Source 1Up.com

If you own a PC, want to own the Orange Box and are gaming on a budget, there’s good news. The evil people at EA have decided that you’ll probably want to make several trips to the store to complete your own Orange Box.

Gas prices be damned!

While EA was announcing the addition of Rock Band for the Wii, the delay of Mercenaries 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company, they slipped in that the Orange Box would be split up into bite sized bits for the PC.

“We are unbundling Orange Box and releasing separate PC SKUs, Half Life 2: Episode Two, Portal and Team Fortress,” said Warren Jenson, chief financial officer and executive VP at Electronic Arts. Why, oh why would they do such a thing? They’re not telling.

Could splitting up such a super combo be a smart move? I mean, it’s arguably the greatest combo ever put on a game disc. Skipping the TF2 lag issues that is, which I hear is non-existent on the PC. Lucky bastards.

Is EA trying to nickel and dime the PC gamer? Maybe they just want to get the maximum sales by letting you build your own Orange Box. I wonder if it’ll be cheaper to buy the Orange Box than to buy each part separately. We’ll find out, when those price points come out.

Finally, all of you whiners can just buy Portal. Now shut it.