We've said before in Chart Toppers that genuine dark horse hits (like Katamari Damacy) are rare in the gaming industry. What's more, games that provide a genuinely great value are even rarer. So what if we told you that a disc just released that has a Katamari Damacy-like hit game... plus four other game titles? That quirky title is Portal and that compilation is The Orange Box.

When it was first announced a year ago, The Orange Box seemed too good to be true: Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Team Fortress 2 and Portal all in the same package. What seemed more impossible was that they'd release together for the price of one game! Just like how people doubted for a long time that Team Fortress 2 would even get released, Valve has proven the haters wrong again by releasing them all together in a package that was a surefire hit.

We chatted with Doug Lombardi, Valve's marketing head, and discussed at length any and all details pertaining to The Orange Box.

Unfortunately, the full NPD console sales data for October will not release until sometime next month. However, The Orange Box has shot straight to the top of the PC charts in its first week of sales. As Lombardi told us, however, early indications point to having much larger success than just on the PC.

"We know from some of the chart info that's come out that in the U.K., The Orange Box is third overall and is topping out on the 360 platform and number one on the PC. It's also number one in Finland!" said Lombardi. "Combined, we are debuting as the number one across all platforms in several regions; if it's multi-platform, it's number one, if it's PC, it's number one, and on 360 it is number two, behind only Halo 3. Being able to 'defy gravity' is nice, capturing two platforms in that kind of a way. We may end up in the top five overall sales for the year, which would be exceeding all expectations. That really speaks to the quality and variety in the game.

"Again, we haven't seen the full data yet, but it looks like The Orange Box will be similar or better than Half-Life 2 as far as sales go. We are taken back, because Half-Life 2 is one of those things that happens once, maybe twice in your life [at a company]; the sales and critical acclaim were overwhelming, and you just hope to get close to that. The meta-critics are ranking [The Orange Box] 97 on PC and 360, making it the best ranked game of all time on both platforms. Honestly, even we are being surprised by the results."

Speaking of that critical reaction, The Orange Box really has seen nigh-universal praise from all ends of the industry. Even GameDaily's own Chris Buffa, known for his strict reviewing standards, awarded The Orange Box a perfect 10 out of 10.

"Folks were initially puzzled by what The Orange Box was at first. We got so entrenched in explaining what it is and making sure the products were so good, at the end of the day, we were just hoping that people would 'get' it!" said a laughing Lombardi. "You have a different sort of mindset [when making a compilation like this] and when it comes back as 'best of breed' on two different platforms, you're taken aback by it.

"The Orange Box is a direct byproduct of listening to what people said about Half-Life 2: Episode One. They expressed that they wanted an enhanced multiplayer component; they wanted something a little longer and more substantial, with more unique stuff. So the success really shouldn't be that much of a surprise coming from that perspective; when look you look at the feedback, it tied back to a common thread. Hopefully, if you listen to your customers and you execute on that, you'll end up with a superior product. Perhaps the biggest pleasant surprise overall has been the reaction to Portal. Portal is really experimental, and when you jump off the ledge like that you either hit big or fall hard! It's the sort of game that is made possible by the episodic model."

One of the primary reasons for the accolades laid at the feet of The Orange Box is the value it offers. The package includes Team Fortress 2, Portal, Half-Life 2 and the first two sequel episodes to Half-Life 2. That's five games total for the price of one normal game ($49 on PC and $59 on Xbox 360, respectively) and is really great bang for your buck, any way you slice it.

"The way we looked at it is we have these three great games (Team Fortress 2, Portal, Half-Life 2: Episode Two), and they're on the path to get done at the same time. One of two things would have happened. We could cram all three of these into one universe, one game, and then it would have been homogenized into one release. The other possible route, which in many cases would have been made by the publishers, is to sell all the games separately, and a year later they'd be sold in a single box," Lombardi said.

"And again, one of the things that gamers said is that they'd pay more for more content. They said they wanted innovative stuff like the Gravity Gun. Gamers are incredibly discerning; Gabe [Newell] has really hit that home with us in every meeting. We felt with Half-Life 2, we offered great content in the box with the main game and Counterstrike: Source, but we also proved it out over time with additional releases. This time, we just cram a lot of stuff into the box from the onset. The bet is that gamers will recognize and reward that value and in the future will remember that and buy games based upon that earned trust and loyalty."

"For us, it was about turning the three new games into an offer you can't refuse," he added. "We look at [The Orange Box] as three new games with the other stuff thrown in as a bonus. We're lucky that we have independence to do things like this and I think this demonstrates the way that consumers want to buy things going forward. With Steam and Xbox Live, maybe that will change how games are released, perhaps with more retail releases coming in compilations. It's all part of the audience maturing and having different channels for different audiences. Everyone has tried to be that one big, blockbuster release, and that's great, but I think people want to see more variety. It's all about giving gamers more choices."