Have any NVIDIA hardware installed on your machine? If so, you're entitled to a free extended demo of Portal, the best game of 2007. Entitled Portal: First Slice, the demo features more content than the normal demo, and is available free to all NVIDIA customers through a new partnership between Valve and the hardware manufacturer.

The offer is accessible through Steam, which will scan your computer to confirm the presence of NVIDIA hardware before making the offer available (creepy). Game|Life also reports that in addition to the Portal: First Slice, demo, NVIDIA customers can also download Peggle Extreme, Half-Life 2 Deathmatch, and Half-Life 2: The Lost Coast for free through the same offer. Not too shabby.

December is looking to be a most excellent month for PlayStation 3 owners keen on shooting things from a first-person perspective, with both Unreal Tournament III (shipping December 10th) and The Orange Box stepping onto the platform, albeit a bit later than expected. An EA press release politely reminds us that the latter will be released on December 11th in both the US and Europe, with French and German versions following in 2008.

In the unlikely case that you've not been exposed to Valve's Orange Box and currently envision it as a crate full of citrus fruit, allow us to point out that it contains Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Team Fortress 2 and Portal... too. One can only hope the tech people at EA used their 11th hour to rid the port of its alleged framerate issues.

Aside from, you know, things that will actually make your life any better, there's little more satisfying than achievements. Some of the Steam achievements from Orange Box were especially gratifying, like the one that required blasting a lawn gnome into space. Now, if some posters on Valve's official forums can be believed, achievements are going to be rolled out to some older games on the Steam service before year's end.

Forum poster "slugz" (not his real name) says he received the following note from Valve staffer Erik Johnson in response to a fan letter: "We're planning on adding achievements to all of our games you touched on in your mail [Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode 1, Day of Defeat: Source and Counter-Strike: Source]. We're just now coming out of the post-shipping haze, so these should start showing up on Steam pretty quick here. We're also planning on adding a bunch more to TF2, starting with an achievement pack for the Medic in the next week or so." Another poster says they got a similar email later in the thread. We've emailed Valve for verification, but it certainly seems plausible enough. What achievements would you like to see in those Valve games?

[Via CVG]

By quite a large margin, Scott Ramsoomair's VG Cats took the top spot in the webcomic wrapup this week -- but is it a love for Valve's amazing game Portal or a fascination with endangered infants that drove our readers en masse to vote?

Second and third place go to Penny Arcade and 2P Start, respectively. Thanks to everyone who voted; be sure to let us know of any game-related webcomics you stumble upon this week!

Are you the type of person that could care less about narrative? Did you skip Half-Life, pick up The Orange Box, skip Half-Life 2, and go straight for the episodes? Still want to know what happened in the non-episodic games? If so, and you just can't be bothered to go and actually play them, above we have a 60-second version of everything you need to know about the series.

Created by Simon Krãtschmer and Jakob Rompkowski, the little vignette seems to sum up Half-Life quite nicely. We know it's really nothing special, but the sprinkles of German are what really make it pop. We actually wouldn't mind seeing more by Krãtschmer and Rompkowski in the future -- plus, those two names strung together sound cool.

We've gotten used to the saucy Brit named Yahtzee hating whatever he reviews in his Zero Punctuation pieces for the Escapist; so imagine our surprise when a little ray of sunshine crept into the latest video (found after the break). This week Yahtzee tackles The Orange Box and generally seems dismissive of the whole thing -- except for Portal, which he loves. Yes, even ornery Yahtzee has sold out and is having a love-fest with the game, just like many on the Joystiq staff.

Regarding Portal, the typically acid tongued Yahtzee says, "[Portal is] the most fun you'll have with your PC until they invent a force feedback codpiece." The Orange Box seems to have a little something for everyone, even for people like Yahtzee. Now how long will it be before the Portal theme song becomes a spontaneous geek sing-along anthem at every gaming convention?

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."

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.

As if the inclusion of Half-Life 2, HL2: Episode One, HL2: Episode Two, Portal, and Team Fortress 2 in Valve's Orange Box didn't already represent one of the most incredible values in video games ever, they've just announced geek troubadour Jonathan Coulton (he of "Baby Got Back" and "Code Monkey" fame – WARNING: MySpace link) has recorded a "surprise" track to be included in that massive package.

But Coulton didn't go it alone. No, he had the help of the Valve design team (who are apparently fans, go figure) so we can surely expect something about Zombines eating your brains. At this point, with less than a week to go before the game's (games'? gameses'?) release, we're surprised the track hasn't already made its way to the seedy, illicit , peer-to-peer underbelly of the internet. Hey record industry, you should take notes!

