Gabe Newell, the man behind Half-Life development studio Valve Software, hasn’t been too fond of Sony’s system during this current console generation. He recently cited the PS3 as "a waste of everybody’s time" in a semi-recent interview.
Following that mantra, Valve developed Half-Life 2: Orange Box for the PC and 360 in-house, but shoved PS3 development duties onto an unknown EA team.
The swap hasn’t been beneficial thus far. Originally promised to release the same day as the other versions, The Orange Box on PS3 has seen numerous delays and is now scheduled for release sometime this December. Unfortunately, even after multiple delays, it appears the title will be another gimped port for Sony’s system.
1UP got their hands on a near-final build of the PS3 version and came away underwhelmed. They state that the title runs akin to "a slideshow," especially during the vehicular segments of Half-Life 2. Strangely, Portal is a rock-solid port, appearing identical to its 360 and PC brethren. No word yet on the heavily anticipated Team Fortress 2, as a server connection issue prevented any play whatsoever.
It’s not looking good for The Orange Box on PS3. EA only has a little bit of time to fix the glaring framerate problems within Valve’s Half-Life 2. More news on The Orange Box soon.