GamersHell:

"Empires is a Half-Life 2 total conversion modification which combines the genres of first-person shooter and real-time strategy. Two key players will be present in each game, one player per team will be the commander, playing the game from a top down perspective with the ability to construct bases and give orders to his team, and all remaining players will be soldiers, playing the game from a first person perspective either on foot or in an aircraft or vehicle. The commander can choose to control his team with an iron fist, restrict his team's purchasing ability for buying upgrades and vehicles, and punish anyone who disobeys, or he can be completely nonchalant and allow his team to do what they like with no fear of reprimand. It is up to the commander to determine his team's strategy which will inevitably determine whether his team is victorious. In-game help and NPC characters will offer advice and keep the commander aware of events on the battlefield. The latest version is now locally mirrored."
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Fortress Forever is a Team Fortress mod for Half-life 2's Source Engine which expands on the classic Team Fortress action as well as introducing elements to improve accessibility for players new to the genre. Half-Life 2 - Fortress Forever features nine classes, 10 core maps and 6 different game modes centering around Capture The Flag, and Capture and Defend gameplay.
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This mod by pistoccoisdaman is a campaign mod. You wake up in a cell, Nova Prospect. You escape and go back to your apartment to find your family murdered and you have been framed.
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This mod from -Lord- is the sequel to the Ravenholm mod. Picking up the story after John's escape from Ravenholm, you will visit new locations and meet new characters as you are taken prisoner by the Combine in City 24 and are reunited with an old friend.
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This mod by InterWave Studios promises to bring all the best from the Stargate Movie and TV-Shows into the gaming world. The mod will have Multiplayer gameplay focusing on ground combat.
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PC World: "So a fat pig jumps into my cab, and then he busts out into song while I carve through city streets. Nope, this isn't some deleted scene from the end of Slumdog Millionaire. I'm playing Karma Cab--a goofball mod for Half-Life 2.

What the heck is a mod? User-created game content--it's been around since long before YouTube ever made do-it-yourself entertainment a household concept. Old-school gaming nerds crafted game levels, weapons, character models--heck, entire games have been built using the guts of game engines for ages. (In fact, I highly recommend that you check out Mod DB for a huge selection of game mods.) That means lots of extra, free games derived from what you've already bought. The mod scene also happens to be a breeding ground for tomorrow's great game designers."
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Bit-Tech reports: "This is why PC gaming is better than console gaming in our opinion; because of excellent mods like this which keep on improving on the games we all know and love.

When it comes to mods in fact it's tough to get more well known FakeFactory, the modder who's been working to improve the visual impact of the Half-Life games ever since their first release. The FakeFactory mods have been upping the polygon count (and amount of cleavage) on Half-Life 2's characters for a number of years now. "
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From the dystopian corridors of BioShock's subterranean "paradise" to the Strogg-infested space stations found throughout the Quake franchise, First Person Shooters have found countless ways to establish themselves as rich, enjoyable experiences, capturing the hearts and trigger fingers of gamers worldwide.

Even if it's just blasting away wave after wave of demons in Blood, or perhaps saving mankind from itself as you traverse Half-Life 2's City 17, the FPS genre has proven itself time and time again.
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Valve has always been known to be one of the top developers in the PC arena. In fact, their only real competitor is Blizzard and both developers make such different games that it really isn't a competition. Well, in the latest issue of Game Informer, Valve revealed statistics of their game sales in the past decade that show why they are the industry leaders.
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If you're thinking of buying the PC version of Left 4 Dead, you might want to look into purchasing the new Valve Complete Pack off Steam. In addition to L4D, the $100 package comes with both Half-Life games and a slew of additional content for each.
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Wired Write: After the secret source code for its then-unreleased shooter Half Life 2 showed up on file sharing services in 2003, game-maker Valve Software cooked up an elaborate ruse with the FBI targeting the German hacker suspected in the leak, even setting up a fake job interview in an effort to lure him to the United States for arrest.

