I instaled steam and put in my acount name. I installed the game after activating it. the problem i am having is that when i try to play the game steam shows a little box"Prepairing to launch half life 2". It never opens the game. I tryed updates, directx and installing a new driver for my video card. Nothing works so if someone could give me a little help i would apreciate it.

Please check this (http://support.steampowered.com/cgi-bin/steampowered.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=446&p_created=1144273481&p_sid=Pj8rN1Vi&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9NyZwX3Byb2RzPT MmcF9jYXRzPTAmcF9wdj0xLjM7Mi51MCZwX2N2PSZwX3NlYXJjaF90eXBlPWFuc3dlcnMuc2Vhc mNoX25sJnBfcGFnZT0xJnBfc2VhcmNoX3RleHQ9bWluaW11bQ**&p_li=&p_topview=1)support page and answers on your question

If you're using a firewall, make sure its not blocking Steam.