Back in 2007, the launch of The Orange Box was a pretty big deal. You had Episode Two, the long-awaited TF2, and the very intriguing Portal – all in one box, for just $50. So Valve went above and beyond in promoting the thing. They partnered up with EA for the retail release and for promotional activities. And only last year for Portal 2, did Valve start handling its own promotional stuff. But it seems like their earliest experiments with it go all the way back to the time of The Orange Box. And only now can we actually see what they were up to.
The thing is… it wasn’t very good. Take a look:
The problem with this is apparent – this is an advertisement lasting almost one minute and a half that has nearly nothing to do with the actual game, and that only shows the actual product in the final 15 seconds of the video… from behind a sheet of broken glass. Still, it’s always pretty cool to take a look at Valve’s aborted creations – regardless of how much they may or may not suck. I guess that’s why people are still pretty crazy over the HL2 that never was, or the L4D1 that never was, and so on.
If you have any doubts over the authenticity of the ad, then allow me to dispell them by revealing that the video is posted by AciD, one of the Steam Forum’s most well-known moderators. I know, the timing is pretty lame, but you can always think of it as a medieval New Year’s gift, or something.
25 Responses to “Never-Before-Seen Valve Ad For The Orange Box Is Unearthed”
I couldn’t resist…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FD3vR_2CHTU
Haha, that’s a good one!
The only thing I could relate to the games was when the meteor exploded into Portal colors. Lol
Let us all remember that The Orange Box had pretty terrible packaging, too. Don’t get me wrong, the packaging didn’t really matter given what was inside it, but it was incredibly bland. A lot like this ad, really.
Also, time-to-crate: 3 seconds.
I thought the Orange Box included HL2 and Episode 1 as a bonus, as well?
It did.
Actually the retail box cover is exactly the same, it is hard to see in this video but it says “> ALSO INCLUDES Half-Life 2 AND Episode One” at the very bottom of the front face of the box.
Ha, wow. Good thing Valve generally knows when not to release something.
Wow
I remember playing this back in the day, orange box was pretty cool, got it in a bundle back in like 2001, never forgot it since! 
Where can I buy this for computer?
Thanks
also i saw you guys were selling meat the other day ?!, what was that all about????
You bought the Orange Box in 2001?
As for the meat thing here is some information on it.
This is the first Valve thing ive seen which I genuinely though was pretty shitty.
The CGI and technicalities are pretty good but the concept and storyboard for this is just so random and odd, wtf has any of this got to do with Valve or Half-life in general.
Read the post, it was made by EA.
That was stupid as hell.
Actually it was seen before:
http://www.valvetime.net/index.php?threads/orange-box-trailer-by-valve.133194/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b5AKhRBHow&feature=player_embedded#!
Ah, interesting. Nicely found!
Ohhh, haha, I thought the video was pretty graphical and awesome, but it took a little too long and went off point.
lol 50 bucks?
come to Moscow, bought it for 20 bucks
Hmmm, do you mean it costs 20 bucks now or when it first came out?
Because it was 5 years ago, the price went down considerably.
Nonetheless still a great buy
I think it might have actually been that cheap in Moscow, even in 2007.
Damn Russians
Um… what?
If they had tightened it up a little bit and put in some peppier music, then maybe. That was pretty bad.
@ 0:54
I think that’s orbiting the earth a little bit too fast.
Yeah I thought the same thing! lol
It kinda circled the entire Earth and then came back.
Talk about a fast meteor!
The entire thing is plain silly. Good thing it was unpublished.