On Saturday, 13,000 Half-Life fans showed up on Steam to play Half-Life 2 multiplayer simultaneously. That’s 10k more HL2 players at one time than the Steam servers are accustomed to. Their reasons for gathering to play? They want to know the status of Half-Life 3.

30,000 players originally signed a pledge to play over the weekend, but in the end, less than half of them showed up. The idea was cooked up by the Steam Community Group, who (like many of us) have grown frustrated at Valve’s refusal to comment on future plans for Half-Life 3 and/or Half-Life 2: Episode 3. But rather than risk ticking off the games’ developers, SCG decided to hold a more positive “protest” to send a message to Valve.

In their own words, that message is:

Your oldest and longest running fanbase would like better communication.

Waiting patiently for over four years can be challenging as a fan… Valve had stated that information was scheduled to be released towards the end of 2008, and we believe that if they have chosen to change those plans, fans should be acknowledged, regardless of developmental plans for the next Half-Life project.

The entire trilogy of [Half-Life 2] episodes was scheduled to be completed and released by 2007, and if Valve have decided to do other things for the time being, that is fine; all that we ask for is a basic response on the matter, and to let fans know whether or not the current story arc is scheduled to conclude at another point in time.

I’m all for creators keeping their secrets. Creative expression is largely dependent upon surprise, after all. But I sympathize 100% with these Half-Life fans. I will cheer them on until they get results, because I think they’re in the right. They’re not asking for Valve to spill all their secrets. They just want some idea of whether or not Half-Life 3 and/or Half-Life 2: Episode 3 are even in the cards, particularly the latter, which was due for release five years ago.

You know, if they’re saving their big reveal for E3, that’s perfectly understandable. But throw the fans a bone in the meantime. A morsel. Anything. Something as vague as, “We can’t comment on Half-Life at the moment, but stay tuned!” would appease the masses.

Valve is in no way required to respond to their fans. Delays are inevitable, and Valve has a history of them, due to the uncompromising quality of the games they produce. Then there’s the industry, which goes through seasons of change, financial/business considerations, employee turnover, and any number of other reasons why developers alter their plans all the time. No doubt Valve has a very good reason for not releasing Episode 3 when they said they would.

But they’ve fostered a symbiotic relationship with their fans based on mutual communication from the start. Now, after making promises to their fans regarding the future of the franchise, they’re dead silent. This is unacceptable. Valve has a moral responsibility to at least comment on any change to the promises they’ve made to their fans. And it’s not like we’re talking about a few months of silence, here. Valve has been in total black-out on the topic of Half-Life for five years.

There’s a word for that kind of blatant neglect of fan interest and enthusiasm.

It’s called disloyalty.

The recent rumors flying around about Half-Life 3 being in active development with an announcement imminent, are total crap. But despite this, Valve is working on Half-Life. Just what iteration of Half-Life they’re working on is anybody’s guess, though. Let’s run down the possibilities.

The rumors are everywhere you look: “Valve is working on Half-Life 3! Valve is running an Alternate Reality Game to start early buzz for Half-Life 3!” And on and on. But with one simple post on the Steam forums, Valve writer Chet Faliszek has dashed our hopes for the third game in the genre-defining series.

Or have they?

Here are the facts. Six years passed between the release of the original Half-Life and Half-Life 2. It’s now been a little over seven years since the release of Half-Life 2. The Half-Life series is Valve’s best-known, biggest money-making franchise. Is there a single gamer alive who hasn’t played Half-Life or one of its spin-offs? (Portal would not exist without Half-Life, nor would Team Fortress 2.) It’s nothing less than the cornerstone of Valve’s entire business.

There is absolutely no way on earth that Valve is not working on something new for this iconic series.

But what??

Is it the long-delayed Half-Life 2: Episode 3? Quick history lesson: Following HL2‘s release in late 2004, the game’s story continued with a pair of add-on episodes, the second of which was released way back in 2007. At least one further episode was announced, but has become vaporware. Was Episode 3 a victim of FPS technology advancing too far beyond Valve’s Source engine to make it viable? Is it, against all odds, still in production — making it at least three years late? Or was it cancelled altogether, in favor of something else on Valve’s plate?

