Gamesindustry.biz let us know that the public beta test of broadband games-on-demand service Steam will end on Tuesday evening Pacific time, and the first full version installer will be made available on Wednesday morning at 11am PDT via www.steampowered.com, Valve Software has announced.

With the new release on Wednesday, Valve plans to reset the account database. Any future registrations will have to be allied to a genuine CD-key, drawing to a close the honeymoon period of free Half-Life, CS and mod access - not to mention Half-Life 2 movie releases - for the two or three people still without a copy of the original game.

Developer Valve has revealed that it plans to offer a $9.99 monthly subscription system to purchasers of Half-Life 2, as well as releasing three separate versions of the game - which has now seemingly slipped to November. (thanks Gamesindustry.biz)

In an email, later confirmed as authentic, posted to forums on Half-Life2.net, and a later follow-up on the forum thread, Valve boss Gabe Newell confirmed that the company intends to offer an optional subscription which will grant members free additional content for Half-Life 2, delivered over the Steam digital distribution system.

Valve, creators of Half-Life, the world's largest PC action gaming franchise, will team up with Vivendi Universal Games UK (VUG UK) at ECTS in London to present Half-Life 2 for the first time in Europe. In development for the past five years, Half-Life 2 was first unveiled in May 2003 at the E3 games convention in Los Angeles, where it received 12 Game of Show accolades and E3's Overall Game of Show award.

Valve, creators of Counter-Strike and Half-Life, and Plantronics, a leading manufacturer of computer headsets, today unveiled a custom Counter-Strike headset. Based on the Plantronics' popular DSP-500, this plug-and-play USB headset features DSP technology and Counter-Strike's distinctive branding. The Counter-Strike headset is now available exclusively right here!

Softimage Co., a subsidiary of Avid Technology, Inc. announced today that the SOFTIMAGE/XSI software, the industry-leading nonlinear 3-D production environment, was used exclusively by Valve to create all the characters, models and props for the new game Half-Life 2. This widely anticipated sequel to one of the best selling PC games of all time introduces life-like in-game characters that herald the next generation of characters for interactive entertainment. To exceed the expectations of a more sophisticated audience and deliver the new title on schedule, Valve converted its production pipeline to the award-winning SOFTIMAGE/XSI environment.

ATI Technologies Inc. leading graphics technology provider, and Valve, creators of Half-Life, Counter-Strike and other award-winning PC action games, announced the first public showing of Valve's Half-Life 2 will take place at next week's Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, CA. The product will be shown on ATI's RADEON 9800 PRO 256MB, the highest performance 3D card currently available, in a state of the art theater located in ATI's booth (South Hall, 646). Half-Life 2, published by Vivendi Universal Games, will be demonstrated by Gabe Newell, Valve's co-founder and Managing Director, every half-hour. The original Half-Life was launched to tremendous reviews in 1998, won over 50 "Game of the year" awards worldwide, and launched a franchise with over 8 million units sold.

Already revealed a few days ago but now its official. Activision, Inc. and Valve, L.L.C. jointly announced today a strategic partnership that grants Activision exclusive worldwide publishing rights to upcoming games created by the premiere PC game developer. The multi-title agreement underscores Activision's commitment to partner with top development talent and will expand the company's PC portfolio.

Valve, L.L.C., creators of Counter-Strike and Half-Life, today announced immediate availability of a 64-bit version of the Counter-Strike dedicated server using the upcoming AMD Opteron processor. Counter-Strike has the largest service footprint of any game on the Internet, with 35,000 servers generating over 4.5 billion player minutes per month.

Valve is the people behind Half-LIfe and now they currently looking for betatester for coming games in the future.. Try to sign up as betatester here!

Half-Life and Counterstrike are two of the most-played games/mods on the Worthplaying Staff. Needless to say, we were thrilled to get our hands on Blue Shift ... Did we wet our pants or did we ask for a refund?