Valve is ramping up participation in the Counter-Stike: Global Offensive beta, promising a whole round of keys will be handed out to people who complete a survey on the game.

All you've got to do is head here and answer some questions, and "over the coming months [Valve] will make selections from the survey participants".

In good news for the curious, unlike the company's DOTA 2 beta, new players will be welcomed as part of the intake.

Survey [Valve]

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]

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]

Valve's $100 Valentine's Day gag was actually taken up by a lot of people, who figured the money was well spent since it gave them a chance to broadcast a message to the entire Team Fortress 2 community.

What resulted, then, were not actual engagements, but people making Half-Life 3 jokes for the whole world to see. Which may be what Valve expected all along, and is why the entry barrier to such power was set so high.

TF2′s $100 wedding rings are one dirty joke [PC Gamer]

While NECA rolled out a bunch of impressive Valve-licensed stuff, I was still charmed by the Portal 2 offerings shown by ThinkGeek. Along a Companion Cube cookie jar and talking turrets, they also had Aperture Science cores that blurted out phrases from the Portal games. But the highlight had to be the Science Fair kit that you could plug into a potato, calling back to one of the best moments in Valve's teleportational sequel. (Potato not included but the poster backdrop is)

ThinkGeek also had Minecraft wares on display, too. Those wall-hangings should keep the Creepers away, no?

This Spring sees the release of Tactical Intervention on the PC, a game noteworthy because its development has been led by one of the co-creators of Counter-Strike. So the fact the two games look similar is no coincidence.

Former Valve staffer Minh Le, who has been working on the game in Korea for a few years now, will be publishing the game in North America through OGPlanet, with a beta to kick off next month.

While Valve's own Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is an iterative update to the venerable old franchise, Tactical Intervention looks far more ambitious, including some unexpected stuff like driving sequences.

Tactical Intervention launching in spring 2012 [Neowin]

LAN support is a dying breed in modern PC gaming. But don't tell the upcoming DOTA 2 this, as Valve's game will let you drag a dekstop, pizza and sleeping bag to your friend's place to your heart's content. [PC Gamer]

So you know how there were images of Team Fortress 2 action figures from last weekend's Toy Fair in New York? There weren't any pics of the Demoman. Even though he was there.

Why?

Because he'd been stolen. And not even the whole figure. Just a very important part of it.

Toy company NECA, who is producing the figures, reports that "a few hours" after opening their booth for business on the Sunday, they noticed that the Demoman's head was missing.

Adding that "a police report was filed, right at the booth", NECA has made up for it with a proper press shot of the figure, showing him in all his Scottish glory.

Highlights From 2012 NYC Toy Fair – Including Toy Espionage! [NECA]

It's no box of chocolates or a rose - or a diamond ring - but it'll do.

These are Valve's official character art sheets for the heroes Lone Druid, Lycan, and Shadow Demon.

If you'd like to see some other example of DOTA 2 character art, check out this Fine Art feature from last year, which featured a ton of it.

And before anyone asks, no, Valve has not returned our calls about that whole DOTA 2 legal mess.