Gabe Newell threw down the gauntlet and banned his employees from playing BioShock on either PC or Xbox 360. Not forever mind you, but only until Half-Life 2 Episode Two and the Orange Box are done and shipping, which is scheduled for mid October.

“We had to ban Bioshock from our offices,” Valve boss Gabe Newell told us. “Nobody gets to play it until Orange Box is done – that’s our reward to ourselves as a company; everyone gets a copy of Bioshock.”

At least everyone will get a free copy from Mr. Newell. I know I wouldn’t be able to wait until mid October for BioShock.

IGN today released some new screenshots for the Xbox 360 version of Half-Life 2 (specifically the Orange Box, since these are of the main game).

I have to say, these look no better than the original Xbox version. I just fired up the game on my PC and it looks much better, and I haven’t upgraded any of my PC components in over 3 years. I’m imagining the PS3 version will look just as bad.

Someone at Valve better put their foot down on this and get some people working a little harder, or this is going to be a major disappointment for them.

Hit the jump for more…

Heavy Weapon Guy is an animal. Pure and simple.

This teaser doesn’t really show much gameplay at all, but let’s you into the heart and soul of one of it’s characters.