width="170" align="right" vspace="5" border="0">gamespot
has posted an excellent, 25-page, in-depth article titled
the final hours of half-life 2. the report covers:

• 
  the choice by valve software
  to develop their own game engine
  
• 
  the inclusion of realistic physics and articulate characters
  
• 
  why half-life 2
  didn't appear at e3 2002
  
• 
  the real story behind the september 30, 2003 release date
  
• 
  the lawsuit between valve and vivendi universal games
  
• 
  how game levels are envisioned and created
  
• 
  how a 21-year-old german named axel g hacked into valve's network