Here's a quick update for Team Fortress 2 (X360, PS3, PC): The guys over at Valve posted a rather short message over at the game's official site. Nothing new really, just a post-it note reminding everyone that TF2 is doing okay and is still on schedule. Maybe Valve remembers how everyone reacted after it announced that the game is pushed back to Summer 2007.

Anyway, here's the message Valve left for every awaiting fans:

Team Fortress 2 is really moving along in development. In fact, things have reached a point where people start getting pretty antsy around the office as we get closer and closer to the 6:00 p.m. play test session. We will be sharing more information about TF2 over the next couple of months, and we'll make sure to point that out to people here.

TF2 will be released as part of Half Life 2's Episode 2 (X360, PS3) package together with another game: Portal. And by the way, the image above is currently being used by the devs as the start-up screen for the game.

Sometime last month, we posted an article about Valve and its upcoming Half-Life 2 box sets, which were scheduled for a summer release. However, just today, the latest update from the folks at Valve and Electronic Arts states that these box sets may instead be released by winter of this year. Sigh.

The good news is that Valve has also released some packshots of The Black Box and The Orange Box, and as we can see from the images, they're... well... black and orange. In any case, The Black Box is exclusively for PC owners and contains the games Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Portal, and Team Fortress 2. The Orange Box, on the other hand, will be released in versions for the PC, the PS3 and the Xbox 360, and containsHalf-Life 2: Episode Two, Portal, Team Fortress 2, the original Half-Life 2, and Half-Life 2: Episode One.

Meanwhile, Valve's co-founder, Gabe Newell, is proud of their new product and their partnership with EA, and goes on to beam that,

The Black Box and The Orange Box represent a new approach to publishing multiple products, on multiple platforms and we know through our experience that no organization in the industry is better equipped to successfully launch new product types on multiple platforms than EA Partners.

See full article for the rest of the packshots.

Well, you can't say Valve hasn't tried to get you into hanging out with the Combine. The creators of the Half-Life franchise are shipping two different bundles of Half-Life 2: Episode Two when it comes out later this year, giving you a lot of content for some pretty sweet prices.

Fans will be able to purchase an Episode Two-specific version that gets them straight into the continuing saga of Gordon Freeman, while newcomers to the second Half-Life game can purchase a set that has all the bells and whistles.

For long-time PC gamers who've spent a lot of time with Alyx Vance and company in Episode One, Valve's offering the PC-only Black Box edition of the game. This version will contain Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Portal, and Team Fortress 2, and will command a US$ 39.99 price tag.

Console and PC gamers who have yet to get in on the action will be glad to hear about the Orange Box edition of the game. The Orange Box will not only have the Black Box content, but will also include Half-Life 2 and Episode One for that added gameplay punch. There will be PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 versions of the game, which will all fetch a price of US$ 59.99.

Expect these game bundles to be out this summer. Hopefully, we won't have to deal with any more delays this time around

Given we're going to be waiting a little longer to get our hands on Half-Life 2: Episode Two, it should give this news bit time to sink in. We have just picked up word (by way of EGM) that Valve announced a name change to Half-Life 2. Henceforth, Half-Life 2: Episode Two shall be dubbed as Half-Life 2:Orange.

We don't have any details on why Valve decided to go Kojima (then again Episode Two was so George Lucas) in the naming, save that orange is a heavily used color on the Half-Life logo, Freeman's hazard suit, and Cheetos stains on many a gamer's fingers.

Whatever the case, we will just have to wait for confirmation on this turn of events, and see if Valve really decided to for a more citrus moniker for this long-awaited sequel.

We've got a hot heads-up for the guys with an inkling (and a pass) to go to next year's Game Developers Conference. We've just gotten an event update that Llamasoft's Jeff 'Yak' Minter will be delivering the keynote address at the Independent Games Summit. Xbox 360 dudes will remember Xbox 360's Neon light synthesizer

Aside from Jeff, it's also been reported that guys from several other bigwig studios will be making their statements at the Summit. Curious about the current list? Read 'em and weep: Valve, Telltale Games, Introversion, NinjaBee and Gamelab are in the current roster, with other studios expected to make their presence known in this two-day event.

"For the past eight years, the Independent Games Festival has been, like the indie film movement, a source of true daring and a jumping board for reinvigorating large-scale commercial development." said Jamil Moledina, executive director of the GDC.

The Independent Games Summit is just one of several other segments within the GDC, which is expected to kick off March 5 to 6 next year, at  San Francisco's Moscone Convention Centre.

Allow this writer to turn fan-boy for a moment. Why must we wait more! Screw Freeman. We want Alyx Vance and her "dog!" Here's the sad news folks: Valve's new instalment of Freeman's Alyx Vance's game is now due summer 2007. Fan-boy mode off.

CVG reports that Valve's Doug Lombardi has announced that Half-Life 2: Episode Two's release has been reset from Q1 2007 to summer 2007. Lombardi says that Valve is "now targeting summer 2007" for a release. This obviously affects Team Fortress 2 and Portal, which all form the Episode Two package.

