Happy Day! The Orange Box goes on sale today. Valve has also announced that it will be available for download on Steam. The Orange Box includes Half-Life 2, HL2: Episode One, HL2: Episode Two, Portal, and Team Fortress 2. Also anyone who already has HL2 and HL2: Episode One can conveniently gift them to a friend through Steam.

Check it out here.

As one of the first mmorpg racing games to come to the US; Project Torque announced their open beta yesterday. Including a contest in which Aeria Games will choose 32 players at the highest levels to compete in a all out battle royal. The prizes will range from $1000 to Logitech gaming equipment.

Click here to check out the official site.

Yahoo games looks forward into the land of upcoming mmorpgs. There are a many that will try but only few will actually loosen the two year grasp that World of Warcraft has had on the mmorpg world. Take a look at who Yahoo Games think may have a chance here.

Producer Starr Long has announced that the headstart date has been pushed back to 10/30/07 and the commercial service start date to 11/2/07. They were concerned that they will need a little more time to iron out some issues with balance, stability, continent of Ligo, and the crafting system. Check out the full story here.

There are many cool features of Assassin’s Creed but today I am going to discuss two. I will be working on some other features a little later so keep your eyes pealed.

Detail - Ubisoft’s attention to detail starts in the storyline. The game takes place in the Holy Land in the year 1191 A.D. The story involves the 3rd Crusade of King Richard and all the major targets’ names were actually names of personalities in the that crusade and all died in 1191. The development team worked with historians to model the places in the game to match up with historic accounts of what the Holy Land actually looked like in 1191. I think that the Assassin’s Creed developers and producer, Jade Raymond, have done a great job in providing alluring subject material and a emphasis to detail that is sure to allure any user for hours on in.

Freedom - The level of freedom that Assassin’s Creed brings to the table is a breath of fresh air for most console players. You will be able to grab onto pieces of the environment that sticks out more than 2 inches so exploring the city, scouting targets, and mapping getaways can be done from rooftop. The variety of ways a mission can be carried out is only limited by the user’s mind. With a new crowd simulation technology Assassin’s Creed allows you to interact with the city folk on a new level. You can use social stealth to blend in with a crowd to make a escape or to setup a kill. You can push the crowd around or send them into a panic for a diversion. The crowd adds a nice dynamic to the game that sets it apart from other games. There is also a pick pocketing aspect to the game that makes gathering information more fun. Below I have posted a few screenshots just in case you haven’t seen the game yet.

Play as the Orc Warlord Gotai as his army invades the Griffin Empire. Recruit troops, start new cities, and wage war with new abilities like Blood Rage and War Cry. I will probably revisit these features in later posts. Enjoy the demo.

To check out the playable demo at Fileplanet click here.