Since I first saw the promotional video for Portal, I have been excited to play it. The fact that it is included in the Orange Box is awesome, because the word on the street is that it is incredibly short (I have not yet completed it, though I think I am pretty close). This review in particular puts the time to beat at roughly 2-3 hours. For a game without a multiplayer component, that's pretty wimpy. I purchased the Orange Box on the PC for many reasons, not the least of which is mod-ability. I look forward to playing hundreds of community-created Portal puzzles in the future, and hope the mod community gets started pretty quick.

As for Half Life 2, and the episodic content, I admit to never having beaten even the original Half Life. I enjoyed the game immensely, I just don't usually play through the storyline of PC shooters. In fact, the only one I think I ever actually beat was that of Elite Force. I am, of course, familiar with the plot and storyline of Half Life. I watched and witnessed the vast majority of that game's play while working in a game store with networked machines. There was one particular patron who beat the game in its entirety at the store. We got together and bought him a crowbar as a thank you for the many hours of computer time he purchased from us.

So now I'm faced with Half Life 2 and its episodic content. I really should get around to playing through it, but where do I find the time when Halo 3, TF2, Portal, WoW, and most importantly, a family all vie for my free time? Right now the answer is I don't.