Over the next month or so there will be a couple of interesting releases via Steam, in addition to the upcoming Counter-Strike map de_compound. First, Valve will be releasing an update to Half-Life 2: Deathmatch that will include the Slam, Stunstick, and the Crowbar.

Vivendi has issued a small statement finally revealing some HL2 sales numbers. "Half-life 2 is already clocking up a massive success. With nearly 1.7 million copies sold in less than two months, this new release by Sierra Entertainment (a VU Games company) and Valve looks set to become one of the biggest hits of 2005. Sales have been particularly good in Germany, the UK, France, Italy, Spain and Scandinavia – as well as the US." Valve remains tightlipped on the amount of HL2 versions it has sold through its Steam service.

Valve's SteamPowered website has been updated with details regarding yet another Half-Life 2 update which performance improvements, increased cache memory usage, increased cache memory usage, weapon script files are preloaded at startup in HL2, and a few more little tweaks. Restart Steam to get the latest update...

Valve's SteamPowered website has been updated with details regarding yet another Half-Life 2 update which addresses some Steam issues, enables support for new query protocol in the HL dedicated server, and fixed a Source Engine spam issue. Restart Steam to get the latest update..

Busy evening for the people over at Valve as today it disabled more than 30,000 Steam accounts (a few weeks ago Valve already banned 20,000) which had been used to try to illegally gain access to Valve games without a valid purchase. A new Steam update has been released fixing some some stuttering issues with Half-Life 2 and also addressing missing models when running the Counterstrike Source Video Stress Test.

Valve's SteamPowered website has been updated with details regarding yet another Half-Life 2 update which adds a slew of Source SDK tweaks. Read more for details ...

Valve has just released a free demo of Half-Life 2. Featuring some of the amazing digital actors and physical gameplay that has made Half-Life 2 the leading contender for Game of the Year 2004, the demo takes players through some of the early levels of the game and later transports them to the area of the game known as Ravenholm. The demo will require a Steam account to install. Read more for download links ...

Valve's SteamPowered website has been updated with details regarding yet another Half-Life 2 update that optimizes the Half-Life 2/Steam filesystem to reduce game launch and level transition time, as well as 2 minor Source SDK tweaks and a few fixes to Steam itself. Read more for details ...

Valve's SteamPowered website has been updated with details regarding yet another Half-Life 2 update that addresses a Securom fix (by removing the Securom disc check routine), but also a few changes to the Source Dedicated server and HL2 Deathmatch. As usual, all you have to do is restart steam and the update will happen automagically.

With the Source SDK now available, information on the upcoming Sven Co-op mod for Half-Life 2 has been released. Details of major features planned for the initial release, including cooperative support for Half-Life 2's original single-player campaign, are available. There is also news of a significant change to the mod's fundamental gameplay system.

This small modification enables you to start servers in the newly released Half-Life 2 Deathmatch by defining player numbers, server password, server name, and so on (thanks Andy). Read more for download links ...

Well when Valve says SOON, they really mean it. As speculated earlier today, Valve had a little surprise for the community, and by posting a screenshot it was strongly hinted at that a Deathmatch multiplayer mode might be coming. A few hours later, it has arrived! Half-Life 2: Deathmatch is now available through the latest HL2 Steam update. By the same token, they also released the full HL2 SDK and announced a Half-Life 2: Deathmatch Map Making Contest.

Valve's Adrian Finol broke the silence with a forum post, and an update on Valve's Steam website with nothing but a new screenshot which indicates that Deathmatch is coming, even says "SOON"! Valve did promise a community surprise, and this could be it!

Well it seems Valve is giving hackers a piece of their own cake as not only did they, supposebly, leak a fake, non-working HL2 version, but now they have also banned over 20,000 people from Steam for attempting to pirate Half-Life 2 with the CD-Key 5J52E-FVKXV-882FQ-YJXRQ-DOD98. The forum thread also has word that Valve is working on a securROM fix for owners of the CD and DVD editions of the game who are unable to play due to overzealous copy-protection (thanks VE3D).

