Valve is 30 years old today, and it all began with two former Microsoft employees and a risky bet on games
Newell and Harrington left Microsoft, put their own money on the line, and helped reshape PC gaming
A developer ported Half-Life to a Nokia N95, and it runs at 30fps with Bluetooth keyboard support
Follow the Freeman... on an ancient Symbian-based smartphone
Evidence mounts for Half-Life 3 development in Counter-Strike 2 code update
HLX might be undergoing optimization, suggesting a rapidly approaching release
Half-Life 3 reportedly playable end-to-end, possibly launching this year
"HLX" project uses a new kind of procedural generation, future Steam hardware also discussed
Steam's DRM was inspired by an exec's nephew and his trusty CD burner
CD burning was threatening Steam's entire business model
Burned: Valve's founding chief marketing officer, Monica Harrington, recently shared her account of how the company became the leading provider of digital PC games. Harrington pushed for stricter authentication measures after discovering how young players were more than willing to pirate their games.
Half-Life 2 RTX demo arrives March 18, RTX Remix modding suite leaves beta
Mod tools introduce DLSS 4, multi-frame gen, RTX IO, ray-traced subsurface scattering, and more
How a summer intern saved Valve from bankruptcy and shaped the future of gaming
Vivendi turned a petty matter over Counter-Strike licensing into "World War III"
As Half-Life 2 turns 20, Valve celebrates with a free to download weekend, new Episode 3 footage reveal
Valve releases new two-hour documentary, Raising the Bar reprint coming in 2025
What just happened? Valve is celebrating Half-Life 2's 20th anniversary with a massive update, a temporary free giveaway of the full game, and a bundle including the two episodic expansions and new developer commentary. Additionally, a two-hour YouTube documentary sheds light on the canceled third expansion, revealing new details for fans.
Fan-made Half-Life 2: Episode 3 project gets free demo, available now on Steam
Based on series writer Marc Laidlaw's "Epistle 3" draft from 2017
Half-Life beta build from 1998 is uncovered in dusty storage unit
An archivist has shared initial discoveries from a legendary disc
Amazon tried to buy a stake in Valve long before Steam became a reality
Monica Harrington says she's been erased from Valve's history
Valve is working on Project White Sands; everybody thinks it's Half-Life 3
Wishful thinking, or will Valve finally give fans what they have been clamoring for two decades?
What is the best-selling PC game of all time?
Trivia time! – Is it The Sims, Minecraft, PUBG or WoW?
Steam FPS Fest (as in first-person shooter) offers tons of deals and free demos
A selection of highlights from Steam's latest themed sale
Half-Life gets massive 25th anniversary update along with 'making-of' documentary
Valve added new and restored content and made the game free to keep on Steam this weekend
20 Years of Steam: From Half-Life 2 to the Steam Deck
Few things are as closely associated with PC gaming as Steam. Microsoft might provide the OS. Intel, AMD, and Nvidia power the most popular gaming hardware. But for most people, Steam is PC gaming.
We've played Lego Star Wars and Lego Batman, how about Lego Half-Life 2?
WTF?! As one of the most beloved PC games of the last two decades, Half-Life 2 has received an innumerable amount of mods and conversions. Users have strived to enhance its graphics, add virtual reality support, introduce ray tracing, and build custom episodes. One modder even replaced all of the game's audio with his own voice. However, transforming Valve's classic into a Lego game is an innovation we haven't seen before.
50 Years of Video Games, Part 2: The Rise of 3D, the Gaming PC, and Online Multiplayer
From the mid-90s to the early years of the millennium, video games underwent a paradigm shift in graphics, treating us to some of the most classic titles of all time.
You can now play Half-Life: Alyx from start to finish without a VR headset
The mod is simple to add to a standard Steam game install
Half-Life 2: Episode 2 VR mod arrives today with more improvements
Highly anticipated: After a decade of development, a mod is making the entire Half-Life 2 story playable in VR, including the two expansion episodes. While still technically in beta, the mod has received frequent updates and lots of praise. The developers are extensively focusing on comfort features to accommodate various VR gameplay styles.
Well-regarded Half-Life 2 VR mod adds support for Episode One, Episode Two coming soon, too
A recent update also added several QoL features for improved gameplay
Modder runs Half-Life 2 natively on a Raspberry Pi 4 and Apple M2 Silicon
Project proves Source engine games can run well on Arm systems
Half-Life mod adds real-time ray tracing to Valve's seminal first-person shooter
Half-Life with spruced up visuals
The modders behind the excellent Half-Life 2 VR port reveal Episode One to arrive in Q1
Delve further into Half-Life 2's story in full VR in only a matter of weeks