After I lined up my last PC in mid 2004 I realised that I was standing on the threshold to the next frontier in gaming, Doom3 had just been out. Soon the lofty masses of PC gamers cozy on their little chairs in front of their monitors displaying bright colors with never ending light shone upon their faces were about to be chewed up and spit out by the sinister, dark and unforgiving soul of Doom3. Yes I can say that I trod the deliciously disturbing halls of UAC and was unabated doing so, but going through them 20 times or so was a sign of absolute ignorance of the world outside, a world that had suddenly moved on to the greener pastures...of City 17.

By the time I had developed a masturbatory addiction to the cursed game, I realised that many of my peers had started to shy away from me. It seems my strict adherence to the awesomeness of Doom3 had gotten out of hand, my friends had started rambling about my "state" and insisted that I switch to something else or start a hobby involving lewd images. It was only a few weeks after my monthly exams in November that I realised people were getting geeky about something else. I started hearing words and names that I had never been acquainted with; Striders, Pheropods, Alyx, Vortigaunts, Antlions, Alyx kept popping up from out of nowhere in the middle of every game-related conversation I had stumbled upon or had overheard. It was until I hear the name Gordon Freeman that I knew Half-Life 2 had been out for some time.

I took time from all the "hellish action" and did some researching. Gamespot had awarded Half-Life2 with a spankin' 9.2 compared to the measly 8.5 that was Doom3. This REALLY rubbed me the wrong way. As any stalwart soldier I stood my ground and resisted buying HL2. My stubborn nature carried itself all the way through October 2007. News of the "Orange Box" had been spreading through the inter-web like wildfire. My attention went un-wavered, but something happened in October 10 th, something I really did not expect. Gamespot had posted an entire review for the Orange Box! My surprise may come as a surprise itself to anyone reading this, but let me give you the lowdown on my unusual reaction, Gamespot (and almost any other similar site) has almost always never reviewed any game that may come as a whole package or collector's editions, the most recent being Sam & Max: Season 1 (it only served to fuel the fire of my ignorance), but this one incident actually has nothing to do with my recent conversion.

By two weeks I had read or seen every possible review of the Orange Box, and what was most striking about it was the sheer amount of praise that Half-Life2 had been garnering even after three years of release. I have to admit that most of my attention was spent sniffing down deals on a 360 (Go figure!) the release of the Orange Box had really turned my head. "The best deal in gaming available" had become the most common vernacular regarding the Orange Box. I was convinced and ready to make amends to Valve.

In the end my libido towards the Orange Box had to take a backseat, living in an extremely under-developed country really has its fair share of quirks. You see it takes almost six months for a game to arrive in this country (weeks if your pining for a hacked-up copy) and I wasn't getting any younger. Disappointed at the shop I let out a silent yelp and just as I was about to walk away I spotted something, it disgusted me yet I desperately yearned for it, it was...it was...a copy of Half-Life2. I surrendered and snatched it out of the racks, and it took me three years to do so.

I admit that I regret not playing this game sooner, it might just be THE most well-crafted, brilliantly paced and expertly executed piece of software my computer has ever had the privilege to procreate with.

Whew! Now that all THAT'S over I would like to eat something, read a little, study some Chemistry that I had stowed away at the back of my mind for two days and later hack up some Headcrabs! Damn, I've been listening to Blow Up the Outside World for over an hour...guess it's time for a change.

PS: I really sympathize with Reetesh, no one should go through an ordeal like that!