Jamie Russel's "Generation Xbox: How Video Games Invaded Hollywood" revealed why the Halo movie failed. But Microsoft isn't the only company interested in crossmedia platforms for one of their most beloved franchises.

Valve seems like an easy choice for a Hollywood spotlight. The fictional universe and its characters are intriguing, and the fanbase is already established. We love soaking up new information, pictures, comics, rumors, animated shorts, cosplay...basically anything related to the Half-Life franchise.

So why hasn't Valve taken the opportunity yet? It's not as easy as picking up the phone and saying, "Hey, Hollywood person. Make my movie. *click*" Obviously Valve doesn't want someone to trample over their property. Speaking with Russel, Valve's mastermind Gabe Newell explains what the company's history with Hollywood has been so far:

Mostly people were just trying to vampire off of the success and popularity of the property, without any real understanding of what made it an interesting or successful property in the first place. The sense that we had was that if we went down the traditional route of licensing a property to a Hollywood studio, we would be losing control at that point. The fans were going to be ill-served 90% of the time. (Russel, 288)

And then sometimes the software developers get pitched with ideas so far off the map of actual Half-Life lore that it baffles them:

"This writer was trying to convince us that it'd be cool to have this new modern cavalry with these Kevlar-armoured horses charging across this field. It had absolutely nothing to do with what made Half-Life and interesting entertainment experience for our customers. It was just bizarre." (Russel, 288-289)

So why not just avoid the realm of film altogether? It seems Valve has their hands already full with development on future iterations (hopefully with 3s in their titles). Newell says they don't have that choice anymore.

"It's pretty clear that our customers are cross-media consumers. If they like a game, they want to see a movie; if they like a movie they want to be able to run around and shoot rockets off in those spaces. They are telling us we don't have the luxury of just being a games company anymore." (Russel, 289)

Then what's the solution? Newell thinks it's to reach out to the fans. Fans who understand their games, and appreciate the context enough to not take creative liberties by adding wacky things like Kevlar-clad horses. Valve has always been open to their community playing with mods and inventing new features for their games. So why not for a movie?

Valve's dedication is to their gamers, says Newell. Building these pieces of entertainment isn't about creating huge blockbuster openings (like Hollywood's method seems to be), but rather to service their customers. He even brings up the infamous Star Wars films helmed by George Lucas as an example:

If Lucasfilm had taken all the assets they had created for Star Wars: Episodes 1, 2 and 3 and released them to the fan community and said ‘you guys go and make three 90-minute movies', in aggregate the community would have built better movies than George Lucas did. I'm not being hyperbolic at all. I mean literally they would have made better, higher quality entertainment than he did. The key is to connect the dots for the community in terms of giving them the tools that they need. If you can mod a game like Half-Life 2, there's no reason why you can't mod a movie like The Phantom Menace. (Russel, 290)

Eventually, enlisting in fans is going to be the norm in the future. Eventually Hollywood will come around to it. Wishful thinking? Maybe. But Newell is firm in his belief that it's at least the right way.

"What's going to happen is that the Hollywood guys will start to realise that the creation of entertainment isn't a one-way experience where they have all the professional tools and giant budgets and everything flows downhill from there to the consumers. If they're collaborating and co-operating with their fanbases to create these entertainment experiences, you will see the same kinds of things occurring - most of it will be terrible but some of it will be brilliant." (Russel, 290-291)

Reddit user Tabisama strolled into Best Buy, but wasn't expecting to stumble on this pre-order for what appears to be Half-Life 2: Episode 3.

Looking at this poster, you might think that it's genuine. But looking at that 99,999,999 countdown, you might think otherwise.

These Episode 3 teases are not uncommon. After all, everyone knows gamers' soft spot is for Valve's hopefully incoming Half-Life title. They're going to have to dispel rumors of an inability to count to three somehow, right?

Update: Looks like Kotaku reader crazydog115 discovered this troll/joke poster is even more trollish than meets the eye. It appears to be a photoshop of a Diablo III poster. We originally posted this to share what we thought was a Best Buy joke. Turns out that we didn't realize the whole is a photoshop. This picture is of something that doesn't exist. Like any future Half-Life game.

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so I went to BestBuy to see the Diablo III's POP today, but found this [Reddit]

The moment all Valve and Half-Life fans have been waiting for might be revealed at this year's E3, predicts YouTube user aekime. But will it be the big reveal everyone is sitting on the edge of their seats for?

At least Gabe will apparently make the most amazing entrance ever.

Fair warning: This video is only slightly creepy. That's if you consider a crazed Half-Life fan biting his friend's ear off to be creepy. Let's just say it seems like the creator took some inspiration from David Firth.

And for the record, I'd be very happy with a new Left 4 Dead.

Gabe Newell at E3 2012 [Reddit]

So far, toy company NECA seems to be doing a pretty good job with a license for Valve's catalogue of first-person shooters. But at the end of the day, NECA makes toys for the mass market, so what you'll be getting will be fairly standard stuff.

