Hey, Hey, Mister Gabe, How Many Games Did You Make Today? The grass-roots protest outside Valve headquarters, demanding the completion of Half-Life 2: Episode Three, is not going away.

Sure Mr. Newell, it was cute when you showed up yesterday to pat their youthful idealism on the head and explain how the real world works, but that came off like Nixon talking football with Vietnam War demonstrators at the White House. Look man, they're serious. They're 18, man, they're old enough to carry a rifle, they want their game.

Imagine what happens if this sit-in is successful. The conversation of three generations at a Thanksgiving table, not far in the future:

"What'd you do in college, granddad?"

"Stopped a war."

"What about you, dad?"

"Got a video game published."

[h/t Travis]

The two guys on the left showed up at Valve Software recently, hoping the guy on the right would hear (or read) their plea.

I'm a little confused, though. Is the guy all the way on the left saying that Canada wants Half-Life 3 to be released? Or is he offering to trade Canada for Half-Life 3? And would that be an even trade?

Photo 1: Bungie Artist Jason Sussman's Twitter Feed; Photo 2: Chattypics [via Twitter]

Reader Michael sent us an image he's been working for a while. It's a map of Half-Life 2's City 17 done in an "authentic" style.

That means no easy-to-read Google Maps style of cartography. City 17 is in Eastern Europe, and the world is a mess, so all the Resistance have to go on would be old Soviet military maps.

So that's what Michael drew. Anyone who knows the general lay of the land in the game will see it's quite the work of art.

Soviet Military Map of City 17 [Steam]

Yes. It's been announced at E3 that NECA, makers of fine action figures (increasingly these days based on games), have picked up a license from the Half-Life creators "to produce consumer products based on Valve's much-acclaimed games".

That will mean action figures at an absolute minimum, but hopefully also given the wording things like replica props and weapons too.

Like, say, crowbars. And Portal guns. If you're wondering which franchises are included in the deal, it includes all of Valve's series, meaning it's not just Half-Life but Portal, Left 4 Dead and Team Fortress 2 as well.

Be still, my beating heart.

There's been a trend in recent shooters to make things more immediate. Bob the camera around a little, show your character's arms and legs more often. That kind of business wasn't around in 1998, when Half-Life was released.

But what if it was? Or what if the game was re-released now with all the extra wobble and scientist limbs you could ever want?

It may look like this. And I like it. So long as you never see his face or hear him say anything, you're still getting the whole "silent protagonist" deal with Gordon Freeman you've always got, only now you wouldn't get that "floating gun platform" feeling that you only notice when you go back and play older shooters.

Fun fact: this was made by James Benson, the same guy who did that awesome Team Fortress 2 dance video from last year.

Should we consider hardcore PC gamers the hipsters of gaming just because they tend to bring up how PC gaming did everything first whenever an innovative new console title comes out? Maybe commenter Truthtellah has a point in today's Speak Up on Kotaku.

Why am I only now realizing that ardent PC gamers are the Hipsters of Gaming?

We get it; PC gaming is pretty cool and has gotten a lot of things first. We just don't have to hear about it every time a console game does something. Maybe that obscure PC game from the early nineties did it first. Maybe PCs had HD graphics before everyone else. That doesn't mean we need to be reminded every time of how awesome you are to have owned a PC back then.

I love PC games; I've played them for two decades.

But a lot of console games are pretty darn great, too.

Can't we just let people be excited and enjoy themselves?

Hoping for the continuing adventures of Gordon Freeman and the long-awaited revelation of Half-Life 2: Episode Three at this year's E3? Well, hope a little less today. Valve has said it's not bringing any games to this year's expo.

"Lots of folks have mailed asking about appointment times with Valve," reads an e-mail from the company. "Well, we are not showing any titles at this year's show. So no appointment is needed."

Well, that's kind of a bummer! We were hoping to see at least something from Dota 2, Valve's take on Defense of the Ancients, a game we haven't heard much from lately. But perhaps Valve still has its focus set squarely on the recently released Portal 2 and the game's forthcoming downloadable content pack.

Maybe there's an outside chance that Valve will surprise us again with a keynote walk-on like last year or drop a Left 4 Dead 2-style bomb, but... nah, better stop fantasizing...

Between all the running and riding in little boats and more running you end up covering quite a lot of ground in Half-Life 2! What makes this somewhat unique, though, is that you do it all in immediate succession.

There's no cutscenes where you jump in a helicopter and reappear 1,000 miles away, or hitch a ride on a tank for a few days. Every area you enter leads on from the one you just left, meaning it's possible to draw up a map of the entire game.

Like this one! You lose most (well, all) of Half-Life 2's beauty, but that's more than made up for by the sheer scale of the thing.

That, and the dawning realisation that you end up spending the majority of the game going the wrong way.

You can expand the map into a readable size by clicking on it, but to get the full thing you can hit the link below.

HL2_overview [unleashthedog, via PC Gamer]

A is for alien, B is for Bomberman, and C is for Chun-Li. Do you know your video game ABCs?

Artist Fabian Gonzalez knows his ABCs. He's created a series of colorful character-specific alphabets featuring superheroes and Simpsons characters ,and now he focuses his talents on creating 26 video game themed letters for your viewing enjoyment. Can you name them all?

Be sure to check out Society6, where Fabian's creations can be purchased as prints, hoodies, and t-shirts.

Practically anything said institutionally by Valve, or especially by its co-founder, Gabe Newell, is parsed for any potential meaning to the unannounced, eternally awaited Half-Life 2: Episode 3. So when Newell, in an all-access feature charting the development of Portal 2, said the game was "probably" the last one with any isolated single-player experience, Half-Life fans got really jumpy, given how story-driven that game is.

Newell sat down for an interview with a high school student who asked him to clarify those remarks. You can listen to the entire interview in that video above. It touches on many interesting subjects, but regarding single- vs. multiplayer, here is what Newell said, verbatim:

I think what we're trying to talk about is the fact is not that we're not thinking about single-player games-Portal 2 I think is a pretty good example of what we've learned over the years in terms of how to create those [single-player] experiences.

It's more that we think that we have to work harder in the future. That entertainment is inherently increased in value by having it be social, by letting you play with your friends, by recognizing that you're connected with other people.

Single-player is great, but we also have to recognize that you have friends and wanted to have that connected as well.

It's not about giving up on single-player at all. It's saying we actually think there are a bunch of features and capabilities that we need to add into our single-player games to recognize the socially connected gamer. Every gamer has instant messaging, every gamer has a Facebook account. If you pretend that that doesn't exist, you're ignoring the problems that you're taking on.

It's single-player plus, not ‘no more single-player.'

Later on, Newell is asked about the possibility of a direct crossover between Portal and Half-Life, as both games are set in the same continuity. Newell did not directly confirm such a crossover will take place, but he did say that setting both games in the same universe has a purpose.

"When you're thinking about games, you sort of want to think about how characters collide. In their current forms, Chell and Gordon are very similar characters. in terms of the phenomenology of their experiences. ... In terms of having these people coexist at same time and same place, that's ... part of the reason Portal and Half-Life are in the same universe."

Gabe Newell Interview: 5/2/11 [by user theythatare, YouTube]