And what about Half-Life 3? No third entry in the series is unthinkable. Yet we’ve gone seven long years without so much as a whispered rumor coming out of Valve’s impenetrable fortress. Even these recent rumblings wound up being nothing more than an (understandably) over-eager fan community’s wishful thinking.

The Episodes marked a major shift in Valve’s game release strategy from standard boxed disc releases to downloads. But the endless delay in the third episode has led most fans to believe that Valve failed to meet their revenue goals with the first two, forcing them to reexamine this strategy. Earlier this year, Valve head honcho Gabe Newell told Develop Magazine that he had been forced to reconsider the episodic releases. “We went through the episodes phase, and now we’re going towards shorter and even shorter cycles,” he said. “For me, ‘entertainment as a service’ is a clear distillation of the episodic content model.” What do you suppose this means? Is Valve thinking of moving to a persistent online world with the franchise? Or has he got something unprecedented in mind?

But back in 2010, in an interview with MTV Geek, Newell alluded to a Half-Life 3 when he said in regards to the series, “I feel like we’ve gotten away from genuinely scaring the player more than I’d like, and it’s something we need to think about.”

So there you have it. We will get more Half-Life. But only Valve and Gabe Newell know what and when that will be — and frustratingly, they’re not in any hurry to talk about it.

Wow. I mean seriously… wow! You’ve got to watch this 7-minute live action film that easily rivals anything Hollywood has to offer. No one’s ever managed to make a compelling movie out of a videogame, but this indie short takes ‘em all to school and proves that it can be done.

Filmmaker Dan Trachtenberg posted a full 1080p version of this bad boy, which is called Portal: No Escape, on YouTube, and you must watch it right now. He actually debuted the film at Comic-Con this year, but this is the first time it’s been available for viewing by the public at large.

The only problem I have with the movie is that it’s over way too soon. I want more! Valve, the developer behind the Portal games, should give him a big budget and turn him loose to make a full-length version.

With very little fanfare, Valve has suddenly made its popular online PvP shooter Team Fortress 2 a free game. As in, free to own, free to play, as much as you want. Forever.

It’s an unexpected move, but hardly an unprecedented one. It’s not the first time that an online game in the later days of its life cycle has been made free to play. Champions Online recently became free-to-play — and on Valve’s own proprietary digital game service, Steam. Valve’s bold claim of keeping TF2 free and up & running “forever” is perhaps the more bold part than the “free” bit alone is.

In an interview with Develop, TF2 patriarch Robin Walker explains that the move was made as part of Valve’s ongoing restructuring of their company’s policies, where they now view games more as “services” rather than “products.” Valve will still offer some customization items as in-game purchases, but nothing that’s required to play the game competitively.

So does this change mean a Team Fortress 3 might be in the works? Valve is known for keeping its secrets very, very close, so it’s anybody’s guess what they have planned for the future. Personally, I’d be a lot more excited to hear that Half-Life 3 is in-progress.

Familiar with Defense of the Ancients, the popular multiplayer mod for Warcraft III? It’s a unique take on an RTS (real-time strategy) where two teams of five players fight for a minimum of 40 minutes, trying to destroy the enemy’s base. Leveling up lets you stockpile equipment and money. It’s crazy popular on Battle.net, Blizzard’s online gaming service, where a variation called DOTA-Allstars has become top dog. DOTA-Allstars is maintained and updated by a man who goes by the handle “IceFrog,” and we’re now learning that Valve hired IceFrog back in 2009 to work on DOTA 2.

Valve might seem like an odd fit to legitimize DOTA with a fully-funded, professionally-made sequel, since it’s primarily known for first-person shooters like Half-Life, Portal, Team Fortress, and Left 4 Dead. But don’t forget that Valve also gave us Steam, the game-downloading/updating service for PC users that rivals Xbox Live in quality and quantity of content. And it’s made a habit out of finding great modders in the fan community and hiring them to create professional content.