Over the weekend a potentially more exciting announcement was made: Valve will also be having toys made by threeA, a Hong Kong company who in this writer's opinion are simply the best manufacturers of action figures on the planet.

While threeA made a name for itself initially making original toys and figures based on its own properties, like World War Robot (whose artist Ashley Wood also helps run threeA), it's recently moved into licensed territory, making figures based on things like Real Steel.

They're also the guys behind the enormous, $500 Metal Gear Rex figure due out later this year.

It'll be very interesting to see what they can come up with.

I love old movies—especially films from the 1940s. Graphic designer Bao Nguyen did a take on classic games, like Half-Life and Street Fighter, and reimagined them as classic films—namely, creating film title cards for them.

Ever wondered what Metal Gear would've looked like as an old Warner Bros. crime film? Something like this! Too bad Humphrey Bogart isn't around to play Old Snake. Too bad Humphrey Bogart isn't around. Period.

Bao Office [Flickr via Cargo Collective via Albotas]

San Francisco's 4th Street is covered in Gabe Newell. The Game Developer's Conference is in full swing, and the iconic Valve boss's mug is splashed on poles, garbage bins, and newspaper stands.

It's like gaming's own version of the Obey sticker campaign, but Gabe's either saying Half-Life 3 or Steam console. I can't tell which.

These photos were taken by website Destructoid. More in the link below.

Someone put up pictures of Gabe Newell EVERYWHERE [Dtoid]

And you thought it was some giant building in Dubai. Nope. According to measurements converted from in-game models ad referenced for scale, City 17's own Citadel, constructed by the Combine, easily takes the cake.

Standing at 8430 feet tall, the Citadel easily, ahem, towers over the competition, Dubai's Burj Khalifa only managing to get 2723 feet off the ground (note: the image above is in metres).

Before anyone complains about the tense used in this post, let's assume there are people here who haven't played Half-Life 2's episodes.

The scale of Half Life's Citadel, compared to the tallest buildings in the world [Reddit]

German artist Daniel Ritthanondh is the man to thank for this Half-Life-inspired lamp, which will simultaneously light up your room and darken your dreams.

As big a Half-Life fan as I am, I could not own this. Wherever it went, I couldn't walk under it. Ever. That or I'd come home one day and creep up on it, shooting at it until it coughed up a human skull and giblets all over my living room floor. Which would just be too messy.

Teptec Studio [Professional Site]
Kilh [DeviantArt]

Well, if we're going to be doing more recent games for Total Recall, we'd better talk about Half-Life 2 sooner rather than later. As is true for so many people, HL2 is one of my favorite games of all time, an evergreen gem that I replay about once a year.

It's hard to put my finger on a "favorite" part, really—there are so many iconic moments that they all kind of blend together. But if I had to name one, it would be the bridge level.

You know the one I'm talking about. Near the end of "Highway 17," you'll arrive in a small villa that's located along a cliff. Up a hill is a long bridge, along which are running menacing Combine trains. To get Gordon's buggy up onto the track, you'll have to go to the other side of the bridge and unplug the combine force field that's blocking your way. And to get to the other side of the bridge… you'll have to go under it.

This is one of those make-or-break moments, when the designers at Valve grabbed their ambitions and carried them into the end zone so assuredly that it's still impressive, coming up on ten years later.

You enter the bridge support structure. And then you come out, and you're on a deck looking out onto the scaffolding underneath the bridge. It looks like you can jump down there… but can you? Is this safe?

The sound effects here are key. The wind, ripping into your ears, cutting through the air beneath this massive metal structure. It truly feels as though it could blow you off.

And so then, you jump. Everyone who has played this level has probably died at least once; slipping on a girder and tumbling, watching the ground come rushing up towards you. Just watching the video above gives me vertigo. I could play this level a hundred times and never tire of it—it is pure video game magic.

And once you're halfway across, things get even better. A train goes by above you, foreshadowing the coming race against the onrushing train that closes out this level. And once you've made it to the other side, cleared out the nest of combine soldiers and deactivated the force field… well then you have to make your way back. But why should you get to make your way back exactly the same way you came? Wouldn't it be much more interesting if a flying whale-helicopter attacked you and totally wrecked your shit?

This bravura section is my favorite single bit of Half-Life 2. The video of it is broken into three parts, with the middle section above. You can watch the whole thing on YouTube: Part one, part two, and part three.

Or, you know, you can just go play it again. You know you want to.

Thanks, Graag, for posting these videos.

Actually, calling it an action figure does it a bit of a disservice. The term "action figure" conjures all sorts of images, mostly of very small men. This custom Strider from the Half-Life universe is not very small at all.

Not only does it look awesome, but its builder, nomadamusic, says it was almost entirely made from scratch, and even includes a few points of articulation.

Who needs large toy companies when individual artists can make their own Striders? Not nomadamusic, that's for damn sure.

Half Life 2 Strider Combine Custom Action Figure [FigureRealm, via Toycutter]