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Shacknews has posted information regarding Valve's plans for Half-Life 2 release which consists on various bundles:

The latest HalfLife2.net forum thread has info from Valve's Gabe Newell on the three different versions of Half-Life 2 they plan to release. Apparently the plan is to release a single-player only mass market version ("sold mainly at the Costcos and Walmarts of the world"), a traditional single/multiplayer version for places like EB Games, and a collector edition's version ("with lots of cool bonus stuff for people who like cool bonus stuff").

Also Take Two has announced Remedy's third person shooter sequel Max Payne 2 will be released October 15 on PC.

I dont see the point behind making a single player version and a single+multi player version. That is entirely pointless. If I ended up accidently picking up a single player only version I wouldnt be very happy and Valve would in the least get a call from me with a few harsh words about how stupid that decision was.

I would imagine the whole point is price. The single player only version would probably be cheaper than the multi+single player version. A lot of people couldn't care less about playing online, or like me they have a connection that is too slow. So if I can get the single player version for a cheaper price, sounds like a great idea to me. As for getting the wrong version, I'm sure it will say right on the box which it is. If you run and buy it without even reading it, Valve is not to blame. You are.

Your right, that makes sense ;-P

HL2 is going to rock anyway, regardless of whatever version you purchase. I hope we don't have to wait too long to get it, though.

Oh, I'm definately with you on that. I don't get excited about many games but I'm very excited about this one. I think the single player version will be very good, and MP will definately be a plus.

If someone had enough cash to have a computer good enough to run the game, it would be pretty safe to assume they probably have a decent connection as well. and if not, what about MP on LAN? I agree, the SP only version is stupid