Here we go. My most anticipated game of this year has finally come, and unfortunately, gone. But that's OK, because I've already played through it twice and I'm now watching Jenny (wife) play through it. The next installment of Gordon Freeman's journey takes him through the outskirts of City 17 and into the wild with big outdoor areas, and new elements like weapons, enemies, and friendly faces.

Valve's Orange Box that is. Which is set to be released in less than two hours. How do I know this? Well, Steam was nice enough to tell me. I opened up Steam, went to my games list, and half-heartedly double clicked on the pre-loaded, yet locked, Portal game. And what did I get? A nice message telling me the game is going to be unlocked in a little over an hour. My pulse increased immediately. I knew the game was supposed to be released tomorrow, but Valve always likes to push things back.

Valve, it's been awhile now since you guys released Half-Life 2: Episode One, and my patience is starting to wear thin. You can only play through this game so many times before it get repetitive (count 8 times for me). Now I'm waiting for Episode Two, which looks amazing by the way, and will probably blow the previous episode out of the water. We're talking bigger, and more open environments, new enemies, weapons, and vehicles. Updated graphics, AI, and physics. Plus, the answering of more of those famous Half-Life questions. Like WTF is is going on!? FEED ME INFO ON THE DAMN G-MAN!!

Headcrabs that is! First it went after me but I was able to fend it off. Then it went after my dog Abby, but once it got a mouthful of fur it quickly bailed. Finally, it went after Jenny. As it leaped toward her head, she grabbed it and cuddled it fiercely. Damn, that seemed to tame the beast. And now it sits idly by on top of my monitor as I write this - starring at me - hovering above my beloved drunken smurf.

I like to get nostalgic sometimes.  What I'll do to bring back memories varies from time to time.  This time though it was my old PC game manuals.  There are some good ones in there.  Some that I spent hours reading and learning from.  A lot of these games were out before the Internet was around, so all you had was their manuals to help you out.

With a new year right around the corner, there are a few upcoming PC games that have really got my attention.  So much so that I dread everyday I have to live without these games in my possession.  Not really, but I know some of you out there know what I'm talking about.  Let's take a look and see what I want need next year for gaming:

After many months of worrying despair, it looks like the guys behind the HL2 mod: Black Mesa Source have finally released some new updates and media.  This was definitely a sigh of relief.  This mod looks incredible and I cannot wait to play it.  I was worried that the mod might of died due to the lack of news or updates on their site.

Ah crap.  First the bad news.  Half-Life 2: Episode 2 has been delayed until February 2007.  Episode 2 was originally supposed to be release sometime at the end of the year.  This puts the release of Episode 1 and Episode 2 at eight months apart.  Valve started the episodic (is that a word?) game deployment to avoid long gaps in between sequals.  It kind of makes me wonder if game episodes are going to work or not.  But still, the gap between Half-Life and Half-Life 2 was like five years.  So eight months doesn't sound too bad.

Valve finally released a trailer for Team Fortress 2.  You remember that game right?  It was supposed to be released sometime last millinium.  Well it's finally coming out and should be released with Half-Life: Episode 2.  Maybe early 2007 I'm thinking.  Anyways click on the link below to check out the new Team Fortress 2 trailer.  It might be different than what you expected:

I wasn't really going to write about Episode One, but I got nothing else to write about so what the hell.  But a warning, this post will contain spoilers to the game.  You can skip down to the next red section to avoid any big spoilers.  Otherwise read away!

Hehe, I just found this online and think it's great.  I mean look at it, it's a Headcrab stuffed animal!  Who could live without one of these?  I've already ordered six.

Ok, maybe not but it is kind of cool.  The Headcrab is one of the most popular video game enemies in the Half-Life series of games.  At $25 though it seems kind of steep but I'm sure I'll get one eventually.  It just looks so cuddly doesn't it. :)

It happened last week sometime. I was sitting at home one day, being bored while on the computer. Nothing good on the Internet to look at, tired of listening to all my same music, and burnt out on all my PC games.

OK, I have to post about this comic on here. It is one of the best web comics I have ever read. It takes place in the Half-Life 2 universe, so unless you've played Half-Life 2, you may not understand all of the jokes. But it's still a funny ass comic.