Valve boss Gabe Newell has a history of replying directly to emails from the public, so there's a good chance this exchange with an impatient Half-Life fan is for real.

Either way, there's a definite chance that it's great.

If anyone else wants to give it a show, maybe try a sonnet. Or an epic poem. The latter would leave enough room for a release date and system specs.

Exchanging Episode 3 haikus with Gabe Newell [Reddit]

There's a new piece of downloadable content for PC co-op shooter (spellcaster?) Magicka called the "Gamer Bundle". Normally I don't look twice at a pack offering mere player skins, but these are no mere player skins.

The three new robes for your wizards are heavily inspired by three of the best PC games ever made. One gives a headcrab and crowbar from Half-Life. Another decks them out like a World of Warcraft character. And the third, and most awesome of the lot, dresses a little wizard up like a Day of the Tentacle cosplayer.

The pack is $2, and is available on Steam.

Escape From City 17, a 2009 short flick from The Purchase Brothers, was and still is the best piece of fan-made Half-Life cinema we've ever seen. Over two years later, it finally has a follow-up.

Escape From City 17 - Part Two has the same top-shelf special effects (and reportedly the same shoestring budget of $250) as the first, only this time it's a lot longer, clicking in at around 15 minutes (as opposed to the first movie's five).

The extra time means more room for a story, in this case the relationship between an American and Russian resistance fighter, but sadly also more time for things to slow down and cracks appear in the writing and budget.

Still, it's definitely worth a watch, especially for the amazing effects.

Where the hell is the next Half-Life game? That's what two Vancouver-based Valve fans wanted to know when they set up shop opposite the headquarters of the people criminally late on shipping Half-Life 2: Episode Three. Valve founder Gabe Newell met with those "protesters" to deliver them good news and bad.

Newell told Kotaku at Gamescom that Valve's first public protest by a couple of "very nice" Canadians ended peacefully, even though the cops showed up.

"They wanted to know when Episode Three was coming out," Gabe said of his run-in with two diehard Half-Life fans. "I said 'I can't tell you.' And they were, like, 'Okay…'" (Kotaku asked Newell the same question. He said "I got nothing for you.")

But it wasn't a total loss for the protesters.

"We asked them how many sodas they had," Newell said. "They only had two, so we sent them some sodas and some pizza." The group also got a tour of Valve's offices and some hands-on time with Dota 2. "We needed people to test," he explained.

"We were worried," Newell said of the cardboard-wielding micro-mob. "The cops showed up after someone else in the building called the police. He rode up on his Segway, but it turns out [the cop] was a big Half-Life fan. So he completely understood where they were coming from and didn't chase them off."

While the Half-Life 3 fans' protest may not have gotten us any closer to details on the further adventures of Gordon Freeman, they at least made an impression on Valve's co-founder.

"They stayed for two days. We miss them."

Image credit: Jason Sussman

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.