🎮 The bundle that changed gaming forever turns 15

Tuesday

Oct 11 2022

Modern gaming is all about the bundle. The best-known example of this is probably Xbox's wildly successful Game Pass, an appetizer sampler of every flavor and genre of interactive entertainment that costs $10 or $15 for a monthly subscription. (It's like Netflix, but for video games.)

But Microsoft didn't invent the big bang-for-buck game bundle, even if it arguably perfected it. Back in 2007, Valve, the minds behind the Steam PC marketplace and the Steam Deck handheld released The Orange Box on PS3, Xbox 360, and PC. It included five outstanding, critically acclaimed games for the price of one — Portal, Team Fortress 2, and Half-Life 2 and its two expansions. This all killer, no filler compilation was so darn good, it took the industry more than a decade to catch up.

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RETROSPECTIVE

Gaming

15 years ago, The Orange Box changed gaming forever

Often regarded as one of the best years in gaming, 2007 was full of important releases including Super Mario Galaxy, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and BioShock. But in terms of sheer value, no game of 2007 tops The Orange Box, which just celebrated its 15th birthday.

Each part of The Orange Box is worthy of discussion — whether it’s Half-Life 2 and its expansions’ dramatic storytelling, Team Fortress 2’s importance to the hero shooter genre, or Portal’s impact on character writing and puzzle games — it’s clear this collection was one for the ages.

That’s why it’s unfathomable that Valve decided to only charge $60 for this package. This is a collection that, in many ways, feels like the precursor to gaming subscription services that put the consumer first. Gaming is an expensive hobby, but with compilations like this, companies have proven that it doesn’t always have to be.

Shopping

Amazon

Amazon dropped prices on these wildly popular products

The leaves are changing, everything’s pumpkin-flavored, and Amazon’s much-anticipated Prime Early Access Sale is here. Prepare for the holiday season with curated gift guides like Amazon’s first-ever Top 100 list, an exciting roundup of deals on big brands like Samsung, KitchenAid, and iRobot.

If you’re a little overwhelmed right now, worry not. Our team has sifted through the sales to find the very best deals that will make holiday shopping as smooth as possible. From autumn jackets to majorly discounted Roombas, here are the deals to look out for.

See our favorites

Space

Science

A new study suggests Mars once hosted life — but the results reveal a worrying fate

On Earth, methane is one of our most potent and worrying greenhouse gasses, 84 times more damaging than carbon dioxide, and one of the oldest waste products of life on our planet. But a new simulation by a French team published in Nature Astronomy suggests that if methanogenic microbes evolved on another planet — Mars — they would have had a very different effect: causing out-of-control cooling instead of warming.

Based on older work modeling the early Earth’s biosphere, the team built a model of Noachian Mars — a period when the Red Planet was regularly bombarded by asteroids, had a thick atmosphere, and likely had liquid water on its surface.

Because Noachian Mars showed “striking similarities in terms of surface conditions” to early Earth, study co-author and astrobiologist Boris Sauterey tells Inverse, the team expected they would be able to demonstrate that Martian methanogens likely had similar effects on its biosphere.

But they found the opposite. As the simulated Martian methanogens pumped more methane into the Red Planet’s atmosphere, the model planet teemed with subsurface life for a few hundred thousand years. But then, methane’s interactions with the Martian atmosphere and its briny ice caps cooled the planet to an extreme.

Within half a million years, Mars would become almost entirely smothered in a sheet of ice, the model predicted.

(UN)REAL

Gear

Google’s Pixel 7 camera doesn’t capture reality, it creates a whole new one

Google knows the truth: pictures aren’t about capturing a moment, they’re about capturing an idea.

It’s never stated that philosophy explicitly, but then again, it hasn’t had to. The proof is in the pudding, and by the pudding, we mean the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro.

This year — as has been the case in years past — Google unleashed its incomparable knowledge of AI on the Pixel phones’ cameras, giving us a few new jaw-dropping applications of computational photography magic.

That know-how manifested in the Pixel 7 with features like Cinematic Blur, an autofocus feature that de-emphasizes the background and keeps your subject in focus, or Guided Frame, an accessibility feature that uses audio cues to help sightless users take selfies.

This AI superpower also extends to new photos as well: the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro use information from the main and ultrawide cameras in concert, taking images from both sensors and meshing them together to give you a (hopefully superior) photo stew. If all goes as planned, pictures should be sharper and less apt to end up in your memory graveyard. Neat.

While computational photography isn’t new — it’s why Apple got away with retaining the same megapixel camera in its iPhone for years — Google has been far and away the most enthusiastic of all smartphone companies when it comes to pushing the boundaries. And if this year’s Pixel generation is any indication, Google has no intention of slowing that roll.

Take a closer look

DETOX

Mind and Body

A dermatologist debunks the “no-poo” movement

If you’ve watched even one episode of Queer Eye, you’ve probably heard Jonathan Van Ness proclaim that people should not wash their hair daily. The famed hairstylist likens it to washing your favorite t-shirt every day; pretty soon, your brightly colored garment looks like it’s being sold as “vintage” at Urban Outfitters — faded, threadbare, and generally looking worse for wear.

In recent years, consumers have started paying closer attention to the ingredients in their shampoo; ones formulated without parabens or sulfates are far more ubiquitous than they were a decade ago. Even more recently, the so-called “no-poo” movement has gained traction — cleaning one’s hair without traditional shampoo.

But as someone who has extremely fine hair with a tendency to get oily quickly, the idea of forgoing shampoo altogether is somewhat terrifying. At the same time, I have a friend with very thick, curly hair who never uses shampoo — only conditioner. So how often should we wash our hair? And is there any science behind the “no-poo” movement?

Learn more

Meanwhile...

Earth’s most powerful asteroid impact may be even bigger than we thought

Why the Pixel Tablet is Google's most promising device

Helaena Targaryen’s prophecy in 'House of the Dragon' Episode 8 sets up a dark twist

The 10 biggest Star Wars reveals from New York Comic Con

Today in history: American astronaut Kathryn Sullivan became the first woman to walk in space on October 11, 1984.

Song of the day: "Still Alive," Jonathan Coulton

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🎮 The bundle that changed gaming forever turns 15

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