Valve’s DOTA 2, which was just announced today by Game Informer, is described as “basically DOTA-Allstars with new technology.” Namely, a newly enhanced version of Valve’s “Source” game engine, which is significantly more advanced than Blizzard’s old Warcraft III engine. Integrated voice chat, professional voice actors for the NPCs, and graphics that retain the feel of the original while upgrading them with new ideas are just some of the innovations to be found in DOTA 2.

The biggest change is that active participation in the DOTA 2 community will somehow be rewarded in-game, though Valve has yet to explain how this will work. Valve is also adding a robust coaching system and interactive guides to the game, which are expected to add a lot to the experience.

There are no screenshots yet available, only the character artwork seen below. Game Informer has lots more details about the game in their exclusive feature.

Presented today for your viewing enjoyment: a gaggle of Portal 2 trailers and demos that will “expand your mind.” (If you know what I mean.)

Seriously, if you can watch all of these, and still walk in a straight line and touch your forefinger to your nose… then, well… you must not be watching it right.

Portal 2 arrives on PCs and the PS3 early next year, filled with puzzles that no normal human mind will be able to solve.

Before anything else, Portal is now out for the Macintosh via Steam. Yes folks, after more than six years, the gaming industry has finally recognized OS X as a viable gaming platform. Even if it’s just for Plants vs Zombies.

I’ve been on Steam since 2004 and only because that was the easiest way I could download Half Life 2 without ever leaving the house. As Internet got better through the years, the discless distribution method became a pillar of PC gaming. For a select few who owned Macs though, it presented a slight inconvenience. I feel a bit duped knowing that I own Plants vs. Zombies for the Mac, PC and iPhone platforms, yet it would have been easier to do a Blizzard and make games cross-platform compatible.

Above is the new Steam application made especially for the Macintosh. Steam had barely changed throughout the years and this up to date Web 2.0 look for the Mac is refreshing. A short walkthrough: on the left side of the window is the scrolling menu of all your games whether or not you have them for a specific platform. In my case, these are ALL PC games. The surprise is that a lot of indie game developers have already made some of their titles Mac compatible outside Steam. Some games will contain a download link to the Macintosh version. In my case I was able to download the OS X versions of World of Goo and Braid, both of which I bought last year. As of late, other titles that are dual OS compatible are Torchlight, Zuma Deluxe and well .. you get the picture. Casual games.

Although the changes are mostly aesthetic, it does make the catalog browsing experience a lot easier to manage. When purchasing a game, it shows you who else in your friends list owns it. Scroll down and you get patch and community updates, and your achievements list. All Steam did really was rearrange everything and skin each game in accordance to a background splash poster.

This update is all about Mac compatibility. The aesthetic bells and whistles on the Steam site and the desktop client hitched a ride aboard the long delayed revamp bus. Not revolutionary, but damn about time!

That’s it. If you’re on a Mac, download Portal for free now!

In a bid to make its games more readily accessible, NCSoft has joined a growing number of publishers who are now using Valve’s Steam digital distribution platform. NCSoft said that it will make available a number of NCsoft games and expansions. Specifically, the following games and expansions will be added: Linage, Lineage 2: The Chaotic Throne, Guild Wars Game of The Year Edition, City of Heroes Architect Edition, Guild Wars Nightfall, Guild Wars Faction, and Guild Wars Trilogy. NCSoft also announced that its soon to be released MMOG Aion: The Tower of Eternity will also be added to the service when it is released in North America and Europe later this year.

As a way to entice users to buy from Steam, Valve and NCSoft are offering various deals, like a 50 percent discount on Lineage 2 and a 10 percent discount on Guild Wars: Game of The Year Edition.

I have to say that I’m surprised about Steam’s performance. When it was first released, it gained a lot of negative feedback and not a few critics even predicted that it won’t last. Now, it seems like Steam is becoming an increasingly popular platform for game distribution.