Valve announced that Half-Life 2: Lost Coast, a single-player level custom-created to showcase High-Dynamic Range lighting (HDR) in the Source engine, is available now to all owners of HL2. As a technology showcase, Half-Life 2: Lost Coast's system requirements are very high. During installation, Steam will prompt you if your system does not meet the recommended configuration.

Valve announced today that Half-Life 2 for Xbox has gone gold. Powered by Source technology, Half-Life 2 for Xbox features the most sophisticated in-game characters ever witnessed, advanced AI, stunning graphics and physical gameplay.

Valve announced today it finally plans to release Half-Life 2: Lost Coast next week. Lost Coast is a free level for everyone who owns Half-Life 2, and serves as an HDR technology demo based in an unreleased section of the "Highway 17" chapter of Half-Life 2. After Lost Coast is released, Valve says it will be working on getting some new content for both Counter-Strike: Source and Day of Defeat: Source, along with an update to the SDK, out the door.

Valve's SteamPowered website has been updated with details regarding the latest update for its online delivery system Steam. This release fixes a loading error when trying to debug Source MODs using the SDK, fixes a Source Engine startup crash in Win98, and also fixes Half-Life 1: Engine name exploit causing client crash. Just restart Steam for the effects to take place.

Valve today announced that Half-Life 2: Game of the Year has started shipping to retail outlets in North America. Half-Life 2: GotYis a special edition release of the best-selling and critically acclaimed title that includes Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike: Source, plus Half-Life 2: Deathmatch and Half-Life: Source. Half-Life 2: Game of the Year will begin shipping to other territories worldwide in the coming weeks.

Half-Life 2 for the Xbox defines a new benchmark in console gaming with startling realism and responsiveness. Powered by Source technology, Half-Life 2 for Xbox features the most sophisticated in-game characters ever witnessed, advanced AI, stunning graphics and physical gameplay.

At Microsoft Tech-Ed Australia, Valve has named the upcoming Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition as the preferred development environment for hobbyist Windows developers creating modifications for Source, the engine on which Half-Life 2 is built. In addition, during Tech-Ed Australia, attendees will get to hear how Team Dystopia created its modification for Half-Life 2 with Visual C++.

Valve's SteamPowered website has been updated with details regarding the latest update for Counter-Strike Source and Half-Life 2, mainly addressing a few mod issues and enabling low violence content. Read more for details, or just restart Steam for the effects to take place.

Valve's SteamPowered website has been updated with details regarding the latest update for the original Counter-Strike and Half-Life 1, mainly addressing a few exploits, several bug & crash fixes, and a few game tweaks. Read more for details, or just restart Steam for the effects to take place.

Valve lastest Steam Update has news about Day of Defeat Source and the upcoming Lost Coast release. Dod Source is currently being tested and is scheduled for release later this summer. Polishing work is being done right now on the player animations, as well as lighting work on the various maps. Current favorite features include the new grenade stun effect, and the ability to deploy the machine gun on any surface. In other news, HL2: Lost Coast (the upcoming free Half-Life 2 map for Half-Life 2 owners which showcases HDR rendering technology) is nearing completion and will be released soon on Steam. Valve promises extra, yet undisclosed, content with Lost Coast, but more info to come shortly ...

EA and Valve today announced that they have entered a multi-year agreement to deliver a collection of Valve games to players worldwide. The first two games to be released under this agreement are Half-Life 2: Game of the Year and Counter-Strike: Source for PC, both launching this fall. In addition, Half-Life 2 for the Xbox, scheduled for release in October, will be published and distributed worldwide by EA.

Originally planned as a section of the Highway 17 chapter of Half-Life 2, Lost Coast is a playable technology showcase that introduces High Dynamic Range lighting to the Source engine. Today Valve released some info and a small trailer showing off some of the improvements & effects you can expect in the downloadable addon. Read more for details and download links ...

Valve's SteamPowered website has been updated with details regarding yet another update for Source SDK, fixing a number of connection problems to the backend of VAC2 (Valve's anti-cheat technology for game servers). VAC2 currently only runs on servers in the beta group, but will be active for all servers very soon.. Just restart Steam for the effects to take place.