Several people had been complaining about skipping gameplay and audio in 'Half-Life 2' and Valve's Erik Johnson confirmed that they have identified the cause of the problem and a fix is in the works and expected "no later than tomorrow."

HL Fallout is reporting that TransGaming Technologies announced today it will be porting Half-Life 2 over to Linux which is due out on December 7th. Linux gamers can experience the new interactive world of Half-Life 2 with TransGaming's release of Cedega 4.2. Cedega also supports Steam, Valve Software's online distribution technology, along with a number of other Valve titles.

In Half-Life 2, the player again picks up the crowbar of research scientist Gordon Freeman, who finds himself on an alien-infested Earth being picked to the bone, its resources depleted, its populace dwindling. Freeman is thrust into the unenviable role of rescuing the world from the wrong he unleashed back at Black Mesa. And a lot of people people he cares about are counting on him. Beware of the spoilers...

Valve's Chris Bokitch put up a note on their Editing Resource Collective website that the Half-Life 2 SDK is coming soon. "It would be an understatement to say that there's been a lot of interest expressed about the forthcoming release of the full Source SDK. Well, the time draws near! I'm not going to mention a specific day, but certainly the word "soon" is appropriate here. The upcoming release will include Half-Life 2 mapping support and additional sample maps, support for cubemaps, and the mod source code."

In Half-Life 2, the player again picks up the crowbar of research scientist Gordon Freeman, who finds himself on an alien-infested Earth being picked to the bone, its resources depleted, its populace dwindling. Freeman is thrust into the unenviable role of rescuing the world from the wrong he unleashed back at Black Mesa. And a lot of people people he cares about are counting on him. Beware of the spoilers...

Half-Life 2 is out, and you better believe it! But with new game releases come new bugs, and this is no different for Valve's HL2. For people who are running into the bug on startup that looks like "Map Version is 0, expecting 19," Valve's Erik Johnson suggested trying this to see if it works:

1. Go into your "/Steam/SteamApps folder"
2. Rename the file called sourcemodels.gcf to something else.
3. Relaunch the game.

This is going to require a redownload of this file, but if you want to get playing tonight it's probably the best path. There are a couple of people now who were in this situation and fixed the error in this way.

Valve made good on its promise and has unlocked Half-Life 2 for people who pre-ordered it through its online delivery system Steam. "Half-Life 2 is available now for purchase and to play. Those who pre-purchased their copy via Steam may access the game by double-clicking on the Half-Life 2 icon in their Steam Games directory. To purchase your copy via Steam, please visit www.steampowered.com." The Source remake of the original Half-Life is now also available.

HL2DB and GameSurge are holding a Half-Life 2 Release Party on IRC and GameSurge Radio, with various events scheduled for the hours leading up to the release (midnight on November the 15th), including a possible interview with members of Valve Software. From 9PM Pacific Standard Time, an interview with Sven Viking and Sniper of the Sven Co-op team -- on the subject of their upcoming co-operative mod for HL2 -- is to be held in the #HalfLife2 channel on irc.gamesurge.net.

As has been rumored the past few days, 'Half-Life 2' is indeed being sold early at various big stores in the U.S., such as BestBuy, Wal-Mart and even a few select EBGames. The lucky ones who managed to purchase a copy will get a major disappointment, as Vivendi ordered Valve to not activate the Half-Life 2 Steam authentication servers. Basically, anybody who bought HL2 can't play it yet. Valve issued a statement saying it is not their decision, but Vivendi who threatened Valve with breach of contract if they did.

Since the game itself will have no manual included, Prima Games and Valve today announced the availability of the first two official Half-Life 2 publications. Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar and the official Half-Life 2 game guide, both scheduled to arrive in retail outlets around the world on Friday, November 12, 2004.

Vivendi Universal Games today announced that Half-Life 2 will ship to retail outlets around the world in November. The Company confirmed that Half-Life 2, developed by Valve Software, has gone gold with a planned retail street date of November 16, 2004. The countdown to the highly anticipated retail street date has begun around the world, as VU Games completes plans to ship localized versions of Half-Life 2 simultaneously in English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Traditional and Simplified Chinese, Korean, Thai and Japanese