The year is 1998. A previously unknown group of game developers known as Valve Software has just released Half-Life. Of course it becomes an instant hit, entertaining a generation of gamers worldwide. But beyond that, buried away on the CD-ROM inside that ridiculously big cardboard game box is a program called “Worldcraft”. According to a note at the back of the instruction manual (remember those?) this program would allow fans to “create a replica of their garage or a fantastic alien world”. And create they did. With this tool, now known as Hammer, at their disposal, the possibilities have been almost endless. From Counter-Strike to Ricochet, from Black Mesa to deep space to World War II France, the community created a tidal wave of new adventures, far beyond what anyone might have anticipated. Fifteen years later, we show no sign of stopping.

Like any story with its depth and complexity, the Half-Life series leaves a lot to the imagination. In fact, considering the latest installment’s cliffhanger, it leaves more to the imagination than anyone wants.

Do you want to learn more about Half-Life? To see the obscure? To witness the oddities? Then you’ve come to the right playlist!

The ‘Half-Life Fact Files’ is a small project by Rikki D’Angelo or more well known to the Half-Life community as Marphitimus Blackimus (or Marphy Black for short).

Self-described as “an instalment in this series of Half-Life educational film strips”, the project is focused on exploring the outlandish knowledge, obscurities and fascinations that lie behind the very fabric of Half-Life.

Hello and Happy Halloween!

For this week’s Community Spotlight we thought we would share some of the Halloween creations from around the community. Unlike usual though, we are going to be dynamically updating this post from now till the end of the week with anything sent in.

A new blog, ‘Things we got before Half Life 3‘ has been created to remind us all of everything that man has accomplished in the absence of Half-Life 3.

It’s Friday! It’s… something doesn’t feel right. Yes, it’s Saturday. It is with my sincerest apologies that I deliver the Fanart Friday article late. But then again maybe you’re reading this through the archive and want to just get to the Fanart…   then with no further delay I present to you Fanart Friday #003:Saturday Special Edition!

Man, I love Fridays. Not only is it the end of the week, it’s also when I get to share some awesome Fanart from you, the readers. Let’s get to it, shall we?

Zombie Panic: Source will most certainly live on as its successor, Contagion, because its Kickstarter campaign has surpassed its goal! Thankfully, Contagion has joined the ranks of the 50% of campaigns that actually succeed on Kickstarter and should be ready for release this fall. But just because the game has reached its goal, doesn’t mean the adventure’s over.

Hello and welcome to the first edition of Fanart Fridays! This is where we hope to showcase the awesome Fanart submitted by our dear readers and followers. And what do you know, we got some submissions to show off today, let’s jump to it!

Over a year has passed since the community-founded Valve-centric podcast, Steamcast, closed down. However during August this year, a countdown clock appeared on a sub-directory of the website with the title ‘2013’.

Steamcast was originally founded back in 2009 with the aim of supporting the Valve community by offering frequent and direct participation with listeners, however in 2012 the podcast closed indefinitely.