Valve's SteamPowered website has been updated with details regarding yet another update for Half-Life 2: Deathmatch, fixing various little bugs and gameplay tweaks. Just restart Steam for the effects to take place.

Valve announced today that it is planning on releasing de_port and de_inferno next week. Along with the two new maps, an updated version of the current CT model will be included. Valve will of course be present at the upcoming E3 expo where Half-Life 2 Xbox will be shown in the Xbox area of Microsoft’s booth. Meanwhile Half-Life 2: Lost Coast, the new single-player level created to introduce High-Dynamic Range (HDR) lighting to the Source engine, is slated to appear in the Games for Windows area at the show.

Valve has released a new trailer for its upcoming free Half-Life 2 addon, Half-Life 2: Lost Coast. This movie features a minute of high-res in-engine footage to show the High-Dynamic Range rendering that is included in the FPS add-on. Read more for download links ...

Valve has released a new Half-Life 2: Deathmatch map, dm_runoff, which is now available via Steam. If you have HL2:DM installed in your Steam games list, you will receive the new maps automatically. This release also includes a Source Engine update which moves default Steam port to 27009 (UDP) from 27030. Use -steamport to override this setting.

Valve released some information about future Steam updates for HL2 and CS Source. On Monday Valve will release a new Half-Life 2: Deathmatch map, dm_runoff, inspired by a Half-Life 1 favorite, Crossfire. They are also working on an all-new Counter-Strike map, de_port, and to make people familiar with the design intentions Valve has put up a page that outlines six different strategies to try once the map is available. The release of the new CSS map isnt for another few weeks, but will be accompagined by a redone de_inferno map.

Valve has released three new Half-Life 2: Deathmatch maps, which are now available via Steam. These maps were created by the three players who won our recent HL2:DM mapping contest. If you have HL2:DM installed in your Steam games list, you will receive the new maps automatically. This release also includes a Counter-Strike: Source update which fixes incorrect player names appearing in the scoreboard.

The latest issue of PC Gamer UK has no less than 10 pages dedicated to what now seems to be a confirmation on the next (and no doubt, one of many) Half-Life 2 expansion pack. Half Life 2: Aftermath will pick up where the original left off and, as has been rumored for a while, will feature an all-new story line with the focus on Alyx, although not necessarily alongside Gordon Freeman. While no release date has been set, strong indications are that it may only be available through Valve's online delivery system, Steam (thanks ve3d). You can read more about it over at EuroGamer, who has reprinted some of the article content.

After much deliberation, Valve has announced the winners of its Half-Life 2: Deathmatch mapping contest. Contest Winner is Scott M Jordan, USA with his dm_Underpass map. Congratulations! First Runner-Up Jonathan Linker, Germany (dm_resistance), second Runner-Up Michael Schulz, Germany (dm_powerhouse) and Honorable Mention Michael Visser, Netherlands (dm_avalon). Read more to check out some screens...

Everyone who is playing Counter-Strike: Source should be enjoying the new maps, cs_compound and de_train. Coming soon, there will be another new map for CS:S called "de_port." As a teaser, here's a sketch of the layout.

Tomorrow Valve will release the promised update to Counter-Strike: Source. Along with a new hostage rescue map Valve's been working on (cs_compound), Turtle Rock Studios has been working on getting de_train converted over to CS:S. Along with the two new maps, there are a number of fixes to the bots in Counter-Strike, an enhancement to the radar to display your current location in the map, and a fix for Half-Life 2: Deathmatch where players are disguising themselves as headcrabs, filing cabinets, and other invalid models.

Valve's SteamPowered website has been updated with details regarding yet another update for Half-Life 2: Deathmatch, Source SDK, and Source Engine. The Update will mainly focus on Half-Life 2: Deathmatch. and includes the addition of the Stunstick, SLAM, and the Crowbar. It will also include a new original map made by Valve, Steamlab. Next week there will be a CS update, which will include a new map called cs_compound, along with a number of smaller changes and bug fixes. Restart Steam for the updates ...

In advance of the Counter-Strike: Source update mentioned recently, Valve will also be releasing an update for Half-Life 2: Deathmatch. This update will include two new weapons (the StunStick and the Slam) as well as a return of the trusty crowbar, and a new map called "Steam Lab."