Instead of something to welcome the new year, we now have something for the summer. Oh well. They just better use the time to polish those games up.

HL2 Episode 2 was originally expected to hit at the end of 2006, with Valve confirming back in August it had changed its mind and was instead gunning for Q1 2007, maybe February. No official reason has been given yet as to the reason for the release slip, but we're all hoping it's a good one.

If you look at the lineup of games for the said consoles, most of them are geared for your typical hard-core gamer - tough, challenging games that require you to rack up hours of play before you can duke it out online without looking like a klutzy noob.

Then there's casual games: simple and addictive packages you'll usually be playing in your mobiles, iPods or PDAs. These are the kind of games that PopCap Games is known for.

Known for developing the highly popular Bejeweled 2 and Zuma games, PopCap has already had considerable success in light of the mainstream gaming industry - the release of their games on XBLA, and their recent network collaborations with Valve Software among their recent successes.

These days, they're aiming for wider horizons as CEO David Roberts discusses, in a recent interview by Next Generation's Kris Graft, PopCap's plans in light of the soon-to-be-released PS3 and Wii.

With regards to the upcoming XBLA-ish features he had seen on their future consoles, Roberts commented that while a lot of work had already been done on these two consoles, they were bit behind in comparison to the XBLA. Noting that Microsoft had the time advantage with regards to networking and how it would take a bit more effort for Sony and Nintendo to hold their ground with regards to this.

“The first time I saw XBLA was before they shipped it, and I was truly astounded at how much work they had done to make the kind of ecosystem around it. It seems like it’s simple, but like a lot of things that seem simple, there’s a lot of work that went on to make it that way, " Roberts said.

In connection with this, Roberts also had much to say about their recent collaboration with Valve, specifically how he feels that even hardcore gamers could enjoy the occasional casual game.

“The games are still fun, and just because women over 40 like playing Bejeweled and Zuma doesn’t mean that they are the only people that play Bejeweled and Zuma. You know, we don’t make ‘games for girls.’ A lot of people think that’s what casual games are; that they’re games designed specifically for women over thirty-five." as he said with regards to this.

Roberts plans to venture into PS3 and Wii's gaming selections in the near future with this mindset, believing that their line-up of games would be welcome for both the casual mainstream players, and the more hardcore community.

While some of the more hardcore dudes out there might cry foul over this seeming waste of the said console's other features, we think they just might be on to a niche market that the Sony and Nintendo bigwigs haven't really looked into. Feel free to read the source link to read the full interview.

Every gamer is potentially a mid-core gamer. At the very least, we can invent a term like that to contrast between the hard-core and soft-core types of gamers. At its very best, the idea of making games that are "just right" for all types of gamers could be the next logical step for the growing gaming populace. Over at CNN Money (You know it's big when CNN wants to talk about it), Chris Harris gives his take on the episodic game culture that's slowly making its way into the mainstream.

Harris says that we can expect a rise in the number of episodic games that'll eventually come out for a variety of reasons. For the most part, he cites the episode downloads you can introduce for Half-Life 2 as a prime example of episodic gaming's benefits: user feedback.

Click on "Full Article" to read Harris' take on mid-core gamers.

Not only does this clip, taken from the newest 1UP show, gives you a glimpse of how it's looking inside the Valve offices, it also includes new footage from Half Life 2: Episode 2. Witness a thrilling buggy ride as the developers of the game explain what they've added to make Half Life 2 even more thrilling.

Later parts of the video show Portal, the innovative puzzle game that caused a lot of stir when it was announced. Utilizing a similar idea that Prey debuted with, the difference here is that Valve's concept of the portal technology is much less combat-oriented. Instead, they've decided throw bunches of insane, theoretically impossible puzzles after the player, as he needs to reach the exit of a room using only his portal gun.

Console gamers are lucky, as they'll receive a big bundle of goodness that includes the main game, Episode 1, 2 and Portal. The original game and Episode 1 are already released on the PC and have been subject to widespread critical acclaim. The Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of Half Life 2 are expected to be released in 2007.

For Half-Life 2: Episode 2 (X360, PS3), Valve promised five gameplay videos and here's the next one. The first two videos basically showed off the graphics prowess the development this game has already achieved. The third one came to be known as the Killer Buggy video as it displayed vehicle-based fighting, not to mention some other open style combat.

And here comes the fourth: this gameplay video is roughly two minutes long and focuses further on firepower and explosives. The player aims and shoots at the chopper as it continues to drop bombs on him.

Sounds exciting enough? Well, it is. And this is not including the gameplay sound and music that keeps players in the game and make them forget everything else.

Half-Life 2: Episode 2 comes with Team Fortress 2 and mini-game Portal. It is due for release, just five months from now, on February 2007.

Download: [Half-Life 2: Episode 2 Gameplay Video #4]