The Engineer tells how he solves "practical problems" in the continuing series of trailers about the psychopathic characters from Team Fortress 2. If for some strange reason you've missed The Heavy and The Soldier trailers, we've gone ahead and added their videos again after the break for your easy viewing pleasure.

Now's a good a time as any to remind people that if you really need to play Team Fortress 2 (and you're a PC owner), all you need to do is pre-purchase The Orange Box on Steam and you can start playing the TF2 beta next week. Although we don't exactly know how, but we hope some of the humor from these trailers translates to the gameplay. Then again, we've gotten used to the possibility of well-designed trailers being more interesting than the games they are for.

Valve announced today that those who pre-purchase this holiday's über-value The Orange Box on Steam will be invited to the Team Fortress 2 beta next week. Beginning Sept. 17, those who bought the game can download and activate the TF2 beta. If that's not enough, Valve will also toss in Peggle Extreme, a special edition of the game that'll have themed Half-Life 2, TF2 and Portal content.

Those who purchase The Orange Box before Oct. 10 via Steam also get 10% off the $49.95 price on PC. Meanwhile, the console versions of Orange Box will both be the "next-gen price" of $60 -- although Amazon currently has the Xbox 360 version for $55 as part of a pre-purchase deal. The PS3 version was recently delayed. The PC and Xbox 360 versions of The Orange Box will be ready to peel on Oct. 10.

Gamespot reports that Valve's Doug Lombardi confirmed to them the PS3 version of über-value The Orange Box will be delayed on PS3 by "a couple weeks." The PC and Xbox 360 versions will move forward with their Oct. 9 release. Wonder if those poor Valve employees still won't be able to play BioShock until the PS3 version is done too. Valve overlords, have a heart and let them play, everyone seems to be getting stuck on these delays -- for real, no joke.

Per the usual of all these PS3 delay announcements, Valve would not identify the reason for the delay, the game is being ported by EA. Lombardi also wouldn't talk about a specific date, he merely let the "couple weeks" quote float out there. Hopefully Sony can craft some message to explain these delays away, maybe it'll be the first memo by Karraker's replacment.

Do you think that the makers of one of the greatest first-person shooters ever are immune to the siren song of one of the other best first-person shooters ever? Valve head honcho Gabe Newell insists to CVG that they are not. "We had to ban BioShock from our offices," Newell said. "Nobody gets to play it until Orange Box is done - that's our reward to ourselves as a company; everyone gets a copy of BioShock."

Newell said he hasn't played it either, but he's "really looking forward to it". We're torn about this news. On one hand, we're sad for the Valve employees, but on the other hand, we really want to play Episode 2. And then, on our third hand, we think they probably should have thought of this game-banning policy before they announced they were making games episodically. Wasn't Episode 2 supposed to be out in the mid 80s? Did the team get addicted to WoW or something?

Hilarious and slightly disturbing, The Soldier video for Team Fortress 2, the game bundled with The Orange Box, makes us laugh in that uncomfortable way. Not cute like "The Heavy" video, this clip of The Soldier is just a little bit darker. Team Fortress 2 through brilliant marketing is really turning into the game we've become excited about in The Orange Box. Sure it'll probably be just another frag-fest that the average person won't stand a chance in, but it's oozing with dark charm.

The Orange Box continues to be the value bundle of the year. With Half-Life 2, Episodes 1 and 2, Portal and Team Fortress 2 -- that's a lot of value in a little box, especially if you've never played Half-Life 2. We're definitely looking forward to seeing more of these clips, even if we don't think we'll stand a chance in an online match with the actual game.

Gallery: Half-Life 2: Orange Box

There have historically been few companies more supportive of the modding scene than Valve. Now, in a new interview with ShackNews, two Valve designers are giving advice to what many perceive to be an ailing mod community. John Morello, an animate and designer at the company, insists that the problem stems from modders thinking too big.

"Mod developers are setting the bar higher than people require--a fun game is a fun game," he said. "I honestly don't think the community is setting the higher standards as much as the mod developers themselves." While that may be true, when Morello begins talking about the Team Fortress 2 design crew being comprised almost entirely of former modders, one can't help but wonder if the mod scene might in some way also be suffering from its best and brightest being recruited away. What do you think? Have you downloaded a good mod recently? Have you ever tried to make one yourself?