliver at what time. We looked at it and decided it was too much of a risk to change our code to be very very good at that, and we're not going to be very very good at other elements." He noted that he'd miss the feature, "but not terribly."

As that's not a sentiment likely to be shared by those enjoying the online co-op of a little game called Halo 3, Kurup places a divide between the two titles. "They are not only selling Halo," he said, "they are selling technology, they are selling consoles, they are selling Microsoft, the whole online package. That's not what we're doing." He's right on two counts! They are selling (by the boatloads) and IO Interactive isn't selling the whole online package. Instead of applause, let's offer some commentary.

Regardless of Microsoft's intentions for its platform, Halo 3 is still a video game competing for the time and attention of gamers, as is EA's cooperatively themed Army of Two. With Gears of War well behind us and Perfect Dark Zero (thankfully) even further back, we're of the belief that online co-op is (or should be), where appropriate, a standard "next-gen" offering by now. Kurup made a valid point about increased development time when he said gamers "also want the game at some point," but when some point happens to be November, you'd best give your game a full pair of water wings before tossing it into that shark-infested maelstrom.

Yahoo! Games has posted a video preview of this holiday's multi-instrument music extravaganza, Rock Band, paying special attention to the venues you and your faux band will be tearing up, bringing down and figuratively destroying. Spread across the cities of Boston, Los Angeles and New York, the initially revealed venues (out of the final 41) are divided into three size groups, with your band's surging popularity pushing you out of small clubs and into large arenas.

In an accompanying interview, Rock Band's senior artist Peter McDonald explains that the fancy venues provide not only bigger crowds, but also more spectacular stage effects and sophisticated camera work (read: "crazy crane shots"). Have a look for yourself at places like "Heebie Jeebie's," "Empire Square Garden" and "The Snake Pit" by clicking that Read link.

[Thanks, Whymog]

Q: After "Demo Monday," was anyone expecting more demos to touch down on Xbox Live today? A: Hell no! But it seems the Live overlords don't mind stuffing more demos down our throats, as Major Nelson has posted the usual copy and paste announcing the arrival of Project Gotham Racing 4 and F.E.A.R. Files: Extraction demos on XBL.

PGR4 is available in all regions, and gives you a taste of Bizarre Creation's latest (and potentially last) installment in the series. F.E.A.R. Files: Extraction combines the paranormal with polish for a spooky first person experience. So what are you waiting for, get downloading! (P.S. Go Pats!)

Deathmatch? Deathly boring. Capture the flag? Go capture it yourself. Assault? More like ass-ault. We admit that even we can get a little bored with traditional multiplayer game types. So you can imagine our excitement when the developers of Kane and Lynch said that their brand of online action was so fresh, so radical that they can't believe that no one's thought of it yet.

When playing K&L online (known as Fragile Alliance), you'll be part of a bank heist. Basically, your squad will try to grab as much loot as possible, taking out cops and other security measures all the while. If you notice that a teammate has a sack a bit fuller than yours (or you just want to pad your sack a bit more) you can, as they say on the streets, kill him. But once you do so, the whole team knows, and they likely won't take kindly to it. Even if you do get popped, you're still in the game, reincarnated as a police officer, allowing you to take delicious vengeance on your killer.

We don't know all the ins-and-outs of Fragile Alliance yet, but, suffice it to say that we can't wait to get our hands on it.

PopCap Games, who you may know from a multitude of casual titles, will soon release two "greatest hits" compilations at retail for PS2 and Xbox 360. PopCap Arcade Volume 1 will be for Xbox 360 and feature Bejeweled 2, AstroPop, Feeding Frenzy and Zuma at a retail price of $30. The PS2 version, PopCap Hits Volume 1, has Bejeweled 2 and AstroPop for $20.

The Xbox bundle will save you $10 off of buying those four games from Xbox Live Arcade. For PS2 owners retail is the only way to purchase those titles and $10 is the normal cost for each on XBLA. And before any wise guys get smart, the answer is: No, there was absolutely nothing in the press release about Wii compilations.

Sure these little character profiles of the Team Fortress 2 cast are almost all style and no gameplay, but frankly this is one of the few times we're OK with that. Why? Well, because Valve doesn't really need to do too much convincing when it comes to purchasing The Orange Box.

It's not hard to come to the conclusion that The Orange Box is probably the best value in gaming this holiday, especially if you never played Half-Life 2 or are a pure console player. So keep goofing around Valve, give us more character profiles even after The Orange Box comes out stuffed with Half-Life 2, Episodes 1 and 2, Portal and Team Fortress 2. The citrusy goodness starts tomorrow for PC and Xbox 360 -- PS3 needs a little longer to ripen.

MTV's Multiplayer blog has posted answers to frequently asked questions regarding the corporate fustercluck (MTV/EA/Harmonix) published rhythm game Rock Band. We could bother to put the question and the answer, but if y'all can't figure out what the original question was you can hit up Multiplayer:

• No other hardware combinations have been announced yet beyond the standard (guitar, drum, mic) bundle. And yes, the bass guitar is just a second guitar controller which you probably have lying around ...
• ... because Harmonix will keep an "open platform philosophy" and games will be compatible with third-party controllers "that conform to the various platform controller standards."
• If you're short on guitars but want to play head to head, the online play will be both cooperative and competitive.
• The Xbox 360 gee-tar will come with a USB hub (remember the guitar in the bundle is wired).
• A Wii version has not been announced ... yet.

Now, we don't have insta-access to Rock Band like MTV's Multiplayer blog, but we can try to get some questions answered too -- we're scrappy like that. So if you have some lingering Rock Band questions (and there are plenty good ones still left), leave 'em in the comments and we'll try to get some answers. And automatic name calling to the people who ask questions already answered by bullet points above.

We know that a lot of you who pre-ordered the game through Steam have already been playing around with the beta version of Team Fortress 2. We just wanted to put this message out to those of you who may still be on the fence. We've been enjoying the beta version of the game for a while now and, to put it mildly, we're extremely impressed.

Let us give you the quick version, if you're a complete TFC noob. Two teams, each competing for one objective. Each team is populated by very different classes of characters, each with their own special abilities. Team Fortress Classic is one of the all-time favorite multiplayer shooters, and as 1/3 (or 1/5, depending on your view) of the Orange Box, TF2 is looking to reinvent the game.