The gambit ultimately failed, and Axel "Ago" Gembe remained safely in Germany. He was indicted last month in Los Angeles on new charges of creating the Agobot malware, and sharing it with a crew of U.S. hackers who used it to stage denial-of-service attacks in 2003.

In September 2003, the source code for the much-anticipated Half Life 2 game turned up online, and Valve's managing director, Gabe Newell, revealed that the company's network had been breached. In a post to the company's web forum, Newell asked for gamer's assistance in finding the hackers responsible.
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Marketing director Doug Lombardi says announcement may arrive later this year, though game is still more than a year off.

Although an announcement may be impending, a release date remains farther away on the horizon. "The next time you play as Gordon will be longer than the distance between [Half-Life 2] to [Episode 1], and [Episode 1] to [Episode 2]," cryptically noted Lombardi. Half-Life 2 was released for the PC in November 2004, with Episode 1 following in June 2006 and Episode 2 debuting alongside The Orange Box in October 2007. Doing the math, that would put Episode 3's release date as far off as 2010.
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"Ever watch the same disaster movie twice and find yourself trying to warn off the actors?"
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This mod from the Source Forts Team blends Deathmatch and Capture the Flag and adds other custom changes to the mix.
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Jailbreak is a Half-Life 2 modification similar to Team Deathmatch for Half-Life 2, but with a difference: two teams, two jails. When you kill a member of the opposite team, they respawn, locked up inside your jail. When a member of your team is killed, they respawn inside the enemy jail. Your objective is to imprison every member of the enemy team. The twist is that you can break out members of your own team, by fighting your way to the enemy jail and opening the doors. The game goes back and forth until one team is entirely locked up, the losers executed (in a variety of customised ways), then the next round begins.
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Valve's been quite busy getting ready to roll out some impressive updates to their games and Steam in general:

"Valve today announced Steam Cloud, a free Steam system that will retain users' saved games and configuration files indefinitely.

Half-Life and Half-Life 2 will be the first games to support the service....

The company is also working on several new Steam systems, including a driver auto-updater and calendar functionality.

Another feature in the works is a system-requirement checker. The program will analyze your hardware and compare it to multiple games, estimating your performance and recommending upgrades.

Valve is also considering storing replay videos and kill-cam screens from games such as Team Fortress 2 and Day of Defeat: Source. "
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18th Jan, 2008 [Warning: Like our Portal article from December, this piece features some pretty heady discourse, and also benefits from a visit from Mr. Narrative Theory. If that stuff makes you run screaming, then feel free to run screaming. Also, if you haven't completed Half-Life 2, leave now. This contains some inhuman spoilers.] Half-Life 2 is widely and rightly regarded as a modern classic. In terms of both gameplay and artistry there have been few, if any, games in the FPS genre which ... » Read More

As if The Orange Box weren't already the best value in gaming, those who have yet to make the $50 plunge can get an even better deal through Valve's Steam service. For a mere $75 gamers can purchase Orange Box and 19 additional titles.

If you already have The Orange Box then you can still get some more Half-Life goodness by downloading the game's main tune, "Still Alive" by Jonathan Coultan at Amazon.com. The entire album is discounted by about $2, available at Amazon for $7.99.
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To celebrate Christmas, the Black Mesa team released a new batch of media for the upcoming Half-Life re-creation mod Black Mesa. Included within are a website re-vamp, new high-resolution screenshots, newly revealed areas, new weaponry, and the launch of a devblog.
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Dec 20, 2007 If you park on the streets of a major city like San Francisco, you know there's the risk that a starry-eyed young hooligan with the bold dream of stealing your stereo will smash in your window. GamesRadar US editor Tyler Wilde is well aware of this risk - his car has been broken into three times in the past year. What he didn't know is that not just his stereo is at risk. As an avid gamer and an angry citizen, he felt it was time to send a message to the window/ocarina smashing ... » Read More