This weekend, we are celebrating the release of one of the best games ever made. Half-Life 2 turns 10 (believe it or not) tomorrow, and we are calling upon all fans of the series to play through the game together. There is no specific time or date; just drop in whenever you are able to get a chance during today or tomorrow!

Where were you when the game was released? What was your experience like? Feel free to share some of your memories in the comments section below.

Personally, I remember jumping through as many hoops as possible in order to play the game through Steam, which was sort of a mess at the time (how far it's come, huh?). I stuttered my way through the game (many of you will remember that bug) into the wee hours of the morning -- then shambled into yet another day in high school as a junior, half zombified after getting 3 hours of sleep, half stunned in disbelief that HL2 actually surpassed my unrealistic expectations. Since the game had been released, I think I've played through it at least 5 or 6 times and am still incredibly excited to give it another go.

Thank you to everyone who has been a fan of the series and shown your support over the years. I look forward to playing Half-life 2 together again and hearing about your unique experiences and memories.

(Special thanks to community member Boff for suggesting this idea)

I wanted to take this time to say a few things.

The gallery is still scheduled so that everyone can view submissions; the project leader has been very busy and unable to finish working on it.

In light of many requests for us to keep accepting submissions, the deadline has been extended until further notice. We don't want to exclude anyone from being able to participate.

Until we have a better understanding of when the gallery will be finished, the date posted should be disregarded (the project leader has not been able to work on the site).

I apologize for the delay. The gallery will be finished. Please continue to email submissions! We've got some great work so far, and I'm sure there's plenty more to come.

We are finally ready to reveal our next event. While "A Red Letter
Day" was successful, this activity will hopefully serve as something
new and refreshing for everyone.

"Mosaic for Valve" represents a change in direction for our group. So
what exactly is it?

We are calling for fans to create an image or take a photograph of
anything Half-Life related and send it to us. Simply create a piece
and submit it via our website (www.messagetovalve.com). Before
submitting, please read the rules and agreements on the same page.

We have also provided a cutout of our CFC G-Man, if you don't know where to start. Simply print the image, cut it out and take a cool picture of
it in a location of your choice. It's worth noting, however, that your
work does not have to include the cutout.

So, what will we do with your image? All submissions will be uploaded
to a public gallery on our site. After all images have been submitted,
they will be made into a mosaic of a Half-Life image (linked on our
site), and finally, delivered to Valve in person.

Why are we doing this? Our community was founded by passionate
Half-Life fans; this will serve as a creative outlet for anyone who
wishes to express their love and interest for both the series and
Valve. In addition, we hope our message will be exposed to more
people, resulting in more support over time.

The deadline for submissions is June 1st at 11:59PM Pacific
Standard Time (check the group events to see the correct time in your
region).

I look forward to delivering something to Valve that was created by
thousands of Half-Life fans. :)

Group event:
www.messagetovalve.com

FAQ:
http://www.messagetovalve.com/about/

Email us your questions here:
contact@messagetovalve.com

(Thanks to Smash and Mimaz for their ideas)

(Very special thanks to Flamov for creating and managing our website
and the idea for this event)

There's been some downtime since "A Red Letter Day", but with good reason; we've been planning another large group event. Like last time, we feel extremely excited about what's being planned and believe the community will respond positively to it. The activity is not yet ready to be revealed, however, we can say that it won't be anything like the last event; everyone will be involved in a much different and refreshing way. Based on forum votes and comments from the last announcement, most people want something brand new, and that's what we are currently working on.

This update is not meant to tease what's coming in the future, but rather stands as reminder that we're planning something special for the community.

More information will become available as soon as possible. I hope you'll all be as excited as we are. :)

http://forums.thesteamcast.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=98

Which event would you like to do next? If you don't have an account, feel free to sign up to our new forums here:

http://forums.thesteamcast.com/ucp.php?mode=register

NOTE: My good friends Flamov and the rest of Steamcast have kindly provided us with an official forum. Unfortunately, our original location on Halflife2.net wasn't able to handle all the traffic, and we've had to choose another location.

Hope to see you all there. :)