I'm a big Portal fan, and I'm sure that with Team Fortress 2 and the Half-Life Games, The Orange Box is an amazing package. One of my favorite inclusions, though, isn't a Valve game, nor an official part of The Orange Box. Peggle Extreme came with The Orange Box download if you ordered it from Steam. It's a pachinko-like game where you shoot a ball into a playing field of blue and orange pegs. On contact, the ball lights up the peg and clears it from the field. The goal is to clear all the orange pegs before you run out of balls.

You get bonuses for clearing violet pegs, and green pegs give you helper abilities based on the stage you're playing. If your ball bounces a crazy path before it's done, you get style points, and more pegs cleared in a single go towards the potential of a free ball. Notes climb the scale as you rack up get closer to earning that free ball, which builds a nice feeling of suspense. The best part, however, is when you hit the final orange peg: the ball moves in slow motion until that moment of contact where fireworks appear and Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" blasts in celebration of your victory! It's dynamic and way satisfying every time. I consider this moment a definitive one for the game, as it gives a greater sense of accomplishment than many other puzzle games that just pop up with your current score once you've finished a level or round. No other puzzle game makes me feel quite so badass as Peggle does.

Imagine my sheer ecstasy tonight when I found out that Peggle got an OSX release, a fact I somehow glossed over when I heard the news that it was coming to the iPods. My main beef is the steep price tag. Seriously, $20? Steam offers the full version for half that price, but seeing as Steam is Windows-only, I'm out of luck. (PC kids, before you say anything, I'm a design student who kind of needs a mac. Don't hate; just love.) I'm fine with paying money for Peggle ... just not quite so much. If anyone knows where I can get a good deal on this lovely game, let me know. Though I did just get birthday money ... and Peggle is so much more fun than studying for tomorrow's exam ...