Alright folks, all aboard the hype train it’s about to leave the station! I’m going to attempt to get the true meaning out there, so to speak. After hearing about the now infamous Steamcast Tweet, I wanted to get a serious insight into what’s really going on, after looking at my Steam Friends’  list who would be better to ask than Brad from Steamcast otherwise known as Mimaz98. To make a long story short, it seems like the information is very possibly true. After a discussion about possible strange Half-Life references showing up on the official TF2 blog, I did a little bit of investigation myself. Brad had noticed that the image used on the official post It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Australian Christmas was originally of an Aurora Borealis effect on a starry sky. The image has since been, inexplicably, changed to The Engineer standing in front of a warm Christmas fire.

Here’s the part this no longer becomes wild speculation…

Well everyone, it’s been a great ride this week after all of the hype building up to the VGA’s. I’ll admit it got me really thinking so I decided to email Gabe this morning to share my excitement and to see what kind of answer I could might receive back. The answer may or may not surprise you.

In a recent interview published by  ComputerAndVideoGames.com Valve Software’s VP of Marketing Doug Lombardi stated:

“We hate to make you wait. But we have no announcements regarding Mr. Freeman or his ongoing adventures at this time”

This is unsettling news  to hear almost three years after the release of Half-Life 2: Episode Two. Looking at this news from a positive perspective, Doug didn’t mention ‘Episode Three’; could this mean that the next Half-Life installment is going to be a larger adventure than previously planned?

Either way, it’s not like Valve’s secrecy is a surprise to anyone anymore…

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=258751

According to a post on the official Black Mesa Half-Life 2 mod forums, lead developer ‘natedgreat3’ claims that despite the lack of updates, the much anticipated mod will be released before 2011. Black Mesa has been in development since 2004 in an attempt to re-create the original Half-Life using Half-Life 2’s Source Engine. For those looking forward to the mod, this is great news!

Documentary on a rare breed of sea creatures.